How to break new boss of his PowerPoint habit

DEAR AMY: Our office is made up of a small group of pretty smart people. We have a new manager and a new style to get used to. Our weekly meetings, which used to be quick and efficient, now include a projector and a PowerPoint presentation (this is for about 15 people). Often the information we need is one sentence that could've been said out loud in a few seconds. Because all of us are on the run with really tight schedules, this matters - a lot.

This time-consuming overkill makes us feel as if we're all in a third-grade reading class. With homework. On its face, it shouldn't matter much, and maybe no one would mind, but it seems to convey a lack of understanding on the part of the manager. What gives with PowerPoint? Should it really be called PowerPlay? From a distance and from your perspective, what do you think this is about? What is the kindest way to address this respectfully? Thanks for your consistently good advice and for presenting it in a clever way.

A Fan

DEAR FAN: To the uninformed, let me explain PowerPoint using a few helpful bullet points.

PowerPoint provides a way to convey information: Quickly

Rapidly

Repetitively

Repeatedly

Over and Over Again

Projected on the Wall

There it is.

Unfortunately, you can't easily stop a new manager from being patronizing or wasting your time. You can assume if he values the work you do, he will adjust his style as all of you adjust to him.

Fortunately, people who love PowerPoint also tend to like quarterly reviews. Given the opportunity, you could say, "I feel the staff meetings are long and cutting into our ability to produce. Is there something we could all do to help move the meetings along more quickly?"

Give it a try.