Why PowerPoint should be banned • Hacker News Board

Re: Why PowerPoint should be banned

#211

Post by ksk » Wed, May 27, 2015, 3:47 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #201

ksk wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>For one, food is essential for our survival. The analogy isn't based on 'essentiality'. The point that was made, was correct - Banning something does not solve the original problem. Sorry for spelling it out. I didn't realize comprehending it would be so troublesome for some. There is no such thing as a perfect analogy. If an analogy can't break down, it wouldn't be called an analogy. You would just say the thing th…

> The point that was made, was correct - Banning something does not solve the original problem That point might have been correct, but it wasn't the one made. If the analogy wasn't intented to be based on "essentiality" then picking something undeniably essential (and pointing that it's "nonsensical" to ban it because of some problem it causes) was the wrong choice. But actually the point wasn't even correct. The cor…

It is within the realm of possibility that you simply interpreted the comment incorrectly, and chose to be pedantic about minutia that a reasonable person would not.

Re: Why PowerPoint should be banned

#212

Post by qq66 » Wed, May 27, 2015, 3:54 PM UTC

6stringmerc wrote: post #209

qq66 wrote: post #136

Disclaimer: I work at Microsoft, on PowerPoint. Here are a few of my reactions (mine alone, not Microsoft's): * Presenting an idea is one of the most subtle arts of the human experience. It draws on skills like storytelling, communication, and persuasion which are way outside the scope of any software application. The best typewriter in the world is going to let Ernest Hemingway's Great American Novel flow directly f…

As a person who has made a living with MS Office products throughout the B2B sales cycle, I am fundamentally grateful for the tools created. PowerPoint is extremely powerful. Unfortunately, the one thing it "needs" the ability to do - train people how to use it effectively - isn't really a core competency. Practically speaking, I don't think instruction on how to use PowerPoint is genuinely possible, insofar as diffe…

I like the analogy of GarageBand vs. Ableton Live. As a mass-market application, PowerPoint has to be as easy to get started with as GarageBand, but support advanced customized features for power users, such as motion paths, custom shows, and of course the features that developers can add through the API.

Teaching users how to use PowerPoint is important, and something that we must continuously improve, but teaching users how to effectively communicate and idea is out of scope for us. That's a skill that takes a lifetime to master.

Re: Why PowerPoint should be banned

#213

Post by mratzloff » Wed, May 27, 2015, 6:40 PM UTC

ddingus wrote: post #196

mratzloff wrote: post #103

In a class I took in college, we had to give a final presentation to go along with a paper we wrote. The presentations were to be about 30 minutes (not too hard to come up with content, as my paper ended up being 50 pages). With the paper, this was essentially our entire grade for the class. I decided to do it without PowerPoint. I was the only one. Instead of relying on slides, I looked people in the eye and gave a…

IMHO, that grade maybe was appropriate. I applaud you for doing that, and I personally would have gotten a lot out of your talk. Good, clear, verbal communication is fantastic! Good on you for attempting it. I have similar leanings and skills. The hard truth I've learned is not everyone can take in it that form. If you have any sort of an audience, the potential for those people will be actualized, and you lose on ov…

Great reply, thanks for the insight. I'm still not sure about the grade being correct; most of the presentations were dreadful--of the "read the PowerPoint to you" variety--but I'm guessing at least some of them got Bs if not As. That said, I'll keep it in mind going forward. Any presentations I do these days are much less formal, which helps with interactivity.

Re: Why PowerPoint should be banned

#214

Post by ddingus » Thu, May 28, 2015, 6:26 PM UTC

mratzloff wrote: post #213

ddingus wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMHO, that grade maybe was appropriate. I applaud you for doing that, and I personally would have gotten a lot out of your talk. Good, clear, verbal communication is fantastic! Good on you for attempting it. I have similar leanings and skills. The hard truth I've learned is not everyone can take in it that form. If you have any sort of an audience, the potential for those people will be actualized, and you lose on ov…

Great reply, thanks for the insight. I'm still not sure about the grade being correct; most of the presentations were dreadful--of the "read the PowerPoint to you" variety--but I'm guessing at least some of them got Bs if not As. That said, I'll keep it in mind going forward. Any presentations I do these days are much less formal, which helps with interactivity.

On that basis, I agree. Seems like there might be a bias there, or the prof is a visual type...

Anytime you can get away from formal, do it! I've learned to ratchet those expectations way down, and when I do, and it's relaxed, everybody gets more out of it.

Re: Why PowerPoint should be banned

#215

Post by ddingus » Thu, May 28, 2015, 6:29 PM UTC

mratzloff wrote: post #213

ddingus wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMHO, that grade maybe was appropriate. I applaud you for doing that, and I personally would have gotten a lot out of your talk. Good, clear, verbal communication is fantastic! Good on you for attempting it. I have similar leanings and skills. The hard truth I've learned is not everyone can take in it that form. If you have any sort of an audience, the potential for those people will be actualized, and you lose on ov…

Great reply, thanks for the insight. I'm still not sure about the grade being correct; most of the presentations were dreadful--of the "read the PowerPoint to you" variety--but I'm guessing at least some of them got Bs if not As. That said, I'll keep it in mind going forward. Any presentations I do these days are much less formal, which helps with interactivity.

One other thing struck me.

Since you lean verbal, consider light, concept type visuals as much as you can. These kinds of presentations tend to do very well, and you've got a strength that favors them. These days, talks are often available to view later, and or we can distribute files, meaning you can include text for people to read without having to prep so much visual clutter in the form of text, and other difficult to manage things on the slides.