title: PowerPoint: know your medium.
abstract: To make the most of PowerPoint in professional presentations, presenters need to understand some basic principles that transcend the software. These include a thorough grasp of the message a presenter wants to convey; the backgrounds, interests, and needs of the audience; and the best approaches to fitting the medium of delivery to the content of the material. PowerPoint is a useful tool, but like any tool, whether a stethoscope, a scalpel, or a CT scanner, it can be used well or ill. Using it to its full capabilities requires that we regard it less as a crutch that can compensate for our deficiencies and more as a springboard with which to vault our presentations higher. At its best, PowerPoint can serve us just as brushes and pigments serve an artist, but it can never substitute for a fertile imagination and a discerning eye.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, 702 Barnhill Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46202-5200, USA. rbgunder@iupui.edu
authors.forename: Richard B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Gunderman
authors.forename: Kevin C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: McCammack
mesh_terms: D005180:Faculty, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D011209:Power, Psychological; D012984:Software; D013337:Students, Medical; D013663:Teaching; D013672:Technology / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*