This document parodies an Abraham Lincoln speech given at Gettysburg using the standard PowerPoint presentation format of bullets and slides. It mocks how PowerPoint can distract from meaningful content by focusing on superficial formatting elements rather than the substance of the discussion. Alternative presentation styles are proposed that prioritize visual storytelling over bullet points to better engage audiences.

2. Abraham Lincoln

3. Gettysburg Cemetery
Dedication
Abraham Lincoln
11/19/1863
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4. Agenda
 Met on battlefield (great)
 Dedicate portion of field - fitting!
 Unfinished work (great tasks)
11/19/1863
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5. Not on Agenda!
 Dedicate
 Consecrate
 Hallow
(in narrow sense)
 Add or detract
 Note or remember what we say
11/19/1863
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6. Review of Key Objectives
& Critical Success Factors
 What makes nation unique
– Conceived in Liberty
– Men are equal
 Shared vision
– New birth of freedom
– Gov’t of/for/by the people
11/19/1863
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7. Organizational Overview
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0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4 New Nations
0.3
0.2
11/19/1863
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-87 Now
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8. Summary
 New nation
 Civil war
 Dedicate field
 Dedicated to unfinished work
 New birth of freedom
11/19/1863
 Government not perish
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10. PowerPoint Run Amok

15. Battling Bullets

16. What is your reaction to this format?

17. The standard format is mentally exhausting!

19. Visuals, with limited text, are easier to process

20. Limit use of bullets to actual lists
• Your agenda items
• A summary
• A short list of important details

21. What should we use instead of bullets?

22. What should we use instead of bullets?
The Assertion – Evidence Model

24. The assertion-evidence model leads to
increased recall

25. How could we fix this slide?

26. Visual evidence will keep your audience engaged

27. What do the slides highlight as important?

29. Presentation Zen

34. Presentation Zen Examples
Seth Godin on Making a Difference
Garr Reynold on Being Like Bamboo

39. Graphical “Outlining”

44. Lessig Style

45. Lawrence Lessig
•Fast transitions, many slides
•Single word or short phrase
•Text can:
•Mirror
•Augment
•Contradict
Lessig's Talk on Free Culture and Copright

46. Non-PowerPoint Options

47. There are more options than PowerPoint
Prezi
Kinetic, Topological Presentations
– Storytelling Techniques Explained
– Ron Gutman Explores Little-Known Benefits of Smiling
Consider using a screen-capture utility to make a video
of non-local software
Hans Rosling Makes Stats Interesting

48. Sources
• Gettysburg Address Spoof from norvig.com
• Afghanistan Stability from New York Times
• Assertion-Evidence examples from Michael Alley at engr.psu.edu
• Lessig image from fastcompany.com
• All other images from presentationzen.com
• Laurence Lessig talk available at
http://randomfoo.net/oscon/2002/lessig/free.html
• Title font is WolfredNelson available at fontspace.com
– Want to use a cool font in your PowerPoint? Be sure to embed the font
when you save it. Go to Save As… |Tools |Save Options to embed the
fonts. (Won’t work if there are licensing restrictions (rare); it’ll tell you if
there’s a problem.)