Powerpoint has been banned from Embedded conference.
embedded.com
embedded.com
Personally, I would not speak at this conference. I like my Takahashi slides, and I do like to reuse them when overlap is unlikely (a talk in Minneapolis, and then one in Oslo). Reuse means I get to make it iteratively better each time; I usually "test" my slides in front of a small group before I present in front of a big group. Someone has to deal with Rev. A, but not everyone.
With the method this conference requires, it's always revision A... so I hope you practice a lot before your talk, and I hope your dog gives you good feedback. I have given some good impromptu talks, but those tend to be entertaining rather than technical. If someone is paying to go to a conference, breadth of subject matter is probably better than watching me make fun of my hair.
IMHO.
While I was about to type "bullshit", think that's a little strong.
Slides were long ridiculed as an ineffective form of presentation before they were accepted across corporate America.
As someone who's presented in academic situations before with nothing more than a white board or chalkboard, you can use the same presentation again without slides. You can refine jokes, explanations, etc, and give "the same talk", and never involve a slide. Many lawyers actually are famous for doing that sort of thing in legal circles.
Sure, you can't put as much information on the screen, but in general, powerpoint presentations have way too much.
One of the strengths though of not allowing prepared slides: It's damn hard to do a presentation if you don't know the materials. So even if they want to send the marketing guy, he's gotta know his stuff.
In my experience it's usually only non-technical people who use power point as a generic term.
On a more serious note, this should make it easier to adapt the presentation to the audience. You no longer have the option to hide behind your slides or to fear that you won't get to the last slide in time. It will scare off a number of decent presenters (as jrockway said here) but it will also scare all but the very hardcore marketing types. Would probably give startups an edge though (used to pitching without materials).
What I would propose is that people are not allowed to have any text (besides the title and presenter) on the slides at all. Or maybe a dozen words throughout the presentation. I think it is incredibly insulting to the audience to make slides and then read them literally to the audience (bonus points for title-casing all your bulletpoints and cramming so much text into a slide that it's barely legible).
I agree with your other point (banning or restricting text on slides), but it is hardly enforceable in a fair manner. No slides at all is simpler.