Why PowerPoint Should Be Banned 327
An anonymous reader writes: An editorial at the Washington Post argues that Microsoft PowerPoint is being relied upon by too many to do too much, and we should start working to get rid of it. "Its slides are oversimplified, and bullet points omit the complexities of nearly any issue. The slides are designed to skip the learning process, which — when it works — involves dialogue, eye-to-eye contact and discussions. Of course PowerPoint has merits — it can help businesses with their sales pitches or let teachers introduce technology into the classroom. But instead of being used as a means for a dynamic engagement, it has become a poor substitute for longer, well-thought-out briefings and technical reports. It has become a crutch."
To be more specific ... (Score:5, Insightful)
... MEETINGS should be banned.
Re: (Score:2)
The REAL problem with power point is the insipid use of it to write minutia that is then read aloud by the presenter - as though the audience can't read. When in fact it's usually so boring that the audience wouldn't want to read it.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:To be more specific ... (Score:4, Interesting)
In almost thirty years as a professional, I can say I have *NEVER* never never ever being to a productive meeting. A meeting that soothed some insecurity by a boss or client? Sure. A meeting where real decisions where taken after meaningful conversation and discussion? Nope.
I bet most of your meetings have been of the scheduled kind. Those meetings, including the "daily standup", take on a life of their own and are very rarely productive. On the other hand, meetings that are organized for a specific goal can be productive if everyone is able to contribute and buy into the result.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Then you haven't been to the right kinds of meetings. I've lost count of the number of meetings I've been to where we draw out architectures on a marker board and half a dozen people's different misunderstands about what we're trying to build coalesce into a useful design.
Re: (Score:3)
I have. They're invariably conducted standing up between two to four people though. Or perhaps between the same size group, sitting, drinking something alcoholic.
Re: (Score:3)
The common factor in all of those unproductive meetings is you.
Just saying...
Re: (Score:3)
If you don't have any meetings, how do you know what your coworkers are doing? How do you coordinate tasks with them? How do you keep everyone on the same page? Talk to everybody in the team in person? Takes alot more time than just telling everyone in the same room, once.
Some meetings take too long, some meetings are pointless (especially the ones initiated by managers that don't understand your work) and not everybody has to be in the same meetings. But some meetings are also essential.
Re:To be more specific ... (Score:4, Funny)
Consultant: Ok, engineers, what makes you unproductive?
Engineers (unisono): MEETINGS!
Consultant: Great, we have a start. Let's all sit down together and discuss the matter!
Re:To be more specific ... (Score:4, Informative)
The problem isn't PowerPoint the problem is that most of the people using it couldn't do a presentation to save their own lives!
As a bad workman blames his tools its a poor student who blames the black board
Lets stop blaming the tool because some idiots don't know how to use it.
Re:The difference between a useful meeting and (Score:4, Insightful)
The first time that I was pressed into being a project manager was at a subsidiary of a new telecom company.
We inherited some basic rules
1. Whoever called the meeting had to prepare the info for the meeting and send it out to the participants at least a day early
2. The meeting could be no longer than thirty minutes
3. Whoever called the meeting would prepare a summary and send it out to all participants with a list of action items before the end of the day
The unwritten rule was that if you started wasting people's time they would stop coming to your meetings
This put the power into the hands of the people doing the work and made the PM a servant to getting work done
That is how is should be, I cannot tell you how many times I have wanted to apply the 'unwritten rule' and walk out on some PM that was just sucking all of the intelligence out of the room and keeping people from working
But I love it when slides are read to me (Score:5, Informative)
The number of useful powerpoint presentations I have seen can be counted on one hand, but the number of presentations where all the presenter does is read, slowly, the slides to the room is uncountable...
Re:But I love it when slides are read to me (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem isn't the software, but how people are using it. Banning Power Point won't fix bad end users. They will just find a different way to give crappy presentations.
