How PowerPoint Makes You Stupid

How PowerPoint Makes You Stupid

Author: Franck Frommer

Publisher: New Press, The

Published: 2012-02-07

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 1595587535

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With over 500 million users worldwide, Microsoft's PowerPoint software has become the ubiquitous tool for nearly all forms of public presentation—in schools, government agencies, the military, and, of course, offices everywhere. In this revealing and powerfully argued book, author Franck Frommer shows us that PowerPoint's celebrated ease and efficiency actually mask a profoundly disturbing but little-understood transformation in human communication. Using fascinating examples (including the most famous PowerPoint presentation of all: Colin Powell's indictment of Iraq before the United Nations), Frommer systematically deconstructs the slides, bulleted lists, and flashy graphics we all now take for granted. He shows how PowerPoint has promoted a new, slippery “grammar,” where faulty causality, sloppy logic, decontextualized data, and seductive showmanship have replaced the traditional tools of persuasion and argument. How PowerPoint Makes You Stupid includes a fascinating mini-history of PowerPoint's emergence, as well as a sobering and surprising account of its reach into the most unsuspecting nooks of work, life, and education. For anyone concerned with the corruption of language, the dumbing-down of society, or the unchecked expansion of “efficiency” in our culture, here is a book that will become a rallying cry for turning the tide.


Book Synopsis How PowerPoint Makes You Stupid by : Franck Frommer

Download or read book How PowerPoint Makes You Stupid written by Franck Frommer and published by New Press, The. This book was released on 2012-02-07 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With over 500 million users worldwide, Microsoft's PowerPoint software has become the ubiquitous tool for nearly all forms of public presentation—in schools, government agencies, the military, and, of course, offices everywhere. In this revealing and powerfully argued book, author Franck Frommer shows us that PowerPoint's celebrated ease and efficiency actually mask a profoundly disturbing but little-understood transformation in human communication. Using fascinating examples (including the most famous PowerPoint presentation of all: Colin Powell's indictment of Iraq before the United Nations), Frommer systematically deconstructs the slides, bulleted lists, and flashy graphics we all now take for granted. He shows how PowerPoint has promoted a new, slippery “grammar,” where faulty causality, sloppy logic, decontextualized data, and seductive showmanship have replaced the traditional tools of persuasion and argument. How PowerPoint Makes You Stupid includes a fascinating mini-history of PowerPoint's emergence, as well as a sobering and surprising account of its reach into the most unsuspecting nooks of work, life, and education. For anyone concerned with the corruption of language, the dumbing-down of society, or the unchecked expansion of “efficiency” in our culture, here is a book that will become a rallying cry for turning the tide.

How PowerPoint Makes You Stupid

How PowerPoint Makes You Stupid

Author: Franck Frommer

Publisher: The New Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 1595587020

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Reveals that PowerPoint's celebrated ease and efficiency can actually lead to a disturbing transformation in human communication, with implications not only for individuals but also for the culture at large.


Book Synopsis How PowerPoint Makes You Stupid by : Franck Frommer

Download or read book How PowerPoint Makes You Stupid written by Franck Frommer and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reveals that PowerPoint's celebrated ease and efficiency can actually lead to a disturbing transformation in human communication, with implications not only for individuals but also for the culture at large.

The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint

The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint

Author: Edward R. Tufte

Publisher:

Published: 2006-01-01

Total Pages: 31

ISBN-13: 9780961392161

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Describes how to improve PowerPoint presentations.


Book Synopsis The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint by : Edward R. Tufte

Download or read book The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint written by Edward R. Tufte and published by . This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes how to improve PowerPoint presentations.

Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances

Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances

Author: Echo Swinford

Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."

Published: 2006-02-17

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 1491909463

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If you're vexed and perplexed by PowerPoint, pick up a copy of Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances. This funny, and often opinionated, guide is chock full of tools and techniques for eliminating all the problems that drive audiences and presenters crazy. There's nothing more discouraging than an unresponsive audience--or worse, one that snickers at your slides. And there's nothing more maddening than technical glitches that turn your carefully planned slide show into a car wreck. Envious when you see other presenters effectively use nifty features that you've never been able to get to work right? Suffer no more! Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances by Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Echo Swinford rides to the rescue. Microsoft PowerPoint is the most popular presentation software on the planet, with an estimated 30 million presentations given each day. So no matter how frustrated you get, you're not about to chuck the program in the Recycle Bin. Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances, presents smart solutions to a variety of all-too-familiar, real-world annoyances. The book is divided into big categories, with annoyances grouped by topic. You can read it cover to cover or simply jump to the chapter or section most relevant to you. Inside its pages you'll learn how to create your own templates, work with multiple masters and slide layouts, and take advantage of various alignment and formatting tools. You'll also learn how to import Excel data; insert graphics, PDF, and Word content; create, edit, and format organization charts and diagrams; use action settings and hyperlinks to jump to other slides; and add sound, video, and other types of multimedia to spark up your presentations. Entertaining and informative, Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances is filled with humorous illustrations and packed with sidebars, tips, and tricks, as well as links to cool resources on the Web.


