…and this is a 
A defense of PowerPoint
Category: Academics
Posted on: November 24, 2006 6:50 PM, by PZ Myers
OK, if you're familiar with the usual PowerPoint bashing, you might be entertained by this explanation of why PowerPoint is not Satan's pull toy. I can distill it down a bit:
- Have something interesting to say
- Design a talk, don't just string slides together
- Keep the slides simple, clean, and consistent
Basic common sense, I think—PP is just a tool that is very easily abused. There are also many more specific detailed suggestions at that link, though, so don't just go by my suggestions.
Comments
Posted by: John Wilkins | November 24, 2006 7:16 PM
Not another thing to attack you on, Paul! My Unknowable God!
It should be Keynote not PowerPoint! You know that!
Posted by: Chris Nedin | November 24, 2006 7:24 PM
You forgot the most important one:
The tasteful use of cephalopods
Posted by: The Disgruntled Chemist | November 24, 2006 7:26 PM
There's nothing wrong with PowerPoint, as long as you know how to use it right. Most scientists are horrible about that, however.
Personal pet peeve: I went to a talk earlier this month where every single bullet point on every slide had some sort "entrance effect", so four times per slide something would come spinning in from off-screen. It was so irritating, I walked out about halfway through.
Posted by: Craig O. | November 24, 2006 7:33 PM
Personal pet peeve: I went to a talk earlier this month where every single bullet point on every slide had some sort "entrance effect", so four times per slide something would come spinning in from off-screen.
One of the problems with the PP version I have a work is that the default animation effect is the "spinning" effect. So when I want to show one bullet at a time, I have to manually go in and change the effect to "appear". Inevitably, I forget some and it ends up looking goofy.
Posted by: PZ Myers | November 24, 2006 7:33 PM
Yeah, and if you follow that link, you'll see that they've compounded their sins: the screenshots are of the Windows version of PowerPoint. It's hideous.
Chris, I know from experience that I have to restrict myself to no more than one cephalopod slide per talk. Anything more, and the audience just tunes me out to revel in Glorious Biodiversity.
Posted by: SMC | November 24, 2006 7:42 PM
In my opinion, the solution is easy - just stop using the word "PowerPoint™". Just say "slideshow". If the presenter remembers that the fancy computer program (Impress, Keynote, Powerpoint, whatever) is simply a SLIDESHOW PROJECTOR and stop treating it as a "talk presentation software package" the presentations tend to be less bad, in my experience. On rare occasions, they can even be good...
Posted by: Steve Watson | November 24, 2006 8:31 PM
Stupid animations on presentations are an example of the adage: "Just because you can doesn't mean you should".
Posted by: coturnix | November 24, 2006 9:21 PM
In my experience, compared to physicians and industry-types, scientists are great users of PPT.
Posted by: RBH | November 24, 2006 9:22 PM
Having just returned to (part-time) professing this semester after a 16 year hiatus, it took me a little while to realize that PowerPoint is not merely a means of putting my lecture notes on a screen. Once I figured that out, it has become a useful adjunct, if for no other reason than preparing the figures and graphics and equations that I plan to use beforehand beats the hell out of scrawling them on the board in real time.
Posted by: suirauqa | November 24, 2006 9:43 PM
Great Jumping Galaxies (I am still in search of a suitable alternative to 'Good Lord')!
Powerpoint, Keynote, Impress - these are tools, tools and tools. How is it Powerpoint's fault if the presenter tends to overdo stuff with colors, fancy text and animations?
There are some hideous options and defaults in Powerpoint, truly. But if it does not occur to someone that s/he can refrain from using those options, how is that Powerpoint's (substitute your favorite program's name) fault again?
Software packages are software packages. Humans are stupid. Well... mostly.
Posted by: J Bean | November 24, 2006 10:35 PM
Oh please, no white text on blue backgrounds or blue text on white backgrounds. It makes my feeble eyes ache. Black on white or black on yellow is just fine.
Posted by: Alon Levy | November 24, 2006 10:59 PM
Well, that's biology. Math is very different, I think, because the theorem-proof structure of math lectures makes them more suitable for projecting a PDF LaTeX file than for a slideshow.