Perhaps a better approach is bundle or create software that helps people create presentations from the script on up, and perhaps the software should have one presentation the audience sees and one the presenter sees full of more info or a complete script.
Re: (Score:2)
The problem isn't the software, but how people are using it. Banning Power Point won't fix bad end users....
End users? I have been asked to make deliverables in power point format where the target audience was high level management that had to approve credits for the project. Well, I guess we can call them end users but it isn't really funny since they are the people who decides how to spend the cash.
Anyway, i was also asked to keep it as simple as possible; just make it look nice so they approve the credits.
No, the problem is the software (Score:2)
Actually, PowerPoint is so horrendously clunky and limited that even if you want to make a compelling presentation, it works against you. In short, the only thing that you can do easily is to use bullet points.
PowerPoint still cannot do what the long dead Persuasion could do, and do efficiently.
I'd love an decent alternative to PowerPoint, but it really doesn't exist.
Re: (Score:2)
I have a tool that's way better than PP at creating interesting, topical and informative slides. It's called "sharpie". It does need some skill to use it, though.
Re:But I love it when slides are read to me (Score:5, Informative)
The problem isn't the software, but how people are using it. Banning Power Point won't fix bad end users. They will just find a different way to give crappy presentations.
Perhaps a better approach is bundle or create software that helps people create presentations from the script on up, and perhaps the software should have one presentation the audience sees and one the presenter sees full of more info or a complete script.
Yeah, PowerPoint can actually do that, what with the "Notes" section that shows up on the presenter screen while the projector output shows the slide.
Scanned TFA, lots of whining but not really much counterpoint on how to better organize and deliver information *properly* . There's a gratuitous link to http://prezi.com/ [prezi.com] at the end, but just having a sexier, nonlinear presentation tool won't be of much help.
Good presentation delivery is indeed an art. But what properties make a presentation aid helpful?
The Daily Show is one example that comes to mind for someone who uses visual aids well... by placing an interesting image to associate with a story. When it does display any bulleted text, it is only used to deliver the punchline... so timing is crucial too.
Re: (Score:2)
For an example of presentations done right, you should check out Hans Rosling's GapMinder [gapminder.org] videos.
Re:But I love it when slides are read to me (Score:4, Insightful)
The problem isn't that they are crappy presentations. It is how they are being TAUGHT to present. Sales people are intentionally leaving out information and glossing over facts, because facts can lose a deal. Oh, there are some major cases that some piece of software doesn't handle? Don't present that, that goes in a footnote in the readme file tucked away somewhere. Presentations where products are concerned are drafted and built to never EVER loose a customer, only convince people that the product is the best thing since sliced bread. They are designed to not raise questions, or inform beyond a simplified message. The product isn't the issue--it is how people are being trained to use it, and changing the way a message is presented won't change the message.
Re: (Score:2)
The product isn't the issue--it is how people are being trained to use it, and changing the way a message is presented won't change the message.
True as far as it goes, but I would argue that very, very few people are actually taught how to give presentations. Think about it - someone may have taught you how to use PowerPoint, but did anyone teach you to present? I am sure we have all gotten "coaching" at one point or another from some jackass reviewing our slides pre-presentation telling us that "you need more pictures" or "spell out the acronyms on slide six" but I doubt if more than a handful have actually received decent instruction on how to or
Re: (Score:3)
Uh, and if you printed to pdf, it's on page 126. Or with notes, it's on page 252. Or if you printed it 4 up, it's on page 16.
Re: (Score:2)
YES!
Well, almost. Replace "give presentations" with "prepare presentations".
Re: (Score:2)
That must be the pinnacle of the art form of how to waste time while looking productive. You get to waste time hearing how to waste time. But how to waste time more efficiently!
Re: (Score:2)
As long as I may take my laptop to the presentation so I can get some work done while the markedroid, manager or other useless waste of oxygen is causing some pleasant background noise, I don't mind meetings that much. It's just like working in the office just with a different kind of background noise.
