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Don't Blame PowerPoint: It's just a vehicle
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clearpreso
October 23, 2011
Design
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Don't Blame PowerPoint: It's just a vehicle
clearpreso
October 23, 2011
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Transcript
Don’t Blame PowerPoint It’s just a vehicle
Don’t Blame PowerPoint It’s just a vehicle …That is often
driven poorly
In a car crash it is nearly always the driver
who is to blame
NOT the vehicle itself
But when it comes to bad presentations people are quick
to blame PowerPoint
Some misguided people even start political parties against it
This is stupid.
This is stupid. Really Stupid.
A PowerPoint deck is not the presentation
A PowerPoint deck is not the presentation PowerPoint is a
vehicle for your visual aids
Your presentation is your message and your information. It takes
hours of careful craft and consideration
Your PowerPoint is your vehicle to communicate well thought out
and complementary visual aids.
PowerPoint isn’t “evil”
PowerPoint isn’t “evil” It’s neutral
We don’t think of other content vehicles in the same
way…
For Example…
Outlook & Gmail are not to blame for crappy emails
It’s your annoying Boss and his inability to be concise
I write a damn fine email :-)
It wasn’t the physical vinyl records that made the Beatles
awesome
It was their music, creativity & the hard work that
went with it
George Orwell wasn’t famous because he chose to write on
paper…
It was his stories, writing style & insights
It isn’t your phone’s fault that your conversation sucks
It’s just that your friend is a really boring guy!
Blaming the vehicle/ medium in any of these cases would
be
Absurd
It is the content & how it is delivered that
is important
NOT the vehicle used to do it
As a presenter you need to bring your audience from
As a presenter you need to bring your audience from
Mental Point A
As a presenter you need to bring your audience from
Mental Point A Mental Point B To
You should use whatever vehicle works for you
The audience don’t see…
The audience don’t see…
The audience don’t see…
The audience don’t see…
They see a screen…
Tell a good story and make effective, thoughtful visuals and
they won’t know or care what software you used
Concentrating on the vehicle, rather than the route can go
badly…
What’s more…
It’s a freaking LAZY excuse
The worst thing about the PowerPoint blame game is that
it distracts from the real issue
Laziness
By blaming the presentation software we take focus off the
real problem
Lazy Users
We absolve users of any real responsibility
We absolve users of any real responsibility Are you calling
me LAZY!
We absolve users of any real responsibility Are you calling
me LAZY! Hell YEH!
The reality is that making bad presentations is a user-choice
Making bulletpoint filled slides is a choice
This…
None
Was a choice
None
This was a choice
None
Yep…
A choice
You can use PowerPoint as an autocue, but again that
is a choice
You can choose to ignore great books like
Poor usage of the vehicle is a choice.
Like with a car, you can choose to drive recklessly
You can choose to drive to the wrong place
And you can choose to ignore the maps…
But that isn’t the car s fault ’
So…
Let’s focus on what really matters
Let’s focus on what really matters the Presentation
And send the vehicle blame game to the scrapheap
If you agree then why not spread the word
Check out my site @ www.clearpreso.com Or click here to
send me a tweet! @clearpreso