Posted by: Sam Paris | November 25, 2006 12:06 AM
The special effects are the least of sins commited with Power Point. The greatest sin is the notion that a printout of the presentation, usually with so many screens per page that the print is nearly illegiible, is an acceptable set of lecture notes.
It's one thing when atrocities like this are given out by someone just giving a talk. It's quite another when one has paid for a seminar. Class notes should expand on a lesson, not present the high points in a form that requires a magnifying glass to use.
Posted by: Village Green | November 25, 2006 12:24 AM
Have you ever seen David Byrne's Power Point show? He takes it to another level entirely:
http://www.davidbyrne.com/art/eeei/index.php
Posted by: Lettuce | November 25, 2006 12:26 AM
There's very litte wrong with PowerPoint that Keynote can't fix.
Posted by: Eva | November 25, 2006 2:11 AM
I LOVE that the linked article mentions Comic Sans. I've seen a serious, intelligent visiting lecturer use slides that were ENTIRELY in Comic Sans. Not just the titles, but all of the text. I can't take your talk seriously if it's in Comic Sans!
It's the typed equivalent of drawing hearts on all your letter i's.
Posted by: JackGoff | November 25, 2006 2:24 AM
Just, for the love of Chupacabra, follow the 7x7 rule. 7 lines, 7 words each. It's not too hard to follow, and it makes PowerPoint presentations SOOOOO much better.
Posted by: PIerre | November 25, 2006 3:13 AM
Here is my experience with powerpoint... :-)
Pierre
Posted by: Ian Robinson | November 25, 2006 4:48 AM
The Presentation Zen blog is required reading for anyone who does presentations IMHO. See:
http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/
Ian
Posted by: Thinker | November 25, 2006 7:17 AM
My key experience is that after you have decided what your interesting thing to say is, you should think about how to get it across, and if PowerPoint is the right tool for that at all. Too many people just default to PP (and make that worse by recycling old slides indiscriminately), but the best talks I've heard typically used no visual aids at all.
Posted by: bones | November 25, 2006 9:29 AM
After 20 odd years of professional presentations I rarely, if ever, have come across someone who has prepared a Power Point presentation that actually has something interesting to say. Except maybe...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzpJwcwcNOs
Posted by: DJosephDesign | November 25, 2006 10:09 AM
PowerPoint is not the evil, the majority of PowerPoint users are. I design high-end presentations that make people "ooh and aah" and remember what I, or those that I design for, said. Quite often, people ask me what program I use because PowerPoint "can't do" stuff like I did.
WRONG! It's all in the user. The problem today is that so many presenters feel that they can just plug their text into PowerPoint and everything will be okay. But it's like using a chainsaw with no knowledge--mass destruction will ensue from microtext on the screen, bad colors, overpowering backgrounds, cheap fonts, and worthless illustrations.
You can see some of my presentation design on my site.
Posted by: Steve LaBonne | November 25, 2006 10:28 AM
I can never think of Powerpoint without remembering this:
http://norvig.com/Gettysburg/
Posted by: PZ Myers | November 25, 2006 10:34 AM
But, DJosephDesign, your stuff breaks several of the rules I suggested.
- You don't have anything interesting to say -- promotional work for AiG is gussying up a pig.
- Your designs aren't simple and clean: you've got garish stuff all over the screen, with animated distractions.
I can understand, though, that your designs are perfect for a presentation where the last thing you want is for the viewer to notice the vacuity of the content.
Posted by: Bob | November 25, 2006 10:40 AM
DJJosephDesign - your point is well taken but it has little to do with PowerPoint. You have quite nice and interesting graphic designs on your site. But I'm afraid that your slides also make the point that many others here rail against. An impressive design effort that props up substanceless information. The design is used here to distract folks from the lack of content.
Posted by: DJosephDesign | November 25, 2006 10:56 AM
Those slides are mostly promotional. I have textual work too, but Answers in Genesis gives a different style of presentations--less text, more illustrations. It better conveys the point in so many cases.
My point is that people aren't designing their slides. Business hire designers to create an attractive website that communicates, they hire designers to produce attractive printed material that communicates, they hire designers to create attractive video promotionals that communicate, so why don't they apply those same principles of attraction and communication to their presentations?
Presentations are meant to aid the speaker, not give his outline like handouts.
