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Thread: On Powerpoint

  1. #41
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    Default Next step

    The next step (I hope) is to simplify the user-software interface so the user doesn't have to be a software engineer, but rather an expert in his field that can use this software to effectively augment his/her analysis and ability to present the results.

    http://nvac.pnl.gov/

    “Seeing is knowing, though merely seeing is not enough. When you understand what you see, seeing becomes believing.”
    ~Pak Chung Wong, PNNL Scientist
    I recommend reading the executive summary for Illuminating the Path: The Research and Development Agenda for Visual Analytics at the link below.

    http://nvac.pnl.gov/agenda.stm

    I know some of the more traditional among our members said to forget producing a better crystal ball in another forum, but with the proper use of science we can produce a "better" crystal ball, but we'll never produce a perfect one.

    Back to powerpoint and where I think it may evolve to, let's face it powerpoint is a more powerful tool for presenting information than the old method of using boucher block or briefing off a sand table (though the sand table is still a requirement in my book). Unfortunately, like a lot of things the military touches it became stupid, and some idiots were more concerned with font size, style, back ground and the number of bullets on a particular slide, instead of encouraging their staff to use their imagination to find the best ways to "effectively" present their brief.

  2. #42
    Council Member Spud's Avatar
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Moore View Post
    some idiots were more concerned with font size, style, back ground and the number of bullets on a particular slide, instead of encouraging their staff to use their imagination to find the best ways to "effectively" present their brief.
    To be fair though much have this has been in response to the idiots that think it is completely appropriate to populate a single slide with a complete OPORD. Fonts, the amount and type of information presented and the background it is on all impact on the reader/viewer's ability to comprehend the information being presented.

    My concern with PowerPoint has always been that without firm guidance on what is appropriate (just like we have for other forms of official corro/writing etc) you get lunatics who think that progressing bullet at a time with a supporting sound effect to announce the entrance is best use of the program. That's what my son does in Grade 6 in his IT assignments ... how commissioned officers ever thought it was appropriate is beyond me.

    The first thing I always do on entering an organisation is seek to simplify and then standardise a PowerPoint style manual ... I guarantee you the boss appreciates it far more than everyone considering the slide deck as their own palette. If this makes me a PowerPoint Nazi that spends too long on the small stuff I’m happy to take the moniker … If PowerPoint is meant to be a visual aid (and from my perspective that’s what it is – it supports the brief) and it doesn’t aid because everyone remains completely distracted by the format, style and randomness of the content we have failed to use the tool.

    The real issue is the thought process among staffers who believe that PowerPoint is not formal correspondence ... you wouldn't prepare an OPORD with a cubist interpretation ... why the hell do we do it with presentations?

  3. #43
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    Default Nothing new under the sun

    From Army magazine, published about six years ago, an article on mastering powerpoint:


    http://www3.ausa.org/webint/DeptArmy...id/CCRN-6CCS9J

  4. #44
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    Default

    The first thing I always do on entering an organisation is seek to simplify and then standardise a PowerPoint style manual ...
    Welcome to the industrial age, we're breaking new ground here. Ensure everyone puts their pencil in their left sleeve pocket, and that boot laces are left over right, and underwear is Army issue, standardization is the key to mass production and......

  5. #45
    Council Member Hacksaw's Avatar
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    Default balancing act

    Well that's just the point isn't Bill...

    When a picture really does paint a 1000 words, who wants to constrain the use of the picture...

    Problem is that when we fail to include an "adult" in the loop to avoid the idiocy described by eden...

    We get a hodgepodge of 100 MB briefings that actually cloud the leaders understanding as opposed to enlightening...

    I'm not saying that Eden's approach is "fool-proof" only that it minimizes some forms of foolishness...

    The better solution is a series of guidelines for staff officers to adhere to per SOP and that are deviated from as conscious decision... add in an XO/S3/CoS in the loop to "approve" deviations from the SOP...

    To often when no constraints are placed on the use, junior "leaders" are apt to misguidedly go for the Wow Factor because they think it is a means to distinguish themselves from their peers...

    The horror the horror

    Live well and row
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  6. #46
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    Default happy medium

    To often when no constraints are placed on the use, junior "leaders" are apt to misguidedly go for the Wow Factor because they think it is a means to distinguish themselves from their peers...
    To be fair you and Spud have valid points, but while the young (or just immature and not so young) can abuse the bells and whistles which add nothing to the brief, and simply serve to confuse and eat up bandwidth, the SOP approach can be abused also. An OPORD brief is a standard brief, so SOP away; however, you can use powerpoint for much more than an OPORD brief. If you're attempting to explain a complex situation (information brief) they can be useful. I'll attempt to find an unclassified example.

