Death by PowerPoint–the need for a ‘fidget index’

PowerPoint is an application designed to help the speaker or lecturer assemble professional looking slides to be used in oral presentations. The result sadly is often an unending stream of slides with bullet lists, animations that obscure rather than clarify the point and cartoons that distract from rather than convey the message. This paper examines what the speaker can do to avoid 'death by PowerPoint'. The options of an alternative communication format or an alternative presentation tool are considered. For most speakers, however, the problem is not with PowerPoint but with how they make use of it. Three approaches to making presentations using PowerPoint are described which should yield rich rewards and a more attentive and appreciative audience.