I was attending a quarterly planning meeting of senior executives a few weeks ago -- 30 people seated in a long, narrow room with a projector in front. I was sitting near the back with the COO as each person took about a half hour to go through their PowerPoint presentation on critical issues they faced in their units. One after another, the presenters slogged through slide after slide (incidentally, I prefer the word "visual" since nothing slides anymore, but "visual" has not quite eased into the vernacular, especially when some people still call a set of "slides" a "deck" - sigh...). I don't think a single person ever said a word that wasn't somewhere jammed into a slide. Several people even jokingly called their dense visuals "eye charts." I observed person after person losing interest, looking at their watch or PDA, one nodding off to sleep. The high point was when the CFO stood up, lit up the room with his hopelessly crammed slide of financial data and actually admitted "I know you can read this, but..."

By now the COO was tapping his pen against the table in disgust. I leaned over and said "What did this meeting cost?" He did not answer at first with the obvious - the cost of renting the conference center meeting room or the projector - but I saw him casting his eyes over the group counting heads and salaries. "$25,000" he wrote on his pad and turned it toward me.

"More" I scribbled back -- the cost of having the entire management team peering at unreadable slides instead of running a business, the cost in morale and energy in coming together as a team and walking away confused and exhausted.

Frankly, I'm appalled at times with what I see (or CAN'T see) in business presentations. I love to work with clients on improving their "visuals" (thank you, I feel better) not because it satisfies any creative impulse, but because making your point visually -- powerfully, clearly and memorably -- matters to the success of your business.