[Sigia-l] Smackdown: Edward Tufte vs. Don Norman

[Skot Nelson]

On May 30.2005, at 20:55, Listera wrote:

> The presentation is *not*
> a substitute for the latter, it's an illuminator of it.

or an illustration that the CEO has the attention span of a canal  
horse, and is unable to grasp complex issues.
there are things that simply can't be distilled down to 5 bullet  
points. i think this was the original, somewhat lost, point.
"War bad. People die." just doesn't quite work all the time - it  
certainly didn't in the Oval Office.

>> And these bullets should be taken as the best evidence that I have  
>> clearly
>> thought the problem through.
> Absolutely. That's why venture capitalists put so much emphasis on the
> applicants' ability to distill their work into a 5-min/5-slide  
> presentation.
> They literally bet millions of dollars on that format/process.

And most venture capitalists lose money on most of the deals they make.
Anything wrong with this picture? These guys bet on five minute  
presentations and USUALLY lose money. Occasionally they get it right.

Maybe they should be doing more research?

> Therein comes PPT. It's a seducer, not an explainer. But without  
> seduction,
> you don't...

Powerpoint is not a seducer; Powerpoint is a tool There may be other,  
more useful tools to convey complex information in simple ways. None  
has the ubiquity of Powerpoint - this ubiquity is in part responsible  
for negative perceptions; the evils of poor presentations tend to get  
heaped up on Powerpoint rather than the presentation itself.

I hate Powerpoint for lots of reasons, none of which have to do with  
presentation content. Powerpoint looks and acts like an app that was  
built in the 80s.

I should amend that - recent versions are beginning to approach a  
90's asthetic.
--
Skot Nelson
skot at penguinstorm.com