Comments on: Podcast: Hurrican Irma Evacuation, Plus: Why (and how) you should give up PowerPoint https://lauravanderkam.com/2017/09/why-and-how-you-should-give-up-powerpoint/ Writer, Author, Speaker Thu, 16 Apr 2020 19:34:08 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 By: DVStudent https://lauravanderkam.com/2017/09/why-and-how-you-should-give-up-powerpoint/#comment-35629 Fri, 22 Sep 2017 01:50:52 +0000 http://lauravanderkam.staging.wpengine.com/?p=6870#comment-35629 I used to give bad and densely packed PowerPoint presentations, but felt like I could never get into a flow. Now, I put the bare minimum on slides: microscope images, bar graphs, etc…and just talk. One trick I learned from a major test prep company I taught for (all chalk talk based!), was to walk to the opposite end of the room from my notes/computer-it forces me to actually be engaged!

]]> By: Kathleen https://lauravanderkam.com/2017/09/why-and-how-you-should-give-up-powerpoint/#comment-35628 Thu, 21 Sep 2017 19:21:08 +0000 http://lauravanderkam.staging.wpengine.com/?p=6870#comment-35628 Lawyer perspective chiming in with agreement:

In court, when the lawyer or expert really wants a jury to remember a key set of data or concepts, she often uses a white board, flip chart, or magnetized board with custom magnets to “build out” the concept live. Juries wake up for that, compared to witness slide decks showing exhibit after exhibit.

That said, there is a super-sophisticated industry of trial graphics experts who can make PowerPoint sing, rather than being the dull list of bullets so often seen in meetings.

]]> By: smh https://lauravanderkam.com/2017/09/why-and-how-you-should-give-up-powerpoint/#comment-35627 Thu, 21 Sep 2017 18:35:55 +0000 http://lauravanderkam.staging.wpengine.com/?p=6870#comment-35627 100% agree. 🙂 I do not use PowerPoint in the classroom, which forces me to offer a very clear verbal outline and work hard on my lectures and forces students to pay attention to what I say.

]]> By: Ana https://lauravanderkam.com/2017/09/why-and-how-you-should-give-up-powerpoint/#comment-35626 Thu, 21 Sep 2017 16:06:44 +0000 http://lauravanderkam.staging.wpengine.com/?p=6870#comment-35626 This is great advice. Like noted above, I need to have graphs and figures for research results, but I’m considering having minimal slides and just talking through the background/discussion/conclusions, since those usually involve simply saying what’s written on the slide (I do memorize it and don’t literally read the slides!)
For teaching talks, I find it easier to be interactive without ppt. And then you can take it in the direction the students lead you without being beholden to the order of the slides.

]]> By: Tana https://lauravanderkam.com/2017/09/why-and-how-you-should-give-up-powerpoint/#comment-35625 Thu, 21 Sep 2017 14:56:09 +0000 http://lauravanderkam.staging.wpengine.com/?p=6870#comment-35625 Thank you for this! I so detest PP presentations. They take a good presentation and weasel it down to something downright stupid. Now I know why – your reasons are right on. Also love the cleaning list – I totally agree with those top three items. Learning how to sort tasks like that is so critical to time management.

]]> By: T. https://lauravanderkam.com/2017/09/why-and-how-you-should-give-up-powerpoint/#comment-35624 Thu, 21 Sep 2017 13:49:27 +0000 http://lauravanderkam.staging.wpengine.com/?p=6870#comment-35624 Sometimes isn’t a crutch a good thing? This past 7 days I have had 9 different presentations totaling about 23 hours of content. There is no way I have time to memorize all of that! Having the crutch is often necessary for me – and holds my audience (graduate students) accountable for the content when they claim 6 months later they didn’t know about something. It also helps me cover what can be extreme social anxiety.

]]> By: lauravanderkam https://lauravanderkam.com/2017/09/why-and-how-you-should-give-up-powerpoint/#comment-35623 Thu, 21 Sep 2017 00:36:35 +0000 http://lauravanderkam.staging.wpengine.com/?p=6870#comment-35623 In reply to Beth.

@Beth — too true, nothing like having a typo magnified like 500 times over your head.

]]> By: Beth https://lauravanderkam.com/2017/09/why-and-how-you-should-give-up-powerpoint/#comment-35622 Wed, 20 Sep 2017 23:33:59 +0000 http://lauravanderkam.staging.wpengine.com/?p=6870#comment-35622 In reply to Beth.

Please excuse the vast number of typos! Definitely something you have to look out for in a PP. 🙂

]]> By: Beth https://lauravanderkam.com/2017/09/why-and-how-you-should-give-up-powerpoint/#comment-35621 Wed, 20 Sep 2017 23:32:30 +0000 http://lauravanderkam.staging.wpengine.com/?p=6870#comment-35621 Like all things I think there is a time and place for PP and a time for going without. As an academic basic scientists, something would be lost if I didn’t get too see certain data. Movies and pictures of cells and organisms undergoing biological events are not easily replicated in words. There is something amazing about seeing single neuron resolution or the movement of cells in and out of blood vessels. Without PP (or similar) some things are just not as impactful. That being said, few people live in the world of basic science so this is a moot point for a lot of people. Chalk talks are still commonly done at Universities when scientists are interviewing for professorships. So we get both at different times. They each have their time and place. By the way, chalk talks can be terrifying when you are interviewing for a job!

]]> By: lauravanderkam https://lauravanderkam.com/2017/09/why-and-how-you-should-give-up-powerpoint/#comment-35620 Wed, 20 Sep 2017 19:35:01 +0000 http://lauravanderkam.staging.wpengine.com/?p=6870#comment-35620 In reply to Jennifer S.

@Jennifer S – I think I may have that book somewhere in my giant pile of books. I’ll take a look around for it!

]]>