Why PowerPoint Should Be Banned

An anonymous reader writes: An editorial at the Washington Post argues that Microsoft PowerPoint is being relied upon by too many to do too much, and we should start working to get rid of it. "Its slides are oversimplified, and bullet points omit the complexities of nearly any issue. The slides are designed to skip the learning process, which — when it works — involves dialogue, eye-to-eye contact and discussions. Of course PowerPoint has merits — it can help businesses with their sales pitches or let teachers introduce technology into the classroom. But instead of being used as a means for a dynamic engagement, it has become a poor substitute for longer, well-thought-out briefings and technical reports. It has become a crutch."

Comments

But I love it when slides are read to me

[jaymz666]

The number of useful powerpoint presentations I have seen can be counted on one hand, but the number of presentations where all the presenter does is read, slowly, the slides to the room is uncountable...

Re:But I love it when slides are read to me

[rwa2]

The problem isn't the software, but how people are using it. Banning Power Point won't fix bad end users. They will just find a different way to give crappy presentations.

Perhaps a better approach is bundle or create software that helps people create presentations from the script on up, and perhaps the software should have one presentation the audience sees and one the presenter sees full of more info or a complete script.

Yeah, PowerPoint can actually do that, what with the "Notes" section that shows up on the presenter screen while the projector output shows the slide.

Scanned TFA, lots of whining but not really much counterpoint on how to better organize and deliver information *properly* . There's a gratuitous link to http://prezi.com/ at the end, but just having a sexier, nonlinear presentation tool won't be of much help.

Good presentation delivery is indeed an art. But what properties make a presentation aid helpful?
The Daily Show is one example that comes to mind for someone who uses visual aids well... by placing an interesting image to associate with a story. When it does display any bulleted text, it is only used to deliver the punchline... so timing is crucial too.

Re:reasons

[AK Marc]

When teling someone something, you tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.

With power point, you show them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then show them what you told them.

If you use Power Point for anything other than a high-level outline, or animated graphics that are had to show other ways, then you are doing it wrong, and that's not the fault of Power Point.

Tool analogy

[w_dragon]

Someone used a hammer to drive a nail! We should ban hammers!

Re:Ancillary titles to TFA

[garyisabusyguy]

Not really, some of the analysis following the Challenger disaster at NASA concluded that the use of Powerpoint limited the ability to put enough relevant information on the screen to allow analysts to make the necessary connections to identify risks.
http://www.edwardtufte.com/tuf...

In a similar study performed by the Army, the conclusion was that all of the necessary detail that would have been included in a whitepaper was trimmed away for the 5-bulletpoints that they could put on the screen, to quote the article:“It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control,” General McMaster said in a telephone interview afterward. “Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04...

Re:To be more specific ...

[Big Hairy Ian]

The problem isn't PowerPoint the problem is that most of the people using it couldn't do a presentation to save their own lives!

As a bad workman blames his tools its a poor student who blames the black board

Lets stop blaming the tool because some idiots don't know how to use it.