More On Slide Shows
Something new from Edward Tufte
“A modest step back from the PowerPoint culture is to limit one’s PowerPoint slides to charts and photos. If you can’t resist some text, limit yourself to an opening outline slide dense with structure and a closing summary to remind everyone of what they heard.
Why not step back more dramatically, though, to an age before the computer and the overhead projector? Color printing has never been cheaper and society has never been richer. Why not print up materials in advance of the talk and hand them out? If you need to refer to a chart or photo during your talk, ask people to “turn to page 3 of the handout”. You can leave the room lights on, people will focus their attention on you, the discussion and flow need not be constrained by the tyranny of the bullet points. The one disadvantage of the handout approach is that you can’t use a laser pointer.”