Re: (Score:2)
The entire summary, and many people here, are using PowerPoint and presentations interchangeably. So what do they REALLY mean, do they hate PowerPoint itself, the tool, or do they hate the idea of a presentation or slides, a concept used for many decades, or do they hate the person who does a lousy job at making and performing a presentation?
I don't like PowerPoint, as it's painful to use and oozes Microsoft out of every pore, but I don't hate presentation software as a general concept.
Re: (Score:2)
The single best thing the gov/military could do... (Score:2)
to improve the quality of its briefings while reducing bureaucracy and wasted time is ban powerpoint.
Re: (Score:2)
But then we'd notice that about 90% of the managers are useless. And please consider that most of them can't do anything else than create Power Point slides, you can't even retrain them, they ARE already at the bottom of the usefulness ladder. What would they do, especially in this economy?
Won't someone PLEASE think of the useless?
reasons (Score:5, Insightful)
"Its slides are oversimplified, and bullet points omit the complexities of nearly any issue.
- I see, so the reasons to use PowerPoint are exactly the same reasons as the ones to ban PowerPoint.
Re:reasons (Score:5, Informative)
With power point, you show them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then show them what you told them.
If you use Power Point for anything other than a high-level outline, or animated graphics that are had to show other ways, then you are doing it wrong, and that's not the fault of Power Point.
Re: (Score:2)
Correct. Using a hammer to put a screw in isn't it's intended purpose even it may appear to work.
Re: (Score:2)
In the average ITSM it should be good enough for a B rating, and that's usually good enough, most other departments struggle to get to a B anyway, so we needn't overdo it. Hammer away!
Re: (Score:2)
+1. Slides are note cards giving an outline. Some information is easier to explain with diagrams, charts and graphs, or video. Use graphics well. Keep the slides simple with 3 to 7 points per slide (to cater to human short term memory) with about one slide for every one to two minutes. No more than 30 to 40 slides for a one hour session including anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes for Q&A.
and stop after an hour. A presentation which takes more than an hour is fundamentally flawed IMO. If you must go longer
Re: (Score:3)
When teling someone something, you tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.
Please don't take this personally, but OMG PLEASE STAHP. I hear this repeated all the time, and it frustrates me endlessly. Maybe this is the rule of thumb for speaking to mutants, farm animals or teenagers. But if you have an at least moderately intelligent audience whose attendance is not compulsory (e.g. a modern workplace), telling me the same thing three times will make me stop paying attention to you. Training people that you need to repeat themselves three times in a presentation is part of why many
Re: (Score:3)
If you are talking to a class of High Schoolers and you want them to remember a fact, you put that fact on a screen, then ignore it.
Example Slide:
Start of the Civil War
Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861
You throw up a slide with the fact you want them to remember, then talk about the causes, the buildup, and form the narrative around that date.
You don't literally read the slide, say something about the slide, then read the slide again. You reinforce the verbal message with a reinfo
Re: (Score:2)
You don't read slides. If you do that, you are doing it wrong.
You don't read slides. If you do that, your audience will go to sleep.
Re:reasons (Score:4, Interesting)
Ban the tool because of people who misuse it. Sounds like gun control. And religion control. And everything else ever.
The proposed "result" of banning PowerPoint is basically the utopian dream if everyone were using it right. And the whole thing is a presentation.
Katrin Park is an idiot.
Re:reasons (Score:5, Funny)
Can't we just ban stupidity instead?
In other words... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
But beautiful & cool new transitions! *sparkle*
Re: (Score:2)
What? No graphics? No vanishing effect? How 90s!
Re:In other words... (Score:5, Insightful)
Wrong (Score:5, Insightful)
PowerPoint is not the crutch. The crutch is pointless meetings and the desire for "material" when what you really need is a discussion with the right key people in the room.
Might as well ban PDFs while we're at it, I've seen lots of pointless PDF files too.
