POWERPOINT: IS IT KILLING YOUR BUSINESS?

POWERPOINT: IS IT KILLING YOUR BUSINESS?’
Extract from “The phluff factor” by Luke Collins in the Financial Review BOSS magazine, 8th July 2005.
PowerPoint is more ubiquitous than ever in today’s workplaces. Microsoft estimates that about 30 million PowerPoint presentations are made every day with over 400 million users of the software globally. Now that’s a lot of mind-numbing presentations. Has this tool and other technological advances really helped us to communicate more effectively?
Yale University Professor Edward Tufte is not a fan of Microsoft’s PowerPoint software which he declares is so “stupid” and “evil” that no “serious person” would use it. PowerPoint can turn good communicators into “droning commentators”.
Tufte compares PowerPoint to a designer drug with serious side effects such as: making us stupid, degrading the quality and credibility of our communication, turning us into bores and wasting our colleagues’ time.
We have become so reliant on PowerPoint, that it has become a costly expense to companies. One example mentioned in the article was when NASA’s Columbia Investigation Board was forced to endure several PowerPoint sessions, which failed to address vital information which should have been investigated prior to the ill-fated space shuttle Columbia crash.
Another example is when the audience has broken into spontaneous applause not when PowerPoint presentations begin, but when the equipment fails.
We at TinCAN agree whole heartedly with the author. All our programs are PowerPoint-free zones which enables maximum cross-pollination learning and engagement.
Read the full text http://www.afrboss.com.au/magarticle.asp?doc_id=24773&listed_months=1