¶ … mega technology, advanced science, and virtual reality the business consumer is continually being bombarded with computer mechanizations to better explain simple to complex concepts. To this end there are passionate users of PowerPoint presentations as well as those who are totally inept as to how a PowerPoint presentation is organized and presented. However, for the master and novice PowerPoint programs have both pros and cons. The remained of this paper will focus on the specific advantages and disadvantages of using the PowerPoint system.
Regardless of the PowerPoint system selected to present information to an intended audience the system is only as effective as the person developing the presentation. Oftentimes PowerPoint systems are a "crutch" rather than an aid for the material being presented. Those presenters who are passionate about their PowerPoint presentation use the technology to stimulate inform enlighten and inspire enthuse the audience before them. As such, according to Atkins (2003) PowerPoint presentations must be more than bullet points on an endless number of slides and rambling paragraphs. Unfortunately, however, as soon as a presenter dims the lights and places the first slide on the screen and goes into a presentation mode, is the exact moment the presenter moves away from a two way conversation to a one-way lecturer-broadcast situation. The disaster that takes place here is visible by the presenter simply forging ahead, slide after slide, in a continuous robotic oral presentation of material that anyone could read without the help of the presenter. What is left is simply an audience who, for the most part, has no opportunity to inter-into substantive dialogue with respect to the material being presented. The question becomes, therefore, one of whether or not a slide presentation is needed at all. The answer to this question clearly rests in whether or not the following the presenter answers yes to any of the following questions. If any question receives a yes response then a PowerPoint presentation is on the "con" group:
Do the slides have more than 15 words per slide and are all slides in bullet point form?
Are the slides emotionally empty and without a presenter personality?
Do the slides encourage a deeper understanding of the topic?
Are the slides not memorable?
Do the slides distort the data and material being presented?
Do the slides encourage cognitive weakness (Tufte, 2003)?
An answer of yes to any of the above stated questions then a PowerPoint presentation is not an instructional tool that has much merit. In the end most PowerPoint presentations lack flexibility, oftentimes put an audience to sleep, are presented too fast and contain no persistence of information - not to mention possible power failures that completely destroy a presentation, lecture, or seminar.
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