Monday, June 05, 2017

PowerPoint makes us lazy

Or at least, that's what I think.

Because in PowerPoint, we usually write in point-form, and not full sentences. And we usually only write in the key points, without filling in the details on how we arrive at them, or how they link or lead to each other. All those details are usually verbally explained during the presentation (if there is one) or simply left for the reader to figure out (if there isn't an actual presentation and only the slides are sent out.)

This is not a problem if the slides are created based on a full document, properly written with all the details on how things were arrived at, and how they link to each other, etc. The slides are a summary of the key items, and readers can (and should) always refer to the full document to get a comprehensive idea of the issue being talked about.

But it is a problem if the writer starts right from PowerPoint, generating just the slides. While the key points are there, the writer might not have fully developed the idea, might miss out important (or non-critical but important) factors or aspects that would have been explored if he had started by writing the issue out as a document (be it essay, proposal, research paper, or even just as an email). Because grammar forces us to consider the relationship between objects and subjects, think about time (past tense, present tense, etc.), and how to link things together.

Long story short: use slides for what they were meant for, as a summary of a document. Don't be lazy, write the document, then develop the slides to help others better understand the document.

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