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Best graphics format to import into Power Point? (take II)
Subject:Best graphics format to import into Power Point? (take II) From:Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 02 Nov 2005 09:30:39 -0500
Bill Swallow noted: << <sarcasm> Yes, never teach others to fish.
Always ensure you have plenty of small jobs to do at work. </sarcasm>
If you couldn't tell, I disagree with this advice whole-heartedly.
Teach them the right way to do things, explain why, explain it will
make them look better (sales people generally love ways to improve
their image - helps make that next sale), and offer to review their
PPTs for a while to see if they understand the process correctly.>>
While I sympathize with the comment--I am, after all, a somewhat
tediously repetetive advocate of the notion that we should work with
authors (as editors) and SMEs (as writers)--I have to say that in my
experience, only a small proportion of the authors ever learn to do
this successfully. Remember, we're not talking about professional
writers or content creators here--they're not people like us, and
shouldn't be judged by that standard.
If you've got enough time to spend training them, and if they're
willing to be trained, it can indeed be much better to "teach them to
fish". In practice, this seems to rarely be the case: we don't have the
time, and they often lack both time and desire to learn this new skill.
As the saying goes (paraphrased), "don't try to teach the dog to sing
opera; you only waste your time and annoy the dog".
I can't speak for sales drones, but as a whole, the SME class of
presenter generally resents the need to give presentations; they'd
rather putter in their lab, play with expensive new toys, and churn out
the patents or journal articles. Learning to give presentations doesn't
even appear on their career radar. YMMV, of course, but that's my
summary after working for nearly 20 years with a broad group of these
people. I love 'em dearly as colleagues, but sometimes you have to
accept that you simply can't teach the dog to sing.
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