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Your point is directly addressed in the essay: > This makes one good point: responsibility for poor presentations rests with the presenter. But it is more com

Your point is directly addressed in the essay: > This makes one good point: responsibility for poor presentations rests with the presenter. But it is more complicated than that. PP has a distinctive, definite, well-enforced, and widely-practiced cognitive style that is contrary to serious thinking. PP actively facilitates the making of lightweight presentations. > This essay reports evidence based on several thousand slides, 5 case studies, and extensive quantitative comparisons between PowerPoint and other methods of communicating information. The results are clear:* some methods of presentation are better than others. And PowerPoint is rarely a good method. […] > In this question, the tool metaphor does not provide intellectual leverage. Some tools are better than others; some poor performances are the fault of the tool. Saying that the problem is with the user rather than the tool blames the victims of PP (audience, content, presenter). > Nearly all the evidence of the essay suggests that there is inherent defect in PowerPoint, unless one advances the entertaining alternative hypothesis that nearly all PP users are lightweights and nearly all users of other methods are not. This is not the case; PP has inherent defect.

spoonjim 5y ago
But most people who for example, give a wedding speech, also do a terrible job. Essentially, most people are uncompelling speakers.
- azalemeth 5y ago
  At my grandmother's funeral, a family friend from South Africa (who I hadn't seen since I was ~5) gave a speech -- I'd forgotten that he was a retired university lecturer. It was one of the most powerful, beautiful pieces of oratory I have ever heard: he told the story of her life in South Africa (where she was born) in a way that was new to me, my mother, and utterly captivated a spellbound church. This point -- that, by comparison at least, most people are uncompelling speakers -- is something that bears repeating.
ketzu 5y ago
But, if I understand the article correctly (I only read some chapters, as the essay was dragging along in its conclusions, so I might have missed some aspects), the alternatives are not PowerPoint vs Latex Presentations (or whatever slides are used). The alternatives are technical reports and written and high density handouts (e.g., for tables or detailed pictures). The key problem of low density is true for most presentations I considered good as well, independent of powerpoint usage. Most of the times, they are essays. Now that I think of it, this essay would probably work well as a talk (no matter the software).

spoonjim 5y ago

But most people who for example, give a wedding speech, also do a terrible job. Essentially, most people are uncompelling speakers.

azalemeth 5y ago
At my grandmother's funeral, a family friend from South Africa (who I hadn't seen since I was ~5) gave a speech -- I'd forgotten that he was a retired university lecturer. It was one of the most powerful, beautiful pieces of oratory I have ever heard: he told the story of her life in South Africa (where she was born) in a way that was new to me, my mother, and utterly captivated a spellbound church. This point -- that, by comparison at least, most people are uncompelling speakers -- is something that bears repeating.

ketzu 5y ago

But, if I understand the article correctly (I only read some chapters, as the essay was dragging along in its conclusions, so I might have missed some aspects), the alternatives are not PowerPoint vs Latex Presentations (or whatever slides are used). The alternatives are technical reports and written and high density handouts (e.g., for tables or detailed pictures). The key problem of low density is true for most presentations I considered good as well, independent of powerpoint usage. Most of the times, they are essays. Now that I think of it, this essay would probably work well as a talk (no matter the software).