Death by Powerpoint!

     So I just read an article in the New York Times talking about the over-use of Powerpoint in the military and how it's becoming more of a hindrance than a help. I have to say I agree with them. I see several powerpoint presentations a week, and honestly it's hard to pay attention, or sometimes just to stay awake. Powerpoint is really good for showing pictures or movies, but too often people try to use bullet points to actually convey their information, and usually one of two things happens: (1) they summarize way too much, or (2) they write full paragraphs for each bullet.
     In the first scenario, the presentation becomes useless if you're not actually there to see it. Most of the classes I've taken after high school have used powerpoint extensively, and often teachers will post their presentations after class. Some students try to use these as an alternative to showing up, which obviously doesn't work out well. But even if you show up, and miss a talking point, you can't rely on the presentation to give you the information you need. Now personally I don't think anyone's going to leave with 100% of the information presented every time, whether you're using powerpoint or not, so really it comes down to your ability to sift out the crap and write down what matters, a skill not easily learned. But the problem (at least, in our military it seems) is that some people are trying to use powerpoint presentations as little more than illustrated memos, which seems (obviously) destined to fail.
     If you used powerpoint as described in point (2), you might be able to get away with it. But if you're going to do that, you may as well just write a word document and attach some pictures, which would be much easier and probably more effective. Not only that, but these type 2 presentations are terrible! Usually these are the kind made by people who can't bother to memorize what they're going to say, or simply don't know the subject matter that well. The presentations then are reduced to simply reading the slides aloud in front of a group of people. And if they do actually have a speech written, then your audience ends up trying to read all the text and not listening to what you have to say. More often than not the text is tiny, so people are squinting and having to work harder to read it, further obliterating any attention being paid to the speaker. It sucks.
     The problem here is of course not Powerpoint, but the way people use it. The program itself is pretty awesome if you take the time to learn what features are available. But one thing that was interesting about the article is that throughout the whole thing they have quotes from military personnel demonizing Powerpoint, but then at the end include one sentence saying "No one is suggesting that PowerPoint is to blame for mistakes in the current wars, but..." It seems the problem is the people, not the program. Only a poor craftsman blames his tools. There is one quote, though, that I thought was very appropriate:

"Senior officers say the program does come in handy when the goal is not imparting information, as in briefings for reporters."

It seems pretty pictures help when you're trying to say nothing.