In todays class, we discussed about why PowerPoint presentations are boring and how to make them better. People usually think that if their powerpoint presentation looks good, that's all they need. Just add some clipart here and there and expect the viewers to read off of it and understand what you're talking about. That is completely wrong. A PowerPoint slide show is something you have to use to make you look better and to make the audience understand what you're talking about. It's not about how the presentation looks or how understandable it is, it's about how you look and how you present it.

We had to read an Article called "Death by PowerPoint," by W. Christian Buss. He explained that there are five rules you should follow in order to make a good PowerPoint presentation.

1. Since everyone familiar with PowerPoint know the usual layout very well, it's easy for them to get bored of it. This causes the audience to not pay attention to the presenter or the slide show. Clipart was often used to make a presentation better, but it's been overused. A good solution to this problem is to keep the audience's attention preoccupied. Switch presenters if there's more than one or breaking down the information in the slide show. For example, Instead of having all your information on one slide, seperate the supporting data and the conclusion into different slides.

2. Alot of presentations made are based upon reports textbooks or reports. Instead of talking about everything written in the textbook or report, summarize it or use your presentation as a guide to the written report.

3. Presenters tend to talk about every bit of information they have gathered on the topic they are presenting on. This causes the audience to get bore very quickly. Using 30 - 60 seconds each slide should be the limit for presenting information.

4. Do not read off your presentation. Viewers can read the information displayed to them faster than you talk about it and making them hear it twice would bore them. Also, reading the title or qoutes and segments does not have much usefulness and is a waste.

5. The main point of your presentation is to control the information that you're giving to the audience. Sometimes questions from the audience will throw you off. Using a friend in the audience to ask about the main point will allow you to talk about it infront of the entire group. Interacting with the audience is a good way to present your information.

These five points should help you with presenting a good PowerPoint presentation.

Computer Component Project

We were assigned a new project. We have three clients who want to buy a new computer. We will have to recommend a low, medium, and high end computer for each of the three clients. Futureshop.ca and tigerdirect.ca are the only two websites we're allowed to use. Building a computer will get us extra marks. More details are on Mr. Case's Blog.

Somethings I learned:

Interface - A connection between hardware devices or applications.
(http://www.sunrise.uk.com/glossary.html)

FSB (Front Side Bus) - The speed that's usually measured in MHz that measures how fast data transfers from the processor to the memory; it also effects how fast all the components in a computer work.

DVI (Digital Visual Interface - Is a signal input specifically made for LCD Monitors. It lets the graphics card connect directly to your monitor and gives a better image display with precise colors and an overall increase in quality.
(Definition was supposed to be on www.cheap-lcd-monitor.com/lcd-monitor-terms.htm but the original page does not exist anymore)

LightScribe - Is an Optical Disc reading technology that uses special CD's/DVD's that have a coating on the label side to create an image with a laser. After you've finished putting data on a CD/DVD, you put in the label side into the drive and it will use a special laser to put in your own personalized label.