Here is the link to Jesper's book! It has a sample chapter and Table of contents! A must have book!
www.awprofessional.com/title/0321336437
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A corollary is to limit the number of slides. There is no rule that says that you have to have 50 slides. I've sat (slept) through presentations with over 100 slides. They lost me on #11. Also, limit the number of animations. If you must use bullet points, then have them come up one at a time. Use the bullet as a memory jogger, then tell the story behind that bullet. Quickly move to the next.
Edward Tufte (Prof Emeritus, Statisitical Evidence, Information Design, Interface Design Yale) wrote a 28 page mongraph on the Cognitive Style of Powerpoint that will change your ideas on it forever. Powerpoint suffers from low information density from the large fonts (Dick and Jane Syndrome), low attention span from resulting from the low information density, and enables burying too much value in the structuring of the presentation. The Shuttle Challenger Fuel Tanks presentation is the classic example where Powerpoint, inadvertantly, but still directly, enabled overlooking critical information that led directly to the disaster and deaths of the crew.
I'll be looking it up. Thanks.
Edit: Yes. Very interesting. I'll keep reading through the comments section.
Edit: Yes. Very interesting. I'll keep reading through the comments section.
"Slides are a decoration, not a crutch. If your speech can't stand on its own two legs, don't give it." (From a boss I worked for early on, when "slides" meant "Kodachrome".)
I can only think of two or three slide presentations I've seen in the last 20 years that were worth remembering after walking out of the meeting room. Neither were what people think of a "typical" PowerPoint presentations. Instead, as the article noted, far too many people use PowerPoint when they should use a word processor - to convey reports, present verbose, detailed information, and so on.
I do believe that PowerPoint itself *does* encourage people to make poor presentations. I've had very positive results from getting people who had been giving "dense" PP presentations to switch to other software, particularly Keynote. PowerPoint assumes you want to make a dense presentation; Keynote helps you make an effective one.
But it can only help... the only real factor in making a presentation effective is - the presenter.
I can only think of two or three slide presentations I've seen in the last 20 years that were worth remembering after walking out of the meeting room. Neither were what people think of a "typical" PowerPoint presentations. Instead, as the article noted, far too many people use PowerPoint when they should use a word processor - to convey reports, present verbose, detailed information, and so on.
I do believe that PowerPoint itself *does* encourage people to make poor presentations. I've had very positive results from getting people who had been giving "dense" PP presentations to switch to other software, particularly Keynote. PowerPoint assumes you want to make a dense presentation; Keynote helps you make an effective one.
But it can only help... the only real factor in making a presentation effective is - the presenter.
10 slides
20 minutes
no font smaller than 30 point...
This is a simple presentation format but it works for me most of the time.
BTW: thanks for the tip on the use of colour...I use white backgrounds for simplicity but maybe will try some colour to keep from burning out my audience's eyes.
20 minutes
no font smaller than 30 point...
This is a simple presentation format but it works for me most of the time.
BTW: thanks for the tip on the use of colour...I use white backgrounds for simplicity but maybe will try some colour to keep from burning out my audience's eyes.
It's stated "The point ... isn't to cram as much information into a single slide as possible" yet a couple items down "a picture is worth a thousand words" is proffered. Well, which is it? (My money is on the picture 'crammed' full of information.) It's stated you only need "memory joggers" and that incomplete sentences are okay. Aren't these bullet items which it seems are "bad"?
I think the basic issue that leads to PowerPoint abuse is that people try (or in my case are requested) to use PowerPoint for things it wasn't designed for. PowerPoint in and of itself is a poor conveyor of information. It is not a substitute for information conveyed by speech or word processor. For a presentation I generally prefer a blank white board unless pictures or charts are needed. For what it's worth, I don't find black text on a white screen in a dark room hard to look at. That's how I often look at text on a computer screen since VT100s went away. White text on a dark screen in a dark room is easily lost if the room is of any size.
I think the basic issue that leads to PowerPoint abuse is that people try (or in my case are requested) to use PowerPoint for things it wasn't designed for. PowerPoint in and of itself is a poor conveyor of information. It is not a substitute for information conveyed by speech or word processor. For a presentation I generally prefer a blank white board unless pictures or charts are needed. For what it's worth, I don't find black text on a white screen in a dark room hard to look at. That's how I often look at text on a computer screen since VT100s went away. White text on a dark screen in a dark room is easily lost if the room is of any size.
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