Power Point Presentations...

[Larry Gude]

I figure this is the place to get this widest possible opinion base because even if you're not into politics or what's in the news, you still have to deal with meetings and presentations, right?

So, did power point bring down the last space shuttle, Columbia?

To wit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/29/AR2005082901444.html

Ruth Marcus pretty much says so and calls power point 'torture'.

I have very limited experience with it, so, thoughts?

 

[Bustem' Down]

Sounds like the typical "microsoft id evil and Bill Gates is the Anti-Christ" routine to me.

 

[vraiblonde]

I get annoyed with little old lady technophobes. Ooooh! It has to do with computers - skeeeeery!

 

[tlatchaw]

"The deeper problem with the PowerPointing of America -- the PowerPointing of the planet, actually -- is that the program tends to flatten the most complex, subtle, even beautiful, ideas into tedious, bullet-pointed bureaucratese."

Right, it was condensed into something the bosses could get their brains around. That's what it's supposed to do. If the point should have been stressed or made more clear, that the fault of the person creating the presentation, not the application.

 

[marianne]

"PowerPoint's failings have been outlined most vividly by Yale political scientist Edward Tufte, a specialist in the visual display of information"

Tufte is correct, although this article is not well written and makes him out to be a bit of a wacko. I generally enjoy MS applications, especially Project. But having taken Tufte's course, what he's saying about how people use PowerPoint is on target. This article does not do justice in explaining Tufte's views of visual displays, blaming a disaster on a graphic tool. In his teachings, Tufte explains how displays of information that incorporate multiple variables are the best at giving us a true understanding of the situation. For example, in the famous Napoleon's March to Moscow graphic (http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/58), six variables are presented on one chart. If you had put each variable on a separate chart (i.e., one chart showing weather changes, one chart listing troop size, etc.) you would never see how half the troops were lost while trying to cross the frozen river in Napoleon's retreat. The principle that "decision makers" use - Keep It Simple Stupid - is horrible. The fact that people put three bars on a powerpoint slide churns my stomach. I do my best at spreading Tufte's message by teaching those I work with, but it's a tough sell. I highly recommend all analysts and decision makers read Tufte's book "visual displays of information" and attend his courses. It's impossible for me to explain in a forum post how valuable Tufte's teachings have been, just as the washington post article does not do justice to Tufte's work, but I can easily say it was the best course I've taken in my life.

 

[Tonio]

If the point should have been stressed or made more clear, that the fault of the person creating the presentation, not the application.

I agree. Here's an interesting sentence from the article: "The seductive availability of PowerPoint and the built-in drive to reduce all subjects to a series of short-handed bullet points eliminates nuances and enables, even encourages, the absence of serious thinking." You could say the same thing about TV, especially TV news which I can't stand. But that's certainly not the fault of Philo T. Farnsworth or Vladimir Zworkyn. Any electronic tool can be misused to avoid serious thinking.

 

[Steve]

I get annoyed with little old lady technophobes. Ooooh! It has to do with computers - skeeeeery!

Hey!! You have to use PowerPoint before you can disagree with the article missy!

 

[Steve]

I do my best at spreading Tufte's message by teaching those I work with, but it's a tough sell. I highly recommend all analysts and decision makers read Tufte's book "visual displays of information" and attend his courses.

His courses may be great, but the stark reality is that not everyone has the time to study things outside of their primary career field, yet we are pretty much all required to use PowerPoint (and Project and Excel, etc.) because it has become the standard. I must use PP to present updates at just about every briefing I attend, but I don't have nearly the time it would take to become an expert at it. I think Tufte is encouraging us to get away from it, and use those tools that fall within our career fields, no matter how hard it will be for management to learn to understand what's being presented, instead of the over simplified PP methodology.

 

[Larry Gude]

OK but on to specifics...

...is PP responsible for the lack of attention to the solar shield problem that led to Columbias' death?

They way I read the article, she is say that people covered bullet points, IE "yep, we talked about the solar shields' and there was no follow through.

 

[jazz lady]

OK but on to specifics...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...is PP responsible for the lack of attention to the solar shield problem that led to Columbias' death?

They way I read the article, she is say that people covered bullet points, IE "yep, we talked about the solar shields' and there was no follow through.

No. PowerPoint is a SUMMARY of the points to be covered, NOT an all-encompassing manuscript of the entire talk. The majority of people scan the bullets and never HEAR the message. But if you put too much information in there, they lose interest, tune out, and don't get the message. Somewhere is a happy medium but it's an art to get there.

PP is only a tool and, in this case, it was used incorrectly to convey the importance of the information of the presentation. The tool is fine. The way it was used was not.

