[EAS] PowerPoint Views

[pjk]

Subject:   PowerPoint Views

Some of my colleagues reminded me of Tufte's Web site
<http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/> where you can find particulars
about his PowerPoint pamphlet, and of the Gettysburg Address in
PowerPoint <http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/index.htm>, both of
which I did link to, and readers of NewsScan Daily item I reproduced
in <http://jove.eng.yale.edu/pipermail/eas-info/2003/000659.html>
weighed in (below). --PJK

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(NewsScan Daily, 16 December 2003)

THE FAULT OF LOUSY PRESENTATIONS LIES IN THE PRESENTER
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=9738
     I am not at all surprised that NASA's Columbia Accident
Investigation Board fingered the agency's over-reliance on Microsoft
PowerPoint presentations as a contributing factor to last February's
shuttle disaster. However, I am somewhat puzzled by your headline
suggesting that the Board concluded such over-reliance "leads to
simplistic thinking." PowerPoint is simply a tool. When used
properly, it can be extremely helpful in delivering information that
can be understood, accepted, and acted upon--which is (or should be)
the objective of any presentation. But like any presentation tool,
PowerPoint does not compensate for a writer's lack of presentation
skills. In my experience, few people have ever been taught the
basics of creating effective presentations. It's this lack of
presentation skills, and not the presentation tools, that leads to
lousy presentations. A set of Craftsman tools does not a carpenter
make. (Dr. Martin H. Tesler, Alexandria VA)

BANNING POWERPOINT LEADS TO RISE IN PRODUCTIVITY
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=9738
     I can't tell you how satisfying it was to read about the NY
Times article on the NASA Report. It's a crying shame people don't
pay more attention to the subtle ways in which both software and
hardware are changing the way we think, our expectations, and our
relationships with each other.  And now some of the consequences are
catastrophic.
     I was also reminded of a reference many years ago to someone at
Sun Microsystems removing all PowerPoint development from their
sales department and seeing a significant rise in revenue and
productivity afterward.  I think my reference first came from you
guys, when you cited a story quoting Sun CEO Scott McNealy saying:
"We had 12.9 gigabytes of (Microsoft) PowerPoint slides on our
network. And I thought, 'What a huge waste of corporate
productivity.'  So we banned it. And we've had three unbelievable
record-breaking fiscal quarters since we banned PowerPoint. Now, I
would argue that every company in the world, if they would just ban
PowerPoint, would see their earnings skyrocket. Employees would
stand around going, 'What do I do? Guess I've got to go to work.'"
Most sincerely appreciating the work you two are doing. (Dave
Trautman, Edmonton, Canada)

IDEAS LUMPED TOGETHER DO NOT A PRESENTATION MAKE
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=9738
     Regarding "Over-Reliance on PowerPoint Leads to Simplistic
Thinking" --For the kind of editing I do, people regularly dump
PowerPoints on me, and they drive me nuts. I've seen a total of
maybe two in the last several years that could possibly be
considered intelligible. One of the main problems is that they force
people to try to categorize items when the person doing the
presentation either doesn't understand how to categorize or doesn't
have the specific information available to categorize in the area
being discussed. PowerPoint presentations remind me of essays from
the middle ages by people like John de Manville who would group
disparate items together and think they'd made an argument. In both
cases, it's nobody's "fault," just an inappropriate attempt to cage
ideas and terms together for convenience when there isn't enough
solid information to support the association. (Derek Davis, Dushore,
PA)

A CONTRASTING OPINION ON POWERPOINT
Re: http://www.newsscan.com/cgi-bin/findit_view?table=newsletter&id=9738
     For an interesting, contrasting opinion on Tufte's PowerPoint
remarks, see Peter Coffee's column in EWeek:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1401470,00.asp (Thomas Frericht)