Fixing the "PowerPoint Problem" - Part 1: Presentation

PowerPoint can be dreadful. In the hands of the wrong person (which is most of the people who use PowerPoint) it can drive audience members to a point near screaming at the top of their lungs while trashing the meeting room. But the problem is not in the program. The problem is in the designers and users.

Students will address the "PowerPoint" problem in a two-pronged attack: 1) Thinking creatively about presentation design, and 2) Doing better slide design. In the first session, students will explore an innovative approach to presentation called Pecha Kucha. They will review articles and examples in the sites below - and will work toward story-boarding a creative presentation using this genre.

1. Get to the PowerPoint (Wired magazine)
2. Pecha Kucha and the Art of Liberating Constraints (Presentation Zen)
3. All Talk (Time Magazine)
4. A Primer on Pecha Kucha (The Bamboo Project) 
5. PechaKucha.org

Students will explore these resources and write a brief reflection on each, discussing the origins of Pecha Kucha, its uses in various settings, its advantages, tips, etc. They will then look at examples of Pecha Kucha in action around the world: http://www.pechakucha.org/watch - and close-by: http://www.pkngreenville.com/