Death by PowerPoint

PowerPoint presentations are not one of my favorite tools in the classroom. At least not for use as the teacher. They can be okay as a way for students to share the results of their own research or labs.... but even then there are better and more capable tools for the student to use. So I really do not have any educational horror or wonder stories to share. Just a little structured noted taking which seems a great way to allow students to copy down important notes.
In my first career in the US Air Force, PowerPoint and presentations were a way of life. Careers lived and died by the briefings that people gave before the Generals. It was often sad to think that you could do a better job and still not be recognized for it simply because the guy briefing before you had some better tricks in his presentation that caught the General's attention. But it was a fact of life.
The two most painful uses of Powerpoint that used to drive me crazy were often related. First was the 1 gigabit slide. The graphics and pictures on a single slide were so large that the slide takes forever to load. Back in the old days.... if you were lucky the powerslide would crash the computer and you could end that particular briefing quickly and painlessly. The second painful presentation trick was often related, too much animation. I can see my boss standing at the podium to shis day. The slide would begin with a map. An Airplane would fly across the screen and deposite an icon on the map. Ships would cross the ocean and drop more icons on the map. The whole process of building this one piece of information took 15 minutes to say something that could have been said in 15 seconds. Anybody besides me want to leave before the next slide starts? And by the way... there are 10 more after that one.