Take a trip into PowerPoint hell: slides you dread to see
DID you know that PowerPoint presentations can be a matter of life and death? Yale professor and visual communication expert Edward Tufte believes it is. Nasa’s use of the technology, he claims, led to the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 that killed seven astronauts. Vital information got lost in the blur of slides, arrows and flow charts.
Tufte complains that PowerPoint “routinely disrupts, dominates and trivialises content.” You will no doubt agree next time you are awake at 4am prior to a presentation, desperately trying to squeeze text into a flow chart.
Something about the technology makes otherwise self-respecting, sensible office workers go a little doo-lally. Perhaps it is the pressure of presenting in front of an audience. Or the last minute most of us choose to create them in – often in the dead of night.
A quick google found the fruits of the InFocus What Not to Present competition. The search (evidenced right) is designed to shock and amuse you. And we thought that there was surely no better way to offer advice on the matter than to show you what not to do. Maybe you could stick this article in your study for reference, just in case the PowerPoint witching hour tries to seize your otherwise sensible visual presentation ideas.
If you have come across a PowerPoint slide to rival these tragic samples, please email [email protected]
MAD AS A MARCH HARE
VERDICT: Mental. The crimes committed against sentences on this slide are somewhat overshadowed by the bizarre inclusion of the rabbit and hot dog pictures. How they relate to the “Design for Social Change” can only be a frightening prospect.
WHAT NOT TO DO: Include pictures to fill space or to add colour.
LITTLE MEN JUMP OFF A CLIFF
VERDICT: Chaotic. Can you blame the little men for jumping? I don’t. This slide needs to be split across three or four – at least. The language is equally confusing. “Reaching broadly throughout the value chain” makes very little sense. The slide does little to explain it.
WHAT NOT TO DO: Cram as much as possible on to slides.
WE ARE SEEKING… SANITY!
VERDICT: Nuts. Are you actually supposed to take information away from this? Or just quietly muse that the presenter has just discovered that computers allow you to change fonts?
WHAT NOT TO DO: Use multiple fonts and colours. If you want your audience to digest the information you’re giving them then you should make it as easy to read as possible.
MORE LIKE THE ROADMAP TO HELL
VERDICT: Useless. Can you read this? No? The audience certainly won’t be able to. And the arrows? No matter how interesting the speaker, the audience is likely to ignore them, transfixed on this labyrinth. WHAT NOT TO DO: Cram information into tables with weird linking arrows. Readers will require a map to decipher these sorts of slides.
FLOATING BUBBLES: UP OR DOWN
VERDICT: Confusing. There is a lot of bubble movement here. Things are moving down, things are moving up, the writing is indecipherable and no one is sure where to start looking. Flow arrows are, er, supposed to flow.
WHAT NOT TO DO: Use complex diagrams that leave your audience thinking about how to navigate them rather than listening to you.