The clamour surrounding PowerPoint as a presentation tool appears to have died down a bit over the last few years. This is a welcome relief. The hype and fervour about the use of PPT that followed the publication of Professor Edward Tufte’s 2003 article entitled “The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint” did little to increase our understanding of how electronic visuals can enhance communication.

In December of 2005, Presentation Facts wanted to take a small step towards adding to our presentation knowledge base in some way. We had to keep our goals modest so we decided a good way to start would be to conduct a relatively simple survey of publicly available PowerPoint presentations. By analyzing average PPT presentations, we hoped to begin building a baseline of usage information that might suggest further areas of inquiry. In addition, perhaps comparisons could be drawn between how average users actually use PPT and proven principles of effective multimedia development.

The PPT Use Survey was initiated in January of 2006 and finished in January of 2008. The objective of the survey was to observe and document what typical PPT presentations look like. In January of 2006, our search of the Web by .ppt extension returned only 25,000 results. Today this seems like an absurdly low number as the same search returns over 3,000,000 results. We ended up downloading and reveiwing about 200 files which represented just under 1% of total files revealed by our search. The content of each file was classified into one of 5 different categories and each slide was analyzed according to a list of predefined characteristics. I will list them below because I am having trouble uploading files to the server at the moment. In subsequent posts I will begin presenting the results of this survey.

PPT Use Survey – Definitions and Specifications

ID Number – Sequential numeric value preceded by the segment code i.e. M001 for the first presentation in the Media & Communication segment

PPT Presentation Name – Complete file name of the presentation including the ppt extension

Creation Date – Date listed under file/properties in the general tab as the creation date. This date must be identified before the file is downloaded or copied into the Groove Workspace

Location (website link) – Complete URL for the presentation document

Segment – Category of presentation content (ID Prefix in parentheses):
Media & Communication – (M)
Health Sciences – (H)
Industry & Manufacturing – (I)
Education – (E)
Religion – (R)
Non-Profit – (N)

File Size – Size of the presentation document in Kb

Total # of slides – Total number of individual slides in the presentation

Total # of Words – Total number of words in the presentation (file/properties under statistics tab)

Total # of bullet slides – Total number of slides with one or more bulleted text lines

Total # List Slides – Total number of slides that contain a numerical list

Total # of bullet lines – Total number of bullet lines in the presentation

Total # Slides with Charts – Total number of slides containing at least one chart or graph

Total # of Charts – Total number of any kind of charts in the presentation

Pie – Of total number of charts in the presentation, how many are pie charts

Histogram – Of total number of charts in the presentation, how many are histograms

Line – Of total number of charts in the presentation, how many are line charts

Flow – Of total number of charts in the presentation, how many are flow charts

Other – Of total number of charts in the presentation, how many are other types of charts

Total # of Art Slides - Total number of slides containing one or more art element, could be clip art, illustration or photograph. Note – A logo repeated on a slide is not counted as an art element

Total # of Illustrations – Total number of clip art elements or illustrations (vector graphics)

Total # of Photographs – Total number of photographs (bitmap images)

Decorative – How many of the total graphic elements are decorative per Richard Mayer’s definition:
“Illustrations that are intended to interest or entertain the audience but that do not enhance the message of the visual, such as a picture of a group of children playing in the park for a lesson on physics principles.”

Representational – How many of the total graphic elements are representational per Mayer’s definition:
“Illustrations that portray a single element, such as a picture of the space shuttle with the heading The Space Shuttle.”

Organizational – How many of the total graphic elements are organizational per Mayer’s definition:
“Illustrations that depict relations among elements, such as a map or chart showing the main parts of the heart.”

Explanative – How many of the total graphic elements are explanative per Mayer’s definition:
“Illustrations that explain how a system works, such as a series of frames explaining how a pump works.”

Total # Slide transitions – The total number of transitions used in between individual slides of the presentation

# Slides with Animations – Total number of slides containing one or more custom animation. Animation could be movement of an object or the progressive revealing of text

Total animations – Total number of animations in the presentation (do not include slide transitions)

% of screen for text – Using the 10×10 grid, determine the percentage of the screen used for text
(Copy the grouped grid from the Groove Definitions folder and paste it over each slide in the presentation being reviewed. Each square represents .01 of the screen area) Screen resolution = 1024×768

% of screen for graphics – Using the 10×10 grid, determine the percentage of the screen used for graphics (including charts and graphs)
(Copy the grouped grid from the Groove Definitions folder and paste it over each slide in the presentation being reviewed. Each square represents .01 of the screen area) Screen resolution = 1024×768

% of screen for empty space – Using the 10×10 grid, determine the percentage of the screen used for empty space
(Copy the grouped grid from the Groove Definitions folder and paste it over each slide in the presentation being reviewed. Each square represents .01 of the screen area) Screen resolution = 1024×768

Use of MS Template – Does the presentation use an identifiable Microsoft Auto template?
1 = yes, 0 = no

Designed Background – In the reviewer’s opinion, does the presentation appear to incorporate professional design? Backgrounds that are inserted as a single image or the use of an apparent design grid system would imply professional design. Use of an MS template automatically means the presentation was not professionally designed. 1 = yes, 0 = no