[sfpotter]

It doesn’t matter if your slides are plain or not. No one ever thought a talk was good because of how nice the slides’ design was. What matters is having something actually worth giving a presentation about and presenting it effectively, which is all about your delivery and what you put on your slides (good: pictures, diagrams, etc… bad: walls o’ text).

[nier]

Walls of text too often come with the monotone recital of that very text. But if you’re lucky, the speaker mixes up the order of bullet points or even forgets one which helps you keep your mind engaged and stay awake.

[ericmcer]

Nah we are animals and flashy movement draws our attention. It has a function.

[sfpotter]

Flashy movement draws our attention... away from the speaker and the content of the talk. Doesn't help.

Animation can be useful in very small doses if it helps to understand something that is dynamic in nature, but that's it.