Part of the problem is the Engineer's tendency to try to include as many
details as possible in a single presentation and on a single
presentation slide. "I get it," says Alley. "I understand—you work hard
on a project and you fall in love with the things you've done to solve
this or that problem. But you have to ask, 'Does the audience really
care about that?'"
But even when an engineer has carefully honed his talk to what's
crucial to communicate, there's a kind of "culture of presentation" that
seems to dictate the form of the visual aid.
The source of this culture is the very software that is meant to assist
the dissemination of information. PowerPoint, like some kind of bullet
point-craving parasite, seems to infect the mind of users, directing
them to make one slide after another with the same structure: phrase
followed by bullet point list, phrase followed by bullet point list,
phrase followed by bullet point list, etc. "It's more of a meandering
talk that doesn't develop the key details as well," says Alley. "A lot
of times, if they have that billeted list, it's: turn, look at the
screen, turn, look at the screen—you get that death by PowerPoint
rhythm."
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