Do you dislike Power Point?

[Elizabeth B]

I have always disliked having to make powerpoint presentations.

My husband recently went to an Edward Tufte course that sounded really interesting, and Tufte's essay about powerpoint gave some rational reasons to support my inherent dislike of powerpoint.

Here's a quote from his website:

"Alas, slideware often reduces the analytical quality of presentations. In particular, the popular PowerPoint templates (ready-made designs) usually weaken verbal and spatial reasoning, and almost always corrupt statistical analysis. What is the problem with PowerPoint? And how can we improve our presentations?"

So, does anyone here dislike PowerPoint? And, does anyone here actually like meetings, anyway. I never met a meeting I liked, although the shorter, the better.

[nottaprettygal]

I really do not like PowerPoint either.

One of my professors uses PowerPoint each class, and I find myself having trouble paying attention to him because I'm just staring at the slides. I would equate it almost to watching TV. I'd much rather put all my full attention towards the speaker.

[ApeTheDog]

I think powerpoint makes it so the people who cannot pay attention easily pay attention more easily, but the people who can pay attention without problem are actually distracted by them.

Ah well... greater good and all that.

[Phenylethylene]

I generally have a fair amount of trouble paying attention in class, PowerPoint or no. I've realized that I can improve my attentiveness by forcing myself to write down whatever the professor writes, which I don't do with PP slides. On the other hand, my professors always release their slides to the class which are generally more complete than any notes that I could take (due to my slow writing and crappy eyesight).

One of my engineering classes a few years ago was on the opposite end of campus; this meant I never arrived in time to sit anywhere near the front where I could see. I might as well have skipped the lectures altogether (or the class for that matter - I think I ended up failing). PP slides would have helped a lot here.

So, overall, I am indifferent but may favor one over the other depending on the circumstances.

[MacGuffin]

PP should be very general, the oral part of the presentation should give the detail. I hate PP presentations where everything they say is on display. Just give us the PP file and save us some time.

[Dunearhp]

Had to give a presentation to a group of businessmen (VC types). One of the comments they made was that it was refreshing to watch a presentation that didn't rely on powerpoint.

I think it's primary purpose is to draw the audiences' eyes so that the presenter feels less nervous.

It has become a crutch, most people associate it with empty marketspeak.
If the presentation doesn't require visual content, then you are often better off without it.

[Heather Harrison]

I hate it. Where I work, we have to use it for presentations. It is a pain to use, and it contributes to "dumbing down" the information. I have spent way too much time creating slides when I could be doing something productive. Many engineers call this activity "PowerPoint Engineering", usually with a derisive tone in the voice.

People can often give more convincing presentations by simply talking and drawing on a blackboard.

PowerPoint is evil!

Heather Harrison

http://www.trannyweb.com/membersites/personal/heatherh/in0101_bgates.gif

[lexiphanic]

I think powerpoint makes it so the people who cannot pay attention easily pay attention more easily, but the people who can pay attention without problem are actually distracted by them.

Ah well... greater good and all that.

They without fail put me to sleep in 5 minutes or less.

[s0978]

I think it's primary purpose is to draw the audiences' eyes so that the presenter feels less nervous.haha, it's a very important function though!

[Snowflake]

Everyone learns PowerPoint. At my college, one of the GED program courses that all students take teaches Microsoft Word and Powerpoint, specifically.

You don't learn anything generic, it's PowerPoint.

Why don't teachers use Flash or even interactive websites for their presentations? it would be much more feasible, IMO, and far more attractive to look at.

Nothing beats a good old fashioned lecture though. I've had only one or two professors who didn't use PowerPoint, and they were damn good speakers, too.

[eyebyte_atWork]

I do not hate it - but I do not particularly like it either - ofcourse I do not use it much.

[Nighthawk]

I've heard some horror stories about Powerpoint from my former colleagues in the military ... particularly those at the Pentagon. It is apparently so deeply entrenched in the military culture that it is impossible to conduct a briefing or talk without it. They even take laptops into combat so that they can have Powerpoint briefings there.

