This morning saw a sharp rise in the markets - known as a "dead cat bounce" by financial analysts. After a spectacular crash, the stock markets often rebound sharply - but this isn't a real indication of improvement. Apparently, even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height.

If you are as baffled as I am about how this meltdown came about, you need to watch a little PowerPoint. It's the best way to simplify difficult information and get your message across in an appealing - and if you play it right, subversive - manner. In this spirit, if you want to see a 100% Social Ch@nge made subversive PowerPoint instead of reading the rest of this post - click here! We even worked in LOL cats.

Still here? Ok. I recently saw the Subprime Primer over at BusinessPundit. Warning: it's scatological. Extra-warning: it's not going to make you feel warm and fuzzy about what just happened in the US. On the other hand, it's a brilliant, simple explanation of a brutally complicated financial situation.

Reading it, I was reminded of How to Win the War in Al Anbar, a PowerPoint put together by Capt. Travis Patriquin. Also using stick figures in a PowerPoint format, it explains clearly how the US strategy on the ground in Iraq needed to change. Apparently, this circulated widely through the ranks of the armed forces, even making it fairly far up the hierarchy.

There's been lots of traffic over the evil / genius of PowerPoint. According to Microsoft, more than 30 million presentations are made around the world with PowerPoint every day. According to Edward Tufte, acclaimed graphic design guru, most of those presentations are crap: PowerPoint induces stupidity, turns everyone into bores, wastes time, and degrades the quality and credibility of communication. David Byrne, on the other hand, sees PowerPoint as a fabulous artistic medium.

Me, I'm with the Talking Head: I think PowerPoint is a fabulous swiss army knife for a non-profit, or for anyone interested in social change. Why?

1. It's easy to tell a story - you don't need to be a professional, you barely need training, and the software is ubiquitous

2. It's portable - you can pop a PowerPoint into an email, and release it on the web to spread like crazy

3. It's editable - if you're up for it, you can let others add/edit to it, wikistyle, and see what results

Forget about using PowerPoint in the boardroom. Be careful, in fact, about using it as a pitch tool when trying to land a donor or sponsor: I've had more than a few corporate donors tell me that everybody gives them a PowerPoint deck, and after a while they all blur together. Like the "Subprime Primer" or "How to win the war...", the trick is use the medium in unintended ways, and play to its strengths. Maybe not the stated strengths ("Now with 200% more chartjunk!"), but the inherent ones that make it a great tool for communicating effectively and quickly to large numbers of people.

So what story does your organisation need to tell? Could a bunch of stick figures get your message out?

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Sean Rodman works as a funding developer and co-authors the blog Social Ch@nge, which gives non-profits advice on how to use the internet. You can read more of his posts (and see his PowerPoint presentation on this post) here.