WEBVTT

00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:05.120
if you've ever worked an office job you've probably experienced all the

00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:08.960
typical trappings of being a corporate wage slave sitting for eight hours at a

00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:13.200
cubicle uncomfortable lunches with irritating co-workers and useless

00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:17.520
meetings which of course feature a powerpoint presentation indeed research

00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:21.520
has shown that most workplace meetings do very little to increase productivity

00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:26.880
and just seeing the first slide of a poorly executed powerpoint intensifies

00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:31.279
this particularly mundane form of dread but despite the fact that most nine to

00:00:28.880 --> 00:00:35.200
five workers agree that powerpoints kind of suck as a tool to convey information

00:00:33.360 --> 00:00:39.600
we just keep right on using them what gives what's the deal well it helps to

00:00:37.680 --> 00:00:42.559
know what the point of powerpoint originally was before we were all

00:00:41.120 --> 00:00:46.559
looking at bullet points on digital projectors workplaces had to use

00:00:44.559 --> 00:00:50.640
old-fashioned contraptions such as vacation photo style slides projectors

00:00:49.360 --> 00:00:55.360
which you probably remember from high school or chalkboards but despite the

00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:59.280
fact that making presentations for these devices was time consuming hundreds of

00:00:57.680 --> 00:01:03.440
millions of presentation slides were being created every year and even though

00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:07.760
software and equipment that could show powerpoint like presentations were

00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:11.920
around before the 1980s they were very expensive however once the personal

00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:15.520
computer started becoming widespread software developers quickly figured out

00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:19.600
that using them to show visual aids in the workplace made both giving and

00:01:17.520 --> 00:01:24.000
creating presentations much quicker and easier and since people were already

00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:28.159
used to the slides presentation paradigm programmers already had an idea for what

00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:32.240
presentation program should look like so lots of presentation programs came out

00:01:29.759 --> 00:01:36.479
for the pc in the 1980s with powerpoint hitting the scene in 1987. and while

00:01:34.320 --> 00:01:39.920
this did make it much easier for workers at all levels to share thoughts with

00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:43.280
colleagues the problem was that no one really knew how to use it i mean think

00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:46.320
about the options most people are familiar with when creating a powerpoint

00:01:45.119 --> 00:01:50.880
you can choose a fancy looking background embed animations to your

00:01:48.399 --> 00:01:55.520
heart's content or even throw in some word art but while all this stuff can be

00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:59.759
flashy it often doesn't do a great job conveying information yet presentation

00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:03.520
programs tend to emphasize these bells and whistles not what's going to get the

00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:08.399
point across most effectively and even if you skip these options there are user

00:02:05.520 --> 00:02:11.680
errors too like cramming way too much information onto one slide i know we've

00:02:10.239 --> 00:02:16.319
all done it while you've probably seen this any given board meeting or college

00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:21.680
lecture this exact problem was actually implicated in the space shuttle columbia

00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:23.840
disaster back in 2003 you see a

00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:28.160
presentation for nasa actually contained information about the defect that caused

00:02:26.160 --> 00:02:32.319
the shuttle to ultimately explode but it was buried far down on a slide which was

00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:36.160
mostly a wall of text that actually started on a positive note meaning no

00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:40.160
one paid much attention to it but this example highlights not only that

00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:43.760
powerpoint slides often contain too much or too little information to be helpful

00:02:42.239 --> 00:02:48.000
but that it's also been roundly criticized for making people too passive

00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:52.319
with how they learn or absorb new concepts i mean it's almost as if a

00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:55.360
linear presentation where slides come out one after the other is too

00:02:54.080 --> 00:03:00.560
straightforward instead of getting viewers to engage with the material the software's

00:02:58.640 --> 00:03:04.720
fundamental paradigm seems to reward passive learning as a result of the

00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:08.239
audience being too distracted by a shoddily made slideshow while missing

00:03:06.720 --> 00:03:11.680
more important information coming from the speaker some critics have even gone

00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:16.159
as far to say that it makes people less curious and if you've ever sat through a

00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:20.239
confusing powerpoint at your 8am lecture that your professor put basically no

00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:24.480
thought into you might tend to agree but is there a brighter future ahead for the

00:03:21.920 --> 00:03:27.760
program we all love to hate well both powerpoint and its rivals are

00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:31.920
incorporating features that attempt to make presentations less linear such as

00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:35.519
zoom features that allow the presenter to access different pieces of

00:03:33.200 --> 00:03:39.920
information and make the experience less predictable and torpor inducing without

00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:43.680
breaking flow important in this age of instagram adult attention spans

00:03:41.760 --> 00:03:47.519
regardless it might be worthwhile for us all to just learn how to use powerpoint

00:03:45.519 --> 00:03:51.440
correctly a good presentation should be a useful learning aid even after you've

00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:55.360
wrapped things up and have snuck out to an expense account lunch so make your

00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:59.439
slides informative without cramming so much stuff onto them that no one can

00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:03.920
read them use interesting visuals that help your audience understand instead of

00:04:01.920 --> 00:04:08.239
pointless clip art and stock photos of business people and don't just read off

00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:12.879
the slides verbatim in my day we used to call that given a speech

00:04:10.799 --> 00:04:17.600
and speaking of powerpoints in business freshbooks freshbooks the small business

00:04:15.519 --> 00:04:21.359
accounting software custom bill for how you want to work the simple way to be

00:04:19.440 --> 00:04:24.560
more productive organized and to get paid quickly create and send

00:04:22.960 --> 00:04:28.560
professional looking invoices in less than 30 seconds set up online payments

00:04:26.960 --> 00:04:32.720
with just a couple of clicks and get paid up to four days faster dennis

00:04:30.960 --> 00:04:36.400
that's fast see when your client has seen your invoice and put an end to the

00:04:34.320 --> 00:04:40.960
guessing games for your unrestricted 30-day free trial just go to

00:04:38.320 --> 00:04:44.320
freshbooks.com forward slash techwiki and enter in techwiki in the how you

00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:48.880
heard about a section thanks freshbooks appreciate you anyways

00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:52.880
guys thank you very much for watching make sure to like the video dislike

00:04:50.960 --> 00:04:57.440
check out all our other videos comment with video suggestions and don't forget

00:04:55.120 --> 00:05:02.840
to subscribe and follow and all that fun stuff we'll see you again one day

00:04:59.840 --> 00:05:02.840
goodbye