  7. #47
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hacksaw View Post
    To often when no constraints are placed on the use, junior "leaders" are apt to misguidedly go for the Wow Factor because they think it is a means to distinguish themselves from their peers...
    In defense of we youngsters, I never encountered an O-3 staff officer (BDE or below) who seemed to care all that much about what the slide looked like. It was a shell with blanks that needed to be filled in with numbers, colors, shapes, and brevity codes. On the other hand, my Company Commander freaked out when I was a Platoon Leader and put together a slideshow (as ordered) to brief the BC on the conduct of a range. My faux pas? I did not include the brigade crest in the upper left of the master slide or the battalion crest in the upper right. Thankfully, I was not relieved. Later, when I was a junior CPT acting as S-3, a hypermotivated MAJ at BDE kicked back my QTB and Gunnery slides no less than a dozen times for purely cosmetic reasons (often demanding that I redo my previous undo). (I eventually got him back. My last act as S-3 was to RECLAMA the OPORD for deployment back to Iraq).

    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Moore View Post
    To be fair you and Spud have valid points, but while the young (or just immature and not so young) can abuse the bells and whistles which add nothing to the brief, and simply serve to confuse and eat up bandwidth...
    Bandwidth. You got it. That was my peeve. In 2005, in a dusty patrol base in Iraq, I received an email that stated simply, "Download attached slides and comply immediately. Report when complete." This was from BDE, forwarded immediately by Bn. I thought, wow, sounds important. The slideshow was a zipped file, about 8 megabytes in size. When unzipped, it was outlandishly enormous. I had to kick everybody off of the internet so that my laptop could monopolize the bandwidth and download the file in under 40 minutes. Once I finally downloaded it and my worn out laptop strained to open the file, I found an 84-slide presentation (that's EIGHTY-FOUR) on how to inspect an AT-4 for serviceability. No ####. What Private doesn't learn this in basic training?

    It was a digital photography extravaganza showing, step-by-step, how to check to ensure the sights are present and not broken and other apparently complicated things. The best part was that the date/time of the photos were in the lower right corner of each photo. The photos were taken over a 5 HOUR period. WTF? Some sorry staff weiner spent 5 hours snapping pictures to illustrate one of the simplest tasks in the skill level 1 manual. I am guessing that he spent another two hours putting the slides together, judging from the time that the file was saved.

    Now, I've worked with some hypermotivated, overcaffeinated individuals in my day, but none had succumbed to this degree of masochism. Putting together this slideshow monstrosity could only have been the idea of somebody above O-3. I don't know how high up the rank structure one must go in order to think that this made any sense, but no CPT hates himself that much. It had to be at least a MAJ.
    Last edited by Schmedlap; 09-01-2009 at 03:24 AM.

  8. #48
    Council Member Hacksaw's Avatar
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    Default In Re to Bill and Schmedlap

    Bill first... I agree that an elegant powerpoint slide can in fact paint a 1000 words and when it does it should be employed that way... which is why I added the caveat that its OK to deviate from the guidelines but it should be done with eyes wide open and it should be the exception rather than the rule... I think we are in violent agreement

    Schmedlap... I should have been clearer in my word usage... when I say junior leader I'm referring to a leader/commander briefing his superior... that extends all the way from SL to Div CDR... I also found the desire for WoW factor to go up as the responsibility for building the slide themselves went down... so again we are in violent agreement...

    My experience is that when the senior leader sets the precedent that slides are...
    1. Black and White
    2. Max of 5 bullets per slide
    3. No extraneous pictures/clip art

    It may take some time but it allows folks to focus on content, and when they do "break the rules" its for a very good reason (e.g. painting a 1000 words)

    Live well and row
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 09-01-2009 at 03:02 PM.
    Hacksaw
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  9. #49
    Council Member Hacksaw's Avatar
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    Default almost forgot

    the best use of powerpoint IMHO was the brief assembled by the young MI CPT (later died in combat) "How to Win in Anbar" or something close... simple and elegant... words amplified the pictures
    Hacksaw
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  10. #50
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    Default Recently discovered, previously mentioned gem, ...

    Quote Originally Posted by Hacksaw View Post
    the best use of powerpoint IMHO was the brief assembled by the young MI CPT (later died in combat) "How to Win in Anbar" or something close... simple and elegant... words amplified the pictures
    How to win in Anbar by Cpt Travis Patriquin and the article Anbar Awakens: The Tipping Point in Military Review (April 2008 in Archives; link appears to be snooty) that places it in context.
    Last edited by Tukhachevskii; 03-19-2010 at 01:43 PM. Reason: Fix broken link

  11. #51
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    Default bad links or outside access denied?

