English for Office Applications and Information Processes
Dynamic Presentations: Life after Death by Power Point RP Unit 15
VIDEO: Life after Death by PowerPoint
Script and Instructions for the Teacher
Video length 4:25s
Video by Don McMillan
To download and view the video:
http://englishforofficeapplications.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/dynamic-presentationsdeath-by-power-point/
Original video source: http://www.davidairey.com/how-not-to-use-powerpoint/
Materials by Beatriz Papaseit Fernández and María Zabala Peña
Materials:
To carry out this activity you need the following materials:
1. Video: Life after Death PowerPoint
2. Two Student’s Handouts: Student handout with video questions+ Answer sheet to
correct question B =( key: photocopiable sheet for question B)
3. The video script and teacher’s instructions sheet, which you are reading right now.
When to carry out this video exercise:
If you are using the textbook English for Office Applications and Information
Processes by MacMillan, you can carry out this activity after reading the text: Death by
Power Point, right at the end of unit 15.
If you are not using MacMillan’s English for Office Applications and Information
Processes, feel free to use these materials as you think fit but please, quote us when
you do.
Procedure:
The handout contains a series of exercises to do before watching the tutorial and while
watching it.
Help for Teachers:
Vocabulary:
Clashing colors = colores que no combinan
Loss of bladder control = pérdida del control de la vejiga
Shove (v.) = meter (a empujones)
Plummet (v.) = caer en picado
Nerd (adj) = empollón
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English for Office Applications and Information Processes
Dynamic Presentations: Life after Death by Power Point RP Unit 15
Some tricky expressions or phrases:
1. “I figure it is kind of my duty to point them out”
This is quite an informal structure that can be translated as “creo que es como mi deber
señalarlas” (las cosas que odio en un PP)
2. “In fact the term bullet point comes from people firing guns at annoying presenters.
Hence, the bullet point.”
The speaker is making a joke here which does not translate very well into Spanish for
“bullet” in English is both a “lista de puntos” and a “bala”. The speaker is saying that
people in the audience shoot “bullet points” (balas”) at (bad) presenters and the bullets
points ultimately get their way in the presentation.
3. “Then someone like (a) VP Marketing is standing right there and going: “It is really
clear and cued for”. What the hell are you talking about?”
What the speaker means here is that sometimes, people who work in Marketing fill their
presentations with so many charts and diagrams that it is impossible to see anything
clearly. However, they think that by including so much visual effects the presentation is
much clearer. As example, the speaker talks about a Vice President (VP) working in
Marketing who stands in front of his/her very confusing presentation and says that it is
very clear.” “What the hell are you talking about?” translates as “¿pero qué dices?
(meaning:“no se entiende nada”)
4. “WOW, that is cool, WOW”
The speaker is impersonating somebody in the audience who is impressed by all the
animation that he/she sees in the presentation and goes “Wow, that is cool” = caray, qué
guay / mola mogollón
5. “Power Point can just suck the live out of you.”
Power Point puede chuparte toda la sangre (literally: “te sorbe la vida”)
Video script
Note that:
- Answers to exercises are in blue bold.
- Words explained in the teacher’s help section are in black bold.
- There are indications of the minutes throughout the script.
From beginning to minute 00:34
There are some things I hate about Power Point and I figure it is kind of my duty to
point them out. So here we go. These are some common Power Point mistakes.
Number 1:
(Slide 1:) A1.People tend to put every word they are going to say on their Power
Point slides. Although this eliminates the need to memorize your talk, ultimately
Beatriz Papaseit Fernández and María Zabala Peña
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English for Office Applications and Information Processes
Dynamic Presentations: Life after Death by Power Point RP Unit 15
B1.this makes your slides crowded, wordy and boring. You will loose your
audience’s attention before you even reach the bottom of your…
Ehh… first slide. Please don’t do that anymore, please.
00:34 to 0:55
Number 2: Most common now
(Slide 2): A2. Most people do not run spell cheek, B2.BIG MISTACK. Nothing
makes you lok stupder then speling erors (Big mistake, nothing makes you look
stupider than spelling errors)
It is got a red line under it. Recheck the spelling. And finally I hate this:
00:55 to 1:21
(Slide 3) A3. Avoid excessive bullet pointing. Only bullet key points. B3. Too many
bullet-points and your key messages will not stand out. In fact the term bullet point
comes from people firing guns at annoying presenters. Hence, the bullet point
1:21 to 1:50
Slide 4: Bad color schemes (not good). A4. Clashing backgrounds and font colors
can lead to distraction, confusion, headache, nausea, vomiting and loss of bladder
control. I can’t stand that one too long.
Here is something I’ve noticed. The (higher the) number of PowerPoint slides you have
in your talk, the less useful your talk actually is. Unfortunately my presentation is right
there.
1:50 to 2:18
Also notice this. A5. People love to pack data in their presentation. They shove more
and more data thinking it’s better but it is not. The more data you have, the harder it is
to read your slide. The effectiveness plummets. B4. Now you can prove the
effectiveness by adding some shading and some 3D effects. Add some second order
and third order effects. I know let’s add some labels that will help a lot. That is pretty
much every marketing slide I’ve ever seen right there.
2:18 to 2:35
Then someone like (a) VP Marketing is standing right there and going: “It is really clear
and cued for”. What the hell are you talking about?
