Does PowerPoint make you 'Stupider?'

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  • Reply 21 of 23
    gongon Posts: 2,437member
    This is a bit OT, but anyone have an idea which program or programs would be best for creating Tufte-style scatterplots and other effective charts from set of numbers in ASCII plaintext? What if there are lots of data, like 100000 entries?



    I have Excel installed, but couldn't figure out how to make it show my two columns

    X Y

    1 2

    2 4

    3 6

    4 8

    5 10

    as an x-y scatterplot.



    EDIT: Temporary user error. Excel seems to have enough options and functionality that it makes okay plots. Of course it's harder to use than necessary, and that makes dynamic use of the graph function difficult. It's not easy trying to find meaningful information from the data using the Excel graph function.
  • Reply 22 of 23
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Kickaha

    OTOH, you *can* make a kick-ass presentation by following Tufte's advice.



    Make the slides simple

    Use them to provide *auxillary* *supporting* information

    Talk from actual notes, not the slides

    At *most* use them to remind you of major talk sections, not details



    I usually make a massive detailed slideset, then start hiding slides that are basically just the tiny bits, and keep the overview slides and graphics.




    Now I feel like I've learned from Tufte's other books. I hadn't read his Powerpoint tips but this is basically what I do. I try to use pictures and diagrams and talk from them. Or maybe I try to demonstrate the process rather than bullet list the steps.



    Plus also I've seen a lot of bad presentations and maybe given one or two.
  • Reply 23 of 23
    I'm sure there are good presentations, like Steve Job's Keynote addresses, of course not powerpoint I don't think... so hehe
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