Yeah, that's an actual PowerPoint slide
From my short time here at ISAF Joint Command it has become way too apparent that some people have an obsession with PowerPoint. It's almost as if they believe the PowerPoint slide they are working on will give that key piece of information that will defeat the insurgency here. They have it in their mind that their presentation is so glorious that GEN Allen will view it and state, "that's it folks, the Taliban can't possibly beat us now. Time to go home."
The other day I received a panicked call from someone in another analyst section asking for a target pack (basically a whole bunch of PowerPoint slides) on an individual. I was curious since this analyst doesn't have an action arm (ability to conduct a lethal strike) but I found an older packet on the guy and sent it. The analyst called again with even more alarm and informed me that there must be a more updated packet and she needed this urgently for a PowerPoint brief that was to be in 2 days.
Seriously?
Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part.
I've produced slides in the past couple of months that come back to me with so much added information on it as to make the slides pretty much unreadable and therefore useful to no one. Less is more people, especially when it comes to PowerPoint.
Excel on the other hand...
PowerPointis basically a storybook that someone reads to you. Can't think of that as a way to encourage critical thinking or writing...
ReplyDeleteExactly. There's a notes section below each slide for a reason. If you're trying to put everything you want to say on the slide you're doing it wrong.
ReplyDelete