Fortunately, I missed most of the Powerpoint BS. I got out of grad school over 10 years ago, before it caught on ... and I'm not in a work position where I have to brief people very often. I let the management people take care off that stuff.

My wife had to use Powerpoint a lot in grad school. I helped her out in the beginning, but she quickly became proficient at the basics. Every one of her presentations required Powerpoint ... so I guess they used it a lot as a crutch there.

[coffeezombie]

Power Point is cool if you get someone creative up there. Otherwise the presentations on them are exceedingly dull usually.

[nottaprettygal]

Power Point is cool if you get someone creative up there. Otherwise the presentations on them are exceedingly dull usually.

This is precisely why I just agreed to be responsible for putting together the PowerPoint presentation for one of my classes. My group's previous presentations have been mind-numbingly dull but, oh no, not this time...cause I'm in charge.

I did a presentation on the PATRIOT Act recently, and I had a picture of John Ashcroft with flames shooting out of his head. It was a hit.

[Star Cannon]

Ugh. I had to do a power point presentation in 9th grade... We had to sum up a disease in 2 minutes with slides, an introduction blah-bleh-blah-bleh-blah. Boring as hell. I will never make a class do power point presentations.

[Leftfield]

PP should be very general, the oral part of the presentation should give the detail. I hate PP presentations where everything they say is on display. Just give us the PP file and save us some time.

I am in a Professional Speaking class and this is the exact case. It should be used to further clarify what the speaker is saying with either visuals or in some cases what is best explained visually. The audio/visual concept of Powerpoint retains knowledge better in the long-run so I give big ups to PowerPoint but only in the case that MacGuffin presents. In the cases of pictures or "flames shooting out of John Ashcroft's head", is where it is most beneficial.

Edit: Also, in our textbook for the class, we have a whole chapter on Visual Aids, and half discusses the effectiveness of PowerPoint when used appropriately, and most importantly explains WHY, which may have been the most useful topic because I can internally critize my professors that either overuse or misuse it...

[Elizabeth B]

I've heard some horror stories about Powerpoint from my former colleagues in the military ... particularly those at the Pentagon. It is apparently so deeply entrenched in the military culture that it is impossible to conduct a briefing or talk without it. They even take laptops into combat so that they can have Powerpoint briefings there.

It is ridiculous. It used to be you could deploy without it, one of my last deployments I was under someone (usually we were autonomous, I was in charge) from another unit. The first Commander, he was great. No Powerpoint, he would come by once or twice a day and get an update; and, he had the sense not to ask if we were busy with a plane on final but wait until the plane landed.

The second Commander required Power Point, we had to deploy in an extra person to comply with the requirement. It was a big operation, I figure 7 extra people total from all the units to comply with his need for Powerpoint. Also, the few times he stopped by to see how things were going, he would try to talk to us when we had a plane on final. I didn't truly appreciate the first guy until he was gone! (I knew he was a good guy, I just didn't realize how much until we got the next one in.)

Also, Powerpoint really does dumb things down, and it's hard to put stats and graphs up unless you cut out the titles and patches and use the whole screen (which I did for my graphs, but don't catch an SJ putting up a slide that's not the same as all the others and doesn't have a title or a patch.)

[Dolphin]

I do not like PowerPoint. I don’t think it allows me to be creative enough. It takes the focus away from the presentation I think. I prefer using the overhead.

The presentations that I have done using visual aids sucked. The only way I saved the presentation was by being creative and using good rhetoric. My voice and smile saved the day.

I do so much better without it than I do with it.

SJ’s definitely do love it though. It is so boring!

Another thing, when I take notes how come I am done in half the time it takes everyone else to take notes?

Flash presentations would be cool though. Well, that is if you like psychedelic flash presentations. http://forums.intpcentral.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

I have also found that playing music in the background keeps them awake.