Book Synopsis Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances by : Echo Swinford

Download or read book Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances written by Echo Swinford and published by "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". This book was released on 2006-02-17 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you're vexed and perplexed by PowerPoint, pick up a copy of Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances. This funny, and often opinionated, guide is chock full of tools and techniques for eliminating all the problems that drive audiences and presenters crazy. There's nothing more discouraging than an unresponsive audience--or worse, one that snickers at your slides. And there's nothing more maddening than technical glitches that turn your carefully planned slide show into a car wreck. Envious when you see other presenters effectively use nifty features that you've never been able to get to work right? Suffer no more! Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances by Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Echo Swinford rides to the rescue. Microsoft PowerPoint is the most popular presentation software on the planet, with an estimated 30 million presentations given each day. So no matter how frustrated you get, you're not about to chuck the program in the Recycle Bin. Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances, presents smart solutions to a variety of all-too-familiar, real-world annoyances. The book is divided into big categories, with annoyances grouped by topic. You can read it cover to cover or simply jump to the chapter or section most relevant to you. Inside its pages you'll learn how to create your own templates, work with multiple masters and slide layouts, and take advantage of various alignment and formatting tools. You'll also learn how to import Excel data; insert graphics, PDF, and Word content; create, edit, and format organization charts and diagrams; use action settings and hyperlinks to jump to other slides; and add sound, video, and other types of multimedia to spark up your presentations. Entertaining and informative, Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances is filled with humorous illustrations and packed with sidebars, tips, and tricks, as well as links to cool resources on the Web.

The Ability Hacks

The Ability Hacks

Author: Peter Lee

Publisher:

Published: 2018-06-27

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 9781983089978

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The Ability Hacks is the story of two Microsoft hackathon teams, one in the summer of 2014 and one the following summer of 2015. The first would pioneer new software to revolutionize the mobility of tens of thousands of people who live with severe paralysis caused by ALS, Parkinson's, cerebral palsy and traumatic neurological injuries. The second team would pioneer software to help kids with dyslexia read and love learning for the first time in their lives. This is the story of two small groups of driven, focused and passionate software engineers, program managers, marketers and advocates. It's the story of realizing the transformative power of technology for people with disabilities, not just for traditional consumer and industrial markets. It's the story of doing something truly great -- improving outcomes for everyone, discovering a design ethos and blazing a new trail for accessibility. Read more:More than one billion people around the world live with a disability of some kind, and it's estimated two-thirds of us know someone with a disability. Almost everyone will be temporarily or permanently impaired at some point in life, and those who survive to old age will experience increasing difficulties in functioning, according to the World Health Organization. This book explores an optimistic belief that computer software and hardware can empower people with disabilities in a multitude of scenarios. As one engineer interviewed for The Ability Hacks said, "It's not about the technology. It's about the people."


Book Synopsis The Ability Hacks by : Peter Lee

Download or read book The Ability Hacks written by Peter Lee and published by . This book was released on 2018-06-27 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ability Hacks is the story of two Microsoft hackathon teams, one in the summer of 2014 and one the following summer of 2015. The first would pioneer new software to revolutionize the mobility of tens of thousands of people who live with severe paralysis caused by ALS, Parkinson's, cerebral palsy and traumatic neurological injuries. The second team would pioneer software to help kids with dyslexia read and love learning for the first time in their lives. This is the story of two small groups of driven, focused and passionate software engineers, program managers, marketers and advocates. It's the story of realizing the transformative power of technology for people with disabilities, not just for traditional consumer and industrial markets. It's the story of doing something truly great -- improving outcomes for everyone, discovering a design ethos and blazing a new trail for accessibility. Read more:More than one billion people around the world live with a disability of some kind, and it's estimated two-thirds of us know someone with a disability. Almost everyone will be temporarily or permanently impaired at some point in life, and those who survive to old age will experience increasing difficulties in functioning, according to the World Health Organization. This book explores an optimistic belief that computer software and hardware can empower people with disabilities in a multitude of scenarios. As one engineer interviewed for The Ability Hacks said, "It's not about the technology. It's about the people."

