Ghana Think Tank: Powerpoint Brief

Background

Our group is looking for ideas to help solve problems around us, ranging from simple to complex. We are asking you to propose solutions to our problems so that we can see different perspectives from our own. Once we receive the solutions we will build or enact the plans given to us by you.

The Problem

The problem I am proposing in this paper is Powerpoint.

Powerpoint is a program used for presentations on computers. Basically, it lets you show images and text while you talk about something. It is often used in companies to give information during meetings, to talk about research, or to describe different projects.

The problem is that people end up thinking a specific way when they use Powerpoint, often breaking their analysis into a few words and incomplete sentences. In order to make a presentation with Powerpoint, people will often simplify their issue, and this effects how people think about the issue.

Think of Powerpoint as a very limited language. It is easy to say some things with it, but harder to say more complex or involved things, so all ideas get presented in simple and limited terms. Or think of it as a small book. You can only fit one image and several words per page, and you only have a small number of pages, so it becomes difficult to talk about anything that doesnÕt naturally fit into that book.

In the end, since so many people use Powerpoint (over 90% of all computer-based presentations use Powerpoint), many issues are being compressed into this limited language or tiny book, so many ideas are being forced into formats that donÕt make sense.

The Solution

We are asking you to design a better way of presenting ideas than Powerpoint. You do not need to know computers or Powerpoint to give us a solution; what we want is simply a way of presenting on a topic that does not force it to be too simplistic. We need a method for getting groups of people to consider a topic together. It could be an invention, a way of working together, or some other idea to help groups of people communicate and work together.

» Back to the PPT launch page ».