11th Hour Slide Design by Committee?

Two weeks ago, Microsoft introduced us to the concept of the “Infinite Workday” in a jarring data dump on work-life balance (or the lack thereof).

That concept alone is frightening enough, but buried in the report is an even more alarming statistic:

📈 PowerPoint edits spike 122% in the last 10 minutes before a meeting.

The ubiquitous drug disguised as a productivity platform rears its ugly head again. Unfortunately, this is a familiar pattern. Since the 1990s, PowerPoint has been hard at work quietly reshaping how we present, convene and communicate:

In the beginning, PowerPoint’s designers chose to refer to a collection of slides as a “presentation,” forever confusing the medium with the moment (a presentation is an event; a deck is a tool).

They chose the placement and style of the UX strategically to reward users with dopamine hits in return for creating visual noise.

And most recently, they made “collaboration” so “seamless” presenters lost creative control in favor of 11th-hour design by committee.

The result?
The almighty deck is no longer sacred. Nor is it yours. Now it’s just another place for the team’s last-minute anxiety revisions.

Does this surprise you? If you’re in business in 2025, probably not.

Does this anger you? Or perhaps you’re numb to it by now.

Does this motivate you to try something different?

I hope so.

Check out GatherRound’s completely slide-free workshop curriculum. Then send your team development budget keeper one of the 153 Teams messages they’ll receive today.

To Slide or Not To Slide.

Is that the question?

Libby Magliolo of Build Better Slides and I have teamed up to get to the heart of what makes a great presentation. She loves slides. I… Don’t.

This week we started a LinkedIn Live webinar series called A Matter of Life and Decks, and we will stay in the octagon until one of us emerges, bloody, but victorious.

Give it a watch, and if you have a burning question about presentations, decks, or what I’d name a sandwich, I hope you’ll join us next time.

🔥 Hi, I’m Eric, and every week, I share insights, observations and tools so you can ditch decks and light a fire in your high-stakes presentations. If you like what you see here, follow me on LinkedIn.