Another aside about PowerPoint from Ben

We recently had the opportunity to work on a presentation for a multinational company that needed to communicate a lot of information concerning corporate finances in a way that didn't confuse anyone or put them to sleep. We were given the rare opportunity of getting this presentation explained to us, both in terms of content and intent. Armed with this information, we were able to take the presentation to another level beyond simply making sure things lined up onscreen. We built animation into it that actually meant something, rather than simply moving things around.

According to the client, the presentation was a success. And so it was while feeling all warm and fuzzy about the capabilities of PowerPoint that I came upon an essay by one of my favorite novelists, Neal Stephenson. Neal writes a lot about technology and social issues in his stories, and his perspective is refreshing and thought-provoking. I recently found an essay he wrote for Whole Earth magazine (from the content, it's clearly from the dot-com-boom days). Sample quote:

"To people who can't communicate, [PowerPoint] is what the dialysis machine is to people who don't have kidneys. "

I find his perspective fascinating for the very reason that he's completely disconnected from the business world, where PowerPoint is an essential (and occasionally very effective) tool. I don't agree with him completely, but I like hearing things from his perspective.

Read the whole thing here.

Update from Ben

Ben here; sorry for being dark for so long. This new product launch has really been taking up all our time. We've set up a separate "command center" that has workstations with special custom builds of certain software apps we're using for this project. Actually, it turns out that the software company is going to include these features in the next version, so some of us feel pretty proud that we inspired these features. Except for those of us who feel like all we had to do was wait a month and only pay for the upgrade instead of the truly insane customization fee. But it's all in the context, says me.

Anyway, this command center: it's got its own separate climate control, and the windows are all papered off. The designers who are working on this project apparently like it crazy cold in there; maybe it keeps them alert. They also unscrewed all the fluorescent lights and ran these floor-running blue Christmas lights. So when you walk in you think you're in Mr. Chew's lab.

In other news, this new client of ours apparently wants to take us on a team-building exercise, or something. I'll let you know how that pans out.