{"id":134733,"date":"2017-09-18T07:28:12","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T13:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=134733"},"modified":"2017-09-18T11:47:18","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T17:47:18","slug":"slides-without-bullets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/18\/slides-without-bullets.html","title":{"rendered":"Slides without Bullets"},"content":{"rendered":"

The problem with most PowerPoint presentations is that they are trying to serve two incompatible roles at once: visual conveyor of key information in support of the speaker, and documentation of what is being said.<\/p>\n

It’s this latter role that gets people into trouble, creating multi-column, multi-colored blocks of bullet points in 10-point text, complete with arrows to draw connections between different points (because the connection is unclear). And while people are puzzling those slides out, they aren’t listening to the presenter. At which point, why not just hand out a document that has that info<\/i> and be done with it?<\/p>\n

If you really want to both communicate and<\/i> include all that info, add the latter to the notes of each slide, and hand out a print-out (or electronic copy) of the deck afterward. It’s okay to want people to have all the detail for later reference, if that’s important.<\/p>\n

Using PowerPoint to convey complex visual information in the middle of a verbal presentation is, in nearly all cases, a poor use of either the venue or the tool.<\/p>\n

All of this means more work for the presenter: creating polished detailed material alongside simplified material (and the latter, winnowed down to capture the key concepts, is often the more difficult). But if it conveys the information you feel is important to convey more accurately and memorably, it’s probably worth that extra effort.<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nGoogle’s CEO Doesn’t Use Bullet Points and Neither Should You<\/a><\/span>
\nGoogle’s Sundar Pichai gives a master class for creating simple, engaging presentations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The problem with most PowerPoint presentations is that they are trying to serve two incompatible roles at once: visual conveyor of key information in support of the speaker, and documentation of what is being said. It’s this latter role that gets people into trouble, creating multi-column, multi-colored blocks of bullet points in 10-point text, complete … Continue reading “Slides without Bullets”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,35,21,24],"tags":[1204,1203],"class_list":["post-134733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-big-business","category-job-jollies","category-writing-and-language","tag-communication","tag-powerpoint"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Google-Sundar-Pichai.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":37778,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/11\/never-mind-the-privacy-implications-those-slides-are-awful.html","url_meta":{"origin":134733,"position":0},"title":"Never mind the privacy implications, those slides are AWFUL!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 11-Jun-13 6:58pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I have no idea why government agencies make such crappy PowerPoint decks. \u00a0Fortunately, someone's got the NSA's back ...Reshared post from +Jeff JarvisA designer does the NSA the favor of remaking its PowerPoint slides.... Dear NSA, let me take care of your slides. Dear NSA, you can do whatever with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27924,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/16\/tweets-from-2012-05-16.html","url_meta":{"origin":134733,"position":1},"title":"Tweets from 2012-05-16","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 16-May-12 10:45pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Another day, another endless set of PowerPoint slides. # Another day of meetings over. Now to be wined and (lightly) dined by a vendor. # So if there's a 30% chance I can expense an iPad, should I risk it? (Probably not, but...) #","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14019,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/03\/04\/size-does-matter.html","url_meta":{"origin":134733,"position":2},"title":"Size does matter","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 4-Mar-09 8:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Got the newest Jim Butcher Dresden Files book out in paperback --\u00a0Small Favor -- today in the mail from Amazon, and ... Rrg. For the past few years, the publishing industry has been screwing around with what I call \"tall paperbacks\" (I'm sure there's an official term for them). They's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38518,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/08\/20\/the-disdain-of-powerpoint.html","url_meta":{"origin":134733,"position":3},"title":"The disdain of PowerPoint","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 20-Aug-13 8:47am","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, let me offer a bit of blasphemy as a liberal arts major: PowerPoint is not the problem here. \u00a0Creating 6-page memos doesn't guarantee coherency or readability any more than creating a 20-slide PPT deck. It just takes more time in doing so.If someone's producing crappy presentations, don't blame the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10926,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/05\/16\/blog_law.html","url_meta":{"origin":134733,"position":4},"title":"Blog Law","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 16-May-07 9:21am","format":false,"excerpt":"De points to twelve US laws all bloggers should know about. Disclosure of paid (sponsored) posts (FTC strongly suggests you do so). Considerations about deep linking (can't imply it's your...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging & Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging & Internet","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1542,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/12\/13\/the_travellers.html","url_meta":{"origin":134733,"position":5},"title":"The Traveller’s Lament","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 13-Dec-01 8:32am","format":false,"excerpt":"Some poorly-treated patrons of a Double-Tree Hotel in Houston complained via a wonderful PowerPoint presentation -- now available on-line. This is funny. (Via OpineBovine)...","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134733"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134738,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134733\/revisions\/134738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}