The Stupidity Paradox

The Stupidity Paradox

Author: Mats Alvesson

Publisher: Profile Books

Published: 2016-06-02

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 1782832025

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Functional stupidity can be catastrophic. It can cause organisational collapse, financial meltdown and technical disaster. And there are countless, more everyday examples of organisations accepting the dubious, the absurd and the downright idiotic, from unsustainable management fads to the cult of leadership or an over-reliance on brand and image. And yet a dose of stupidity can be useful and produce good, short-term results: it can nurture harmony, encourage people to get on with the job and drive success. This is the stupidity paradox. The Stupidity Paradox tackles head-on the pros and cons of functional stupidity. You'll discover what makes a workplace mindless, why being stupid might be a good thing in the short term but a disaster in the longer term, and how to make your workplace a little less stupid by challenging thoughtless conformity. It shows how harmony and action in the workplace can be balanced with a culture of questioning and challenge. The book is a wake-up call for smart organisations and smarter people. It encourages us to use our intelligence fully for the sake of personal satisfaction, organisational success and the flourishing of society as a whole.


Book Synopsis The Stupidity Paradox by : Mats Alvesson

Download or read book The Stupidity Paradox written by Mats Alvesson and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2016-06-02 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Functional stupidity can be catastrophic. It can cause organisational collapse, financial meltdown and technical disaster. And there are countless, more everyday examples of organisations accepting the dubious, the absurd and the downright idiotic, from unsustainable management fads to the cult of leadership or an over-reliance on brand and image. And yet a dose of stupidity can be useful and produce good, short-term results: it can nurture harmony, encourage people to get on with the job and drive success. This is the stupidity paradox. The Stupidity Paradox tackles head-on the pros and cons of functional stupidity. You'll discover what makes a workplace mindless, why being stupid might be a good thing in the short term but a disaster in the longer term, and how to make your workplace a little less stupid by challenging thoughtless conformity. It shows how harmony and action in the workplace can be balanced with a culture of questioning and challenge. The book is a wake-up call for smart organisations and smarter people. It encourages us to use our intelligence fully for the sake of personal satisfaction, organisational success and the flourishing of society as a whole.

Resonate

Resonate

Author: Nancy Duarte

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-07-02

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1118008936

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Reveals the underlying story form of all great presentations that will not only create impact, but will move people to action Presentations are meant to inform, inspire, and persuade audiences. So why then do so many audiences leave feeling like they've wasted their time? All too often, presentations don't resonate with the audience and move them to transformative action. Just as the author's first book helped presenters become visual communicators, Resonate helps you make a strong connection with your audience and lead them to purposeful action. The author's approach is simple: building a presentation today is a bit like writing a documentary. Using this approach, you'll convey your content with passion, persuasion, and impact. Author has a proven track record, including having created the slides in Al Gore's Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth Focuses on content development methodologies that are not only fundamental but will move people to action Upends the usual paradigm by making the audience the hero and the presenter the mentor Shows how to use story techniques of conflict and resolution Presentations don't have to be boring ordeals. You can make them fun, exciting, and full of meaning. Leave your audiences energized and ready to take action with Resonate.


Book Synopsis Resonate by : Nancy Duarte

Download or read book Resonate written by Nancy Duarte and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-07-02 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reveals the underlying story form of all great presentations that will not only create impact, but will move people to action Presentations are meant to inform, inspire, and persuade audiences. So why then do so many audiences leave feeling like they've wasted their time? All too often, presentations don't resonate with the audience and move them to transformative action. Just as the author's first book helped presenters become visual communicators, Resonate helps you make a strong connection with your audience and lead them to purposeful action. The author's approach is simple: building a presentation today is a bit like writing a documentary. Using this approach, you'll convey your content with passion, persuasion, and impact. Author has a proven track record, including having created the slides in Al Gore's Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth Focuses on content development methodologies that are not only fundamental but will move people to action Upends the usual paradigm by making the audience the hero and the presenter the mentor Shows how to use story techniques of conflict and resolution Presentations don't have to be boring ordeals. You can make them fun, exciting, and full of meaning. Leave your audiences energized and ready to take action with Resonate.

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Author: Daniel Kahneman

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2011-10-25

Total Pages: 511

ISBN-13: 1429969350

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Major New York Times bestseller Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012 Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011 A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year One of The Wall Street Journal's Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 2011 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Kahneman's work with Amos Tversky is the subject of Michael Lewis's The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds In his mega bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions. Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011, Thinking, Fast and Slow is destined to be a classic.


