Four hours...
Seriously - four hours of powerpoint (non-stop) - and as we progressed throught the slides, the point size of the font decreased to allow for more text to get onto the slides. I was reminded of one of the guys I work with (Jeff) favorite phrase during a power point "If you can read that, you are in the wrong job - you should be a sniper" Apart from the fact that powerpoint is one of the most poorly conceived tools for presentation, the way you use it can either make or break a presentation.
I've a rule for myself that I try to stick to - I call it the 10/20/30 rule:
Personally I use the whiteboard for almost everything - where I need more formality, I tend to use mind-maps. I prefer mind mapping as a technique because it allows for non-linear presentation, where I can go with the flow of the conversation and work with the people I'm speaking to. If they indicate a topic is more interesting through their body language or questions - I can quickly move diffent parts of the mind-map to address those areas - of course I've build lots of maps to help me - as a last resort, I'll use a powerpoint - a short powerpoint - with pictures and large font text - oh, and gothic fonts apparently (so research shows) carry more "weight" than arial as a font - non serif fonts convey a more "friendly" tone.
So, stick to the 10/20/30 rule and try to make things non-linear but with a single coherant thread or message to your presentation (three at most) and maybe we can train our business community that four hour eye tests are not the way to win friends and influence people!
So, no - powerpoint doesn't suck, what we do with it though - can leave a lot to be desired.
Seriously - four hours of powerpoint (non-stop) - and as we progressed throught the slides, the point size of the font decreased to allow for more text to get onto the slides. I was reminded of one of the guys I work with (Jeff) favorite phrase during a power point "If you can read that, you are in the wrong job - you should be a sniper" Apart from the fact that powerpoint is one of the most poorly conceived tools for presentation, the way you use it can either make or break a presentation.
I've a rule for myself that I try to stick to - I call it the 10/20/30 rule:
- 10 slides per presentation maximum
- 20 minutes on a slide deck maximum
- 30 point font on a slide as a minimum
Personally I use the whiteboard for almost everything - where I need more formality, I tend to use mind-maps. I prefer mind mapping as a technique because it allows for non-linear presentation, where I can go with the flow of the conversation and work with the people I'm speaking to. If they indicate a topic is more interesting through their body language or questions - I can quickly move diffent parts of the mind-map to address those areas - of course I've build lots of maps to help me - as a last resort, I'll use a powerpoint - a short powerpoint - with pictures and large font text - oh, and gothic fonts apparently (so research shows) carry more "weight" than arial as a font - non serif fonts convey a more "friendly" tone.
So, stick to the 10/20/30 rule and try to make things non-linear but with a single coherant thread or message to your presentation (three at most) and maybe we can train our business community that four hour eye tests are not the way to win friends and influence people!
So, no - powerpoint doesn't suck, what we do with it though - can leave a lot to be desired.
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