Jeff Bezos recently banned PowerPoint from meetings at Amazon, insisting instead that meetings start with attendees silently reading a hard-copy document containing the information needed to discuss the issue, Inc. reports.
While the idea of a meeting beginning with silent reading might sound a little odd, replacing a PowerPoint with “briefing documents” is a smart financial decision because it saves time.
PowerPoint communicates at the speed that the presenter talks; a briefing document communicates at the speed that the audience reads. A presentation that could take half an hour (without interruptions or discussion) is condensed to merely five minutes.
Additionally, because a briefing document provides important information at the start of the meeting, everyone is on the same page and discussion is shorter and more to the point.
On top of helping save time and create better discussion, people who need the information but don’t need to participate in any discussion about the topic can just read the brief and skip the meeting.
The average executive spends around 50% of his or her time in meetings. This is a huge productivity drain, so any time saved is a win, and a briefing document doesn’t take any more time to write up than a PowerPoint or slideshow. Read the full story from Inc.
