Coming up through school, I was never a great public speaker. When I first found Powerpoint and started learning to use it, I found some comfort in it since I felt less exposed standing in front of a group.

More recently I've come to see how people's eyes can become glazed over while viewing Powerpoint slides, and I've tried to challenge myself to give talks that are more captivating than paging through slides riddled with bullet points. So imagine my delight when coming across this gem of a quote while reading an otherwise great article by Paul Graham:

...the stated purpose of Powerpoint is to present ideas. Its real role is to overcome people's fear of public speaking. It allows you to give an impressive-looking talk about nothing, and it causes the audience to sit in a dark room looking at slides, instead of a bright one looking at you.

Finally, the real reason for Powerpoint's existence!

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