On the surface, it seems like a useful and practical tool. Turns out, PowerPoint is not good. See, PowerPoint is the only way presentations are given any more.
Problem #1: You have to dim the lights to get good clarity in the slides. With the lights off, it becomes very difficult to stay awake, no matter how charismatic the presenter.
Problem #2: PowerPoint has made people lazy. How many times have you watched a PowerPoint presentation where the presenter reads the presentation verbatim from the slides. Is it just me, or is this a HUGE waste of time. If they are just going to read the slides, they may as well just give us the text and call it a day.
Problem #3: Lets face it, people try to make their slide shows all too "exciting". The sound effects are annoying, the crazy slide transitions waste time and are distracting. I would much rather cover the material in half the time, if it means we get rid of the extra stuff.
Problem #4: Most people are not PowerPoint proficient. If you are going to use it for a presentation, at least know the basics of how to start and end the presentation. The audience tends to lose a lot of confidence in the speaker when they can't even start their own presentation.
That being said, lets take a break from PowerPoint. It makes me tired and cranky just thinking about it.
2 comments:
I am ok with PowerPoint as presented in problem #2 - Give me the slides and send me home. I think too many meetings are called, partially just to give some inept weirdo the "opportunity" to present with PowerPoint.
I think PowerPoint is highly overrated . . . and people get too 'creative', it makes everyone think they're a graphic artist . . . people use flashy colors, too many different fonts, and like you said, the sound effects and transitions are just awful. I'm old fashioned, I like a regular presenter talking without the aide of slides. Entertain me, or just email me the presentation!
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