Why use PowerPoint when there is Word?
At various times in my career I have been asked to make a report on a subject. Almost always when asked, the recipient has asked me to create the report as a PowerPoint-presentation. There is some notion among people that, somehow, if you describe something in PowerPoint instead of as a text document there is some magical process which makes the information easier to grasp. But what can be easier to grasp than a few lines of beautiful prose under an “Executive Summary”-heading in a Word-document?
Now, I am not the first to complain about the many wrong uses of PowerPoint. Peter Norvig, now the head of research at Google, wrote about the use of PowerPoint way back in the dark ages (i.e. the year 2003). But still, things have only gotten worse since his essay so it bears to be re-iterated.
I have stopped asking whether to use Word or Powerpoint. These days I always opt for Word. If someone requests a PowerPoint-summary I ask them to book a meeting with me where I can present my findings properly. And the other way around, whenever I ask someone to make a report for me, I ask them to use Word.
The common complaint I get back is that using Word takes much longer. And it’s true, using Word takes longer. But it is not the writing that takes longer. When you put something down in text you have to think hard. Because writing is difficult. So I don’t ask them to make me a Word-document to be mean. It just makes it much easier to find half-truths and un-finished trains of thought. And the other way around, writing almost magically helps me clear my thoughts and understand the subject at hand.
So the next time you have something to present, use Word. You can thank me later.