What would happen if there was no PowerPoint?

No Powerpoint? This could lead to peace in the Middle East! But perhaps......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmzuRXLzqKk

Then much like the loss of a green notebook the officer would likely suffer an existential crisis. Link provided for entertainment.

Staff officers would have to become 'artists'.  ;)

PowerPoint is a useful tool to 'paint the picture' for our commanders.  If there wasn't PowerPoint, something else would have been created.

We need to continually evolve and adapt as leaders AND as a society.

I believe it was Patton who said Power Point is "the greatest implement of battle ever devised."  No, wait, he was talking about the Garand.  I guess when a proven, war winning leader can say something like that about PPT, I'll think the world of it.

I had the honor and privilege to brief a high level commander in Afghanistan a few years ago. After a full day of prepping the slide deck and getting all jazzed up to do my song and dance he walked in and said "I hate Powerpoint". My commander looked like he was going to need to change his shorts, but I was undeterred. I had the big wall map behind me and just rolled right into my brief. I appreciate what Powerpoint can do for displaying information, but I make the info come to life, not the tech

Just to be clear, Junior officers throughout the force would be getting high on mimeograph fumes and getting carpal tunnel from making 75 copies of graphics on acetate, and running to the shoppette because the red non-perm marker ran out of ink.


In all seriousness, bad PPT is a symptom the disease is not knowing how to think, present, and speak. PPT is used as a crutch.

Nothing. We didnt have powerpoint when I joined the Army, hell we barely had computers and we still conducted training, meetings, etc...

Soldiers would have to actually brief. Information would have to disseminated from mouth to ear and not over a computer screen or paper.

I think the retention rate of information would go up, and we would have shorter briefs that are more to the point.

Regardless, powerpoint is a good tool when used properly.  Like anything else, it's all about knowing when to use it and insuring that it's done in moderation.  It should not be a crutch but, an enhancer.

Butcher block and map layovers would make their way back.

Officers would have to learn to explain stuff better

I can still remember preparing a class with a large white tablet, markers, easel, manuals, index cards, and other visuals, at PLDC at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania January 1993. It was more hands on and interactive with the rest of the class.

Powerpoint is not the problem. Overuse of Powerpoint is the problem. It is a classic example of working for your systems instead of your systems working for you. It is a great tool, but it is too good, and too easy, so it gets abused. The demand for slick presentations has grown out of control, just because it's there. The old saw about PP being for the weak or inept is wrong. Look at who the presentation is for, not the presenter, and there you will find the culprit. As long as leaders demand these products (or don't stop them from being produced) they will continue unabated.

It would stop presenters from asking participants to do the presenter's job for them; when the presenter asks "Hey, why don't you go ahead and read this next slide for us." It is the presenter's job to present.

It would not allow a lazy presenter to tell their commander, "Now take a moment to review this information, Sir/Ma'am" while standing at parade rest. It is the presenter's job to present.

PPT, prezi and keynote are fantastic programs made worthless, when used with poor presentation skills.

2 shops Army-wide would be paralyzed. Hate PowerPoint as much as I do, I find it very useful in those first few classes we teach in BCT-land. For example, the personal finance class has a blown up LES as one of the slides. There's another slide deck for for Army rank. I view those presentations as informative. However, the Army's reliance on PowerPoint is now such that you have the tail wagging the dog, and the Army is the worse for it.

Personally, I don't think PowerPoint is good or bad. It is a tool. It is neutral. The problem isn't the program. It has great functionality if you know how to use it. It provides a creative mind with the ability to display a lot of information concisely and in a digestible manner. There is no problem with PowerPoint. The problem is the ones driving its use. The problem is what I call "left brain extremists" who write evaluations based on the aesthetics of PowerPoint. But in reality, it doesn't matter what format a left brain extremist demands, it will always be painful.

At the end of the day, it is all about what format the decision maker best digests information in to inform himself to make a sound decision. Everything that distracts from that is just bitching.

"In a sign of how Carter intends to challenge his commanders’ thinking, he has banned them from making any PowerPoint presentations — a backbone feature of most U.S. military briefings. "
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/carter-summons-us-military-commanders-diplomats-to-kuwait/2015/02/22/0d06c36e-baab-11e4-b274-e5209a3bc9a9_story.html

The madness! The insanity! People actually picking up a phone and talking to each other or worse yet, people get up and walking to someone else's desk to have a conversation? Maybe even driving/walking to another command to have a face-to-face. The craziness wouldn't end there. Next you know leaders would start leading and stop managing. It would be complete pandemonium.

 

From a guy that was SGT with butcher block at Bragg in the 90s, I enjoy
using PowerPoint.....but I tend to use 10 slides or less to get my point across.

There's nothing wrong with PowerPoint.....some poeple just don't know how to use it..... see below

 

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/06/microsoft-helps-the-army-avoid-death-by-powerpoint/

A PP slide should be no more than 4 bullets that contain no more than 5 words per bullet.
They should accent the points a presenter is making.
And of course, graphic elements... charts and other elements that cut to the point are way better than words... an infographic.
Death by PP comes from presenters reading aloud the slides word for word, in paragraph format. They might as well crack open War and Peace and start reading to me.

CPT, as a humorous diversion, a colleague sent an e-mail the other day asking what would we do without e-mail. Offered in jest, the number one response was that we would be far more productive because we spent less time checking e-mail, and more time with our subordinates.

PowerPoint, GPS, etc... They are OK, but a real leader or instructor can do just fine without them.

I require all my troops to carry note pads and pencils at all times. There is always something new out there or a better way to do something and it is good to take notes of such things.

Many top leaders and a bunch of staff officers would absolutely lose their minds.  My experience with Power Point is such that it's a wonderful tool that too many people use as a crutch.  Maybe if leaders spent some time at the FOBs, COBs and COPs, they could see things first hand vs having the information spoon fed to them on a slide.

I think the issue resolves around a central point to many technology questions: how much is too much> A judicial use of PowerPoint, or any tech item could be very useful... unfortunately the problem is too may people use it TOO much, not enough or not effectively. The goal should be to use and integrate all the tools at hand (IT or other) to enhance a military objective or civilian goal.

Believe it or not we had an Army that lived on briefings before the advent of modern computers. Programs like Harvard Graphis, Freelance, and later Micosoft's Power Point came into existence.

Death by PowerPoint would cease to exist 

Before there was PowerPoint, there were slide projectors. Before projectors, there were easels. Before email, there was the postal service. Before printers, there were typewriters.

We can do without PowerPoint, but we can also rifles, boots, and tanks. We could fight a war with bare fists, but why would we want to?

We have these debates daily...what I'm seeing in the responses though, is a less "high tech" solution: transparencies, butcher block, etc. These would still have the same effect, an over reliance on too many graphics when a single sheet can do the job. PPT is a great tool to represent just about every aspect of a mission/task/storyboard, but it's become where NOTHING happens if it's not on a slideshow. Like CSM said, we'd have to stop the war. There is also a lack of synchronization: leaders at different echelons ask for the same information, but each on their own proprietary format. So we spend our time transcribing the same info on several slides, where one would suffice.

I agree... I think it is overused but it can be of great help in certain aspects. This is similar tot he problem I have been seeing regarding Land Navigation... map reading, compass work and orienteering seem to be falling by the wayside as the reliance on GPS grows.