PowerPoint Critic Actually Finds Value In His Favorite Target

"Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theatre."
~Anonymous

Now I don't know who said that, but I do know that anyone who teaches for a living would sign on to that sentiment in a heartbeat. I've spent decades in print journalism and more than a decade as a traveling writing instructor, and I know with absolute certainty that running a classroom is straight out exhilarating...as long as you know what you're talking about.

You're up there pacing back and forth, scribbling ideas on flip charts, with all -- at least most -- eyes on you, and you know that those heads nodding in agreement when you hit just the right note mean they're listening and learning. Great stuff for the ego is what it is.

So...imagine my surprise when I find out that I could share the stage usefully with the technology that I have blasted in about one-third of the newsletters that I've sent you in the last three and a half years: PowerPoint.

That's right, PowerPoint, the cultural disease that allows "experts" to pass information on to a passive and usually bored audience, secure in the illusion that they've actually communicated. I've seen it deployed in wasteful fashion so often that I'd assumed it really has no purpose beyond filling up time at conferences and seminars between coffee breaks and luncheons -- at which PowerPoint once again has listeners examining the insides of their eyelids when they should be savoring dessert.

But now, working as an associate with The Murawski Group (www.writingandspeaking.com), I see its value as a potent teaching tool. Making that happen has a lot to do with simplicity. Consider: Many PowerPoint presentations consist of one slide after the other with charts than can't be read from the back of the room and an endless series of bulleted points. The presenter reads them, turns away from his audience, makes a few comments, and clicks to the next slide, apparently confident that he has imparted knowledge.

But think about this as well: What if those slides are sparsely written in large type and -- in the case of what I teach -- display writing samples submitted beforehand by participants who now have a much more intimate stake in their learning? And what if the instructor sits at a keyboard and shows everyone how to clean up that writing, fix grammar mistakes, shorten sentences and paragraphs, get to the point in the first paragraph, use active verb voice, avoid pompous and insidey language, etc.?

I'm not saying that's the only way to run a writing class. But I am admitting that I overlooked PowerPoint's dynamic potential in this one, carefully defined area of teaching. For those of you who knew that already, I apologize. For those of who insist on using PowerPoint in its more customary and soporific fashion...well, get over it.

"Hire for attitude. Train for skills."

I picked that up in a LinkedIn communications discussion group, and I've never seen it phrased in more effective terms. The first part takes interviewing skills and a commitment to listen, not just hear. The second sentence is a fine way to keep and promote good employees once you've hired them.

One skill I've found lacking over the years is a willingness to be careful about what we write. The topic here is editing and revising, or "quality control." Email has turned most of us into writers, but not editors, and that leaves us looking foolish, particularly since that blunder you didn't catch could be forwarded to parties unknown. And don't expect that sloppy wording to disappear. At the government agencies where I often teach writing, emails are archived. Why, I don't know. But they're out there.

When I was on the Penn State journalism faculty back in the '90s, I did a little research on what was then the nascent field of "human error." A handful of psychologists were asking why otherwise intelligent people make mistakes. Why do doctors operate on the wrong knee, for instance?

What they were finding is that error emits from the brain randomly when under stress. As we race through an email, our fingers don't quite keep up on the keyboard and we leave out pivotal words or misspell others in what could be embarrassing fashion. The saving grace, however, is that we can be redundant -- much like a nurse double-checking for the proper knee in a well-run operating room -- and scrutinize our work carefully, assuming that we've made mistakes. After all, that's human nature.

That brings to mind some words from John McIntyre, former head of the copy desk at the Baltimore Sun, who is now blogging at http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/mcintyre/blog/, and who, like any ink-stained journalism wretch, is downright obsessive about facts and getting them right. Here's a warning that I'm sure he passed on to many a young reporter: "Why do I still have to remind you? If your mother says she loves you, check it out."

Best wishes for your Thanksgiving celebration, which happens to be my favorite holiday thanks to the emphasis on eating and a blessed lack of gift-buying pressure.

Dave