Having been
around for generations, ‘Microsoft's PowerPoint program is the most commonly
used presentation software’ (Amare, 2004). The program is efficient, and has
many templates and tools designed to assist the presenter in creating and
delivering an informative and engaging presentation. Due to its ‘more automatic
and easily accessed features’ (Amare & Manning, 2005), even those who do
not feel confident working with technology are able to create a decent digital
presentation using PowerPoint.
As digital
technologies progress and become more advanced, many have come to criticise and
‘dislike the tool’ (Amare, 2004). According to some, PowerPoint presentations
are outdated, visually unappealing, and do not engage audiences. Furthermore,
the ‘concisely summarised information’ (Naik, 2016) presented using PowerPoint
has been accused of ‘obscuring data’ (Amare, 2004), both confusing and ‘boring
audiences’ (Amare, 2004).
However,
these criticisms against Microsoft’s PowerPoint are not necessarily due to the
fault of the program itself. In fact, ‘these
defects are generally due to an orientation… toward images rather than
diagrams, toward perceptual decoration and object indication rather than toward
visually mediated, iconic representations of verbal information’ (Amare &
Manning, 2005). So what would a presentation tool that accommodates this look
like?
Visually
appealing and engaging, ‘Prezi is an online presentation service provider’
(Perron & Stearns, 2010) that presents an ‘innovative alternative’ (Perron
& Stearns, 2010) to PowerPoint. Through Prezi, individuals can create a ‘free-flowing
presentation of a storyline’ (Perron & Stearns, 2010) appearing on a ‘canvas’
(Perrons & Stearns, 2010) upon which ‘various concept blocks form
presentation slides’ (Chang, Chou & Lu, 2015). Beginning (and occasionally throughout)
the presentation, the full canvas is displayed, enabling audiences to see the
entire content, as well as connections between concepts. Despite Prezi’s ‘nonlinear
presentation style’ (Chang, Chou & Lu, 2015), the tool shares many features
with PowerPoint, and is simply another tool to develop a presentation.
The greatest
fault of PowerPoint lies in the users who have either forgotten or are
uneducated about how to develop and present engaging, informative and
interesting presentations, which audiences will learn from and remember. Is it
possible to address this fault through new presentation tools such as Prezi?
Whilst the
presentation may seem more interesting, audiences will still be disengaged and
uninterested. To combat this issue, Individuals should be taught the most
effective ways ‘in which talk, gestures and body position work in combination
with the manipulation of written texts and material objects’ (Lehtinen &
Nissi, 2016). The answer to resolving the matter of boring, and
uninformative PowerPoint presentations therefore lies in education.
References
Amare, N. (2004). Technology for technology's sake: the proliferation of PowerPoint. Professional Communication Conference, 2004. IPCC 2004. Proceedings. International.
Chang, C. C., Chou, P. N., & Lu, P.F. (2015). Prezi
versus PowerPoint: The effects of varied digital presentation tools on
students’ learning performance. Computers
& Education, 91, 73-82. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131515300695?via%3Dihub
Lehtinen, E., & Nissi, R. (2016). Negotiation of expertise and multifunctionality: PowerPoint presentations as interactional activity types in workplace meetings. Language & Communication, 48, 1-7.
Manning, A., & Amare, N. (2005). Using visual rhetoric to avoid PowerPoint pitfalls. Professional Communication Conference, 2005. IPCC 2005. Proceedings. International, 281-287.
Naik, N. (2016). Dual PowerPoint presentation approach for students with special educational needs and note-takers. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 32 (1), 146-152.
Perron, B. E., & Stearns, A.G. (2010). A Review of a Presentation Technology: Prezi. Research on Social Work Practice. Retrieved from https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/78306/Prezi.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
