I always wonder what the point of slides is... it usually seems to lead to the awkward situation where someone either reads the slide verbatim, which is pointless, or says something different from what the slide says, which is distracting. I think only Steve Jobs style keynote addresses really use presentation software well, but that's far too much effort for most instances.
On the other hand, there's definitely some merits to the format. It forces people to be concise and boil their commentary down to the essential insights. It lets people use structure more in their text: nested bullet points, different font sizes, dedicating a whole slide to one statement, etc. It also lets non-textual elements take equal prominence. It prompts readers to think about the implications of a statement for themselves rather than just skimming sentences. Basically it gives people more flexibility than just writing a report or an email. I can see why they are popular.
I do think better training so people could emulate Steve Jobs if they wanted to would be very welcome.
Keynote presentations (not the software but the basic presentation format) aren't justified in effort nor are appropriate for many presos. Many business presentations are intended to be interrupted and to veer off in new directions as appropriate.
Thar said, presentation training is worthwhile and too many presentations have too many words.
On the other hand, there's definitely some merits to the format. It forces people to be concise and boil their commentary down to the essential insights. It lets people use structure more in their text: nested bullet points, different font sizes, dedicating a whole slide to one statement, etc. It also lets non-textual elements take equal prominence. It prompts readers to think about the implications of a statement for themselves rather than just skimming sentences. Basically it gives people more flexibility than just writing a report or an email. I can see why they are popular.
I do think better training so people could emulate Steve Jobs if they wanted to would be very welcome.