Power Points

We are fortunate to live in a time of great access to technology. One of the most popular presentation tools we have, thanks to technology, is the PowerPoint. As with many things this great access often comes with a price. In this case it means being subjected to people who are well...um...not so good at creating these presentations. I think as students we have all sat through the class where the instructor literally reads their presentation aloud slide by slide. I am slipping into foggy haze just at the thought. Unfortunately this is often the rule and not the exception. As a librarian I like to think I'm a bit ahead of the curve, but was I in for a reality check when I watched Scott McCloud's "On Comics" at TED Talk http://www.ted.com/talks/scott_mccloud_on_comics.html. I'll admit it. I was completely enthralled. I loved the pace of his slides. How some of the images within his slides shifted as he talked. I was left stunned and wide eyed at the end. I wanted to do that! I wanted everyone to do that! I had a mission. I would help motivate the people I work with and encourage them to reinvent their PowerPoint presentations. I found a very clever presentation while reading a blog titled "How Not to Suck at Powerpoint." http://www.slideshare.net/jessedee/you-suck-at-powerpoint The short and direct presentation was even a slide share so it was super easy to pass on to everyone in my building. Can you see where this is headed? So, motivated by the desire to no longer watch as students dozed off listening to their teachers drone on, I quickly typed in our school email list and hit send. Job done. Now all I had to do was wait for the appreciative emails in return. Fast forward a couple of hours. I'm no longer in the library, instead I'm collaborating with a 6th grade teacher. We are busy planning when she stops in mid sentence and said, "Hey. Why do you think my power points suck?" I blinked in silence and innocently asked, "What do you mean?" She showed me her screen and there in huge letters it says, "YOU SUCK AT POWER POINT!" Note to self: I know just enough about technology to get myself into trouble. When I forwarded this pithy little presentation I included a message about how useful the tips would be when crafting a new lesson. That message was, of course, buried deep inside the email in teeny tiny print. What stood out was YOU SUCK AT POWER POINT! that I had so anxiously sent to every person in my building...including my principal. I felt like the guy in the commercial who races around yanking everyone's computers off their desk trying to keep people from reading the last email he sent. I was so embarrassed. Needless to say I had to craft an apology and send it out quickly (this actually got far more responses than my original email). Here's my attempt at

Okay, I saw this very funny PowerPoint when I was reading my blogs and thought I would share it with everyone. It blog was titled, “How NOT to Suck at Powerpoints.” I had no idea--until I was standing next to _____ and she asked, “Why do you think I suck at powerpoints?”—that the email I sent you would say “You Suck at PowerPoints.” I am certainly sorry. I’m sure you all create wonderfully interesting presentations. I just thought the slides were informative, concise and funny.

In short, none of you suck. Have a good weekend.

If nothing else, at least I got their attention. Lesson? Always read carefully and think ahead before clicking send all.