(02/05/04)
Why do people use PowerPoint? I mean, I guess I can see where it helps with presentations, but do we really need presentations? All my classes that I've ever taken where PowerPoint slides are used in lecture, the entire class just blindly copies down every word on every slide. Why doesn't the teacher just print out some damn notes and save everyone the effort? I mean, if they did this someone would actually listen to their presentation instead of playing the Human Xerographic Machine game. And to top things off, a lot of professors love to use effects in their slides where the slides fade in or out or flip around or stuff like that.
Meanwhile, student presentations for large projects are even more ridiculous. It's the same story every time. The first group to present that day doesn't know how to turn on the projector, and the professor doesn't know either, so some self-proclaimed computer prodigy eagerly volunteers to help figure it out, and he goes up there and the group who's supposed to be presenting just stares at this dork blankly while he tries to learn how everything is connected in the classroom while the entire rest of the class shouts out suggestions from throughout the auditorium. 5 minutes later, the room is all set to go, but the group is trying to find their presentation file. 5 minutes after that, the presentation begins. There's the introductory slide with some generic title and the names of the shaking group members, visibly flustered from the projector ordeal. The next slide has a title and two main bullets, each with two little bullets underneath. The expert presenter then proceeds to read it word for word off the screen, looking up at the classroom and down at the computer for 2 seconds at a time. Very professional. It's at this point in time that my mind starts wandering to the Microsoft Office 2003 commercial where a bunch of office people are celebrating and climbing this little ladder and cutting down the projection screen, one snip of the scissors at a time (like the winners do at an NCAA tournament game, for those of you who unfortunately do not watch sports and just don't get the commercial. It's not that funny anyway, you're missing nothing). I think to myself, "I should just run up there and start cutting away at the screen. That thing's gotta be worth at least $1000. What a waste of my taxes that they have one in every classroom with the stupid switch that makes it come up and down at the rate of 3 inches per second." The rest of the groups go through their flashy no-substance presentations and the professor gives everyone an A on the presentation grade anyway because they all equally sucked.
I'm not looking forward to an office job where the presentations are going to be about annual sales and operating expenses. Classes and meetings are supposed to be about discussion anyway. If you want to make a presentation or lecture where one person speaks to many, I think you should just make an mpeg file instead of a ppt and just post it online for people to view at their own convenience.