Re: (Score:2)
But to PDFs, they have at least incorporated conferencing and "studios" into Bluebeam. Why does PowerPoint not have a collaborative conferencing solution built in?
I was going to invest in a dual-screen presentation system for my company to simplify the process of giving reference and content at the same time in a presentation without being forced into awful split-tile powerpoints, but it was just too hard at the time.
Most people aren't graphics designers, nor are they engaging presenters. It takes having
Re:Wrong (Score:5, Interesting)
Meetings can be made efficient. My meetings usually are. I invite people for their topic to the correct minute. Yes, minute. Give or take 5, but it's patently USELESS to have someone sit in a meeting for an hour if all the matters to him is about 10 minutes thereof. I don't need the design crew to discuss security matters, even though I do need them in the meeting in general. The meeting has an agenda and it has a time slice for every topic to be discussed. If you think you need more time, tell me in advance, but during the meeting, you will have your time slice and what you cannot get done in that slice will either have to wait 'til the next meeting or you will have to discuss it outside.
It took a few meetings for people to get a hang of it and it was a VERY fierce uphill battle (and I'm glad I had a lot of support from higher up or it would never have had a chance to fly), but now we get more done in a single 45 minute meeting than we used to do in a 4+ hour meeting. Yes, that also means that people have to come prepared and that they have to be PRECISELY on time. But their benefit is that instead of sitting around for hours and staring holes into the wall 'cause things are being discussed that are of no interest to them they come to the meeting, can talk about their topics with everyone they need and be gone again within less than 15 minutes.
Plus I now need much smaller meeting rooms since few people are going to be around during the whole meeting.
Powerpoint is not documentation (Score:4, Insightful)
Let's call it what it is: An aid when giving presentations, which are themselves also not documentation. There is no substitute for documentation.
Get your Zen on... (Score:2)
http://www.presentationzen.com... [presentationzen.com]
Edward Tufte (Score:4, Funny)
Also has railed about this at length LONG before this article came out, and some of this article referenced him. http://www.edwardtufte.com/tuf... [edwardtufte.com]
Plus, no one can top, "There are no bullet points like Stalin's bullet points!"
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed - here's essentially the same article from 2003: http://archive.wired.com/wired... [wired.com]
Easy way to fix it. (Score:3)
Give everyone in the audience a nerf gun. The moment it takes more than 1 slide to talk about an idea the presenter can be shot. If the slide does not carry information that can not easily be spoken, shoot the presenter. If there is ANY clipart. Shoot the presenter.
Just a tool (Score:2)
If anything, draft new policies that reflect in an employee's annual review to hold them accountable if they are required to hold effective meetings and produce supporting collateral. If it's not in their job description, then let it go. Some people are too busy being great at their actual job to bother improving their back-office skills - and until they are required to hone those skills as a part of
Only for the dumb (Score:2)
Powerpoint is now and always has been a perfect example of what Chuck D called the 'dumbassification' of America.
Don't think. Go buy. Live a thousand lives by picture. --Tuxedomoon
Death by PowerPoint is Exageration (Score:2)
But judging from seminars, using a PowerPoint to go to sleep is a good use of PPT.
Powerpoint resulted in the loss of 2 space shuttle (Score:5, Funny)
The shuttle disasters Richard Feynman, the late Nobel laureate and CalTech physicist, saw that "bulletized" thinking contributed to the Challenger disaster, where 7 crew members died and a multi-billion dollar craft destroyed due to an O-ring failure. The big problem was that NASA management wasn't really listening to the engineers - and breaking issues up into bullets helped them do that.
The engineers who worked on the Challenger O-rings knew they weren't qualified for cold weather. But management didn't want to hear it and OK'd the launch despite the engineer's opposition.
As sometimes happens, disaster ensued.
In the 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster, Prof. Tufte dissects the PowerPoint slides that buried important information - such as volume, mass and velocity - about the large piece of foam insulation that penetrated the Columbia's heat shield. Creating useful engineering reports in PowerPoint is difficult if not impossible.
