Hi class!Every other person I talk to agrees that PowerPoint is dead. Or rather, that some PowerPoint presentations can be so awful and text-heavy that they can end up boring us to death. I do what I can with the class slideshows, but I stumbling upon the "Presentation Zen" blog was probably meant to be so that I coudl pick up some tips as well. Enjoy and check it out before putting together the visuals for your informative speeches.
Also, check out Prezi. It puts PowerPoint to shame.
And check out the SlideShare profile for Jess3, one of my favorite creative agencies (based in DC, actually!) I LOVE their slideshows and always find them interesting, visually appealing, and inspiring.
Finally, check out this slideshow about how to avoid death by PowerPoint.
It is fairly ironic that the last link is to a slideshow about how to avoid being boring with a slideshow...however I did go through the entire presentation, and some good points were made so I don't know if the Powerpoint will ever completely die out, it just relies on people being trained enough to make creative and interesting slideshows that supplement the speech or presentation, not replace it.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the irony part. It's definitely more of a turn of phrase than anything... not so much PowerPoint is dead but more emphasis on the death *by* PowerPoint. In a way, they proved their point by defeating their point ;)
ReplyDeleteProf,
ReplyDeleteThat slideshow you linked initially terrified me (61 slides?!!?), but I then realized that it itself was an example of an engaging and interesting PowerPoint. Even though I wouldn't have searched Google to find a PowerPoint about PowerPoints. But that's a good thing--it caught my attention with a topic that I wasn't necessarily passionate about.
I hope to grab the class's attention in the same manner during my info brief. Also, I used Prezi a bit for one of my high school classes, and I had forgotten about it. I think I'll try to incorporate it into my info brief as a way to visually supplement my points!
Thanks for the post!
I find that PowerPoint is alive, and kicking, for the most part on this campus. While slideshows may not be an ideal means of teaching, they are more accessible and usable, for both students and teachers. It is old enough of a technology that it is not completely foreign to professors, but used often enough that students also know how to use it. Slideshows are possibly the most effective way of condensing information in an environmentally friendly, approachable method. However, it is an odd juxtaposition that the recommendations on how to make a slideshow less boring is presented in a slideshow, but it certainly reinforces the point that PowerPoint presentations are not a relic of the past.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with all of you. Slideshows work. And they can work extremely well, but you have to make them work for you. Point: Get creative :)
ReplyDeleteMichael, the irony is certainly a lesson in and of itself. Looking forward to what you all put together! Prezi just added brand new features, so you'll have much to play with.
I am sick as a dog right now and I was down to my last source of entertainment - this blog (no offense to COMM107) and this post in particular. To weigh in on the PPT is Dead conversation, I don't think powerpoint will ever be dead and to be honest I will never tire of a well-written powerpoint by a professor (lord knows it makes note-taking that much easier). I think death by powerpoint is more the creator's fault rather than the vehicle's (read: powerpoint isn't boring, people/subjects are).
ReplyDeleteI am however amazed that I have never heard of Prezi before this post but now that I have I'm definitely going to spend some quality coughing into my keyboard as I play around with it. Wish me luck!
I should add that I did in fact find this very entertaining and informative! Thanks professor!!
ReplyDeleteI agree that powerpoint is still very much used. That might change, however, as our generation begins to take over much of the professional fields. Since, we are more technologically adept, we will eventually start to use (and know how to use) more fancy and eye-catching ways to present our point.
ReplyDeleteI also think that it won't matter whether we use power point or prezi if our presentations are boing! Boring is boring, and presenters will have to learn (using that tutorial above) how to effectively present something to an audience.
As a side note, I did get the chance to play around with prezi in high school. It was amazing once you put your presentation together, but putting it together that was the struggle. It was a lot harder to think of a way to present your information creatively because the possibilities are endless. At least Power point gave you slides and in way limits the amount of information! Prezi is just a blank sheet that is infinitely long! It takes a lot more creativity to make a great Prezi than it does a great powerpoint!
While I agree that text-heavy PowerPoints definitely bore me just as much as a lecture without a PowerPoint, I agree with the other commenters that it is still a great resource for students to use if it is used the right way. There definitely has to be the right balance/proportion of photos to text.
ReplyDeleteI only just found out about Prezi at the end of senior year because one of my friends used it for her presentation and I really like the way it integrates all the various forms of media into the presentation. One downfall is that it can be glitchy and a little hard to read at first, but the format is easy enough to get used to as an audience member.
Finally, I definitely agree with the above comment that boring is still boring, and it really does come down to what information is being presented rather than how it is presented.
I definitely agree that most PowerPoints are poorly constructed these days, and therefore are incredibly boring. I hate it when a person presenting just reads what is written on a PowerPoint slide, and I feel like many presenters these days fall into that habit. However, I also agree with my classmates in regards to the fact that when used well, PowerPoint can be very effective. I had not heard of Prezi before now, and it looks very interesting!
ReplyDeleteI find the thought that PowerPoints are dead very interesting because to me, the PowerPoint as a form of presentation is very alive. I am not saying that PowerPoint is an incredibly exciting way to present, but it has become the staple of presenting software, much like Word is for word processing. I do agree though that PowerPoint is not used well by many people and that most PowerPoint presentations are incredibly boring. Hopefully, Prezi, which I had not formally heard of, puts more creativity into presentations that PowerPoint could not. I would really appreciate teachers being able to put more excitement into presentations.
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