# Is there an inexpensive way to use Power Point? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 2, 2005, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-inexpensive-way-to-use-power-point/302044 "2005-05-02T13:07:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![orbitingio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@orbitingio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orbitingio)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-inexpensive-way-to-use-power-point/302044/21 "2005-05-02T17:15:58Z")
> [@Troy McClure SF](#): > > Perhaps you should use more animations and blinking text. That makes them prettier, you know. > > Embedded movies, too. With sound. Anything but that. Please. I’m 20 years old, just quit a corporate job and now I’m back in college. PowerPoint presentations were the rule at the office, and now it seems many college lecturers, professors, etc. are using them. All I can do is hope that one day people will come to realize that no amount of god awful clip art and 48 pt. comic sans projected onto a wall can replace a charismatic and eloquent speaker who is capable of engaging the audience. What’s worse is the PowerPoint presentations that include some sort of “joke” slide, which is invariably some sort of dated pop culture reference from the late '90s. Stop it, stop it, stop it. Kill it dead. I’ll be off to my shack now, got some letters to write… ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-inexpensive-way-to-use-power-point/302044/22 "2005-05-02T18:04:58Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > To fit in with the other speakers, and stay really up-to-date, you should provide handouts that are simply the PowerPoint screens in your presentation. The actual verbal presentation should just be a reading of the PowerPoint presentation. It will bore the shit out of everyone but seem really familiar. Most audiences now just switch off as soon as PowerPoint rears it’s mind-numbing head. I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. 😃 (Seriously, you need to indicate sarcasm–somewhere, some mid-level managment executive is lurking and reading your comment, thinking to himself, “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been telling my people all along!” :rolleyes: ) > [@orbitingio](#): > > Everyone loathes PowerPoint presentations. Well, I don’t know. My boss loves ‘em. Fcensoredin’ loves 'em. Can’t get enough of it, actually. “Hey, can we break that down into three different slides? Hey, can we add some subbullets to that list so it looks a little busier? Hey, why don’t you add an animation of a rocket taking off there? Hey, I’ve got a sound file we can embed in there.” Hey, why don’t you shut the hell up and go back to playing with Project. > [@orbitingio](#): > > I can’t wait until the whole PowerPoint thing goes the hell away. Along with a cure for AIDS and seeing Jerry Farwell struck down by lightning, that will be a day when the entirity of humanity will hold hands and sing with rejoicing. PowerPoint (or rather, the way people use it) is the bane of my professional existance. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-inexpensive-way-to-use-power-point/302044/23 "2005-05-02T19:13:10Z")
Those who hate PowerPoint might find [this](http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/) amusing; it’s Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address done up as a Powerpoint presentation. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-inexpensive-way-to-use-power-point/302044/24 "2005-05-02T19:17:36Z")
> [@Dewey Finn](#): > > Those who hate PowerPoint might find [this](http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/) amusing; it’s Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address done up as a Powerpoint presentation. Now _that_ is fuinny. ---
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-inexpensive-way-to-use-power-point/302044/25 "2005-05-02T23:51:50Z")
> [@missbunny](#): > > I guess I am still confused. Do you mean you have no type of “Office” software on your computer right now? What do you type text in? Microsoft Works or Word (I think)…I’m really not a techie. ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2005, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-inexpensive-way-to-use-power-point/302044/26 "2005-05-03T02:02:27Z")
Guns don’t kill people, people kill… In other words, there’s nothing at all inherently wrong with PowerPoint - it’s only that it’s made most presenters far too lazy to make a compelling presentation. And it’s a vicious circle too, because 90% of the presentations one sees will be accepted as adequate, and so when the next one comes around, it will be similar. Agree with the poster who said **by far** what makes a presentation compelling is the presenter, not the presentation. PowerPoint/HTML/Flash/overhead display/juggling clowns - whatever it is you use, make sure your content by itself can hold the audience’s attention. The aforementioned tools can add to it through visuals, textual highlights/reminders, segues, whatever. Basically, having never used Star or Open Office, they’re significantly cheaper than MS Office, and since you have no need for other aspects of MS Office, go for 'em. But again, there’s nothing wrong with PowerPoint, it’s just an easy target because it’s so easy to use, and used so poorly. /end rant [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-inexpensive-way-to-use-power-point/302044.md?page=1)