mikewsmith – Member

exactly binners the software made them do it, it literally forced them into it. Shit people are shit.
But when every one you ever receive is a dog’s dinner and professional presentation designers hate it, then you’d think they’d listen and start to constrain things a little better.
But then Keynote does exactly that so it’s not as if Microsoft haven’t been shown the way (and yes, you get sick of seeing the same transitions and backgrounds with Keynote, but that’s about 1/100th of the evil that seeing Comic Sans in purple and red on the same page is)

Power point is on the majority if desktops, it’s the default go to for the masses, give the people who make good presentations powerpoint and they will make a good presentation. Couple that with most people receiving powerpoint are at work and not enjoying it anyway it’s not a good start.

Google “Presentation Zen” by Garr Reynolds

A yes the Apple knows better than anyone else, so we’ll constrain how you use it 🙄 As an aside Apple have in the past used Comic Sans, so in the right context it can work.

Binners your post is nothing to do with PowerPoint and everything to do with a person putting together a p*ss poor presentation.

As an aside Apple have in the past used Comic Sans, so in the right context it can work.

So you diss Apple and then say that their use of Comic Sans is of itself an illustration that it can work.

Anyway – I can’t see how you can defend it. I can’t imagine any UI or UX expert every taking a look at PowerPoint and thinking ‘hmmm – someone’s done a good job here’. It’s a dinosaur that suffered from too many features, added too quickly during a time when nobody at Microsoft gave a monkeys about UX.

From the article:

My friend also told me that when he removed PowerPoint from lecture theatres, his students demanded it back, because without it they had to organise their own notes. In this century, it seems to me, our greatest enemy will not be drones or Isis or perhaps even climate change: it will be convenience.

This doesn’t surprise me.

As said waaayyyy up there^, it’s just a tool. It will no more empower someone to make a good lecture or presentation than being able to talk or write does.

We’re talking about the presentation of information. If you don’t put the time and effort in to present that information properly, it’s going to be shit.

Powerpoint is a completely irrelevant factor in this.

There is one thing worse than Powerpoint.
.
Prezi.

Prezi.

Oh yes. I’ve wasted hours in that low level of Dante’s inferno 😉 And then been disappointed when nobody stood up and applauded at my awesome animation.

I used to sit through technical presentations on new network products wondering if hacking my own arm off with a stapler would be preferable to another 3 hours of circuit board pictures. When you see Slide 1/327 at 8am on a wet Monday morning, it’s time to put yourself on suicide watch.

Now I spent loads of time training. Almost none of my slides have any words on them at all. The poor old delegates are suffering enough without becoming ‘zombie recipients’

PPT does reinforce bad habits. Not enough effort is made to consider the audience. And some people are just rubbish – however hard they try – at engaging that audience.

I’m sat in a day long seminar where every single presenter so far has had hundreds of slides, each filled with dense, small font text.

I might murder someone.

I’m speaking in the graveyard afternoon slot. If anyone’s still alive by then I hope they appreciate my slides, a small number in total and each slide contains only one picture and no more than one (short) phrase.

I’d like them to listen to what I say, not be reading text off my slides.

Still, no comic sans in sight. Every cloud, eh?

EDIT: Alex ^^^ 😆 put me on the watch list

2nd EDIT: it is 12.50. Picture count? Nil. Word count? I don’t know. I’m busy trying not to stab myself in the eye for pain relief.

any UI or UX expert

Ooh sir he used an acronym without explaining it… is there a ppt for that? 😆
‘zombie recipients’ <shudder> does it involve bending it over?

Now I spent loads of time training.

Same here.
Most courses I have a fun PP of pictures and quotes for arrivals / coffee break.
And I have a couple to highlight specific statements of policy. I use them about once a month.
I even have an award from a bunch of teachers last year for running a 5 day course without use of PP. 8) 8) 8)

A Zombie Recipient is how delegates look when they’ve just had Stimpy’s experience of death by powerpoint They are still sentient – just – but the worst affected are beginning to dribble and the air hangs heavy with sufficient passive-agressivenes to start a small war.

Don’t send me back in there 😉

Well 4 days 250 odd slides delivered and a very good result, guess it’s not about the tool…

I like Dave Gorman’s use of PowerPoint 😆