[Sub-Driver]

Amen to that...........

[ClearCase_guy]

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html

“Powerpoint is Evil” by Edward Tufte

If anyone understands the visual display of information, it’s Tufte.

[TSgt]

PowerPoint is an effective tool if used properly.

The problem is, most don’t.

[neodad]

We used to call it “Death by PowerPoint” in the Navy and that was 5 years ago. I imagine it’s gotten horrible.

[TChris]

Power Point evil? Oh PuhLEEEZE!

This is precisely the same thought process which leads to the false conclusion that guns are evil.

PowerPoint is a tool. Before PP, it was an overhead projector, or a chalkboard, or a big pad of paper on an easel. None of those tools "make us stupid."

Place the blame where it belongs. The creator of bad PowerPoint presentations may deserve criticism, derision or maybe just better training and instruction on making good presentations.

Neither Microsoft nor that particular installation of PowerPoint created the hated "spaghetti bowl" slide. It was a person. And people are responsible for their actions. Their tools are not.

It's a bit disturbing to me that some of our top commanders are ready to blame the tool for a poor result rather than its user.

[LonePalm]

You don't win wars by doing PowerPoint slides for your country.

You win wars by making the other poor dumb son-of-a-bitch do PowerPoint slides for his country.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[astyanax]

PowerPoint is a lot like PBS and talk radio.
2 minutes of information stretched into an hour show.

[KosmicKitty]

I HATE Powerpoint, but I am forced to teach it AUGH!!!!!!

[B Knotts]

The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation - 11/19/1863

[occamrzr06]

When you have nothing to say.....say it with Power Point!

[McBuff]

Very simple rule. . .never put anything on a slide that you don't specifically mention in your presentation. If you must use a graph or chart. . .build it incrementally in concert with what you are talking about. Use "sans serif" fonts like Arial, Arial black and not Times New Roman. Another rule, the audience looks at you and only looks to the screen when you look to the screen. . .one more. . .back screening is best so that you can stand near the screen (there is a reason the weatherman stands in front of the weathermap). . .the worst is when the speaker is on stage left and the screen is on stage right.. . .just a few ideas that help to make pp work better.

[CodeToad]

Commander s LOVE slides. In the day we used basic overhead projectors and commanders couldn’t get enough slides. They use PowerPoint today and the abuses of superficial information has grown.

[tophat9000]

If your doing a presentation with power point.....it is not the presentation....The presentation needs to stand on it own merit

I view Power Point as the notes I would take (and hope you would take) if I were viewing that presentation.... nothing more

That way you audience in engaged with you and not busy taking notes...

And that also why you give them a printed copy before you start, so that can make their own additional notes on the slides

[tophat9000]

If your doing a presentation with power point.....it is not the presentation....The presentation needs to stand on it own merit

I view Power Point as the notes I would take (and hope you would take) if I were viewing that presentation.... nothing more

That way you audience in engaged with you and not busy taking notes...

And that also why you give them a printed copy before you start, so that can make their own additional notes on the slides

Or even simpler...Power Point is what you would put on the chalk board or white board

[Sursam Abordine]

Specifically mentioned in the Columbia report is a PowerPoint slide used by the Engineers briefing the foam strike. Due to the amount of information and the poor presentation it minimized the potential danger. Also, in the report, NASA provided what were supoosed to be “engineering reports” in a PP format to the investigating board, absent any data and actual scientific method. Used correctly I guess it can be effective, I just need someone to tell me what “correctly” is. (IMHO)

[drubyfive]

Interesting for a general to say, “Some problems in the world are not bullet-izable.” Bring in the heavy artillery?

[texmexis best]

I have to agree. The skills of presentation, particularly in the text area, have really deteriorated over the years.

I don’t hate Powerpoint but I do use it sparingly.

[ShadowAce]

[Calvinist_Dark_Lord]

Sounds as if the military is finally driving a wooden stake through the heart of the corpse of Robert McNamara.

[martin_fierro]

[uglybiker]

Powerpoint comes from the depths of Hell itself!