post-episode thoughts re: powerpoint
Posted by: annavan on: 2009/08/26
- In: instruction
- Comment!
In our latest episode of the Adventures in Library Instruction podcast, Jason, Rachel, and I (with the fabulous help of Maurice Coleman) tackled the topic of using PowerPoint in instruction and presentations. This episode has actually been on my mind quite a bit. I’m surprised at how much I have been continually thinking about comments made during the discussion, articles I’ve read since the podcast, and PowerPoint presentations I’ve recently seen via SlideShare and FriendFeed.
Shortly after our podcast, a blog post via iLibrarian about the problem with PowerPoint showed up in my Google Reader. Gah. Does PowerPoint really detract from the presentation, rather than facilitate the information and message the presenter is trying to convey? According to this article in BBC Magazine, yes, it does.
A comment that was made about our discussion (maybe from Dana Longley; maybe during the discussion, and I didn’t really hear it until I listened to the show; maybe from a tweet) finally hit home with me. Remember your users. Customers. Patrons. Whatever. Remember to WHOM you are presenting. I’m embarrassed to have forgotten that “little,” important factor to some extent.
I tend to go heavy on the images. Feedback from my participants has guided me to include MORE text. So, I think I had gone too far to one extreme. My slides on SlideShare really have more text that my past PowerPoint practices from my academic library instruction days, but my workshop participants seem to appreciate the words in front of them. And if my workshop participants are happy — and seem to be learning — then I’m okay with using PowerPoint.
But is PowerPoint going the way of the dodo bird? I’d love to see who has the guts to not use PowerPoint first — especially at a conference!!!
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Check out Episode 5 of Adventures in Library Instruction: September 2009, Episode 5, the AdLib Instruction podcast, RSS feed, or subscribe in iTunes.
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