And of course, powerpoint makes you stupid [unc.edu]
Re: (Score:3)
Considering PowerPoint didn't exist in 1986 (little more Windows in any usable GUI form), methinks that your first example is false. Secondly, why would you use PowerPoint to create an Engineering Report? Incorrect use of tools... who is the blame, the tool or the user?
Re: (Score:3)
Wow.
I know Microsoft gets hammered around here, but blaming the Challenger disaster (1986) on PowerPoint (1990) is really stretching the facts to match the story.
Bullet points and slide presentations did not start with PowerPoint. If anything, the "bullet point thinking" of the Challenger tragedy shows that we were already experts at presenting information poorly before we had software tools to make us more efficient at it.
Re: (Score:2)
Of course we did.
For how many decades was the transparency projector used in academia and other things?
And some of us also remember things with slide projectors where the audio went "bing" for some schmuck to advance the slide.
Power Point is bells
Tool analogy (Score:2, Informative)
Better analogy (Score:4, Interesting)
Someone used a hammer to drive a screw. We should consider using more useful tools for the problem at hand.
Re: (Score:2)
The analogy is
A whole lot of people used a hammer to drive screws. People who don't own any screwdrivers should learn when to use hammers and when to use screwdrivers.
EMACS IS THE WAY (Score:5, Insightful)
I literally had a professor (3 years ago) that put his lecture notes in text documents, and showed them on the projector from his ubuntu laptop using emacs. And he was one of the best CS professors I've ever had.
This was because he used them as outlines for what he intended to teach during the class. We discussed, worked through things, and had eye-to-eye contact and whatever else the summary says.
----Isn't this what powerpoint is for? We don't want to ban powerpoint; people just need to learn to use it properly.
Re: (Score:3)
Misuse shouldn't result in banning ... (Score:2)
Presentation software has it's uses. Do you need to present something visual that contributes to the discussion? This may be a graph or a diagram. If yes, then you probably need presentation software. Do you want to provide a visual representation of something that backs up your point? This may be an excerpt from a report, an equation, or a block of code? Presentation software may be useful here. (I'm not suggesting that it should be used for instruction. Writing things out is probably better in tha
Tech in the classroom??? (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh hell no. Tech in the classroom is not an end unto itself, and certainly not a justification for Powerpoint. Don't get me wrong, PP can be a useful tool (in some cases), and yes, it don't work without tech in the classroom. But the idea that any random PP show is valuable because "it's introducing students to technology" is ridiculous. Students are on a first-name basis with technology, they don't need to be introduced to it.
Just then... (Score:5, Funny)
Just then there was a concussive shock. Momentarily the Post's reporter was transported into a netherworld of pounding, blinding light as his office exploded in a cloud of acrid smoke and swirling documents. He lost consciousness momentarily. When he awoke, there were several men standing over him with solemn, angry looks on their faces. Their black paramilitary uniforms were outlined in stark contrast against the white-boards and family photographs. "Who... who are you" he struggled to speak.
"We're the Power Point Rangers".
Powerpoint, or slide shows? (Score:2)
Should LaTeX Beamer be banned as well?
And replace it with what? (Score:3)
Powerpoint is not the actual problem.
Oversimplification, omission of complexities: (Score:2)
Was he describing Power Point, or modern newspapers?
TFA is a PowerPoint presentation (Score:3)
The irony is definitely not lost on the authors...
It never was INTENDED to communicate or educate. (Score:3)
The name of the product says it all. It is not intended for communication, education, or the thoughtful display of information. It's not supposed to facilitate critical thinking by the audience.
It's intended to give the presenter the power to cloud men's minds... to convince... to project the presenter's views into the minds of the audience as forcefully as possible.
The once-competitive product from a once-competitor was named Aldus Persuasion. Not Aldus Display, not Aldus Presentation, not Aldus Foils--Aldus Persuasion.
