Thecogni*vestyleofpowerpoint

AdaptedfromEdwardTu:e

LouGerstnerIBM

IssuesofSlideware

•  Moreforthepresenterthantheaudience– Reduceevidenceandthought– Lowresolu*on– Singlepath,singlemodelforallcontent– Smallnarra*vefragments– Singlemodelforallpresenta*ons– Tendencytomakeeverythigintoasalespitch

Lo-Fi•  Thisslidefromasta*s*cs

courseshowsaseriouslyincompletestatement.

•  Probablytheshortesttruestatementthatcanbemadeaboutcausalityandcorrela*onis"Empiricallyobservedcovaria1onisanecessarybutnotsufficientcondi1onforcausality."

•  Orperhaps"Correla1onisnotcausa1onbutitsureisahint."

Lo-FiData

BulletedListsareLazy•  Ineverycompanyweknow,planningfollowsthestandard

formatofthebulletoutline...[But]bulletlistsencourageustobelazyinthreespecific,andrelatedways.

•  Bulletlistsaretypicallytoogeneric.Theyofferaseriesofthingstodothatcouldapplytoanybusiness....

•  Bulletsleavecri*calrela*onshipsunspecified.Listscancommunicateonlythreelogicalrela*onships:–  sequence(firsttolastin*me);–  priority(leasttomostimportantorviceversa);–  orsimplemembershipinaset(theseitemsrelatetooneanotherinsomeway,butthenatureofthatrela*onshipremainsunstated).

•  Andalistcanshowonlyoneofthoserela*onshipsata*me.

Example

•  Whatdoesthismean:–  Increasemarketshareby25%.–  Increaseprofitsby30%.–  Increasenew-productintroduc*onstotenayear.

•  Whatarereasonableinterpreta*onsofthislist?

•  Talktoyourneighbourandcomeupwithmorethanone.

PowerpointshapestheOrganisa*on

Apictureiswortha1000words•  Thear*stAdReinhardtsaid,

"Asforapicture,ifitisn'tworthathousandwords,thehellwithit."

•  Peoplecanquicklylookovertableswithhundredsofnumbersin,say,financialorsportspagesinnewspapers.

•  Peopleread300to1,000printedwordsaminute,

•  andfindtheirwayaroundaprintedmapora35mmslidedisplaying5to40MBinthevisualfield.

•  O:enthevisualchannelisanintenselyhigh-resolu*onchannel.

WhyisPowerpointsoLo-Fi?

•  Designstyleso:enuse60%oftheavailablespace

•  Projec*onmeanspowerpointsusebigfonts.•  Maybethepresenterdoesn’thavemuchtosay…

•  Becertousepaperwithmoredetailedinforma*on…

•  Inareaslikeart,typography,cartographymoredetailaddsclarity…

GecysburgAddress

GecysburgAddress

NowConsideraPowerpoint…

Dataiso:enDense

Morethought,lessfluff

Whatotherques*onsarise?

•  Talktoyourpartneranddeveloptwoorthreeques*onsyou’dliketoaskaboutthecancerstats…

ButlookatWeatherData

TableofCasual*es1647

FurtherIssues

•  Pushingadeclineinthedensityoftextmorewidely.

•  Highlysequen*alpresenta*ons.•  Lossofcontextbecauseitcan’tbeheldforlong.

•  Some*meslinebyline…

BecerPresenta*ons•  Makecontentrelevant,highqualityandwithhigh

standardsofintegrity.•  Weakpresenta*onswillboretheaudiencenomacerhow

goodthedesignis.•  Besensi*vetowhenthepresenta*onmediumisdistor*ng

thecontent.•  PowerPointisacompetentslidemanagerandprojectorfor

low-resolu*onmaterials.Andthat'saboutit.•  NeverusePPtemplatestoformatpaperreportsorweb

screens.•  UsePPasaprojectorforshowinglow-resolu*oncolor

images,graphics,andvideosthatcannotbereproducedasprintedhandoutsatapresenta*on.