NY Times has an article you've GOTTA Agree With
“It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control,” General McMaster said in a telephone interview afterward. “Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.”
- - -
Article ends with the best bit:
Senior officers say the program does come in handy when the goal is not imparting information, as in briefings for reporters.

The news media sessions often last 25 minutes, with 5 minutes left at the end for questions from anyone still awake. Those types of PowerPoint presentations, Dr. Hammes said, are known as “hypnotizing chickens.”



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2010 10:55PM by cbelt3.

I've always thought that Powerpoint was a pathetic, superfluous program. Whenever I'm in a presentation that has been done with a powerpoint default theme I get a queasy "this is going to be awful" feeling. There are a lot of guides for how to do a good presentation, and it seems that none of them have been incorporated into the powerpoint software.

---

"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." (1987) -- Carl Sagan

It's an awful program, and I don't think it's all that helpful as a means of communication.

Aside from that: we used to get images from clients that had been embedded in PP because they couldn't figure out other ways to get them to us. And there are people who use it as sort of a graphics app. Yuck. A few friends have sent me "must-see" images trapped in pp files, and I don't usually even bother to open them.

I avoid words, and prefer to structure the presentation around photographs, like the slide shows of yore. Makes for a much more engaging presentation. If photographs don't suit, (say, in outlining your plan to win in Afghanistan), then use words, but as few as possible per slide.

I agree. Every time I go to a training seminar. It consists mainly of someone reading their powerpoint presentation out loud. There's nothing to be learned from that.

---

I'm not a bad guy! I work hard, and I love my kids. So why should I spend half my Sunday hearing about how I'm going to Hell? -Homer.

I agree. Every time I go to a training seminar. It consists mainly of someone reading their powerpoint presentation out loud. There's nothing to be learned from that.

I agree.

Yet PowerPoint presentations are mandated by CLEA and (I think) POST, because today's students are "visual learners".

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

PowerPoint is wonderful, when used well. Which is rare.

You guys have NO idea how much of a problem this is. Every branch of the military (as well as all their contractors) literally runs on PowerPoint.

I would think a military guy would think many problems are "BULLET"-izable.

PowerPoint is a tool.

Use it well or not.

Don't blame the tool.

HyperCard presentations would be better than Powerpoint.

Quote
threeprong
PowerPoint is a tool.

Use it well or not.

Don't blame the tool.

unfortunately too many use this tool as a crutch. when my son started conventional public high school (after homeschooling through 8th grade) we found he had to get up to speed with PowerPoint. that was not a problem. what was, and remains, a problem for me is that the reports he is expected to do in PowerPoint do not require depth - just lots of images and terse bullet points. it's nothing more than jazzed up busy work that enables the school to pass its curricula off as technology savvy.

---

If you want to fix our country, work with us in the states. statesproject.org

"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

Quote
graylocks
...when my son started conventional public...school...it's nothing more than jazzed up busy work that enables the school to pass its curricula off...

There. I fixed that for you.

Our school is big into "differentiated instruction" this year. That means covering the bases for kids of different learning styles, yes, but among other things, it also includes using "anchor activities". In other words, activities to keep the smart kids busy while the dumb kids catch up. I know that in some classrooms, creating PowerPoint presentations is used extensively for this purpose.

PowerPoint is often used as Gospel when it's more like Cliff Notes.

This goes to my and others' impression that students today (I know- a very broad brush) are visual only learners and need and rely on just the "bullet points".

Pictures, 8x10 color glossies with lines and arrows and a paragraph on the back are well and good if they enhance a presentation, not if they are the sole source of information.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that people projecting a short sentence on to a screen and then reading it out loud is stupid.
My experience is solely with company "training" sessions where everyone was actually literate.
There may be other situations where this is useful. ESL classes possibly.

---

And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.
—Friedrich Nietzsche
Western Massachusetts

Quote
threeprong
PowerPoint is a tool.

Use it well or not.

Don't blame the tool.

I heartily agree!

I took a PowerPoint class, well it was a Graphics class that used PowerPoint as the tool. Two things were emphasized; the graphical nature of PowerPoint and it's uses as an art tool, and the misuse of PowerPoint in presentations. The instructor was emphatic in stating that the proper use of PowerPoint is as an assistant to the presentation, it is not to be used as the presentation. PowerPoint is not supposed to do the work, the presenter is.

I think PowerPoint is a pretty nifty tool, though I think that Keynote does it better.

PowerPoint, in presentations, should not be considered as anything more than a nifty, 21st century version of the overhead projector.

I use art tools. I don't consider PP to be one.