2:35: to 3:15
I’m into (in) animation. People become animators with Power point. You can have
things flying all over the place and that can be good. If you are a visual learner, that will
improve the effectiveness of your performance but A6. B5. if you are easily distracted,
more animations and people have no idea of what you are talking about. They just:
“WOW, that is cool, WOW”. And there is regions. By the way. There is the simple but
effective region. There is the active but confusing, the effective but boring, the active
and ineffective, the dull but static region, the visibly useless. The ADD only region, the
useful but amusing, the stupid but confusing. The dull triangle, the hyper triangle, the
sleepy square, the dizzy pentagon and everything else I just call pointless motion.
3:15 to 3:54
That slide there took me an hour and a half to make. Right there. Power Point can just
suck the live out of you. It’s amazing.
I’ve also come up with this. It’s a kind of little science I’ve invented. It’s called font
analysis. Basically the font you choose says something about who you are as a person.
There is a huge list of fonts and you choose one and that says something about you. So
be careful the font you choose. For example, if you choose Courier New, that happens
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English for Office Applications and Information Processes
Dynamic Presentations: Life after Death by Power Point RP Unit 15
to be my favorite, you’re probably organized and structured. If you choose Matisse, it
means you are artistic. And if you choose Times New Roman, B6. it means you are
lazy, apathetic, unimaginative and you always choose the default.
3:54 to end
A lot of times, you Roman people, welcome. I have some more. If you use Free Hand
Script, you are a horrible speller so you try to hide it with a hard-to-read font. Very
smart. If you use Gothic, it means you are pale and wear black. And if you choose
Wingdings, it means that you are a nerd and you have no life. If you know what those
symbols mean you will never have a date. Trust me. Don’t bother.
Beatriz Papaseit Fernández and María Zabala Peña
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English for Office Applications and Information Processes
Dynamic Presentations: Life after Death by Power Point RP Unit 15
STUDENT’S HANDOUT (Teacher version):
Life after Death by PowerPoint by Don Mcmillan.
Tasks by Beatriz Papaseit and María Zabala Peña
To download and view the video:
http://englishforofficeapplications.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/dynamic-presentationsdeath-by-power-point/
Original video source: http://www.davidairey.com/how-not-to-use-powerpoint/
As pre-activity to watching the video, students can read the text Death by PowerPoint at
the end of unit 15 and do the suggested activities in the Resource Pack. This will be
very useful to understand what is being said and shown in the video.
A. Look at the following list describing what may be wrong with a slide/ presentation.
Watch the video and say which of these problems are mentioned. Indicate in which
order they appear in the video:
Pictures cannot be seen well enough.
Information is not well structured.
6. Too many animated objects.
1. Too much text.
3. Too many bullet points.
Poor choice of multimedia features.
4. Font colours and background colours do not combine well.
Font size is not big enough.
5. Too much information and too many effects.
2. Spelling mistakes.
Tell your students that they are going to watch a video showing some of the things that
you should not do when presenting a PowerPoint. Hand out the Student Handout and
ask them to read the first activity and ask them to watch the video and do the activity
while watching it. Tell them also that they should not be worried if they do not
understand much of what is being said in the video at this point:
We are going to watch a video related to the text you have read. It is called Life
after Death by PowerPoint and it tells you what not to do in a presentation. Read
activity one in the handout. Do the activity while you watch the video. Don’t
worry if at this point you do not understand much of what the speaker says. He
speaks very fast and you will later have the script to help you understand. Now,
you only have to do what the activity says.
Play the video till the end. Ask students to sit with another pair of students and compare
their answers. Then, correct the activity with the whole group.
B. Choose the correct answer according to the video
Make enough copies of the photocopiable page (key) for each pair of students. Ask the
students to read the questions first. Play the video stopping after each section. After
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English for Office Applications and Information Processes
Dynamic Presentations: Life after Death by Power Point RP Unit 15
each section, ask students to read the script on the photocopiable page belonging to that
bit. Once students have heard all the sections bit by bit, play the video again from
beginning to end
Read the questions and possible answers in B before we watch the video. I will stop
the video after each section. After I stop the video each time, read the script that you
have on the photocopiable page.
1. Why adding all the text you want to say on your slide is not a good idea?
a. Because you would have to spend a lot of time designing your presentation.
b. Because that will make your presentation quite tedious.
c. Because images are better than words.
2. What errors in the slide are caused by not having run the spell check?
a. There are several words written incorrectly.
b. There are syntax mistakes.
c. The sentence word order is not correct.
3. Why can’t you use too many bullet points?
a. Because they are not too aesthetic.
b. Because it does not look too professional
c. Because with too many bullet points it is not easy to discern the key message.
4. What happens when you add too many effects in a slide?
a. It gets very difficult to read.
b. It becomes very interesting.
c. It looks great.
5. Why should you use animation with moderation in a presentation?
a. Because you need to be a professional PowerPoint designer to do it.
b. Because it distracts the audience too easily.
c. Because it takes up too much space. (True but not said in the video.)
6. Why does the speaker say that if you choose Times New Roman as a font you are
“lazy, apathetic and unimaginative”?
a. Because it is the font by default. Choosing it saves you the trouble of having to decide
what font to use.
b. Because it is the font used by people who don’t like writing.
c. Because it looks ugly.
Beatriz Papaseit Fernández and María Zabala Peña
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