Powerpoint Church

Garr Reynolds wrote this blog entry about this article in the washington post this last week.  

I think there are some very similar questions to be raised about how Powerpoint is used in the church. Generally speaking, we use it poorly, in my opinion. I think much of what is said in the above could be used for us, if we substitute "sermon" or "lesson" for "presentation".

I still am guilty of much of this, but I've really tried to move towards a different style of using powerpoint, one that lets it support the content I'm working with, instead of duplicating it, replacing it, or dominating it in the development stage.  Powerpoint does those things when we forget that the slides don't do the teaching, they're meant to reinforce or provide emphasis to the content that is coming directly from the person.  One good rule of thumb to make sure that we're on the right track might be counterintuitive, but if our PPTs can be read through and our message comprehended without the oral communication that should come with it, then that probably means that we're letting it do to much of the talking.  If that's true, then we should expect that people will just read the slides, instead of listening.  On the other hand, if our slides are designed to enhance what we're saying orally, then they are really going to be minimal and poignant.  

Less is definitely more!