Speaker - July/August 2011

Casting a reality check on real-world conundrums
PowerPoint Plagiarism

Don’t worry about it. There will always be people who will copy your words and try to make them their own. Besides, no PowerPoint® slide should have the full ‘meat’ of your information. A few key words copied are not meaningful without the speaker’s stories and style. Be more concerned about staying fresh and relevant than on what this person is doing with your slides. Plus, most conferences are publishing your slides on the Internet anyway!

I would start a casual conversation with him about his intentions, instead of accusing him of something. I’d want to learn if he’s going to give credit to the speaker. If his intentions were truly unethical, I’d ask if he is familiar with plagiarism and professional ethics. If he isn’t, then I’d give him a brief explanation of both.

—Jared Meyer San Diego, Calif.

—Thom Singer Austin, Texas

I would say, ‘You’re really taking detailed notes from these speakers! Just in case you’re not aware, all of their material is copyrighted and we can’t use it without their permission, other than for our own personal notes.’ If he intimated to me that he didn’t care, I would alert the conference organizer about the individual.

At a conference, you notice an audience
member taking notes on a laptop. But
rather than typing in a Word document,
he’s actually copying the words from each
speaker’s PowerPoint slides onto his own
slides. Should you say anything? If so, what?

If I didn’t know the person, I wouldn’t police it. That sort of thing will be found out. If it was a friend, I’d ask him why he was doing it in a casual, non-judgmental manner.

—Brian O’Malley Denver, Colo.

—Ian Cook, MILR, CSP

Vienna, Va.

I don’t assume everyone knows about copyright infringement, so I would quietly say something like, ‘Her message is noteworthy, isn’t it? Are you planning to deliver this presentation? It’s obvious this speaker has spent years developing her expertise, her brand and her presentation. If you plan to deliver this exact presentation, you’ll need to credit her on every slide to identify your source, in order not to commit copyright infringement. It may serve you better to internalize her words and then develop slides that truly reflect your point of view on this topic. Shall we chat more after her presentation is finished?

—Lenora Billings-Harris, CSP Greensboro, NC

What Would You Do? is a regular column that presents a real-life dilemma faced by professional speakers. NSA members are encouraged to submit a dilemma for possible discussion in this column. Please submit dilemmas to ethics@nsa-speaker.org. NSA reserves the right to edit submissions for length and style. All dilemmas will be anonymously attributed. Opinions expressed are those of the individual respondents, not NSA.

I don’t have a problem with it. I would even ask him if he’d like a PDF of my slide deck.

After speaking, I’d make a beeline to this person and say I was curious as to how he’d be using the slides. If he was planning to make a presentation with them, I’d tell him I was honored. But then I’d graciously remind him that it was copyrighted and suggest how I’d like him to attribute the material to me.