Powerpoint turns 20
Yes, 20 years ago the prodigal son of presentation design was born of two software engineers, Robert Gaskins & Denis Austin.
What an impact their child has made in that time. According to Microsoft there are 30 MILLION PowerPoint presentations made each day. If you do the maths on that, the money tied up in presentations works out to trillions of dollars each year (6 pax per presentation x 1 hour per presentation x $10/pax x 220 days).
Importantly, as they point out in an interview with Marc Valdez, blaming PowerPoint for poor presentations is akin to blaming the printing press for poor literature.
It shouldn't come as a shock to any reader that bullet points weren't invented by Gaskins & Austin but existed in presentations since they began. It is an important point to remember that we have moved on since the days of the typewriter...we've invented all sorts of things since then: colour TV, the internet...the international space station yet we seem committed to using bullet points in presentations for all eternity.
I beg you...indeed plead with you...look further than bullet points in your presentation, for the sake of your audience, your employer, for all mankind!
What an impact their child has made in that time. According to Microsoft there are 30 MILLION PowerPoint presentations made each day. If you do the maths on that, the money tied up in presentations works out to trillions of dollars each year (6 pax per presentation x 1 hour per presentation x $10/pax x 220 days).
Importantly, as they point out in an interview with Marc Valdez, blaming PowerPoint for poor presentations is akin to blaming the printing press for poor literature.
It shouldn't come as a shock to any reader that bullet points weren't invented by Gaskins & Austin but existed in presentations since they began. It is an important point to remember that we have moved on since the days of the typewriter...we've invented all sorts of things since then: colour TV, the internet...the international space station yet we seem committed to using bullet points in presentations for all eternity.
I beg you...indeed plead with you...look further than bullet points in your presentation, for the sake of your audience, your employer, for all mankind!
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