We Have Met the Enemy
And he is PowerPoint. A recent article in the New York Times by Elisabeth Bumiller is worth discussing. It examines the degree to which PowerPoint pervades the US military. And the degree to which it is spinning out of control. What do I mean by “out of control”? Check out the slide below that was […]
Analysis of a Speech by Shukla Bose
Shukla Bose is the founder and head of the Parikrma Humanity Foundation, an extraordinary nonprofit that runs schools for poor children in urban India. Parikrma is transforming education so that these children can have equal access to the best opportunities. Parikrma manages the entire education cycle from kindergarten to college for each child. In this talk at TED India, […]
PowerPoint Math: PP does not equal TP
Here is a simple PowerPoint math equation: PowerPoint ≠ Teleprompter A PowerPoint presentation is not a teleprompter. You read a teleprompter; that’s what it’s for. If you’re reading your PowerPoint presentation, you’re doing it wrong! Reduce your text and learn your material. Photo courtesy of Steve Jurvetson Now, in fairness to the fellow in the […]
PowerPoint Math: The 10-20-30 Rule
An analysis of Guy Kawasaki’s 10-20-30 Rule of PowerPoint.
PowerPoint: The Tipping Point
The tipping point. In this truly horrific PowerPoint slide, we reached the tipping point in the first line. Please don’t do this with your presentations.
PowerPoint Math: The 1-6-6 Rule
Today I want to discuss the 1-6-6 Rule. Quite simply, this “rule” says that each PowerPoint slide should have one main idea, a maximum of six bullet points, and a maximum of six words per bullet point. Two caveats: I have also seen this rule called the 1-5-5 Rule and the 1-7-7 Rule, with necessary […]
PowerPoint Math: When in Rome, do as the Romans do
In my previous post, I mentioned an article by BBC Magazine that contains some interesting information about PowerPoint. Here are two figures from that article worth pondering: It is estimated that businesses make around 30 million PowerPoint presentations every day. Including time for starting up and shutting down, the average PowerPoint session lasts 250 minutes. […]
PowerPoint Math: Happy Birthday!
We celebrated a birthday last year. Perhaps you missed it, but it was a milestone. Yes, in 2009 we celebrated the 25th birthday of PowerPoint. Happy Birthday! To put this into perspective, the top Hollywood movies of 1984, the year PowerPoint was born, included Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Amadeus, The Terminator, Ghostbusters […]
Quotes for Public Speakers (No. 19)
“No more than six words on a slide. Ever. There is no presentation so complex that this rule needs to be broken.” Seth Godin
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