I have a number of working theories and about three decades of experience about how to present information to various audiences... and while the minimal-content school is a valid one, it's not a universal. Certainly there is a tendency to cram way too much material (text and otherwise) into slide presentations, but sometimes a certain density of visual material is needed. You're not talking about PowerPoint or presentations here as much as you're talking about how to communicate... and no number of "Word for Dummies" books will make the user a successful novelist. Just as no "mastery" (in quotes because you can't master a pile of steaming horsesh*t) of PP will make you a skilled communicator.

My very favorite (strain that through gritted teeth) type of PP presentation is where the speaker... slowly... reads... every... word... on... the... screen... (next slide, please)... with absolutely no other content. My last client in Sacramento was completely addicted to equipment vendor presentations of this type and got furious when I so much as sat through the recorded version instead of the first live time. (Had there been ANY audience participation, I could see the issue, but... well, they became one of the very few clients I dusted my hands of.)

Absolutely no argument that PP and screen presentations are badly used 90% of the time and probably unnecessary some higher percentage... but that's another layer of the discussion. The tool itself is simply so wretched, on every level, that MS should be embarrassed to be selling it.

Which relative were you thinking of making immortal?

I use Apple's Keynote instead of powerpoint. What I do is have the slides provide a focal point for discussion and I do not read every little thing on the slide. Minimalism is great as far as interface and integration go. I do like having media integrated which does help with some of my students.

I'm working with my Public Speaking students on developing powerpoint presentations, there have been some very interesting examples presented so far.

Rob

I am now checking out Prezi.com. It looks like a very easy way to create pretty presentations, with sophisticated organic animation.

Oooooo, looks promising. Thanks Peter.

Rob