Category: Presenting research data. These pages present information about how to explain your research in an oral or poster presentation. Articles are arranged by date with the most recent entries at the top. You can find the theme and closely related categories and other resources at the bottom of this page.
Stats: Who wrote the law that mandates PowerPoint? (December 28, 2007). A recent filler item in BMJ, The PowerPoint presentation, written by David Isaacs, Stephen Isaacs, and Dominic Fitzgerald, provided a light hearted view of the bad habits that PowerPoint induces in presenters. I added a comment in the Rapid Responses section of the website titled "Who wrote the law that mandates PowerPoint?"
Stats: PowerPoint Counterpoint (March 2, 2005). I am a rather harsh critic of PowerPoint. One of the web resources I cite in my criticisms of PowerPoint is www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/index.htm written by Peter Norvig, a research scientist at Google. Dr. Norvig took the text of Lincoln's Gettyburg address fed it into the PowerPoint Autocontent Wizard, made a few tweaks, and published it on the web. It is one of the best examples of how bad PowerPoint is for presenting complex ideas. I got an email today from John F. Raffensperger who felt that Dr. Norvig's web page sent the wrong message. His argument is that we are blaming the tool rather than the craftsman.
Stats: Bluejacket Toastmasters Speech (July 15, 2004). The May Issue of Toastmasters Magazine had several articles about electronic presentations, which in 95% of the cases means PowerPoint presentations. One author (Eric Spellmann) summarizes the viewpoint that I've come to despise. He writes: "PowerPoint also can liven up an otherwise boring topic. In addition to using vibrant text and background colors, presenters can choose from a wide variety of clip art and photos. And when using PowerPoint's animation and sound options, these graphics can shake, rattle and roll."
Stats: I hate PowerPoint talk (July 1, 2004). I'm giving a speech on July 15 for Bluejacket Toastmasters, the club where the action is! Toastmasters is an international organization that helps its members learn how to communicate effectively. The talk was originally scheduled for July 1, but got postponed. My talk is based on one of the earlier weblog entries, I hate PowerPoint (May 19, 2004). I've placed a rough draft of this talk on my web pages.
Stats: I hate PowerPoint (May 19, 2004). The May Issue of Toastmasters Magazine had several articles about electronic presentations, which in 95% of the cases means PowerPoint presentations. One author (Eric Spellmann) summarizes the viewpoint that I've come to despise. He writes: PowerPoint also can liven up an otherwise boring topic. In addition to using vibrant text and background colors, presenters can choose from a wide variety of clip art and photos. And when using PowerPoint's animation and sound options, these graphics can shake, rattle and roll. If your topic is boring, then it won't become less boring by changing your text to a firecracker red, or adding soft clouds in the background, or placing a clip art image of a racer crossing the finish line, or having the new slides spin into place, or playing a cute melody at each slide transition.
Theme and closely related categories:
- Theme: Disseminating research results
- Category: Grant writing
- Category: Graphical display
- Category: Human side of statistics
- Category: Writing research papers
- Advice on designing scientific posters
- PubCon Street Tips on Giving Presentations : Investing in our Speakers
- Scientific Papers and Presentations (PDF) Excerpt: "Scientific communication is essential for helping us to use and take care of this earth. Researchers who discover the wonders of science must tell someone about their findings in clear, complete, and concise terms. To add to the pool of scientific knowledge, scientists must synthesize available information with what they discover. If a scientist garbles words or leaves out important points, messages become unclear, and the progress of science suffers."
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This webpage was written by Steve Simon on 2007-07-23, edited by Steve Simon, and was last modified on 2008-07-08. Send feedback to ssimon at cmh dot edu or click on the email link at the top of the page.