Cringely on PowerPoint

Some interesting comments in Cringely’s latest collumn about PowerPoint and simply listening.

_I give a lot of speeches, taking my biases and bad humor on the road to explain tech reality to all types of groups. And whether I am talking to 10 people or 3,700 (my personal best so far), I leave my notebook computer behind. You see it is my belief that people can read your slides or listen to what you are saying, but they can’t do both things at the same time. And because it is easier to read than listen if you are age 15 or older, a good PowerPoint artist doesn’t really have to say much at all. That’s good for him or her, but bad for the audience. So I make them work. I talk too fast, tell too many stories, make too many bald conclusions, and generally put a hurt on the audience that they simply aren’t used to. I make them think with me. And you know what happens? They love it._

I do not stop hearing that PowerPoint presentations are bad at the moment so I am starting to wonder what the right way to go about this is.

A nice finishing touch from his article:

_Which brings me to the most amazing event that happened to me this week. I called Warren Buffett, head of Berkshire Hathaway, and after Bill Gates, the richest man in the world. And he answered his own phone._