Death by Powerpoint

Along the critical thinking segment of Dead End Follies, here's something I have been made aware of last Tuesday while having an office conversation with my colleague Big Kev:DEATH BY POWERPOINT (Insert bleeding letters infography here). I wasn't aware of it because I have to solve issues regarding unruly Microsoft Office pieces every week, but the darling of teachers, public speakers and various office ladies is alienating people as fast as it's making fans.

No, Death by Powerpoint isn't an iconoclast term invented by your favorite smartass blogger, it's a term that was first put forward in 2001 by Angela Garber. The Powerpoint Slides have been invented to help speakers that have clarity and brevity issues, but their plague-like spread has been problematic as they gradually became the objects of ultimate truth. Whole conferences were engineered around "the slides" and the speaker who read them. The points are on the slide, the speech is about the slide...the slide...the slide...your arms are heavy....you're feeling sleepy...

See what I mean? US. Army Brigadier-General Herbert McMasters saw it too. He banned it from his use as he described it as a "poor decision-making tool". As if it wasn't enough Army hatred, ex-colonel Thomas Hammes said that Powerpoint had an effect similar to "hypnotizing chicken". Whatever that means, that makes Powerpoint his favorite tool for press conferences!

So whenever you're bored in a class or a conference and the speaker calls you out on your lack of respect, call him out on his Powerpoint slides. Or on his lack of charisma. Or on his over-focused content that leaves any possible questionning out of the situation. I'm sure there's many students and conference-going amateur writers here. Just thought you'd like the heads up so you know what to expect next time a speaker whips out Powerpoint.