Live from PowerPoint Live, Sept 27, 2005

QUESTION: What happens during a typical PowerPoint presentation if you take away the forward and reverse buttons on the presenter’s remote?
ANSWER: You have a one-slide slideshow.

Except if you are Bob Lane. In that case, you deftly navigate your presentation from one screen by hitting hidden hyperlinks and menus that allow you to jump to more than 1,000 slides and presentations in your master file.

Making him a candidate for the most innovative use of PowerPoint at the PPT Live conference. Bob’s standing-room-only presentation on Tuesday was a demonstration of “Relational Presentation,” the name he has given to his evolving concepts for a new approach to file organization and nonlinear navigation using PowerPoint. In his design concepts, which represent more than six years of research and development, slides–or entire presentations–are organized into a hierarchical tree structure by categories. A navigation screen with hidden links, icons and lists allows him to drill down through the layers of information and return at any time to his starting point. Using a Gyromouse (www.gyration.com) to run his cursor around the screen, Bob demonstrated that it is possible for PowerPoint to break free of the bonds of linearity.

Linear presentation (following a pre-set series of slides and ideas) limits the ability of a presenter to respond interactivity to the audience using graphical elements. Even though still in a rough state, Bob’s approach is an creative and well-reasoned example of efforts to move beyond the linear format of presentation without abandoning PowerPoint as the central presentation tool. Judging by audience reaction, the interest in such a capability is running high.

Ironically, during the presentation, Bob revealed the potential and the pitfalls of nonlinear PowerPoint presentation. Although the audience was clearly impressed by his ground-breaking concepts and his freeform, interactive presentation style, his presentation ultimately suffered from information fragmentation. His presentation did not have a predetermined destination, and that is exactly where it arrived. Many of the attendees voiced the opinion that the session lacked a clear takeaway. When you present nonlinearily, “it is hard to keep in mind what you want to convey to the audience while letting the audience drive the presentation where they would like to see it go,” commented author and consultant Kathy Jacobs.

PowerPoint-based, nonlinear information design and presentation may well be the wave of the future, but it does not come without hidden riptides and undertow.

Posted by Robert L. Lindstrom in PowerPoint, PowerPoint Live, Presentation Design, Uncategorized