The majority of presentations given lose the audience because the audience is not visually engaged. The slides are boring, or hard to read because of poor design. And pre-2007 PowerPoint includes templates that should not be used for presentations.
And please, leave ad hominem attacks out of this. AiG seeks to clearly and knowledgeably communicate all truth and hide nothing. AiG has nothing to fear from the truth. If you want to attack this, then send me an email through my site and I'd be happy to discuss things on intelligent grounds.
Posted by: Caledonian | November 25, 2006 10:58 AM
Those are insults, you fool, not ad hominems.
Posted by: Steve_C | November 25, 2006 11:04 AM
The design is crap. Looks about 20 years old.
Thank dog he doesn't use Keynote.
Posted by: Steve_C | November 25, 2006 11:08 AM
AiG is a sham. A lie. Bamboozlement.
The earth is BILLIONS of years old.
There was no Ark, there was no great flood.
There is no truth to be found at the AIG Museum.
Wake up.
Posted by: JackGoff | November 25, 2006 2:01 PM
BAH HAHAHA!
Q: "How do we know God wrote the Bible?"
A: "It is scientifically accurate."
I suppose physics proves that it is possible to make a day longer than it is normally, and I suppose physics also proves that there are no stars more than 6000 light years away, right DJD? I suppose you believe in the firmament, right? And, of course, physics also proves the validity of the scientifically accurate belief.
If you can't tell, I'm laughing my ass off.
Posted by: DJosephDesign | November 25, 2006 3:12 PM
I'd be happy to debate these issues in a relevant location. But I don't want to cause a string of off-topic posts on this blog.
So either contact me through my website, or point me to a location where we can chat, if you want to have an intelligent discussion instead of throwing empty accusations and childish insults.
Posted by: JackGoff | November 25, 2006 3:49 PM
Trust me, bud. Those insults aren't empty. And intelligent discussion about science cannot be had with a person who calls the Bible "scientifically accurate".
Posted by: Carlie | November 25, 2006 5:40 PM
Last I looked, this was a science and evolution blog, with a large helping of combating anti-science. It's always a relevant location to discuss how AIG is legitimately full of crap. Hiding behind "I'd rather talk about it privately so I don't have to deal with all of you with all your facts" won't get you ve ry far.
Posted by: Buffalo Gal | November 25, 2006 5:49 PM
Sorry to make a comment on topic, but as someone who has been student off and on since purple mimeos, I say power point is a very nice tool. It can render a simple slide show or a flashier presentation. Images are clear and sharp. If the printout of the slides is distributed at the start of class, students can use as an outline, adding their own notes where appropriate. If presenters follow the guidelines - have something to say, don't substitute gimmicks for thought, make sure the visuals are clear - PPt can help make a good lecture.
Posted by: RBH | November 25, 2006 6:17 PM
DJJosephDesign wrote
C'mon over to Infidels. Try the E/C Forum. Informal discussions or moderated formal debates, depending on your taste.Posted by: DJosephDesign | November 25, 2006 6:21 PM
I never said a "private" discussion. I said we could debate directly or in another location.
On what grounds? I accept the Bible as a history book and base my thinking on it. Evolutionists claim that there is now history book of origins, and must develop theories about the past.
Both of us are putting faith in something--I, in my assumptions about the past, based on what I believe is written history; you, in your assumptions about the past based on your knowledge of the present.
Very well. Then if the blog administrator allows it, I'm available to publicly discuss creation vs. evolution if we can do so on level, intelligent grounds without childish attacks. You can start with your belief system (naturalism), and I can start with mine (the Bible).
Perhaps the blog administrator will create a specific area where we can do this. (Preferably a place to which I can subscribe via RSS or email.)
I'm open to debate, are you?
Posted by: Carlie | November 25, 2006 6:34 PM
Sigh. First you have to read through all the archives here, because I highly doubt that you have any points to make that have not already been thoroughly discussed here, most probably multiple times. If you do that and still have something new to offer, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise, it's wasting everyone's time.