 

[fishinfool]

No. PowerPoint is a SUMMARY of the points to be covered, NOT an all-encompassing manuscript of the entire talk. The majority of people scan the bullets and never HEAR the message. But if you put too much information in there, they lose interest, tune out, and don't get the message. Somewhere is a happy medium but it's an art to get there.

PP is only a tool and, in this case, it was used incorrectly to convey the importance of the information of the presentation. The tool is fine. The way it was used was not.

 

[Larry Gude]

That's what I am interested in...

The tool is fine. The way it was used was not.

It sounded to me like she was scapegoating PP.

 

[jazz lady]

That's what I am interested in...

It sounded to me like she was scapegoating PP.

She was. Like the old saying goes: "a poor carpenter blames his tools."

 

[FastCarsSpeed]

No. PowerPoint is a SUMMARY of the points to be covered, NOT an all-encompassing manuscript of the entire talk. The majority of people scan the bullets and never HEAR the message. But if you put too much information in there, they lose interest, tune out, and don't get the message. Somewhere is a happy medium but it's an art to get there.

PP is only a tool and, in this case, it was used incorrectly to convey the importance of the information of the presentation. The tool is fine. The way it was used was not.

Absolutely right. I use PP almost every day. I do it to organize my content and thats it.. But PP should hardly ever be used all by itself. When I demo software or teach a training class I always have the actual data or environment up in another program so that way I can show the audience more indepth information.

Its not the product its the users and how they convey the message.

 

[Railroad]

Of COURSE PowerPoint is at fault! Sue Microsoft! Just like Colt is at fault for that .45 that jumped into somebody's hand and killed an innocent kid in a drive-by shooting! Sue Colt!





NAVAIR Program Management Reviews and Integrated Logistics Support Management Team Meetings: Death by PowerPoint

 

[marianne]

His courses may be great, but the stark reality is that not everyone has the time to study things outside of their primary career field, yet we are pretty much all required to use PowerPoint (and Project and Excel, etc.) because it has become the standard. I must use PP to present updates at just about every briefing I attend, but I don't have nearly the time it would take to become an expert at it. I think Tufte is encouraging us to get away from it, and use those tools that fall within our career fields, no matter how hard it will be for management to learn to understand what's being presented, instead of the over simplified PP methodology.

Studying how to develop visual displays of information should be given the same amount of weight as studying how to make a presentation (i.e., presentation skills training) or technical writing. It's a soft skill that most folks don't realize they need (similar to facilitation skills). That's why I'm saying folks developing or reviewing visual displays of information really should learn the best way to do it, through something like Tufte's teachings, rather than using a PPT template. Especially if a large portion of your job is presenting or interpreting data/information. The stark reality is that an engineer/analyst who doesn't know how to get their message across is not nearly as effective as one who does. When I was working as a statistician, and after taking his course, I made significant and immediate changes to my reports and presentations because I was humble enough to consider and accept his ideas.

The battle I face is not with engineers & analysts as much as decision makers who are very set in their ways. I was very fortunate, where I used to work, to have one VP who was a believer in Tufte's teachings. He once asked Tufte what he thought of the KISS principle. Tufte replied he was never certain just who "stupid" was referring to. Tufte firmly believes that decision makers can understand informative visual displays if they are explained well enough. Explanations can be given verbally during a presentation. Displays of information should always be given in handouts because the detail is too granular to view on a projection. Every chart/table should have a footnote citing the source of the data. I could go on and on with rules of thumb but this is the sort of stuff you can learn by just reading his book, which is filled with terrific examples of what to do as well as what not to do. I would refer to the displays in his book often and use some of them as templates for displays of data with which I was working.

 

[jazz lady]

But PP should hardly ever be used all by itself.

Absolutely. It is an enhancement to a speech and should NEVER stand alone. Too many people do not know how to organize their thoughts effectively and efficiently to convey their message. They wind up with a bunch of slides with bullets everywhere and total disorganization.

The key to PP to me IS organization. It's like writing the skeleton for a paper, then fleshing the details in. Once you understand how to do that, it becomes easy and almost second-nature.

 

[vraiblonde]

PowerPoint is evil Satan and caused that shuttle to crash. I'm positive it's in cahoots with the David Hasselhoff fans to bring down America and take over the world.

 

[Tonio]

I'm positive it's in cahoots with the David Hasselhoff fans to bring down America and take over the world.

Be not deceived by the Hasselhoffians. Their evil work is meant to distract us from learning the Truth. For the true Antichrist is...

SCOTT BAIO!

 

[vraiblonde]

Be not deceived by the Hasselhoffians. Their evil work is meant to distract us from learning the Truth. For the true Antichrist is...

##### ####!

DON'T WRITE HIS NAME! He might appear. :crossesself: