pointing power

I have been well and truly stitched up. Following an innocent conversation last year about good and bad PowerPoint presentations we have seen, one of the participants offered me up as a sacrificial lamb to run a seminar/workshop at this year’s Ministers’ Conference (where I am currently) on PowerPoint skills.

I find that daunting. Already one person has described me as the ‘PowerPoint Guru’ and I haven’t even run the workshop yet. And ‘workshop’ is an interesting description. Given the limitations of the network here and the display hardware there is a real limit to what we can do that is ‘workshoppy’. And not everyone will be running the same version of PowerPoint on their computers, even though I have invited them to bring them along.

I plan to share some the advice I have been given over the years and some of the stuff I have learnt by trial and (mostly) error. I  hope we can share the collective wisdom of the group and all learn new stuff.

I have had some training on PowerPoint, but I find it easiest to pick up ideas and tips by trying stuff out. It is very difficult to break the program, and if you save as you go along you can always go back if you make a mistake.

That’s surely what Jesus meant when he said, “Follow me.” He did not offer a training course that led to a qualification. He simply invited people to learn from him, copy him and try stuff. Too often I think we are scared to try new things and ideas in case it goes wrong. We won’t be able to break Christianity, and we can always go back and start again if we make a mistake.

Be blessed, be a blessing (especially if you are coming to my seminar / workshop!)