Death by Powerpoint

01Sep08

So today we endured a presentation at senior assembly from an old boy on the topic of ‘Measuring Body Fat’. Now, not only was his topic choice completely inappropriate in the context of assembly speeches, it was also incredibly inappropriate considering the demographic of 16–18 year old boys who made up the audience. I do appreciate the thought of him going to the trouble to educate us about his profession and staying healthy—I’m sure he meant well—but there’s no getting away from the fact that this was dead boring.

Now to make a bad situation worse was the powerpoint. A typical example of ‘what not to do’ when it comes to using a slideshow to complement a presentation. A garish yellow on black motif and some attempts to squeeze too much into one slide left us, the audience, in a trance like state. see below [Dilbert 2008.08.22]

So what should we do so this never happens again? Easy, just watch Death by Powerpoint and take on board what’s hot and what’s not. This particular slideshow has been my reference for good use of Powerpoint and shall continue to be the first thing I point people towards after witnessing many of these abuses of the medium.

Hopefully when the time comes when you are called back to your old high school to present to a group of boys about your experiences on whatever riveting career path you’ve chosen, you can sleep well knowing that you haven’t caused death by powerpoint.

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Tags: dilbert, powerpoint, school, slideshare