The
king is dead, long live the king!. Is
changing Power Point and Excel smart for other programs?
"The king is dead, long live the king," or "The king is dead,
long life to the king" is a slogan or cry that was used as a ritual
expression in the succession of monarchies. In
France, before the Revolution was used from 1422 when declaring that Charles VI
of France was followed Carlos VII of France. In
England the ritual was applied since 1272 with the replacement of Henry III of
England by Edward I.
This motto was used to avoid the dangerous political situation that arises in the political transition, is the last occasion to cheer the deceased king and the first occasion to greet the new king, expressing the loyalty of the subjects to the king and the automatic renewal of the ties of vassalage (in feudal society).
The changes were
not always good, because the old king could have been killed to put in his
place a puppet or accomplice. At the end of the day the origin of kings is
always dark and has no relation to divine designs or other tales of antiquity. That is why, if the people were lucky,
the new king was better, but they had to endure many hardships during the life
of the moron that touched them in luck.
At present, in companies and academic centers, since 1990 Power Point and Excel have been widely used for calculations, creation of graphs, tables and presentation in offices and classrooms. Microsoft Office was released by Microsoft in 1989 for the Apple Macintosh, later associated with Windows. The first version of Office contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint.
In parallel, in
the dynamic world of computing, multiple alternate versions have been created
by matching or enhancing some of the original Microsoft Office capabilities. Many of the new programs are like
magic potions that serve to overcome the stress of the boring presentations
that generate the "PowerPoint boredom syndrome."
Is Power Point
the problem? Is the program badly
designed? Do not have the
functions and promised potential? Nothing
of that. The problem is in the
way it is used, in who uses it, for what purposes it is used. It is a tool and as such is as good as
the person who uses it. The same
chisel that the stonecutter uses to tear a rock serves Antonio Canova or Miguel
Ángel Buonarrotti.
There are
several studies on this subject. Rick
Altman in his book "Why Power Point Presentations sucks and how you can
make them better" indicates that one of the recurring problems is reading
the text that is presented in the slides. Altman
says, "When you read your transparencies or slides word for word, you look
like an idiot." In some
cases, it may not only appear to be the same, but also if it is clear that this
type of behavior reflects an insult to the audience, transmits insecurity,
reveals disconnection of the audience, is irritating, wastes time and Money to attendees. And of course, it sucks deadly. Are you guilty of the entire Power
Point program?
The intention in
the communication of data and information is not to distract the audience,
whatever the number of attendees, but to communicate facts, situations, and
provide them with elements to make decisions. If
you want a distraction, you will probably go to the movies to watch the movie.
The King is only
a decorative figure and the usefulness and advantages to his kingdom depend on
his personal vision, values, political ability and ability to control over the
court and all those who in the end must execute their decisions. Programs such as Power Point or Excel
are just tools whose effectiveness depends on the skills, creativity and
knowledge of those who use them. As
tools are not good nor in themselves.
If he is a king
with good intentions and has the control of the court, he can get his orders
and decisions reflected in events that favor the population of his kingdom, the
people will be happy, will always cheer and support him.
Power Point and
Excel are good programs and are continuously improved. When the user, in addition to knowing
his technical details and possibilities, knows the activity in which he uses
the tools, knows the business or academic subject, understands his audience
well, can present a message in different ways, can generate information and
create Knowledge, can tell
stories from data, few or many, that are available. He behaves like Antonio Canova before
a block of marble.
When a king has good intentions but no effective control
over the court that executes his decisions (it is a "bread of god"),
they will do things that are against his will, the people will always be evil
and curse the king.
Power Point and Excel are good programs but if users do not
know their potential or have the knowledge of the context in which it should be
applied, it seems that they are not useful and therefore other software should
be used. These incapable users can be professionals with false titles and
awards, they do not know the basic and deep aspects of the business environment
or academic subjects, lack creativity, are unable to obtain information from a
group of amorphous data, are unable to explain a Issue in multiple ways to
different audiences. How would the most powerful software be useful to them?
The change of Power Point by another program is justified if
this serves to move from good presentations or unforgettable presentations to
dream presentations, presentations that produce ecstasy among attendees. The
change is fine if the one who uses the new programs is a genius, knows the
subject, has good academic and practical training, knows his audience, is able
to create stories that reach the mind and heart. It is an Antonio Canova of the
data and words.
With Power Point or the Ultra XP Presentation program (XXII
century software), if the lecturer or teacher reads 30 transparencies like
this, MORE THAN ONE WILL DIE FROM BOREDOM. The new kings are not necessarily better
than the dead, new programs are not necessarily better than the old Power Point
and Excel.
References
El rey ha muerto, viva el rey
Si lees tus transparencias, pareces idiota (Noviembre 26, 2008)
