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PowerPoint Makes You Stupid. Here Are 3 Smarter AlternativesAs Steve Jobs once said, 'People who know what they are talking about don't need PowerPoint.'
Inc. ^ | February 20, 2020 | Geoffrey James

Posted on 06/03/2023 4:51:50 PM PDT by DoodleBob

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To: rlmorel

Yeah, looks like mine. I made sure we had whiteboards up to 3 years ago, when I retired.

The big issue was virtual attendees. That is the worst.


41 posted on 06/03/2023 7:55:27 PM PDT by buwaya (Strategic imperatives )
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To: Paladin2

Just to prove how old I am, I will point out the fact that we used Harvard Graphics prior to Powerpoint - roughly 1985-1990.


42 posted on 06/03/2023 7:55:40 PM PDT by Wally_Kalbacken
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To: DoodleBob

I retired from a Powerpoint-intensive company. I think that the worst part was sitting there looking at the PP presentation while some schlub stood at the dais reading the same thing we were reading.

Spirit killing clap-trap!


43 posted on 06/03/2023 7:59:58 PM PDT by rockrr ( Everything is different now... )
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To: DoodleBob

#16 that looks like a woke chart of losses for Target and Bud Light and Fox News etc...


44 posted on 06/03/2023 8:01:07 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: marktwain
Exactly. There was a presentation I attended on understanding what is your clients' perspective. A big part of that presentation rested on this picture, and an ensuing 12-min discussion about "what questions would you ask to uncover of what is this a picture?"

What became clear, was that while most people ultimately considered this a satellite image of North Korea at night, many people thought it was a picture of the Earth, a picture of China, a picture of South Korea, or a picture of the ocean.

The drawing in of the audience, the engagement, and the real-time learning didn't come from great software. It came from the presenter.

45 posted on 06/03/2023 8:04:08 PM PDT by DoodleBob ( Gravity’s waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: rlmorel

I sort of feel like a member of a secret club whenever I meet someone else who’s a fan of that chart, and geeks out, and expresses hatred of PowerPoint.


46 posted on 06/03/2023 8:06:21 PM PDT by DoodleBob ( Gravity’s waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: All

It’s more stupid people pretending to be (and accepted) as experts. It’s not PowerPoint.


47 posted on 06/03/2023 8:13:42 PM PDT by mmichaels1970
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To: DoodleBob

48 posted on 06/03/2023 8:36:28 PM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: DoodleBob
In 2002 I was assigned to support the SEALS. I was disgusted to see their missions being approved based on PowerPoint presentations.


49 posted on 06/03/2023 8:37:07 PM PDT by where's_the_Outrage? (Drain the Swamp. Build the Wall.)
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To: DoodleBob
In fact, before 1990, nobody used PowerPoint and business presentations were consequently rare to non-existent

BS. We had overhead projectors and transparencies, and meetings were even longer and more tedious, adding in the time for the presenter to position each slide on the screen. I attended a seminar by graphic expert Edward Tufte back in the 80's - he stated that the standard business overhead slide was the lowest form of communication known to man in terms of information per unit. His book "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" is still the best resource to learn about conveying information graphically. PowerPoint is better.....but please don't stand there and read your PowerPoint slides in a monotone. May as well have used an overhead.

50 posted on 06/03/2023 8:50:48 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite its unfashionability)
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To: DoodleBob

If you attend Edward Tufte’s seminars
= = =

I have.

Loved them.


51 posted on 06/03/2023 9:30:15 PM PDT by Scrambler Bob
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To: DoodleBob

COVID gave me Power Point overload. All the youtubers I watched who used to meet in person in the field went to zoom type meetings intermixed with power Point slides.


52 posted on 06/04/2023 2:45:29 AM PDT by Pollard ( >>> The Great Rest is already underway! <<<)
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To: DoodleBob
"Death By Powerpoint" is certainly ingrained in the corporate culture at my company.

In a typical client-facing presentation, we can have up to 100 slides in our deck with five or six "subject matter experts" speaking to them with usually a 45-minute time limit.

I have never been in a presentation yet where we either finished in 45 minutes or got to all the slides in the deck.

I recognized that early on (and I hate presenting) so I always limit myself to one or two slides when I'm part of a presentation. That way my piece is done rather quickly. In fact, my standard presentation is to simply list bullet points of what my department is responsible for on the slide, speak to them for a minute or two and then ask THEM if they have any questions. That way, the presentation becomes interactive and I'm addressing only what is of interest to the client.

Another reply here nailed it. Powerpoint is excellent fore PREPARING a presentation but an awful way to present it.

When I give a presentaton, I will create multiple slides and then print them out for myself, to use as cue cards. Only one or two slides will be in the actual deck that basically summarize what I am presenting. I speak to the details and then I am prepared to answer any specific questions.

The mistake many people make when presenting is when they read from their slides word for word in a monotone voice. That technique will lose your audience every time. You never read off the slides but speak TO them. Throwing in some humor is good as well, when appropriate. You need to be able to read your audience. Oftentimes, they are getting presentations from other vendors that same day so they are already burned out. So I keep it short and sweet and let them drive the interaction by letting them ask questions. They seem to appreciate that much more than sitting through slide after slide while somebody reads off of them.

53 posted on 06/04/2023 5:11:23 AM PDT by SamAdams76 (5,301,904 Truth | 86,921,174 Twitter)
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To: SamAdams76

54 posted on 06/04/2023 5:40:53 AM PDT by DoodleBob ( Gravity’s waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: Paladin2

Genuine slate chalkboards were the best!


55 posted on 06/04/2023 6:21:35 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: discostu

I’m the odd bird in most cases. I actually developed a fondness for technical writing. That didn’t come easy. I hate Dxygen crap in source code. It clutters the source code and is super sub-standard quality documentation. If something is worth documentation, it is worth stand-alone, well composed documentation.


56 posted on 06/04/2023 6:27:05 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: rlmorel

I’m with you all the way. The walls need to be smooth and painted with whiteboard paint. Then there needs to be no fewer than two 4X8 roll-around whiteboards.


57 posted on 06/04/2023 6:29:03 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: MotorCityBuck

The slate chalkboards were the very best in classroom presentation.


58 posted on 06/04/2023 6:32:47 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: Some Fat Guy in L.A.

Prior to overhead projectors, they just passed out little handbooks. There was a time when those in the meeting were expected to take notes. Of course, it was common to use one’s own brain back in those days.


59 posted on 06/04/2023 6:39:15 AM PDT by GingisK
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To: GingisK

LOL!


60 posted on 06/04/2023 6:55:48 AM PDT by rlmorel ("If you think tough men are dangerous, just wait until you see what weak men are capable of." JBP)
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