Chapter 11 Response

     I believe that slideshows are more helpful than harmful. Today, people are able to pay attention for much shorter periods of time than they used to be able to, so using a visual aid, like a slideshow, can help to keep the audience engaged. Slideshows not only help to keep the audience engaged, but they also allow note-takers to have key ideas to work off of. Some believe that slideshows can result in too much narrowing of the topic and that negative outcomes arise as a result. For example, some people would say that the Columbia disaster resulted from NASA's use of slideshows when showing their scientists what to do. If slideshows went into every single detail of a speech, then there would be no need for the speech; people could just read the slides on their own time. The slides aren't the focus of the topic, so it makes sense that they would only have key points and ideas on them. People who correlate the Columbia disaster with the narrowness of slideshows fail to recognize that the slideshows were not the scientists' only source of information. There are numerous other resources that scientists use outside of slideshows presentations, so I think that saying the Columbia disaster happened because of the narrowness of ideas on the slides is a stretch. All in all, I believe that slideshows allow the audience to stay engaged and give note-takers an easier note-taking experience; slides should be terse in order to keep the focus on the speech, and if the topic is important enough, people should not be relying solely on the slideshow, but rather a variety of different resources.