It's essentially pre-written agenda+minutes. This is very insightful. Powerpoint is a prop for establishing the structure of a meeting. It is -- as pointed out

It's essentially pre-written agenda+minutes. This is very insightful. Powerpoint is a prop for establishing the structure of a meeting. It is -- as pointed out by many -- a lousy tool for conveying actual content. (Of course, in a world with cheap printing, and now cheap email, cheap blogging, cheap e-text, cheap recorded audio, and cheap online video as well, live lectures in general are lousy tools for conveying content.) Meetings need agendas. Otherwise every meeting ends up being about whatever the best schmoozer at the meeting wants it to be about. Of course, as with many tools, the use of Powerpoint is most noticeable when it is being terribly abused. People use it to force incredibly boring agendas. People use it as an excuse to lecture.