I was originally going to call this post, “PowerPoint Challenges” but as I started to write, I realized that people would take that as me bashing Microsoft and PowerPoint. So then I wrote a sentence saying how it is not PowerPoint itself but Presentation Software in general… and from there it spirialed a little more. I then realized that the issue I am going to write about is not solely PowerPoint or Presentations; but how people use office software and tools. If tools are used incorrectly is it still a tool? Or is the person using it the tool?
I often have to present training material and other collateral material that is in PowerPoint. There is a corporate template, however people will use different templates and formats for different usages. During a tradeshow or a product launch there might be a different background and color scheme; there are also could be a different aspect ratio. Now one could simply use the presentation as it is formatted, however it can cause it to look like a garage sale as I call it. Each thing is different and random.
During a recent trip I presented a four hour seminar that covered the following:
- Networking 101
(Aspect Ratio 16:9 – Light background black serif text) - Deconstructing an Arena
(Aspect Ratio 16:9 or 4:3 – Light background black serif text) - System Architect 2.0
(Aspect Ratio 16:9 or 4:3 – Dark gradient background white san serif text) - Ethernet AVB
(Aspect Ratio 16:9 – Dark gradient background white san serif text) - Band Manager 1.0
(Aspect Ratio 4:3 – Light background black serif text) - New Products
(Aspect Ratio 16:9 – Light gradient background black san serif text) - US Stadiums and Arenas Overview
(Aspect Ration 16:9 – Full size images so no text or background)
So as you can see the look is not consistent. This does not include the items of how people capitalize and punctuate. Or the images that are being used, some is black and white line art of the product, some is color renderings, and some are color photos. So it gets inconsistent.
I can deal with some of these issues quickly and easily; through the use of proper formatting and application of templates. I had created the Networking 101 and Deconstructing an Arena using the template features of PowerPoint. As a result even though I created the presentation in 4:3 it was very easy and quick to move over to 16:9 – simply select the other ratio. However the fact that the other presentations were not created using a template, there was no easy way to address the issue. I could either go in and adjust each slide individually of each presentation or show the presentations as they were.
This situation is not just happening on presentations, it also happens on documents, webpages, spreadsheets, and other electronic forms. Rather than use some of the tools that are included in the software, styles, templates, macros, charts, transitions, themes… etc. people will create their own. What happens is that people don’t like the look of what is existing; that is understandable. So rather than redefine the styles, templates … etc. they simply go in and make the adjustments themselves; often by brute force. By brute force I mean that the images as backgrounds are actually pasted onto the background. Rather than using the two column layout the person actually adds a second text box.
Now when I say that this issue is systemic I mean that one is not using some of the features built into the word processing applications as well. If one wants to place extra spaces between paragraphs, I understand the speed of using the return key twice rather than using spacing before and after paragraph. However when one is writing a letter on the corporate template that has the styles predefined, so that the font is consistent, the margins are the same… etc from user to user people still go in and once again use brute force. Change the font, change the margins etc. So if one gets a letter from me, it might not look the same as the letter from my boss.
Now while this all seems like small issues, the amalgamated result of this issue can add up. Here are the ones I came up with off the top of my head:
- Inconsistent message
- Looks hurried together when there is not a consistent look
- Surprises in the way a presentation will look on a different computer
- Time wasted reformatting, reformatting, and reformatting
Just to give an idea of how powerful these tools can be and why I try to use them; I can tell stories about how quickly I was able to resize a presentation to fit a new screen and put it on a new background but that is talk. Check out the idea in action at the website css Zen Garden: The Beauty in CSS Design. This website is an example how simply changing the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) can dramatically change the look of a page. Without a change to anything other than the style sheet, which can be attached and updated easily, the look and feel vary greatly.
So now with how easily that can be done, why do I need to spend hours reformatting things?
