Today's my birthday. I'm 52.
I thought it was only appropriate to take a step back and review how the world of technology has shaped our presentations.
Overhead Transparencies
Technology that supports presentations has changed dramatically since I started my post-graduate career in 1980. When I started my career, platform time was spent with transparencies and an overhead projector. You felt really advanced if you had typed overheads (usually created by a Secretary with access to a typewriter) or some sort of image on the transparency. If you were really cool, you got your marker out and marked on the overhead as you spoke to the audience. You always wanted to make sure you used erasable markers just in case you wanted to re-use the transparency.
35mm and the Word Processing Center
The next phase that I recall was 35 mm slides. We used a production house called 35 West here in the Madison, WI area at 3512 West Beltline Highway. It was a clever play on words and their address.
Getting from our thoughts to the final 35 mm presentation involved a detour through the Word Processing Center. Do you remember Word Processing Centers? If so, you're probably at least 50. I can remember writing up the words that we wanted on slides and having the Word Processing Center type up the notes. Our center was made up of 3 women with their Wang Computers and I think with Office Writer. You'd drop off a handwritten document and they'd type it up for you. You'd mark it up and return it to them for correction.
35 West would prepare our slides always with a dark blue background and yellow and white type. Our template was pretty clear on this. I don't remember what we paid for each slide, but it wasn't cheap. Our slide shows were used by our sales reps and in some cases we did some cool things with muliple projector slide shows for tradeshows using our trays of 35mm slides.
D-I-Y Presentations
Needless to say our Word Processing Center probably lasted for about a year in my early career when the 3 ladies were displaced with the arrival of our brand spanking new computers. We now had the first generation tools to create documents, presentations, etc. While 35 West and 35 mm slides didn't disappear immediately, they were on a rapid trajectory of decline.
In the Harvard Graphics and PowerPoint era, where you had the tools to create and re-create content as you wanted. Clip art was so much fun! You could throw in the spinning figures, cartoons and lots of words to make your point.
What about today? Death by PowerPoint has entered the popular lexicon. We've moved into the multi-media era. Audiences are bored by bullet points, tons of words and monotonous presenters. They are used to watching YouTube and listening to audio clips and expect to always be entertained.
As you look at your history and experience as a presenter using different technology how do you see the future evolving?
Paul J Gibler
the Web Chef
