Having a great interest in FutureWarTM I had to download the latest Rethinking Future Elements of National and International Power presentation by Joe Purser. Mr Purser is from the Deep Futures cell at US Joint Forces Command. He works on all the FutureWarTM stuff from a “joint” perspective, which has resulted in the doctrinal document Joint Operating Environment. Any of you out there that are interested in this stuff might want to take a look. During the presentation Purser even name-dropped TX Hammes as a contributor, so check it out. I am too swamped to do so myself, but today I don’t really want to to talk about the content (which I found generally bland and uninspired). The topic for today is the presentation itself.
I have been the victim of military Powerpoint1 countless times before and it angers me every time. This presentation brought back all those bad experiences (PPPTSD?). Purser is trying to create stakeholders and generate interest in Deep Futures projects. Instead he is putting everyone to sleep. Granted, talking about the FutureTM is very difficult to do — I have firsthand experience. Everyone has an opinion about how things should/will be. Everyone is an expert. This kind of stuff has to be presented from an angle that is unexpected, forcing the audience to relate to your work in unorthodox ways. You have to let them know you are the expert and show them why so they grasp the value of your work. Most people haven’t a clue what futures guys do, and will readily dismiss your work unless you wow them. I am not advocating “sexing” up a presentation in any negative way. Content is king for sure, but the purpose of presentation slides is to enhance the content through visual stimulation, not deliver the content on its own. You should never be able to send someone a slideset and expect them to understand as if they attended (can you guess what the hell Merlin is talking about just from the slides? Thought not). That is what briefing notes are for.
The military has a hard time giving good presentations. The two biggest mistakes they make are a result of the military’s fundamental (and mistaken) concept of the purpose of PowerPoint. First the mistakes: 1) putting reams of information on a single slide, and 2) reading from the slides. The reasons for these mistakes are: 1) the military feels it has to have everything on the slides so it can hand out printouts/slidesets “as is” after a presentation, and 2) often many different presenters will have to use the same slideset. Instead of having a personal presentation they are emotionally invested in (or god forbid practicing the presentation beforehand) they will just stand at the front and read it off for the audience. The appropriate usage of PowerPoint has to be reevaluated before the military will be able to create presentable presentations.
I think it was Tom Barnett that said PowerPoint is the primary mode of idea transmission in today’s military. I know the historians out there are cringing at the thought of that, but it is true. There are practical reasons for this. These guys are pressed for time and not everyone can get a PhD. I do think presentation software is a wonderful tool if properly used. But it can be evil if it falls into the wrong hands. Furthermore, any slideset should be supplemented by other types of media.
Apparently there are resources for military members to learn Powerpoint but not enough people are taking advantage of these resources. There are methodologies and techniques for presentation. Personally, I am a fan of the Lessig Method (watch his great presentation on the law and creativity for example) which takes a lot of practice but is effective. If you are in the military and are interested in making better presentations there are some great presentations out there for inspiration. PowerPoint is a necessary tool for today’s military. Learn to use it like you would any other military equipment — it could save you or your buddy’s ass sometime.
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Comments to this entry
cirby
February 6, 2008
12:50 am
"6x6" and "CCC"
"6x6" is "no more than six words per line, no more than six lines per screen." You're making a slide for people to see, not an eye chart to test their vision.
"CCC" is "contrast, then color, then cool." Make sure your text and background have high contrast, then fiddle with the colors a bit to give it some life (while keeping contrast up), then put a little cool stuff on the slide (one or two animations, MAYBE, with movies or the like). Dark blue background with light yellow text is a solid choice.
One simple way to test your slides is to stand back six or seven times the screen width (not diagonal). If you have a 21" monitor, stand back about nine or ten feet and see if it's readable without straining.
Oh, yeah - never use sound effects. They suck unless they're PERFECT. And even then, usually.
zenpundit
February 6, 2008
9:14 pm
Powerpoint is no more a substitute for an informed and insightful presenter than a toolbox can substitute for a good carpenter.
If useful handouts are wanted, the slides can be printed up with additional notations - the important part of the slide is creating visuals that hook the audience and cognitively reinforce the points being made. If they clash or are irrelevant to the key points of the message then they are a distraction. Best are transformative slides that create "Aha!" questions in the audience that the briefer is prepared to discuss or answer.
ComingAnarchy.com » Blog Archive » More on military thinking
February 7, 2008
9:45 pm
Skippy-san
February 9, 2008
11:29 pm
The problem is that decision makers no longer are getting the background material they need and so the slides become the material. There are two reasons for this:1) Most decisions in today's military are made 2 or 3 levels higher than they should be-requiring briefings of the decision maker. And 2) Presentations have a "gucci factor" that means they are going to have to be as slick as they can be.
PPT and the VTC are the two worst inventions of the 20th century.............
Preparing More Powerful Presentations
February 12, 2008
11:56 pm