PowerPoint – Good or Bad?

Neither. It just is.

In response to a question posed to the VizThink Community:

Is PowerPoint a powerful tool poorly used or a poor tool overused? 

Let me offer this quote because quotes make me look smart:

Everything is best for something and worst for something else.  The trick is knowing what is what, for what, when, for whom, where, and most importantly, why. 
- Bill Buxton, Designer, Musician, Gallery owner

One thing that I’ve noticed recently is that there is a movement towards using stories and visuals as a way of driving home points in a presentation. PowerPoint is a great tool for supporting this movement. It’s also a great tool for putting up bullet list after bullet list. (I have Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath on my mind these days.)

 If the presenter doesn’t have skills at engaging the audience, PowerPoint isn’t going to help or hurt. It just is.

Listen to me speak

At the very end of the VizThink Conference in January, I sat down with Jeff Parks from Boxes and Arrows who organized a podcast with myself, Christopher Fuller, Rebecca and Ken Hope and Noah Illinsky to talk about the conference, mental models, Interaction Design and lots more!

Check it out here.