On the Powerpoint issue - I've always thought there should be a style manager, kind of like the annoying little Word paper clip, that pops up and says "I really wouldn't do that if I were you" whenever someone attempts a visually inappropriate slide (color combo, stupid fonts, etc.). I trained on 35 mm slides, and I still have difficulty thinking about using Powerpoint for anything but full frame pictures, collages at best. I've also noticed that in lectures to students, if there is any text on the slides that's all they write down, even if you spend 15 minutes discussing the points on the slide. For some reason when I write on a board they take it more seriously, even though they've been raised on the PPT.
Posted by: JackGoff | November 25, 2006 7:10 PM
I can start with mine (the Bible).
Are you serious? The Bible describes a firmament as the shape of the heavens. Do you think that this firmament exists? Do you know what is meant by "the firmament"? I just want to know what I'm dealing with.
Oh, and if "God" wrote the Bible, he hates large amounts of people and wants us to kill people for infractions like adultery. Read Leviticus.
Posted by: llewelly | November 25, 2006 7:21 PM
Look you. That's just not true. God does not hate anyone; God was just off his meds for a few millennia. God is all better now. Modern pharmaceuticals have brought God back to reality, and God loves everyone - even PZ Myers.Posted by: Steve_C | November 25, 2006 9:01 PM
This is a freethinking blog. Don't worry about the "administrator". We talk about anything and everything on here. As long as it's not a flame war... we're cool.
Also, the opportunity to debate a real live AiG'er will not be curtailed in any way.
The possible entertainment factor is much to high.
Bring it on!
So DJoseph, I'm guessing you're a young earth creationist... is the universe itself the same age as the earth?
Posted by: arensb | November 25, 2006 11:58 PM
Is it just a coincidence that your summary consisted of a bullet list and a short paragraph?
Now you need to render them in Comic Sans in red on blue, make the bullet points fly in, and you've got yourself a presentation! :-)
Posted by: Space Parasite | November 26, 2006 2:44 AM
The Jennifer Morgue (Charles Stross) features a Power Point presentation in a way that definitely supports at least one side of this issue. Plus, it's way cool (and I say this as a brain-eating space parasite).
Posted by: Steve_C | November 26, 2006 11:16 AM
Can we please please please start an open thread just for our esteemed AiG guest...
he is so well mannered he won't discuss the AiG Museum or evolution in this thread.
Or it's just an excuse not to engage us.
Posted by: Jay Ray | November 26, 2006 12:17 PM
For several months now over at the PT forums, one of AIG's lesser demons has been doing poorly at this very task. In actuality, I think his purpose is more that of ministry than bibliosci, but with these guys it can be hard to tell.
So now it looks like the greater demons at AIG are stepping up where the lesser demons have failed. This ought to be good!
Posted by: PZ Myers | November 26, 2006 12:25 PM
OK, Here's some rope…I mean, thread.
Posted by: Carlie | November 26, 2006 12:35 PM
Popped up in a pretty passive-aggressive way, too... "Oh, this is about Powerpoint? Well, here's some Powerpoint for you..."
Thanks for giving the space, PZ. Will be interesting to see if anything happens.
Posted by: Carlie | November 26, 2006 12:39 PM
Speaking of which, I just now finally clicked on his site. While the first few slides were admittedly eye-catching, the one that said "How do we know God wrote the Bible? It is scientifically accurate" is written in a font that makes me think of someone unhinged writing with a crayon in a lockdown room. I'm not sure what it is, but it's much worse than Comic Sans.
Posted by: anomalous4 | November 27, 2006 4:35 PM
PowerPoint. Gaak. When my son was in fifth grade, he brought home a history assignment for which he had to do a PowerPoint presentation.
FIFTH BLEEPING GRADE!!!!!!
His dad (who he lives with) had to go out and buy the stinkin' piece of software (and put more money into the coffers of the Evil Empire).
Now that's a little extreme, don't you think?
Posted by: Keith Douglas | November 28, 2006 4:29 PM
I can beat that, anomalous4. I read in the newspaper that the latest round of warm fuzzies that is the Quebec Ministry of Education has lead to PP being used by students in Grade 1 and 2! Now, I'm all for early education in technology, but for crying out loud, most of my peers in Grade 1 were unable to read full sentences when they started ...
As for presentations, I often use just inkjet transparencies. They have many of the prepare-it-advance strengths of PP or Keynote, but also have the advantage of allowing one to use a greasemarker to scribble additions if necessary. Of course there are drawbacks ... (like that damn light).