I recently attended a lecture where the presenter used a laser pointer. And about halfway through I wanted to wrestle it away from him. I was starting to twitch and suddenly sensed some connection to my feline friends. He had two screens with his slides showing but at times he would wave the pointer about on one of the screens.

It was utterly distracting and added absolutely nothing to my understanding of the content. I could feel myself helplessly following the light even as it swung off of the slide and onto the ceiling or wall or wherever. 

I believe it was a nervous habit. Maybe a form of “what-the-heck-do-I-do-with-my-hands-itis.” He finally realized that he was risking blinding audience members with it and set it down. Thankfully. 

Now there are certainly times where pointing out something on a slide may be useful. But like images selected for the slides, its use should be purposeful. Ironically he had slides that had nice callouts of enlarged areas of photos or red circles draw on the images to highlight a particular spot. Both of those techniques were effective.

He could have also had a pen and tablet setup if he needed to highlight things on the spot. With a little practice that can be very effective. But please, unless you have a really compelling reason and targeted approach to using them, please, leave the laser pointer in with the rest of the cat toys.