SubscribeDitch PowerPoint for the User Generated Presentation?
Fellow Social Media Today member Maggie Fox recently delivered the first-ever User Generated Presentation at the CapCHI 2007 workshop “Web 2.0: The Human Web” in Ottawa, ON, Canada. She discusses some important points about building a user-generated presentation:
1. Don’t start with PowerPoint, because that will get the group into passive mode.
2. Use a collaborative tool to record the session.
3. Don’t forget to cover the basics. (actually, I used this as a backup, borrowing a list of questions Brian had posted on his blog in case the conversation stalled; we didn’t actually get to those).
(Source: Maggie Fox – The first-ever User Generated Presentation)
Nathan Gillatt discusses this further on his blog, and Garr Reynolds looks at this is a post aptly titled, “Is it finally time to ditch PowerPoint?”. Both conclude that it’s not time to ditch PowerPoint the tool, but “PowerPoint” the method. For far too long people have made presentations using PowerPoint that are poorly developed, essentially speaker’s notes on screen. My Zen Aesthetic presentation looks at the problem of underdeveloped presentations:
The misguided use of PowerPoint is a classic case of the scope and design of a project being dictated by the technology, when it should be the other way around. The User-generated presentation is an excellent idea because what’s covered by the presentation can be decided by the audience, making it much more relevant than the boring slide decks we’ve come to associate with a “PowerPoint” presentation. When you build a user-generated presentation, wiki can be an ideal tool for gathering input and collaborating on the content of your slides.
my 2 euro cents,
-Stefan"
maggie fox says:
May 11th, 2007
Hi Stewart – I like the wiki idea, because as you know from the follow-up post, the tool we chose wasn’t quite up to the task.
Stewart Mader says:
May 11th, 2007
Hi Maggie – I’m thinking of trying it – getting a group or even an audience to collaborate on the content, then I’ll apply my design “secret sauce” to build something with visual impact. One of the great things about the concept of the User Generated Presentation is that it shows the distinction between developing the content of the presentation and designing the visual presentation slides so they illustrate the message instead of looking like speaker’s notes.
Stewart
Charlie says:
May 11th, 2007
As a matter or course now, whenever I have to sit through a powerpoint demonstration, I get the powerpoint slides afterwards and put them on our wiki.
Wrong way round I know but hopefully this will get people in the habit of using the wiki
maggie fox says:
May 14th, 2007
Stewart – I’d love to see what you come up with, as I’m still searching for the perfect combination of form and function!