    Quote Originally Posted by Tukhachevskii View Post
    How to win in Anbar by Cpt Travis Patriquin and the article Anbar Awakens: The Tipping Point in Military Review (April 2008 in Archives; link appears to be snooty) that places it in context.
    the links don't work for me...is that because I'm outside?

  12. #52
    Council Member marct's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ptamas View Post
    the links don't work for me...is that because I'm outside?
    Don't know, Peter. The first one works for me, but I get a file not found error on the second.....

    Marc
    Sic Bisquitus Disintegrat...
    Marc W.D. Tyrrell, Ph.D.
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    Carleton University
    http://marctyrrell.com/

  13. #53
    Council Member Ken White's Avatar
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    Default Here is a link to "Anbar Awakens..."

    LINK(.pdf).

    Should work okay for both of you.

  14. #54
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    Powerpoint I find best for photos, video and maps. It is meant to assist and not take over from the presentation. The more the tricks the more poeple concentrate on what will happen next on the screen. The person giving the presentation is the focus, not the screen. Powerpoint poisoning is a condition that has to stop.

  15. #55
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    Default NY Times Article on Powerpoint

    NY Times Article on Powerpoint

    Some great quotes in here...and so true. I pull "storyboards" from nearly every event our Squadron does from IED hits to micro grants. The PLs and Troop Commanders sit there every day and build these slides so we can pass them on up.

    In there defense, however, these storyboards may be the only slice of reality a staff officer at division or higher gets to see of operations on the ground. It also tells the story of what that platoon/troop is doing on a daily basis in a format that is quick and easy to read.

    But they also are the bane of my existence. As the Operations Officer, I spend hours reviews, correcting and "tweaking" storyboards prior to release higher. This article really hits home.

    Now back to making slides.
    "But the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet withstanding, go out to meet it."

    -Thucydides

  16. #56
    Council Member AdamG's Avatar
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    'When we understand that slide, we'll have won the war:' US generals given baffling PowerPoint presentation to try to explain Afghanistan mess

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...#ixzz0mPQb5ZPT
    A scrimmage in a Border Station
    A canter down some dark defile
    Two thousand pounds of education
    Drops to a ten-rupee jezail


    http://i.imgur.com/IPT1uLH.jpg

  17. #57
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    In my sqdn this needs to be hung in every office, we rely too much on powerpoint

  18. #58
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    Default I may be going against the grain...

    ...but I don't think powerpoint, if used correctly, is such a bad thing. As a dyslexic I am primarily a visual learner and retain images in my memory (and the text/presentation that goes with them) much better than I could through purely sitting down and listening to a presentation (and yes, I like books with pictures in them!). Given that most segments of the population can be divided into aural and visual learners you really need to hit the right balance. Even I cannot function if hit by too many slides in a ppt presentation. Its like most things, you need a balance.
    Last edited by Tukhachevskii; 04-29-2010 at 03:10 PM. Reason: aural not ORAL!

  19. #59
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    PPT makes a good box to tick off and gets abused in that way. It facilitates getting away with little thought. But it can be a powerful tool, weaving all supporting media into a solid spine.

    Firn (who almost sounds now like bulleting his way through)

    Back to my presentation

  20. #60
    Council Member Charles Martel's Avatar
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    Default The problem is a focus on briefings instead of discussion and direction

    Many on this forum have correctly identified that it is lazy thinking, not PowerPoint, that is the problem. PowerPoint is the symptom. The underlying problem is the way we train commanders to sit back and listen to watered down, consensus staff input then adjudicate between two relatively equal options (with a third, throw-away option included to be an easy kill). This gets great reviews at Staff College and our Training Centers, but does not comport with what works in the field, as we have seen for now almost 9 years.

    What works there is commanders, who are out seeing the battlefield, who, frankly, know more about the enemy and friendly situation than most of the the staff in the TOC and are the most experienced Soldiers in their unit, developing the plans ICW the staff -- the staff can work through the details to make the plan work, but the successful Commanders have their fingerprints on the plan from the beginning. Not in a dictatorial way that stifles good ideas, but in a positive, focused way that puts the onus on the commander to lead.

    Somehow we have come to a process that rewards commanders who sit back waiting to be "fed." Let the staff churn, burn long hours, then hang it out there for the commander to chop off when the commander should have had an idea of what he was looking for before the staff began.

    We teach a process tailor-made for PowerPoint and all the attendant problems. The more time the staff puts into fancy builds, transition effects and extraneous sounds, the more some recipients like it -- despite the debilitating effect of those non-value-added features have on the other things that the staff should be doing -- which includes sleeping.

    Scapegoating PowerPoint misses the real problem. The problems are our planning and thinking processes that stifle discussion and thought.

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