Comic Sans is not the only accesible font. You can take a look at the background page for ReadRegular, a specifically designed acessible font, for some bits and bobs on what makes a font accessible:
http://www.readregular.com/english/background.html

In terms of accessibility, dark text on a pale background is a must. Some people cope better with different colored backgrounds, but this varies from person to person (pale blue and pale yellow are the commoner ones, but by no means universal).

Talk to your intended audience about accessibility rather than just assuming. Yeah, your student with VI may be able to read your Comic Sans ppt, but they may also feel like you’re talking down to them

Academics far behind business users of Powerpoint????
That’s a first (no pun intended).

I don’t know anyone who takes a long written text and sticks the same information in the same structure on the slides. Does this really happen in the real world?

Sounds a bit strange and pointless to me and not something I have ever advocated.

In defence, the academic in an ivory tower is an extremely rare thing in this day and age. Academics who work in Universities are, I can tell you, subject to as much if not more business pressure than business people. They are required to be productive and communicate their ideas to an ever widening audience through a multitude of media forms (I just hate that word ‘multimedia’ for some reason). They had the management consultants in-house decades ago messing things up for them and unlike many business users they actually took on board much of what was said and acted on it. No more jobs for life or hanging about not producing stuff that wasn’t at least potentially commercially viable. They are now managed by non-academics (who are desparate to justify themselves as super efficient and ruthless buggers) Academics must justify their existence in terms of what they are working on pretty simplistically and that means good communication skills and effective use of Powerpoint. It’s amazing how proficient you become when your livelihood depends on it. The best communicators have the best bet for survival in the cut and thrust as only those with a talent, for convincing accountants etc. that they should carry on paying for a particular research project, is to be convincing and professional. They must be doing ok as I have yet to hear of a University going bust.

To do anything well is hard and not surprisingly academics read the same stuff on presentation that business people use (or write it for them). In the communication game academics, unlike their counterparts in many business settings, are usually highly skilled information processing and communication professionals. In short they are teachers and those who understand complex things that they can explain to the dumbest of us in simple terms. Sometimes they are limited by poor equipment or low budgets but they generally do a pretty good job with what they have.

The media stereotype of an oddball with zero social skills is probably as common in academic world now as it is in the business world (if my observations whilst commuting are anything to go by).

The real world necessarily includes academics who are very much in touch and it relies on them very heavily - and rightly so if we want to move forward.

I don’t think any group has a monopoly on poor presentations or bad communication for that matter. We are all guilty. Perhaps we should avoid stereotyping particular groups as out of touch and behind.

After all flashy well structured presentations are all well and good but if the information and message are rubbish who would listen and more importantly want to clutter there mind with it?

When presenting to an audience, the best approach is not to take a long written text and stick the same information in the same structure on slides, but rather to change how the communication is structured to keep the audience focused. The classic text on this is “The Pyramid Principle” by Barbara Minto.

It’s interesting to me that academics are so far behind many business users on this one - ideas like putting content into the slide title were drilled into me in my first month working in “the real world.” It’s easy to see why so many people hate PPT when all they ever see are awful presentations.

Doing PPT well is *hard*. It takes a lot of planning to design and develop a solid presentation. Nobody would throw together an academic paper and submit a first draft before some thorough review - why would anyone do that for presentations?

Powerpoint is not such a bad thing if viewed as a tool to be used sparingly.

As a lecturer I tend to use it to put the main points I want to emphasise on the screen and also to put up cartoons, illustrations, quotes and photos to keep attention stimulated. It is very much a supplement to the main event for students, i.e., my lecture. I like playing with the laser pointer and sounds too.

If used with a little flair it can be entertaining and no way would I want to go back to overheads.

There is no substitute for a well put together hand out. I think these persons who hand out a photocopy of their powerpoint presentations are short changing their audience and expecting too much.

I tend to use Comic Sans in my presentations not because I am particularly fond of it but because it is apparently easier for those who have visual problems to read.