# We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint



## observor 69 (28 Apr 2010)

I am putting this article under Cdn military because it applies to us as well as the US.
A number of regulars on here have recently voiced their thoughts on the value of PowerPoint at the staff level.  >

April 26, 2010
We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
WASHINGTON — Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the leader of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, was shown a PowerPoint slide in Kabul last summer that was meant to portray the complexity of American military strategy, but looked more like a bowl of spaghetti. 

“When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war,” General McChrystal dryly remarked, one of his advisers recalled, as the room erupted in laughter. 

The slide has since bounced around the Internet as an example of a military tool that has spun out of control. Like an insurgency, PowerPoint has crept into the daily lives of military commanders and reached the level of near obsession. The amount of time expended on PowerPoint, the Microsoft presentation program of computer-generated charts, graphs and bullet points, has made it a running joke in the Pentagon and in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

“PowerPoint makes us stupid,” Gen. James N. Mattis of the Marine Corps, the Joint Forces commander, said this month at a military conference in North Carolina. (He spoke without PowerPoint.) Brig. Gen. H. R. McMaster, who banned PowerPoint presentations when he led the successful effort to secure the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar in 2005, followed up at the same conference by likening PowerPoint to an internal threat. 

More at LINK


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## Matt_Fisher (28 Apr 2010)

I read that last night via the Small Wars Journal website (www.smallwarsjournal.com).  It's somewhat of a continuation of an article published in the Armed Forces Journal which was titled 'Dumb Dumb Bullets' 
http://www.afji.com/2009/07/4061641

It's ironic in that with all the emphasis put on 'Military Transformation' over the last 20 years, we've (NATO and ANZAC militaries)seen our field forces decrease, but our HQ staff numbers have continued to bloat upwards.


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## Greymatters (28 Apr 2010)

Any tool that isnt used properly will get trashed as useless.  Theyve been having problems with how to use it properly for the last 10 years.  We had our own problems with it as well, but never as bad as some US versions I'd seen...


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## Michael OLeary (28 Apr 2010)

In the mid 1990s I was in LFAA HQ, and the COS would cut off any staff briefer in front of the General that hit their third slide (or their third minute of talking) without having clearly made their point.


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## Bzzliteyr (29 Apr 2010)

I remember on my PLQ a few years back we were instructed to prepare a lesson using powerpoint.  I of course, being a slight tech nerd completely tricked out my presentation with bells and whistles (in some cases, literally.. swoopingin from left to right, etc..) \.

Looking back, I can't believe they let me get away with it.. what a waste of time!


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## 211RadOp (29 Apr 2010)

Michael O'Leary said:
			
		

> In the mid 1990s I was in LFAA HQ, and the COS would cut off any staff briefer in front of the General that hit their third slide (or their third minute of talking) without having clearly made their point.



I was there in the early 90's and the G6 IS got that a few times.


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## dregeneau (29 Apr 2010)

Personally, I prefer the Keynote program for Mac's over Powerpoint for PC's. 

Regardless,



			
				Michael O'Leary said:
			
		

> In the mid 1990s I was in LFAA HQ, and the COS would cut off any staff briefer in front of the General that hit their third slide (or their third minute of talking) without having clearly made their point.



makes complete sense. I think this is especially clear when a presenter does not know the information he is displaying, and has to turn his back to the audience, or read off of the monitor.


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## TN2IC (29 Apr 2010)

It's funny on how a long distance training can be based on power point too. "Okay your going to the sandbox, upload this powerpoint lesson, and study it. At the end, there are questions for you." The hands on training is basically ELOC training.

Gee, thanks for the powerpoint, now I know what to do in case of a contact.  ;D


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## Occam (29 Apr 2010)

Bzzliteyr said:
			
		

> I remember on my PLQ a few years back we were instructed to prepare a lesson using powerpoint.  I of course, being a slight tech nerd completely tricked out my presentation with bells and whistles (in some cases, literally.. swoopingin from left to right, etc..) \.
> 
> Looking back, I can't believe they let me get away with it.. what a waste of time!



I've watched a presentation made where the presenter merely walked to the podium, pressed the "Start presentation" button, and walked away.  Completely scripted, timed, animated, and set to music and narration.


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## shadow (29 Apr 2010)

I remember on  my JLC we had to draw our slides on a piece of plastic with overhead markers.


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## PMedMoe (29 Apr 2010)

Shadow said:
			
		

> I remember on  my JLC we had to draw our slides on a piece of plastic with overhead markers.



You know you're past you're expiry date when.......    

Yeah, I remember overheads.  What a pain in the butt!


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## Edward Campbell (29 Apr 2010)

PMedMoe said:
			
		

> You know you're past you're expiry date when.......
> 
> Yeah, I remember overheads.  What a pain in the butt!



I wont bother you with the stories, but there was training *before* the overhead projector ... flip boards and the epidiascope have a familiar ring to them.


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## PMedMoe (29 Apr 2010)

Mr. Campbell, is that anything like a Magic Lantern?


