A lecture, by keeping a critical audience constantly before our eyes, forces us to condense our subject, to discriminate between what is important and what is not, and often to deny ourselves the pleasure of displaying what may have cost us the greatest labor, but is of little consequence to other scholars. In lecturing we are constantly reminded of what students are so apt to forget, that their knowledge is meant not for themselves only, but for others, and that to know well means to be able to teach well.
This quote by Max Müller is from a book published in 1883, when there were few overhead slide projectors, and PowerPoint was unknown. Yet, the quote becomes surprisingly modern if you substitute lecturing with presenting, and scholars with audience. In fact, it aligns almost perfectly with modern thinking about presentations, communication, and even slide design.
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