h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

(a little break from the music stream-of-consciousness posts that are supposed to carry me through the month)

At w**k, in 5 minutes we'll go over to hear the information and presentation about the just closed finacial year.

No crisis - the company's doing good.

So my outburst in the title is all due to the people designing the slides choosing, for a maybe two-hundred strong audience, TO PUT LOTS OF TEXT AND TABLES IN 12 POINT FONT SIZE ON SLIDE AFTER SLIDE.....

Are you planning to kill us? Or do you have shares in a major ophthalmologist business chain?

Can be done better! Very easily!!

For a starter, check Guy Kawasaki's 10-20-30 rule for PowerPoint presentations.

Only 12 point font? I wouldn't be able to read that at all!

Sometimes I get the distinct impression powerpoint presentations are, in fact, carefully designed soporifics, usually used in sleep clinics on chronic insomniacs.

...and I was so, ermmm, hot-tempered about this that I didn't change the date

Liked the sleep clinic one, Ag.

We didn't fall asleep - the guy who did the presentation is a magnificent speaker. Imagine what he'd do with terrific slides...

Just found the quote that I didn't have time to throw in there before the meeting:

"Since when can an audience read and listen to someone talk at the same time (even if they could actually see the 12-point text on the screen well enough to read it)?"
Garr Reynolds, PresentationZen, p. 5

I've learned that there's really little point putting words on to a powerpoint screen. Pictures are better. I did a talk on IT problems recently and projected lots of old photos of ancient 1960s computers. It gives people something to gaze at rather than read. They will still be receptive to what you are saying, rather than have to use brain power to interpret words.

Yes and no - if the images are relevant to whay you say, Otherwise, research is pretty solid that people come away with less.

In this morning's case, about half, if not two-thirds, of what was projected should have been taken off altogether and a good part of the rest spread over more slides. Typical case of "but it all needs to be there so tha people can have the slides afterwords."

No, sweetheart - slides are one thing, there to complement the talk. Handouts - that's a different animal altogether.

Why do people need slides afterwards? Have you ever, in your entire working life, looked at slides afterwards?



I use .ppt a lot, but almost entirely as a drawing and diagramming app; for example I did all of the diagrams in my d***ertation in ppt.

B

Me? Once in a blue moon, I might have...

I can see the relevance of handouts if you're doing a pitch of sorts, maybe even in competition with other bidders, and have to leave the listeners to make a decision afterwards. But then again, not leaving the presentation - but a more comprehensive thingy with the background stuff and all teh other things you didn't put up on the wall because you didn't want to kill your future client.

Should I get down from my soapbox? And was it a mistake to mention this issue of mine to my divisional manager and EVP this morning?

Not if the guy is pitching to outside clients like that.

I feel very strongly about this issue too, from a teaching point of view. The advent of smart boards/ powerpoint projectors in schools is a very dangerous moment for the profession, I reckon.

And yes! for the quote about listening and reading at the same time! Too bleeping right.

Words on the slides have a use.

I've worked with presenters who are very nervous, or whose English isn't very good. I always tell them to make sure their key points are on the slides. Then if the panic, and forget to say half the presentation, or talk in such a way that no one can understand then

Also at European Conferences where a large part of the audience won't have English as a first language we're advised to put our main points on the slides so they can understand them.

And my boss likes to make sure all my words are on my slides so she can control what I say when I'm talking on her behalf.

... cue cards

I'm actually better at taking in info visually than audially(sp?) - even did a brain test once that confirmed it, so I prefer to at least have bullet points to read than no slides at all - I tend to lose focus after a while if there's just talky-talky.

Good points!

Oops, didn't mean to change the title back.

Ottox' one-step guide to powerpoint:
http://ottox.ch/images/powerpoint.jpg

I ranted about this once before on HooToo (or did I vent during our way-station time at Noesis?) about how the majority of all our training at our nuclear power plant is CBTs (Computer-Based Training). We're talking almost all of the initial information concerning RadWorker principles, info about how our administrative process flow, the basics of maintenance job creation and tracking, and a myriad of other yearly recurring training tasks. It's not uncommon for the developer of a training session to build a PPT presentation over 100 slides. Really? Really?! I've pushed back and suggested breaking them down into more "digestible chunks" only to get the excuse "The NRC requires us to lump all this information together." PAH! They just have to teach it; they don't have to suffocate us with a BLOB of carp all in one sitting!

B4imaketheownerssitdown&prove2meTHEYcanstayawakethrougheven1PPTsession