Make a Powerful Point Without PowerPoint.

Twitter was slightly abuzz this morning as a result of this article by the New York Times. I did some further reading and came across a related blog post by Seth Godin on the subject. Both were entertaining reads, but the sad reality is that it's all true... and I'm not just talking about the US military. I've seen it happen in conferences, lectures, and even churches. A person gets up in front of the crowd, armed with a laptop, ready to change the world. It's almost as if they believe PowerPoint has magical powers that will transform their material into something relevant and send everyone home with happy thoughts and warm fuzzies. It won't.
Personally, I think of PowerPoint as a magnifying glass. If your presentation rocks, PowerPoint will help drive the point home. The content and your delivery, however, must stand on their own. Likewise, if it sucks, well, no amount of pretty pictures, flashy animation, or fancy fonts and layouts is going to save it.