When we coined the term PowerPoint Wars we thought of it as a cultural phenomenon, a period of transition from outdated paradigms to contemporary ways of preparing, designing, and delivering presentations in the media age. That this kind of “war” could claim real victims was beyond our imagination — until now. Back in August, Army Colonel Lawrence Sellin got fired by the International Security Assistance Force’s Joint Command in Afghanistan, 48 hours after United Press International published his polemics about the military’s excessive use of PowerPoint presentations. Continue reading...

Ah the iPad — long awaited, much talked about, and less than half a year after its debut already almost a mainstream device. Apple did it again. Again they disrupted the market, again they couldn’t keep up with the demand, and again we couldn’t wait to hold that new magical thing in our hands… We have been using it for twelve weeks now, a good opportunity to look back and answer the one question: Is it fit for everyday use? Can it be used for work? Tool or toy? Continue reading...

At a military conference in North Carolina in April, some high-ranking officers spoke out about the dangers of using PowerPoint to convey crucial information. Brigadier-General Herbert McMaster said, “It’s dangerous, because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control.” In 2005, McMasters had banned PowerPoint when he led an operation in Iraq. “Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable,” he told the conference. That kind of harsh PowerPoint criticism isn’t new, but it seems that over the last ten years a lot has changed in respect of how presentations are perceived, designed and delivered. Continue reading...

Now that the iPad has arrived — to US customers at least — we are eager to listen to the first hands-on experiences of real-life customers. The app that interests us most is Keynote. We have been Keynote users since day one and know the program rather well. Our main question is: Can we use Keynote on the iPad for serious work, can we just import our Keynote files to the iPad and present them in our seminars? So far, we know little more than what Apple tells us: “Keynote is the powerful presentation app you love from iWork, completely reworked for iPad and Multi-Touch. So you can do everything on iPad with a tap or drag of your finger — from creating your first slide to presenting your work.” Let’s see how Apple’s claims stand up to the first customer reviews on iTunes, three days after the release… Continue reading...

We are proud to announce that Seth Godin’s “Really Bad PowerPoint” is now available in German. This little ebook is already a classic. If there is a point in time that marks the beginning of a higher awareness towards presentation techniques in the media age, that is it. Download it, read it, and pass it on. Get the original version here, and the new German version here. Thank you, Seth, for making it possible! More from Seth here. Watch one of Seth’s presentations.

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Today we start a new series, called “Persistent Presentation Paradigms, or The True Reason Why I Bore My Listeners To Tears”. Given that most of the reasons of presentations going sour lie in wrong or outdated paradigms, we are in for some serious paradigm breaking here. Continue reading...

It took us some time to get started, but now it’s here, our weblog! First question: How do you call a weblog about topics connected to creativity, presenting, design, and more? Some fancy name anyone? Well, it’s just a weblog after all — a Weblog, a WEBlog, a WE|Blog! WE as in WEndelberger, or just as in WE all make mistakes. Yes, that’s exactly what we want to write about: the problems we all face, the thoughts we have about all that, and solutions we have to offer. Continue reading...