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## Bzzliteyr (29 Apr 2010)

There are some members of Army.ca that had to do it on stone tablets!!


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## dapaterson (29 Apr 2010)

Google Edward Tufte for more on the problems with mis-employment of Powerpoint.

We are now at the point where no briefing material other than a slide deck is prepared - that is, the service paper or toher `source`for the briefing no longer exists - only a slide deck of bullet points.  It is to weep...


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## Occam (29 Apr 2010)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> I wont bother you with the stories, but there was training *before* the overhead projector ... flip boards and the epidiascope have a familiar ring to them.



Egads!  It's the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator!   ;D


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## PMedMoe (29 Apr 2010)

Occam said:
			
		

> Egads!  It's the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator!   ;D



I'm going to blow up the Earth.  






 ;D


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## TN2IC (29 Apr 2010)

Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!


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## Greymatters (29 Apr 2010)

Bzzliteyr said:
			
		

> ...being a slight tech nerd completely tricked out my presentation with bells and whistles (in some cases, literally.. swoopingin from left to right, etc..)...



... a common error...


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## Greymatters (29 Apr 2010)

Michael O'Leary said:
			
		

> In the mid 1990s I was in LFAA HQ, and the COS would cut off any staff briefer in front of the General that hit their third slide (or their third minute of talking) without having clearly made their point.



The standard length for a General-level presentation is max five minutes, and may cover up to three or even four different deployment or incident updates.  You better have made at least one point by the end of the first minute.


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## Greymatters (29 Apr 2010)

dredre said:
			
		

> makes complete sense. I think this is especially clear when a presenter does not know the information he is displaying, and has to turn his back to the audience, or read off of the monitor.



Also a common error for new users... however, when dealing with subjects where youve had less than 48 hours notice to present, it is usually acceptable to read from notes or from a monitor.


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## Greymatters (29 Apr 2010)

Occam said:
			
		

> I've watched a presentation made where the presenter merely walked to the podium, pressed the "Start presentation" button, and walked away.  Completely scripted, timed, animated, and set to music and narration.



What was the point of him/her even being there then?  Another improper use of the tool...


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## Greymatters (29 Apr 2010)

Overall, many people even nowadays forget that PPT is a training support aid.  it is not supposed to and never should replace an actual person.  

The content of the presentation slides should reflect only about 50% of what you are talking about.  And is there for two major reasons: a) to keep the audience focused on the points being discussed, and b) to display unique imagery/graphics that are used for additional attention or are part of the topic.  

I just came back from a conference where we had over 15 presentations.  Most of them were experienced presenters, but even then a few spent their entire presentation looking at their slides instead of the people, or even worse, trying to fit every word they are saying onto every slide.  On the other end, some were very entertaining and used the slides only as speaking points that they supplemented with verbal discussion rather than just reading off the lines.


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## daftandbarmy (29 Apr 2010)

This guy for CDS...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp8dugDbf4w


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## Greymatters (30 Apr 2010)

daftandbarmy said:
			
		

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp8dugDbf4w



I remember that one, excellent tutorial...


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## Infanteer (16 May 2010)

Jon Stewart on Powerpoint:

http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart/headlines/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart---april-2010/clip298900#clip274257


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## Fishbone Jones (16 May 2010)

Bzzliteyr said:
			
		

> There are some members of Army.ca that had to do it on stone tablets!!




Hhhheeeelllloooooo, I'm in the room!


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## a_majoor (9 Sep 2012)

For all the PowerPoint Rangers out there, here are some suggestions of how to use it differently from Forbes:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2012/09/07/jeff-bezos-and-the-end-of-powerpoint-as-we-know-it/



> *Jeff Bezos And The End of PowerPoint As We Know It*
> 
> The next time you deliver a PowerPoint presentation that matters—a product launch, investor pitch, new client meeting— take a cue from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and ditch the bullet points. When Bezos unveiled the all-new new Kindle Fire HD this week, his presentation slides were light on text and heavy on images. It’s a new style of delivering presentations that is fresh, engaging, and ultimately far more effective than slide after slide of wordy bullet points.
> 
> ...


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## Ostrozac (9 Sep 2012)

One of the acknowledged problems of Powerpoint is that it conveys less information than printed product, and often lacks analytical rigour. (NY Times 26 Apr 2010). To my mind, that is a concern when we use them in the decision making process.

Is tweaking your powerpoint presentations with images, specifically to appeal to the emotional side of the brain, going to produce better decisions? Or will it produce half-thought out emotionally based decisions?

Personally, using powerpoint to brief decision makers at all often makes me uncomfortable, since it implies that 1: the boss doesn't read, and 2: that he doesn't think that I can wing it in front of a map.


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## daftandbarmy (9 Sep 2012)

I hate PowerPoint, but I'm a fan of this 450 page presentation.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=stupid+powerpoint+slides&view=detail&mid=7A52C231FE7005155BAD7A52C231FE7005155BAD&first=0&qpvt=stupid+powerpoint+slides


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