This is the print version of this page. All content is copyright Indezine.com 2000-2026.
Thoughts and impressions of happenings in the world of PowerPoint and presentations, continuously updated since 2003.
See Also:
PowerPoint and Presenting Notes
PowerPoint and Presenting Glossary
In a 2001 article in Small Business Computing, writer Angela Garber expressed the universally negative reputation of cluttered slideshows by coining the frequently cited epithet, Death by PowerPoint. Given the constant disparagement of slideshows by critics, audiences, and even by presenters themselves, why would anyone continue to use them?
After all, the memorable speeches of history did not use PowerPoint:
So why, indeed, would anyone use slides? The simple answer lies in the aphorism, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Those familiar words are backed by a wide array of scientific evidence. One of the most thorough is an HP publication titled, The Power of Visual Communication, which cites nine learned sources and concludes that:
Even more to the (Power) point is the opinion of Stephen M. Kosslyn, the author of Clear and to the Point: 8 Psychological Principles for Compelling PowerPoint Presentations, a book based on his work at the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. As Dr. Kosslyn put it in one of his academic studies:
The timeworn claim that a picture is worth a thousand words is generally well-supported by empirical evidence, suggesting that diagrams and other information graphics can enhance human cognitive capacities in a wide range of contexts and applications.
Another respected expert on visual expression was Hans Rosling, a Swedish medical doctor and statistician, whose revolutionary graphical display methodology electrified his high-profile TED conference and made him an instant media and talk circuit rock star. Ten thousand words would not be adequate to describe his technique, so please see it for yourself in his video on YouTube.
A New York Times article about Dr. Rosling described the impact of his graphics:
The goal of information visualization is not simply to represent millions of bits of data as illustrations. It is to prompt visceral comprehension, moments of insight that make viewers want to learn more.
In that one sentence, Dr. Rosling, his dynamic software notwithstanding, validates the primacy of the presenter over even his superb graphics. More than that, he tells you not only why, but how to use your slides.
This blog is an excerpt from my book Winning Strategies for Power Presentations published by Pearson. Also, check out my newly released Presentation Trilogy—Presenting to Win, The Power Presenter, and In the Line of Fire—available on Amazon and other retailers.
Jerry Weissman is the founder and president of Suasive, Inc., formerly Power Presentations, Ltd. Jerry founded Suasive in 1988 and quickly established himself as the coach for Silicon Valley CEOs delivering critical presentations for their IPO roadshows. He taught them to tell their company stories through the eyes of their investors, and in so doing, significantly increased the valuations of their companies. He amassed an elite client list and soon widened his focus to helping public and privately held companies develop and deliver all types of business presentations.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.
Filed Under:
Guest Posts
Tagged as: Business, Death by PowerPoint, Guest Post, Jerry Weissman, PowerPoint, Presentation Design, Presentation Skills, Public Speaking, Slide Design, Slideshows, Storytelling, Tips, Visual Communication
This issue is about doing the job properly the first time. SimpleDim brings real measurements into PowerPoint, so a warehouse layout or a floor plan on a slide is not just a picture but an actual, to-scale drawing you can trust. Laszlo Diewald’s Dynamic Grid 2 does the same for data: one click refreshes your table straight from SharePoint, so the numbers in the room are always the current numbers, not last week’s. And Ramgopal’s book, Clear Slides, makes the same argument about thinking: organize your ideas before you open PowerPoint, because a clear head makes a clear slide. Three different tools, one simple rule: get it right early, and the rest gets easier.
Stay updated with the latest tutorials, tips, and news on PowerPoint and presentation techniques.
Filed Under:
Ezine
Tagged as: Ezine, Indezine, News, PowerPoint
Laszlo Diewald has been working as a consultant for more than 10 years now. He started his career as an employee right after his study at the Technical University of Munich. Shortly after, he decided to become self-employed as a freelance consultant. In 2017, he founded his own consultancy, with a focus on large scale projects in the financial sector. In parallel, he started working on presentaid, which was finally launched in April 2022.
In this conversation, Laszlo talks about presentaid’s new Dynamic Grid 2.
Filed Under:
Interviews
Tagged as: Add-in, Interviews, Laszlo Diewald, PowerPoint, presentaid
Ramgopal M. S. is the founder of Presentation Process and author of Clear Slides. Over the past 20 years, he has helped millions of professionals communicate complex ideas through clear, engaging presentations. His YouTube channel has over 560,000 subscribers, where he shares practical PowerPoint and presentation design techniques.
In this conversation, Ramgopal discusses his new book, Clear Slides.
Filed Under:
Interviews
Tagged as: Books, Interviews, Presentation Process, Ramgopal M. S., Training
This issue is about what happens when you stop leaving things to chance. The guides tutorial shows how a line on a slide is never just a line: it snaps, it inherits, it governs, and it will quietly run your layout if you let it. Understanding that is the difference between slides that look deliberate and slides that look lucky. Avinash Panneerselvam’s AECharts interview takes the same idea into charting: polished, animated, design-first charts that drop cleanly into any deck without negotiating with PowerPoint’s own chart engine. And Matteo Cassese’s Founder Journey conversation goes further still, asking what it means to move from telling stories to building myths, and whether your presentations belong to a bigger narrative you haven’t named yet.
Stay updated with the latest tutorials, tips, and news on PowerPoint and presentation techniques.
Filed Under:
Ezine
Tagged as: Ezine, Indezine, News, PowerPoint
Microsoft and the Office logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.