Someone once called word processors (in the early days before everyone had them) "automatic weapons for inter-corporation turf wars." Much the same can be said of PowerPoint.
Re: (Score:2)
I've also heard "word processors process words like food processors process food."
Or at least reduce the templates (Score:2)
Back in the day (Score:2)
Powerpoint Gettysburg Address (Score:2)
But... But... But... (Score:2)
I've never seen this use of powerpoint (Score:3)
Another reason to kill PowerPoint (Score:2)
I work in the education industry in a large-format print environment. PowerPoint is one of the main pieces of software chosen to make large academic posters (36" x 48" commonly, but I've had larger than 60"x 96" designed in PowerPoint). It is also the main reason there are delays and errors with said posters.
Our department strongly recommends that faculty and students use either Adobe Illustrator or the free open source Inkscape to create their posters. Less than 1% of posters created in these programs have
WTF? (Score:5, Insightful)
No... be afraid, be very afraid. Re:WTF? (Score:2)
2) Anyone afraid "powerpoint might make them stupid" might actually try to raise their game.
3) People with no fear will continue presenting poorly with no thought and no preparation.
And if you're afraid powerpoint is going to make you stupid, guess what? You already are.
Awful presentations were around long before powerpoint.
Awful presentations will be around long after powerpoint is a bitter memory.
Maybe the worst thing about powerpoint is that it amplifies people's ability to gene [wikipedia.org]
Old (Score:2)
How is this news? Everyone was saying this when PowerPoint first came out.
Should be banned in education (Score:2)
I've seen plenty of college courses where the professor makes a powerpoint and teaches to the powerpoint, to the point where the person in front of the room could be any person off the street with zero knowledge in the subject they're teaching. The worst example of this I've seen was a physics class in which the professor was not only teaching to the powerpoint, he was teaching to a powerpoint made by the publisher of the textbook. That particular class got so bad that a bunch of the students dropped it bec
For those in Power,oversimplification is the Point (Score:2)
So whatever split-second decision an overpaid high-level executive takes by not allowing anything the requisite minimum thought, s/he can later blame on (and get someone else fired for) having been given incomplete information as requested by demanding earlier on that every complex matter be reduced to a polished assortment of insufficient buzzwords in incomplete grammar. In short, PPTs institutionalize PHBs' hierarchi
Re: (Score:2)
Plus, oversimplification can be used to justify all kinds of short-sighted behavior, with all the plausible deniability you describe.
I remember learning my company's brand of six sigma, and they stressed not having more than a few CTQs for any process. It made for really nice-looking powerpoint slides (which seemed to be the main output of my company's six sigma efforts). It also made for some really broken processes in some cases, because the stuff the company was making was really hard to make. There w
PowerPoint uses (Score:2)
One guy actually wrote a freaking report in PowerPoint, then brought it down to be repaired. Had to be totally reset in a real layout program.
One person used the every crayon in the box approach, using every damn transition in the program. The room was just about to go into full freak mode.
But perhaps the worst thing about PowerPoint is the appearance of veracity, w
You're missing the point... (Score:2)
Powerpoint is supposed to shorten information and condense it down. You might as well rail against taking notes by hand, because that loses original information as well.
Now, idiotic uses of Powerpoint in which the presenter just drones on and on and omits vital information - THAT is a crime, I hate people who do that. There simply is no fathoming the depths of my loathing for them. But that's people misusing the tool - we don't ban hammers because some moron tries to push the nail in with the wooden end.
PowerPoint is not the point (Score:2)
First, I've never used PowerPoint, because I've never used Windows any more than absolutely necessary, but I've used similar tools.
Second, when preparing for a presentation, I make sure that someone could get the gist of my talk from the materials, even if they were not there to hear it. That means I write very succinct statements on each slide, not vague one-word "bullets".
