Amen.

Pure gold, Laura. I talked about shared language and participated as an audience member in a talk on speaking skills at BarCamp Sydney 3 last weekend.

Both talks were very much focussed on getting folks to understand it’s about the story. It’s an understanding that is all too rare.

great conversation - I just spent 1 of 2 mornings with some relatively forward thinking educators from all over for the Instructional Technology conference here in Nashville. There’s been a lot of interest in the book and coursework. Many of them are talking about the Lessig style of PowerPoint design.

that’s a field that invented death by PPT.

I know what you mean, but, really, is it the PPT or is it the way it’s used? (Let me just state for the record that I LOATHE the wretched software which name I shall not write.)

Still, I’ve put on superslick tradeshow ballroom type presentations that got applause. ‘course, the screen was 9 x 6 ft and surrounded by 30 pairs of loudspeakers. Tag-team host and design engineers delivering crafted script. Almost every page was a graphic or a simple phrase or list. “Let’s listen…” And the gobo lights swing to spotlight the speakers in question. Screen: white type on black “ProductName.”

With imagination and a good story to tell, even this loathesome MS-Office application can make people cheer. Funky music don’t hurt either.

But for general purposes, I gotta agree with our hostess, the diminutive nut. People use it as a crutch, and it prevents them from telling their story. In that regard, it is evil.

One of my mentors from back in the 1980s used to say this about his “overheads”:
“I use these slides the way a drunk uses a lamp post. More for my support than your illumination.”

Good point, Pistachio, but Powerpoint doesn’t have to be a bore… It’s only a bore if it’s made boring. Or if it’s just read. Which is making it boring

It’s true that it doesn’t replace the speaker or take away his role of getting the message through, but it can be a great contribution to the lecture.

Hj

I disagree.

From a psychological standpoint, visual learners really -need- something, anything, to stare at so they can soak up what they are hearing. They can’t just get it by hearing.

And if you’re not charismatic enough to be a Helen Mirren/Ian McKellen, then get yourself a damn slide to show behind you.

I don’t care if it’s a graph or a picture of a kitten, either one will help visual learners (in the majority of learning styles in this day and age, seriously check the numbers) -hear- you more.

THANK YOU!

The worst really is when presenters read their slides out loud.

I have to confess however that Barbara is right: PPT helps a lot when you did not have (or did not take) enough time to prepare.

That is similar to a conversation I had recently at a presentation. Someone from the audience said “We’ve got this huge problem with getting people to use wikis…we have 500 of them”

uh…do I have to illuminated the problem - to me it seems self-evident. Just in case it is not…*do not* let everyone in your company start their own wiki. In fact turn off the ’start your own wiki’ feature and point them to the ‘add a page’ feature.