A November  2008 Article in CIO Magazine entitled 10 PowerPoint Tips: Keep Your Audience Awake made me sit up and wonder  about the quality of advice given to executives on this kind of topic. I’ll let you read through the article and make your own judgment, but think about some of the grievous sins you can commit with PowerPoint, and this article suggested them as Best Practices!

For example – liberally add sound effects, insert multiple charts and graphs, apply transitions and use animation effects for text and objects were tips #2 through #5. I was surprised as Thomas Wailgum, the editor of the article (although not the supplier of the tips) made an opening comment describing PPT as “a crutch to knowledge workers everywhere who think pie charts and sound effects can cover up weaknesses in public-speaking skills”.