What would happen if there was no 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.

Power Point ?? Puhshaw!! Give me a sand table, a butcher board and a pointy stick I can teach the world!!

Command and staff meetings would be much shorter.

Before I retired. Before computers. While working some time in S3 and S2 (Battalion) it would require 5 or 6 privates and a second lieutenant spend an entire weekend + to kick off that dog and pony show. I think a Power Point dog and pony show would only require a force of 1. Thank your lucky stars Captain.

technology is killing the basic skills every Soldier should possess. Soldiers today rely to much on all types of GPS, BFT etc. I feel we are setting ourselves up for trouble by allowing ourselves to depend on technology. Leaders and Soldiers need to understand that Korea was hacked, and if that happens to us we need to be able to fall back on our OLD school ways, like reading a map and going from point A to point B without GPS or BFT's.

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2015/02/23/ash-carter-powerpoint-brass/23895027/

A reduction in our dependence upon Power Point may be closer than you think.

...Zombie apocalypse...

I actually remember when everything was presented on Butcherblock paper....

PowerPoint sucks... but it's almost a necessary evil. I just can't stand when it's overdone to the point that you can't even tell what the briefing is about. Here's a suggestion, cut out all the extra crap and play by the K.I.S.S. rule. Basic information, formatted to be easily read and understood. Shorten the briefing/class/meeting and get back to work. Our troops miss seeing us at the shop and get confused when we're gone.

It wouldn't be the end of the world. I was impressed the the Secretary of Defense banned it during his recent meeting with Commanders.

People would lose their minds. Some would freak out because they would not know how to conduct a briefing without powerpoint. Chaos and Anarchy would ensue. Dark and cold times.

Bill Gates would lose like $100.

You would have to think on your toes.

Personally, I would be the happiest solider on the block. People would be forced to know the material they are briefing inside and out. It would force face to face communication, which leads to greater understanding by everyone.

Couple this with no email, and we would need to speak to each other. Information would delivered clearly and concisely to avoid confusion.

The funny party is, the network had been down for the past few days at my unit, and believe it or not, productivity has increased.

Yes, Power Point is a great tool, when used in moderation. It is not supposed to be the "meat and potatoes" of a presentation, it is there only to augment the material being presented.

All to often powerpoint distracts the person(s) recieving instruction away from the fact that the instructor is ill prepaired. Craming a slide full information is usless as well. The class will often drift off after the first sentence of the slide. The army has never understood the idea of PowerPoint being an additional form of media to assist in instructing the class. As a business owner if i was given a presentation that had more than three or four bullet points on it to highlight key items i would end the presentation on the presenter, i have done it twice in my tenure. It shows complete lack of preperation. We cant all be subject matter experts you say; a good soldier will recieve a task and be prepaired to lead the block as if he was. Additional tasks are often given in the private sector it should be no different in our military.

If you stop one malfunction there will be three more pop up to replace it. We would have to stop training, figure out what we could do to replace it so it makes our lives easier. I have been in about 30 years now and I have seen all types of presentations. PowerPoint right now is what is easy, give it a few years and we will have something else, PowerPoint just has not had its 15 minutes of fame. CSM Poll hit the nail on the head we would have to go old school. If microsoft collapsed how would you brief your commander, keep your data straight, inventory your supplies, and a mass of other things that happen with in a unit. Chew on that one for awhile.

Well they are trying do do away with PowerPoint. TRADOC Introduce what's called ALM 2015 (Army Learning Model) and it's designed to have more hands on and interaction during classes. In the future there will be no more instructors, they will transition into a facilitator and the students will basically teach them selfs with input from the facilitator.

A few years back my company commander came to me about a project I was working on and told me that we had to come up with a power point decision brief for the general.

Roger. I came up with three slides. She kicked them back to me and told me all these points; surveys; statistics; graphs; and data she wanted in them - because that is the way she did them in Afghanistan.

I sent it up to the generals XO who shot it back to me with instructions - "You get three slides - present your problem, present your solution, and slide three is what you want the end state to be. Other than that be prepared to discuss what you want minus the other twenty slides of fluff.

This actually happened in Afghanistan in 2008-2009. The base got hit with a computer virus and we lost half the NIPR network and about 10-15% of SIPR. There were a lot of unit TOCs that had officers with their feet up on desks and staff looking at each other asking "now what do we do?" Those that fared well went back to basics...paper copies & dry erase boards. Technology is a great tool to leverage, but always be prepared for Murphy to strike!

Field Grade officers would be unable to function, Company Grade officers wouldn't know what to do with their time, NCOs would have to watch Soldiers paint rocks all day...the Communists and Terrorists would win, the U.S. would cease to exist.

Great question/hypothetical but I think it's being looked at the wrong way. PPT has its place just like any other briefing/teaching medium. If used properly it enhances the decision making process or flow of information but it is often relied upon as a primary asset instead of being used as a tool......perhaps a better way of looking at this is by comparing it to our love of the PT Belt.

The PT Belt in all its shiny glory has its use, and if used properly may enhance the safety of the Soldier. The lack of or the presence of a PT belt does not improve someone's pushups, situps or run time, it does not motivate a group to lift that telephone pole one more time during PT, but it is still used as an addition for safety. Now, most of us would probably agree that the PT belt is over used. Night Jump...must wear PT belt.....Combat...must wear PT belt because the body armor is ineffective without PT belt........Blackout conditions on the FOB...wear PT belt....Normal conditions on the FOB...wear PT belt.....rake leaves, shovel snow, go the latrine, go to the chow hall, react to ambush, go on patrol, go to award ceremony.....wear PT belt. We will not get rid of the PT belt and we hate the PT belt because it's being used in a manner we would disagree with, if it were used properly, none of us would care.

