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John came to Shreveport in January of 1977 when he was transferred to Barksdale AFB.

He’s been active in Shreveport politics since deciding to make Shreveport his home.

John practiced law for 40 years and he now monitors local politics. He regularly attends Shreveport City Council and Caddo Parish Commission meetings.

John is published weekly in The Inquisitor, bi-monthly in The Forum News, and frequently in the Shreveport Times.

He enjoys addressing civic groups on local government issues and elections.

 

WHY HAVE INEFFECTIVE POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS AT PUBLIC BODY MEETINGS?

If you really want to have your eyes glazed over, then suffer through a PowerPoint presentation at a city council or commission/police jury meeting.

As a diversion one can watch the blank bored countenance of the elected officials and others sitting at the dais as the slides pop up in sequence on a screen that is not easily visible from their chairs unless their necks are on a swivel.

These presentations projected on screens are almost always very hard to see, much less read.

This is especially true with charts and financial reports that are flashed up for 10 seconds before the next slide pops up on the screen.

Trying to take notes of what is flashed before your eyes requires a journalist skilled in shorthand to be sitting on the front row while wearing 10X magnifying readers.

Invariably, the PowerPoint presenter fails to bring printed copies of the presentation for the elected officials, the media, or citizens in attendance at the meeting.

The presentations usually give some sense of credibility to the presenter: "look at how i have mastered the PowerPoint protocol versus evaluate my message."

PowerPoint presentations do have some unintended tangential benefits, like allowing time for restroom breaks, catchup time for emails and texts, or visiting with those in the audience.

But really, why the bother if the presenter wants to be effective in communicating a message?

MAYOR ARCENEAUX ANNOUNCES CHOICE FOR CITY ATTORNEY

LIGHTING ON i-20, i-49, AND 3132, BLIGHT REMEDIATION AND STREET REPAIRS NEED APPROVAL BY SHREVEPORT CITY COUNCIL