When it comes to bad PowerPoint presentations, most people love to blame the tool or software. However, it’s interesting that many other people can use the same tool and achieve completely different results.
You might be able to rack up the different outcomes to a person’s experience and expertise, but I believe all ‘PowerPoint evil’ can be traced back to the simple issue of time - and how we manage it or choose to spend it.
A strong post from Rowan on Powerpoint. He makes excellent points with extremely valuable supports.
If your presentation consists of a PowerPoint and the File Properties tell you that the audience will be spending more than half of your allotted time reading your slides, I would recommend staying home and sending an email.
http://fortifyservices.blogspot.com/2009/02/putting-value-on-your-audiences-time.html
Have you run into a situation where you need a photo for a slide and you either can’t find one that works and looks just right on services such as iStockPhoto or for a shot like this, you can’t justify paying for a photo of some Sharpies? You can try the Creative Commons route at flickr, but even then it’s a crap-shoot whether you’ll find something worthy of being included among your slides.
Well, a lot of us presenting slide design bloggers have suggested using your own photos in place of stock photos when you can. Not only can it be cheaper, but you’re guaranteed to be the first to use that particular photo.
Read more as Mike provides some useful tips on creating the photos
Michael Hyatt has compiled a list of the tools he uses. It is practical and very useful.
Just for grins, let's cover some examples of logical fallacies that we often hear about PowerPoint -- the tool many love to hate.
http://www.maniactive.com/states/2009/01/top-6-fallacies-about-powerpoint.html
[From Boing Boing]
So many of the epic problems that Obama is going to be wrestling with over the next four years involve systems of great complexity and scale: the bailouts and stimulus programs, our national energy use, the immense expenditures involved in fighting two wars, the global scope of climate change. Tufte would be the first person to argue that complex systems like these are not easily explained using sentences and statistics, particularly when we're talking about such vast numbers. I can imagine a White House address on the stimulus package, or his long-term plan for energy independence, where instead of sitting at a desk reading from a teleprompter, he's actually walking us through the problem and his proposed solution with a backdrop of visually arresting and memorable slides. That would actually make for more stimulating television, and at the same time do a better job of communicating the issues.
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/19/the-case-for-powerpo.html
Garr at Presentation Zen has reviewed Timothy Samara's book"Twenty Rules for Making Good Design". He showcases 10 of the rules. Though they are basic, they are still vital and we need to be reminded of them - always .... http://adjix.com/uj7p
By Christine Kent
Streamline the process of creating slides for your speaker
Not all of us who work in communications are blessed with a strong design sense—we’re usually good with words, and we leave the design and image creation to the experts. But communications people are eventually called on to create smart, informative and eye-catching slides for an executive presentation—usually under some insanely tight deadline.
For those times when you are pressed into the “slide jockey” role, Nancy Duarte, presentation design maven, offers some advice. Duarte says the task of creating a presentation for someone else is made tougher by the fact that executives believe they are defined by their presentation style.
Recently, I've become aware of some emerging trends regarding presentation styles and have recognized some individuals who seem to be at the forefront of these trends. Stylistically, these trends often involve rapid, compact presentations spoken over carefully chosen words and imagery to punctuate the points being made. These 'cut the crap' style presentations can be surprisingly informational and quite entertaining if delivered well. It's something that personally gets me motivated to attend events and makes me hopeful for the future of visual storytelling.
As humankind has evolved from telling stories on cave walls to seeing world leaders use PowerPoint (for better or worse) we've also evolved how narrative takes place. Here are some emerging trends I've been able to identify: http://adjix.com/428
I attend numerous conferences, symposia, and workshops each year—both as a participant and a contributor. I am increasingly frustrated with my colleagues’ and my own performance. In general, the issue is our misuse and overuse of the standard presentation format: bulleted slide after bulleted slide.