Whilst doing some background research for a blog that I wanted to write, I stumbled upon an article by Prof. Tufte of the Yale University entitled "PowerPoint is Evil" in the popular magazine Wired, dated from 2003.
Okay, so this is really old news in Internet years (which are exceptionally similar to dog years) since it came out in 2003. However, Prof. Tufte's article (now one of many on the idea that PowerPoint is evil) as well as his book on the subject is still at topic of discussion today. And so I ask myself, why should such an absurd proclamation still hold our interest today? Further still, I wonder at the many who continue to bandy about this ridiculous statement.
The obvious answer is that most of us have suffered through more than one bad PowerPoint presentation. In the absence of reliable research, I'd wager a guess that we suffer through bad PowerPoint presentations more than 60% of the time.
With so many wasted hours and achingly dull and oftentimes embarrassing presentations lived through, it's no wonder that we seek something to blame. Blaming Power Point, however, is sloppy thinking. Might as well blame a car for all the speeding tickets and parking violations you get.
Clearly, I'm laying the blame for poor presentations squarely at the feet of the presenter rather than naming the tool used to present with as evil. This is an argument that Professor Tufte anticipates to a certain extent and counters by saying that it is the very nature of the pitch which is expected from PowerPoint presentations and their presenters which is corrupt. Again, "its the car's fault for being so fast that I got the speeding ticket."
But that is, again, not the fault of PowerPoint. It is the fault of an insidious culture of "just give me the headlines" that one finds all too often our businesses today. As I all too often find myself telling clients: business is complicated so do yourself a favor and try to master some of the details.
How we chose to communicate with PowerPoint is very similar to how we chose to drive our cars (or use any other tool to get something done). Misuse a car and you'll get tickets and perhaps even put your life in danger. Misuse PowerPoint and you will thankfully not face the same degree of danger. You will, however, probably not have been able to get your point across and neither been convincing nor successful.
Is PowerPoint evil? Obviously not. It's how we chose to use it that matters.
Benjamen Bauer is the pen name of an active management consultant who enjoys discussing and writing about good (and bad) presentation technique. Since he currently is still in the employee of a big name consultancy he prefers to remain anonymous whilst writing about of contemporary business presentation culture from the front lines. You can read his blog and tutorials at http://www.professional-powerpoint.com
Did you know that you can easily use themes from other documents, including documents with customized themes and documents from different 2007 Microsoft Office system programs?Power Point Tutorial25025
¶ 1:57 PM