The same goes with PPT. It is used improperly most of the time. It will not go away. There is little any of us can do to escape this dark void of pain and suffering. The light at the end of the tunnel however are officers like yourself, and the officers and NCOs that have posted below. The "old mindset-old timers" are going to want 231 slides on raking leaves, step by step, with certain graphics and animations. Many company/junior field grade officers, and NCOs know that this has gotten silly....so when you are a COL one day, you'll want PPT briefs, just make sure that your folks understand quality, not quantity...and that's how/when the culture changes.

On a similar thought - there's and interesting article in Army Mag this month about cell phones and MC. Basically, that the ubiquitous use of cell phones is another leadership issue wrt micro-managing and stifling junior leaders growth, initiative, etc. I've been saying for some time that just because we can now transmit any information, any time, anywhere, at the speed-of-light, it doesn't mean we (humans) can think and reason any faster than we could 20, 30 or even 100 years ago… before we had any opt these devices!

I can said the PowerPoint is a great tool for educate and provide any kind of communication. In my opinion, the best way for learn something is visual with some conversation. The PowerPoint not affect our verbal briefing skills, suppose to increase it, why? A good presentation is not read all the slides, the slides are reference and visual stuff of what you brief. The best way to show somebody read a map, is when the individual see the map and you explain how to read it.

Again, is not the PowerPoint and the technology, is how you use it. The quality of the presentation and the information you provide not said nothing is the presenter don't create a motivation in the group!

Sir,

I believe that eliminating PowerPoint usage during briefings would not necessarily make briefings any better. I have seen countless Soldiers/Leaders use PowerPoint inefficiently; that is something that should and can be changed. I was always taught to use PowerPoint as nothing more than a visual aid - both to help you keep your train of thought, and allow the audience to follow along. This is achievable by only putting a few words on each slide and cutting back on the number of slides being used. All of this allows the speaker/instructor to more efficiently go through the brief (provided he/she actually knows what they are talking about and are confident in their ability to communicate effectively) and keeps the audience informed AND awake. I think we are all capable of reading what is written on a slide, and it is a disservice to everyone involved to allow instructors to rely on a tool meant to be used as an aid.

No powerpoint! My god we would lose our warfighting edge. Command staff's would not know what to do for four to five hours a day!

On a serious note - we do over-rely on the dreaded power point presentation but when short and concise they do prove to be a beneficial way to display information to a large group of people and it is a necessary component at times in classroom instruction. Saying that though - those of us who are Military Instructors are moving more to be facilitators than instructors or presenters.

We actually had an Army w/o PP, when I came on actuve duty in the 80s... And, it's tempting to say that there was less time spent on briefings then, but not necessarily. Back then, we'd prepare "butcher paper" charts on easels, both for training, and for briefs. There were perhaps fewer, and they were simpler, but these were labor-intensive. If a company ops had a QTB to prepare, the Ops NCO might have to borrow Soldiers from every platoon to get these done! One advantage was, if you made these charts yourself, there was probably nothing on them that you didn't know / couldn't explain! So, I think PP is a tool, a convienience, and like other techniques we have, if you are over reliant on it or let it become a vehicle for micro-management, then it can become counterproductive.

Coffee sales would be at an all time low!

"Disaster of Biblical proportions. Old Testament, real wrath of God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanoes, the dead rising from the grave. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together...mass hysteria!" - Ghostbusters

I dunno...sand tables? Notepads? Paper maps with a piece of glass, bottlecaps, and rocks representing units?

It would be a nice start to use a "switch" to show screen shots or a live feed from the FBCB2 systems: CPOF, AFATDS, DCGS-A, AMDWS, etc rahter than recreating the wheel with PowerPoint or other "snapshots." The problem isn't the software it's how the user fails or succeeds in effectively using it. This can be expanded to the failures of over reliance on SharePoint, Portals, DTMS, or any other requirement that makes us re-format the same data over and over again. That kills productivity.

PowerPoint is a good tool for communication, when I was stationed in Kaiserslautern (K-Town), Germany working in S-2, we were task to send out a weekly weather report to Headquarters and subordinate units. The Commanding Officer didn't tell us how to do it, we decided the best option was to copy and paste the information on PowerPoint Slides. Then, make it an e-mail attachment and sending it out by e-mail everybody was satisfied.

I enlisted in October, 1972 there wasn't any technology going on, if there were classroom training the only thing closed to technology was an overhead projector and templates. All the other training was hands-on-training outside rain or shine, even classroom training outside that was the Cold War Era.

One of the refreshing advantages to operating in the InterAgency is that, apart from DoD, most USG agencies do not rely on Powerpoint to transmit information. Briefing notes, decision memos, position papers, strategy papers, read-ahead packets, policy papers--all not done on powerpoint. If SECDEF directed that DoD immediately stopped using Powerpoint, after a short period of transition and learning, DoD would likely easily transition to written products like the ones above, supplemented, of course, by the formal, five paragraph operations order and associated graphics. Contrary to the apparent beliefs of many, those in DoD who make the most powerpoint slides (staff officers), if given the time and opportunity to write, could write papers just as dazzling and brilliant as the powerpoint slides they work so hard to perfect. Also, a powerpoint-free DoD would probably realize that the millions/billions of dollars of digital C2 equipment it has actually works wonders, and might be useful in transmitting information.