A while back, the Fluff Talker list had a bit of a debate over the merits of PowerPoint vs. Apple’s Keynote. Since I’ve move to the Mac, I’ve done all my presenting in Keynote and frankly I haven’t looked back; at first it was a bit of an adjustment but all in all, I liked it quite a bit. I’ve seen a lot of great decks in Keynote including the drop dead gorgeous work seen in an Inconvenient Truth. When I complimented Bill Scott about his presentation at AE, he humbly gave Keynote the credit (seriously, Bill is something else - if you have a chance to see him live, do not hesitate.)
Anyway, I’ve spent a lot of time in Keynote and I’ve been trying to mimic the “Lessig method” of presenting (free culture is a great example, but you owe it to yourself to watch Dick Hardt’s OSCON 2005 Keynote). I’ve seen *way* too many bullet point infested decks (it should be illegal to indent more than once) and I’ve been doing my part to stem the tide. At the day job, I’ve been pounding out a deep dive on TDD and since work is all about Windows, I find myself again in PowerPoint. I have to admit, I really wish I wasn’t. Trying to bend PPT to my will is proving difficult though I think much of the blame belongs to our corporate template - one that practically forces bullet point upon bullet point. Much as I want to blame crappy slideware on the presenters, maybe we need to “reeducate” those wonderful people that piece together lackluster themes. Or at least those swell souls that dictate all presentations shall be in said stifling framework.
