Today's lesson involves a much-bemoaned topic among academics and business professionals alike: PowerPoint (and death thereby). It's a technology with so much potential, yet it is used, quite frequently, as a torture device.Tonight, I am teaching presentation strategies to a group of upper-division writing students. A lecture I did previously involved the most heinous PowerPoint presentation ever. It involved a pink-on-pink color scheme, a swirly, unreadable font, and an inordinate amount of "Animations." The pièce de résistance in the whole affair was my appearance -- no makeup, a ball cap, and some seriously ratty pajama pants. It was dramatic, and tragic, but utterly the most engaging lecture I've ever put together. Freak them out a little, and students will listen to what you have to say, well, for at least 10 minutes or so until Facebook-withdrawal kicks in.
As I was preparing my lecture materials this morning, (more accurately, as I was blog-hopping trying to avoid preparing my lecture materials) I ran across this video as part of a Sales Machine blog posting, a comedy routine by comedian Don McMillan entitled "Life after Death by PowerPoint." I think it's just as convincing, and his delivery is quite nice in the 4 minute skit.
If I can save one room full of potential clients from a near-death experience, I think that's justification for a teaching career, don't you think? Enjoy!
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