You know the PowerPoints that come with the textbook you use?

Do you use them in class?

Although I don’t use them for every chapter, and certainly not for every class session, I do admit to using them.

However, I just had a thought regarding the design of some of the presentations provided by publishers. One issue stands out in particular for me.

They completely violate best practices of presentation design, in that they completely crowd the slides with text.

What happened to using white space to guide the viewer’s attention?  What about the 6 x 6 rule?  However, I do have a solution (albeit, a painfully time consuming option): transfer the information from each slide to the notes area of the slide, and replace it with a key word, phrase, or graphic.

If your goal in using PowerPoint is to either lecture or engage the class in discussion, do you really want them reading a projected slide of text while you are trying to share information? Especially when what you are saying coincides with, but is not precisely the same as, the text on the slide.

By compressing the content on the slide to the absolute minimum necessary to convey the point, you free the group to engage more fully in attending to the discussion or lecture that is being conducted.

This seems like common sense to me, yet I continue to see bloated presentations.

Thoughts?