19 August 03

Tufte On Powerpoint

As long as we are ranting about various pieces of Microsoft Office, it’s time to recommend reading Edward Tufte’s recent essay The Cognitive Style of Powerpoint. As somebody who has lived through far too many Powerpoint presentations, I am appreciative that Tufte has taken on the fundamental cognitive limitations of talks given using Powerpoint (or, to be fair, other but similar presentation software). Such a style has become a clich, and I am thankful whenever somebody eschews slides for notes on a chalkboard. As Tufte points out, you can put far more information on a printed handout than in a set of Powerpoint slides, so why not pass out the handout and actually engage your audience in conversation? My worst Powerpoint peeve is gratuitous use of animation: I will automatically give anybody who uses animated text fade-ins 15 demerits.

Posted by at 08:30 PM in Miscellaneous | Link |
  1. I am really behind the times as I did my first powerpoint presentation only a month ago. The first thing that struck me was how dependent it made me on the projector working and my disc being compatible with the venue’s equipment. (We have an Apple Mac). Too bad if there had been a blackout! I prefer hands on practical sessions which are far more appropriate for my topic but not always possible to organise.

    — Jenny    20. August 2003, 14:37    Link
  2. Rule #1 for PowerPoint presentations: Images only. Never use words on the slides. Say the words aloud, or use that handout Numenius mentioned.
    Alas, Numenius didn’t mention the Powerpoint version of the Gettysburg Address, so I will: http://norvig.com/Gettysburg/

    — Chris Clarke    20. August 2003, 16:03    Link

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