Comments on: Tufte: “PowerPoint Is Teh Suxx0rz”

By: Poor_Statue

Poor_Statue — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:21:42 +0000

I’m enjoying your instructional posts on presenting. I feel like I do after a particularly good workshop or class- yes, this is what I’ve been trying to do, but now I understand better how to do it.

I hate boring PowerPoint presentations. Most of the time I’ve used one, it has been only for images or supplementary stuff (a cartoon or great quote to introduce a new section, for example).

I loved watching your final slideshow of “Kicking Out the Cliches” and really appreciate that you included that and the handouts.

Thank you.

By: Scott Elias

Scott Elias — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 02:22:51 +0000

I love the idea of starting at 0x0x0 and working your way up. I don’t know many adults – let alone kids – who can stay focused for six slides of six bullets each having six words.

I know you’ve mentioned it before, but I love the Presentation Zen blog. Specifically, this post from 11/2005 that compares and contrasts Steve Jobs and Bill Gates’s presentation styles – down to the aesthetic of their respective slide decks.

http://tinyurl.com/wm7rs

By: dan

dan — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 02:01:53 +0000

Like the hypothetical assignment in your third ‘graf there, Todd, as well as your revised questions. Those are less awkward.

By: Todd

Todd — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 18:43:04 +0000

Every time I start up PowerPoint, I get so nervous that I am that presenter. And after I give the presentation, I always fear that I’ve failed again and given a perfect example of what PP should never be used for. My friend said it on a recent trip: every teacher’s mantra is “Please, god, don’t let the weak link be me.”

While I like the commentary you include there, I don’t think those first two questions in bold are quite right. “Does your content work so well…”?? Those read better to me if it’s “Would your content work better if.” Would your content work better if you put supplemental materials in front of your audience? If not, then PP is superfluous and, as you wrote, “a form of vanity.” That makes more sense to me. I get your implication (that the content needs to be as good as the content can possibly be before you start adding something like PP to it), but I think content can sometimes be improved through turning it into a presentation.

Yup, it’s a tool that needs to be used at the right time. Having students use PP to summarize the story we just read or demonstrate answers to 1-35 odd, that’s not the right time. Perhaps an effective student PP assignment would involve synthesizing meaning from an entire unit of study and not being allowed to use any words on a slide. Images convey meaning, but you have to know what you mean in order to find the right image.

The same applies to presentations given by teachers.

And the Bullet Ant digression is a good one. I missed that when it first ran. Add another PP entry to the queue of entries on my blog. You reminded me that I need to follow up on my last one. Money, mouth — you know.