I’m beginning a new series on PowerPoint® to examine what the research indicates about its effectiveness as a presentation tool. My intent is to reveal how we can use the evidence to guide and, maybe, just maybe, to create “best practices.” This 1st blog provides a disclaimer on what I will cover and not cover in the series. I hope you find it of value.
DISCLAIMER: At present, there are approximately 300 million PowerPoint® users (30 million presentations per day) worldwide (Lowenthal, 2009), give or take 5 professors on sabbatical. That number is just slightly more than the cast of Glee. There are barrels of books, articles, blogs, and outsourcing businesses that describe the “appropriate uses” of PowerPoint® and extol its virtues. You have probably followed their ubiquitous guidelines for preparing the content on your slides, such as titles, lists, text, and graphics (see Abela, 2008; Altman, 2007; Atkinson, 2008; Cooper, 2009; Duarte, 2008; Paradi, 2000, 2010; Reynolds, 2008; Tufte, 2003b).
However, there is also a small bucket of articles recommending that every software version of PowerPoint® be blown up with military-grade explosives (see Elwood, 2005; Kapterev, 2008; Tufte, 2003a). Since I have no experience with explosives and minimal practice even with squirt guns, I have chosen not to engage in PowerPoint® polemics (e.g., Amernic, 2006; Doumont, 2005) or evaluate the merits of alternatives, such as Keynote (for Macs), Prezi, and Pecha-Kucha.
Instead, this blog series will focus on three elements of PowerPoint® which are neglected by most sources on the topic, but have a strong research foundation and the potential to change the impact significantly of any presentation to any audience. Those three elements will be kept secret and guarded by TSA agents on Starbucks® break at O’Hare International High-Security Really-Safe Airport until it is time to reveal their contents, the elements, that is, not the agents.
WHAT’S NEXT: I’m going to present the “Top 10 Research Conclusions about Basic PowerPoint®.” Stick around. It will get interesting.
COPYRIGHT © 2011 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
TOP 10 SECRET TIPS:
2. MINIMIZE DISTRACTIONS AND INTERRUPTIONS. Wherever you choose to write—and now you have a long list of options from Tip 9—turn off your cell phone and all electronic equipment before take-off…WAIT! You’re not on an airplane. Oops. Sorry. I meant turn off e-mail and order a “cease and desist” on people you know, pets licking your feet, kids grabbing at your clothes, Keith Lockhart (with guest artist Yo-Yo Ma) and the Boston Pops, and any other distractions, if possible. Writing can be challenging by itself. Ideal writing conditions are a luxury most writers can't afford most of the time. You can only control so much.
Don't Fluster. Don’t let interruptions derail your thoughts or fluster you. You look a little flustered right now. Unfluster. Make every effort to concentrate and stay focused on the task at hand. Be flexible and adapt to your writing surroundings. Don’t be tempted by the distractions. Block them out and stop flustering.
Conquer Public Distractions. The more you write in public venues, such as the ones on that long list, the better you become at concentrating on your writing. Right now I’m writing this blog in the Minneapolis airport with constant announcements blaring on the intercom, phones ringing or playing songs, blenders blending at the Starbucks near my make-shift office table, people talking loudly, and toddlers screaming. Under these airport conditions, you have few options and almost no control over the distractions.
Of course, if you are a member of 1st class elite airline club with a much quieter lounge, you’re all set to write during your flight layovers. Otherwise, do your best to deal with the distractions, focus on your writing, and stop wasting time reading my blog. You can do it!
My final blog in this excessively long-winded series will present Tip 1: find an accountability partner. It’s probably the most effective way to increase your writing productivity.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
TOP 10 SECRET TIPS:
9. WRITE EVERYWHERE YOU CAN. The comfort of your sanctum sanctorum, whether it is your home or business office, library, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, or a closet in your bomb shelter, is probably the best venue for you to do your best writing. Unfortunately, life happens and you need to find ways to adapt to other venues, though less comfortable than your sanctum.
If you only rely on your “ideal” time and place conditions to write, you won’t be nearly as productive as you could be. It’s a time-management issue. Use 10-minute to infinity time blocks at other venues to write your guts out. Don’t waste your time in a waiting room reading an out-of-date magazine on Lindsay Lohan’s prison experiences. Use that time to produce.
Preparation: Instead, consider the following:
1. dump your laptop (with power cord, mouse, and flashdrive) into a padded bag, attaché case, or your backpack,
2. find a secluded location in a lobby or waiting room,
3. create a make-shift office with a semi-comfortable chair and mini-table next to a hyphenated outlet, and
4. plug in your puppy.
Writing on the Fly: Now you’re ready to start writing with your heart at any of these venues:
• Doctors', vets', and dentists' offices
• Hospital waiting room or cafeteria during family member’s surgery, unless you’re the surgeon or nurse
• Sitting and rotting at the MVA for license renewal, title, registration, or anything else involving your vehicle
• Airports and airplanes, except those tiny props with propellers
• Banks and large post offices
• Police station waiting to be booked
• Courthouse awaiting your trial or jury verdict
• Sitting and rotting in your prison cell
• Cruises and large boats that don’t tip over
• Restaurants and coffee shops
• Car dealer, gas station, and Midas Muffler waiting rooms for repairs
• Vacation resorts, if the resort or roommate turns out to be a bummer
This tip will continue tomorrow with some reflections on the above venues and Internet access, plus a few personal suggestions. Let me know your reactions to these venues and your writing successes there.
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
Here’s the TOP 10:
10. They enter a British-owned pub near campus and ask for Miller Lite
9. A few U.S. history profs get together like in days of yore and play with their muskets by loading them with gun powder, salt, and cayenne pepper, then inserting a piece of flint, ramming everything down, and finally dropping in a musket ball, which would pop out because there was no space (this usually took 2–3 days during yore, which delayed the Revolutionary War)
8. Physics profs go to a park and explode cherry bombs under Jaguar and Rover hubcaps to see if they can blow off tree limbs on the way up
7. They have a GIANT family cook-out with som’mores and monster blood-sucking mosquitoes, gather around their 52-inch flat screens, wave sparklers, and sing catchy, upbeat, patriotic tunes like “The Burning of Charleston” or “Siege of Savannah,” accompanied by Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops
6. Ex-Marine profs who traced their roots to the Continental Marines in Philadelphia dedicate the day to watching the NCIS “Dear Abby” marathon on USA
5. They Google “macaroni” to figure out why anyone without a frontal lobotomy would stick “a feather in his cap and call it ‘you know what’ [without cheese]”!
4. Profs in Boston gather at Paul Revere’s Old North Church to polish their antique silverware and Rachael Ray cookware, which incites Emeril Lagasse to riot
3. At deep Southern institutions, profs, dressed in knee pants, tight stockings, and white wigs with ribbons, dust off the campus cannon, load it with accreditation self-studies and annual reports, aim it at the president’s mansion, light the fuse, and pray it doesn’t blow up in their faces
2. Touristy profs in Bermuda shorts and T-shirts dig out their ole’ fife-and-drum and march in the Williamsburg, VA, parade alongside the soldiers who are sweating like pigs in their period costumes in 95º heat and dropping on the cobblestones like sweaty pigs
AND THE NO. 1 “FUN” WAY:
1. Washington, DC-based profs enter the Starbucks® in Georgetown and then, dressed as Washington Redskins, ceremoniously toss 2 grande cups of Monkey-Pod Decaf Italian-Arab Roast coffee into the Potomac River (NOTE: There’s also a New England Patriot version of this way.)
HAVE A GREAT 4TH!!!
COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC
