Imagine how different Henry V's speech before the gates of Harfleur would have been if PowerPoint had been available. First, there would have been a tiresome delay while the monarch fiddled with a malfunctioning laptop. Then, after a scurvy varlet (Dave from IT Support) had fixed it, his majesty would have projected such instructions as: Imitate the action of the tiger Stiffen the sinews Summon up the blood Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage But the yeomen would already have lost interest, having read ahead in the handout. And it would have been dark and stuffy in the presentations tent. The troops would have nodded off by the time the king was urging them to cry "God for Harry, England and St George!" History would then have taken a different turn. The French would have routed the sleepy and demotivated English.

This scenario was suggested to me by Khalid Aziz, a communications consultant and academic, who points out that Henry V inspired his men by "riding up and down on a big white horse, shouting," not by "putting up charts on vellum." I share Prof Aziz's exasperation with the all-pervasive PowerPoint, part of the omnipresent Microsoft Office. Death by a thousand slides has become a feature of business events ranging from small presentations to speeches before large audiences. With 300m users worldwide and counting, PowerPoint is too often a substitute for communication rather than an adjunct to it.