Book Synopsis Thinking, Fast and Slow by : Daniel Kahneman

Download or read book Thinking, Fast and Slow written by Daniel Kahneman and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2011-10-25 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Major New York Times bestseller Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012 Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011 A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year One of The Wall Street Journal's Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 2011 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Kahneman's work with Amos Tversky is the subject of Michael Lewis's The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds In his mega bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions. Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011, Thinking, Fast and Slow is destined to be a classic.

Advanced Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007

Advanced Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007

Author: Wayne Kao

Publisher: Pearson Education

Published: 2007-12-27

Total Pages: 573

ISBN-13: 0132713527

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This is the only book that will help an intermediate PowerPoint user improve their skills to an advanced level. In doing so, they can benefit both professionally and personally. This is not a comprehensive book that will bore you with every detail of PowerPoint, but a guide to specific actions you can take to create the ultimate presentation. The book covers the powerful formatting engine new to PowerPoint 2007, and how it can be used for applying soft shadows, reflection, and glows to make a presentation look attractive. It also covers PowerPoint's new 3D engine. The book goes into deep technical detail about the Office 2007 theme engine and how color schemes, effect schemes, and font schemes work; as well as the new PowerPoint XML file format, showing you how to edit PowerPoint files without using PowerPoint at all. The authors walk through programming a macro and explain how to format shapes, diagrams, charts, text, tables with gradient and picture fills and different kinds of lines (e.g. a beveled compound line with a diamond arrowhead). Also covered are those all important slide show shortcuts that few people know about like -- seeing your private notes while presenting on a projector, starting the slide show from the current slide without fumbling through the user interface, and how to black out the slide show screen with one key press.


Book Synopsis Advanced Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 by : Wayne Kao

Download or read book Advanced Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 written by Wayne Kao and published by Pearson Education. This book was released on 2007-12-27 with total page 573 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the only book that will help an intermediate PowerPoint user improve their skills to an advanced level. In doing so, they can benefit both professionally and personally. This is not a comprehensive book that will bore you with every detail of PowerPoint, but a guide to specific actions you can take to create the ultimate presentation. The book covers the powerful formatting engine new to PowerPoint 2007, and how it can be used for applying soft shadows, reflection, and glows to make a presentation look attractive. It also covers PowerPoint's new 3D engine. The book goes into deep technical detail about the Office 2007 theme engine and how color schemes, effect schemes, and font schemes work; as well as the new PowerPoint XML file format, showing you how to edit PowerPoint files without using PowerPoint at all. The authors walk through programming a macro and explain how to format shapes, diagrams, charts, text, tables with gradient and picture fills and different kinds of lines (e.g. a beveled compound line with a diamond arrowhead). Also covered are those all important slide show shortcuts that few people know about like -- seeing your private notes while presenting on a projector, starting the slide show from the current slide without fumbling through the user interface, and how to black out the slide show screen with one key press.

Why Business People Speak Like Idiots

Why Business People Speak Like Idiots

Author: Brian Fugere

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2005-02-22

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 9780743269094

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There is a fundamental disconnection between the way business people speak and real people communicate. From advertisers, big business and CEOs - the blather is coming at us in waves. The International Language of Business is no longer English - it's gobbledygook. The authors blindly discovered the enormity of the problem in June 2003 with the launch of Bullfighter, an anti-jargon software tool. But jargon is just one symptom in a larger problem afflicting corporate communications today: the wholesale inability to connect with an audience. In the form of admirably straight-talk, we discover how to avoid the 'obscurity trap', 'the anonymity trap', the 'hard-sell trap' and most importantly, 'the tedium trap'. In this witty and practical new book readers are given all the tools they need to fight the 'spin' and learn to speak like the rest of us.


Book Synopsis Why Business People Speak Like Idiots by : Brian Fugere

Download or read book Why Business People Speak Like Idiots written by Brian Fugere and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2005-02-22 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a fundamental disconnection between the way business people speak and real people communicate. From advertisers, big business and CEOs - the blather is coming at us in waves. The International Language of Business is no longer English - it's gobbledygook. The authors blindly discovered the enormity of the problem in June 2003 with the launch of Bullfighter, an anti-jargon software tool. But jargon is just one symptom in a larger problem afflicting corporate communications today: the wholesale inability to connect with an audience. In the form of admirably straight-talk, we discover how to avoid the 'obscurity trap', 'the anonymity trap', the 'hard-sell trap' and most importantly, 'the tedium trap'. In this witty and practical new book readers are given all the tools they need to fight the 'spin' and learn to speak like the rest of us.