Third, I never read from my slides. I assume that you can read them, yourself. Instead, I paraphrase a point, and then add value by
A tool - any tool - used well, furthers a goal (Score:2)
Powerpoint isn't bad, people just don't know how to use it. Let's go back to 2007, when one of the most well-known Powerpoint* presentations was given: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]. Take a look at Steve as he's presenting. He's glancing back at the screen, from time to time, usually after his slides have advanced. The changing of the slides doesn't affect the flow of what he's saying; it underscores it at just the right time. It's mostly pictures; there are fewer than ten words on the screen at any giv
The more you know (Score:2)
Today I learned that Powerpoint makes bad presentations.
In CONCLUSION... (Score:2)
Now that I have your attention again...
Power Point Rocks! (Score:2)
1 - Perfect
2 - Paid For
3 - I forget
Re: (Score:3)
Banning things does us no favor, but getting the message out does
http://www.amazon.com/How-Powe... [amazon.com]
http://www.computerworld.com/a... [computerworld.com]
https://www.psychologytoday.co... [psychologytoday.com]
http://www.unc.edu/~healdric/P... [unc.edu]
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04... [nytimes.com]
The summary of all of these articles is that Powerpoint has a limit to how much information it can place on a slide, this is largely a function of screen resolution and visible font size
This limit is resolution results in 'high level' 10,000 display of topics that does not adequate
Re: (Score:2)
"this is largely a function of screen resolution and visible font size"
Wrong. It is limited by how much and how fast the human mind can absorb. Short-term memory varies from about 3 to 7 items. So I never put more than five items on a slide. First think about how the human mind operates, then pick your fonts etc. If you are finding yourself using smaller and smaller fonts you are not using the slides correcty.
Re:Ancillary titles to TFA (Score:5, Informative)
Not really, some of the analysis following the Challenger disaster at NASA concluded that the use of Powerpoint limited the ability to put enough relevant information on the screen to allow analysts to make the necessary connections to identify risks.
http://www.edwardtufte.com/tuf... [edwardtufte.com]
In a similar study performed by the Army, the conclusion was that all of the necessary detail that would have been included in a whitepaper was trimmed away for the 5-bulletpoints that they could put on the screen, to quote the article:“It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control,” General McMaster said in a telephone interview afterward. “Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04... [nytimes.com]
Re:Ancillary titles to TFA (Score:4, Funny)
“Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.”
Considering the military is often all about filling problems with bullets, I do indeed respect that he knows what he's talking about.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
That sounds like a much more plausible reason for spaceships crashing than "PowerPoint did it."
Re: (Score:3)
What we really need is to demand improvements to the teachers, instructors, and course developers whose reliance on PowerPoint is an abuse of the classroom. FTFY.
Competent educators know damn well that PowerPoint presentations are inadequate in any setting more advanced than teaching college students how to tie their shoelaces. An obvious reliance on PowerPoint for "educational experiences" is an obvious sign of an incompetent educator. Take away that PowerPoint and you still have an incompetent educator
Re: (Score:2)
Good presentations are valuable. They convey important information. Bad presentations are a waste of time.
Powerpoint makes it easy to produce bad presentations, but it allows you to produce good ones.
Bullet points are useless if they contain no information "Improve product market share!". "Reduce failures".
Bullet points are valuable if they remind the audience of specific points: "Balance IP3 and Noise at each stage of the RF chain". "Using too high a gain in the first stage of a RF receiver is the most
Re: (Score:3)
"The problem is "bullet points", not PowerPoint." Amen!
Building and presenting a good talk is not easy, whatever tools you use.
Chalk, transparencies, slides, Powerpoint et. al. - done 'em all over the years.
The problem is learning to make a good presentation, not Powerpoint.
Unfortunately Powerpoint makes it very easy to dress up a simple talk
wirh all sorts of ridiculous fonts, bullets, swooping text, music clips and whatnot
that are completely unnecessary and distracting.
It doesn't have to be dull (in fact