Class Schedule
22 AUG | intro
27 AUG | clients
29 AUG | servers
05 Sep | networks
10 Sep | basics lab
12 Sep | structural layer
17 Sep | presentational layer
19 Sep | working with layers
24 Sep | behavior layer
26 Sep | images & design
01 Oct | website lab
03 Oct | object layers
08 Oct | graphics
10 Oct | document markup lab
15 Oct | spreadsheets
17 Oct | formulas & functions
22 Oct | thoughts about data display
18 Oct | Fall Break
24 Oct | database tools
29 Oct | spreadsheets lab
31 Oct | relational databases
05 Nov | tables
07 Nov | relationships
12 Nov | input & output
14 Nov | SQL
19 Nov | complex queries
26 Nov | databases lab |
next session
21 Nov | Thanksgiving
28 Nov | presentation design
03 Dec | presentation delivery
05 Dec | presentation lab
12 Dec | 0800-1100 | final in class presentation
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Enjoy a happy and safe Thanksgiving
PowerPoint: anathema or boon? by Juan Dürsteler, 10 Nov 2003
... my experience is that whenever one interacts with the audience, asking for or showing them examples close to their experience the presentation is more lively and the message reaches them better. In the end, our answer to the question which we began this article with, is that PowerPoint is neither anathema nor boon, it’s just a tool with which it’s easy to give bad presentations, but when properly used, can help us to get a message across. Doing it well or badly is something that depends on us.
things hadn't improved by the time of the 9th International Conference on Information Visualisation in 2005. Note especially his comments on the use of PowerPoint.
More than half of the presentations I have attended had slides that abused PowerPoint in its more inefficient and less visual way: lots of bullet points almost literally read by the presenter. It's clear that while you read the slides you barely pay attention to what the speaker is saying, and if you listen to the speaker, reading is out of the question (what is then the need for a slide?) This is a mortal sin in a conference like this, where we have seen certainly other excellent presentations centered on the visual contents of what the speaker was saying.