RE: [xml-dev] The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint

[<Ari.Nordstrom@sorman.com>]

David Megginson wrote...
> -- I design them to supplement, not to duplicate.  In 
> general, I use slides 
> for things that are hard to grasp aurally:
> 
> - code fragments

But this is a tricky one, anyway, because code fragments (um, well, at least _my_ code fragments) can become large and somewhat unreadable when presented on a slide. This is the one situation where I always want the audience to read the paper before attending the presentation.

I had this problem at a conference recently. I assumed that people in the audience had read the paper, or at least would have the paper handy, but the same morning they told me that there had been problems getting the proceedings out in time... The lesson, of course, is to never assume anything. 


> - illustrations (such as screenshots)

And Dilbert strips, and images of Microsoft management anno 1978. :-)


> - tabular data
> - sequential rules, steps, or guidelines
> 
> I occasionally use them for impact as well, say, by including 
> a famous 
> quotation on a slide rather than reading it aloud.
> 
> My slideshows have always been nearly useless for anyone 
> trying to recreate 
> the content of one of my talks.

Sometimes I suspect that people would need a tape recorder to recreate mine... But yeah, that's the main problem with slides. If there's no paper to accompany the slides, which frequently is the case, I try to write handouts, too. It's the nature of slides; they're there for assisting me during the presentation, IMHO.

Best,

/Ari