« Tips for Jumpstarting Your Corporate Blog | Main | Weather, Weather Everywhere »
Resources for PowerPoint Users
Huge list of PowerPoint resources over at Working Smart. If you are in the business of giving presentations you need to increase the quality of your PowerPoint presentations. I beg you.
June 29, 2004 in Business newsletter | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c459653ef00d83421439553ef
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Resources for PowerPoint Users:
» Get Better at Getting to the (Power)Point from Thinking by Peter Davidson
Today over at BeConnected we have a link to a great list of online PowerPoint resources for those who give presentations. This tool has become so ubiquitous in business these days yet people continue to use it poorly. Take a [Read More]
Tracked on Jun 29, 2004 12:48:48 PM
» Death by WebEx, via PowerPoint from Dana's Blog - Internet Marketing and Sales Technology Ideas From the Trenches
I've entered a company for whom the word WebEx, which rhymes with 'Kleenex', is synonymous with engaging anyone from a remote location in an Internet PowerPoint presentation. In fact, what used to be a luxury at my former companies has become a daily b... [Read More]
Tracked on Jul 24, 2004 2:09:06 PM
Comments
Why gush over PowerPoint? There are plenty of folks out there that love to hate that all-pervading presentation program.
Edward Tufte, a professor of political science and computer science at Yale University, compared PowerPoint to "a widely used and expensive prescription drug that promised to make us beautiful but didn't."
Instead, Tufte continued in Wired, (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html) "the drug had frequent, serious side effects: It induced stupidity, turned everyone into bores, wasted time, and degraded the quality and credibility of communication."
Tufte, and other fellows in the anti-PowerPoint crowd, spurn Microsoft's slideware for turning "everything into a sales pitch."
Well, that criticism might not sound so terrible if you do actually intend to make a sales pitch.
Then again, think carefully, before you boil down your vital points into a dozen words highlighted by bright bullets and cartoon clip art.
Do you really want your presentation to look like that of every Tom, Dick and Harriet who pulled out their PC?
Do you really want to offer only headlines glossing over complex ideas; or, do you want to drill down into detail?
Most importantly, are you connecting with your audience in a deeply emotional way or are you giving people the opportunity to catch up on their sleep?
PowerPoint has its purpose. Think about whether it is the right medium for your message.
Posted by: Susan | Jun 30, 2004 10:06:32 PM
Susan, thanks for your comments. I agree that PowerPoint is controversial and there are significant evils perpetuated through it's use. All the more reason to provide resources for people to improve the quality of their use of the tool. Some of the resources listed give good advice on how to avoid the dumbing down effects of over simplification.
Posted by: Peter Davidson | Jul 1, 2004 10:30:00 AM
http://www.guterpast.com.br/wwwboard/messages/28188.html gentilitywelcomingwhereupon
Posted by: federalists | Sep 5, 2005 6:37:29 PM