I finally got into Edward R Tufte’s new booklet “The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within.”
If you use visual aids and want to reach the visual learners in your audience, it’s well worth reading - it’s only 30 pages.
It would also be valuable for people who do financial presentations, use visuals in the courtroom, pitching to Wall Street, or in the boardroom.
I’d been ignoring Tufte’s rants about PowerPoint in recent years. A lot of bad visual aids are created out of ignorance and laziness. But someone recommended it to me, and I must admit I think that he’s onto something.
First, for the faint-of-heart, I’ll warn you that Tufte shows the actual PowerPoint slides that led to the Space Shuttle Columbia’s disasterous re-entry from orbit in 2003. Was the risk analysis botched, then obscured by faulty PowerPoint slides? You can judge.
Tufte has taken his criticism beyond ignorance and laziness. He says that PowerPoint is as disasterously flawed as the Ford Pinto gas tank. It is built to mis-manage decisions, fluff-up faulty ideas and make them appear palatable, to lie convincingly. He says PowerPoint is a child of the software industry, and implies that it’s design is warped by the need to sell vaporware, persuade customers that bugs and security problems don’t exist, and inflate features and profits.
Putting aside these arguments, he nails the inherent incompatibility of meeting rooms, projection screens, and the human field of vision. If you’re 30 feet away from a 5′ X 5′ screen you can’t see much unless the type is VERY LARGE. That means you can’t put much on the screen if you want people in the back to read it.
Now, having said that, I had a GIANT EPIPHANY this week. I was laughing so hard I actually did cry while reading the 2nd half of Tufte’s book. It is full of zany, awful visuals. It all became clear how valuable a 2 or 3 projector system is for leveraging visual aids and learning. One of Tufte’s contentions is that the linear nature of PowerPoint makes it difficult for the audience to compare, contrast, go back, suggest different perspectives, or ask “What if…?” or “What else…?”
A very wide projection surface not only makes it easier for people in the back, it is ideal for these side-by-side comparisons.
For more info on multiple-projector presentations go to www.trizenter.com.
I have one of these 3 projector systems and love to show it off to people. And NO, projectors don’t cost half what they used to.
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