Before we start, you can get hold of rules one to five here. It might be a good idea to read them before you read this, to get a feel for how seriously to take this! ;)
Raybould’s Rule number six is simple: more mouse clicks than key strokes.
I’ve long contended that presentations should be designed, not written. Presentations which are written have words in them – lots of words… too darn many words, in fact. In my experience, presentations which are ‘just written’ are often ‘not thought’ – they’re often more of a stream of consciousness than a well structured communication. It’s as if the person giving the presentation simply tells you what they know, instead of…
telling you what you need to know, in the way you need to know it
To do this, to make a presentation actually useful by making it easier for the audience to get their brains around, it has to be designed.
Beethoven didn’t just write his symphonies. He designed them first.
Shakespeare didn’t just sit down and write Romeo and Juliet. He knew what it was going to look like first.
Nope, they were planned, designed.
And design is done with mouse-clicks – drop and drag pictures, modify, tip, tilt, change, edit, erase, undo, repair, re-do…. all of those things are mouse-clicks, not keystrokes. It’s not a word thing, it’s a concept thing!
Of course, if you want to design your presentation in the ultimate way, use a pencil, not even a mouse!
