The end of death by Powerpoint?

[Guest Tertle]

https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate...;entry_id=14252

Pretty amazing stuff

[VL-16]

Crazy shit right there.....I'll take one.

[Guest Bender]

Now we can all spend large amounts of time with our faces 5 inches from the computer screen.

We have something similar to that at Yokota, although no one ever uses it and the farthest I've gotten using it is to just write on the desktop with the markers.

I'm sure the software side of that is a monster money pit with little practicle use that is immediately obvious.

I'd wager power point isn't going anywhere in the next decade.

There are much more simple ways to enhance presentations and using these tools are rare.

It's definitly cool though.

BENDY

[Steve Davies]

Now we can all spend large amounts of time with our faces 5 inches from the computer screen.

There are much more simple ways to enhance presentations and using these tools are rare.

It's definitly cool though.

BENDY

I thought much the same.

All I saw was two guys moving lots of windows around. I can do that with my mouse, and maintain an eye-safe distance from my monitor, for only £30.

[M2]

Actually, for certain software like Geographic Information Systems this kind of interface can be much more useful for doing analysis than the basic desktop. My office is actually looking to get something like this, but probably not this sophisticated. And as Bendy pointed out, the computing power required to drive this monster is expensive...

Still, it is a good look at the future. Figuring it wasn't that long ago that computers looked like this...

...this technology may be around quicker than you'd think!

Cheers! M2

[Guest Tertle]

The article says the piece is "in the low 6 figures range" and that's with the huge screen. I could see it using a much smaller screen linked to a projector.

[M2]

M2

I never knew you were in IT before you got a job flying for the Air Force.

Steve

Nice one!

Actually, during my enlisted days (early 80s), we used IBM keypunch cards to input data into a program called MILAP. As a matter of fact, I even found a picture of the machine we used, an IBM 029:

(However, we found ours worked better plugged in!)

I used to program the fields on these things, there was a spool in the center section that would hold a card that defined each field as it was typed in.

Anyhow, after I got out and went to college, I took a course in computing that said IBM keypunch cards were 1950s technology...

Cheers! M2

[Guest Safe&Clear]

Actually, I kinda miss the days of listening to knowledgable old warriors TEACH the material.

If they sucked, you tuned out and thought about, well, you know...

But if they knew their sh1t, you listened and you learned! It was really cool. Didn't matter if they had powerpoint slides or whatever this new crap is.

Now it's just pretty blue & yellow bullets on a screen, whether it be an overview of AFI-217 or the OPPLAN for our latest attack. Nobody's paying attention either way...

Wait a second... maybe that's why we're losing this war!?!?

[ADF'n]

Cuz the "Smart Boards" that are all over work sooo well. I'm sure the average dude that has to give the Suicide Awareness brief will have no problem running that.

[drewpey]

THREAD REVIVAL!

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/04/powerpoint_bad/

like we didn't already know this...

[Guest Hydro130]

Haha...

I googled looking for a pic of one of those Powerpoint "hours" patches, and found this website. Funny stuff.

Here's to you, all you teeth-gnashin', qweep-pushin' Powerpoint Rangers!

Cheers, Hydro

[Guest Bender]

"Humans just don't like absorbing information verbally and visually at the same time - one or the other is fine but not both simultaneously."

SHACK. Big blue hasn't ever been too good with keeping up with trendy application to new technology. I've worked in a research lab...don't need it tommorrow!

Only use one at a time, visual or verbal; Know WTF you're talking about; engage the audience (no one likes looking like a f_ck nut in front of their peers, they'll pay attention if they know they're in danger of it...;) and think about your body language. Do that and you'll have a decent presentation.

The AF's idea of how to do a "proper" presentation is so far from ideal it's laughable. A well done presentation is impossible if their format is followed, however, it can be effective if the above qoute is not used.

If all you have to say is what's is (or most of what is) written on the slides...F_ck off.

...And whatever you do...don't say the same thing 2 or 3 times. Talk about annoying.

BENDY

EDIT: However..If something is really important and needs to be understood within a short period of time, a visual and verbal is a ood thing. Some people cue off one quicker than others. the everyday presentation doesn't present such time contraints, usually.

Edited April 5, 2007 by Bender

[Dupe]

I'm glad our squadron spent 10 grand on a smart board a couple of years ago. This guy (guy = PhD at Carnegie Mellon) made one using a Wii controller, some radio shack components, and a $0.15 Bic pen.

[Guest Boom]

I'm glad our squadron spent 10 grand on a smart board a couple of years ago. This guy (guy = PhD at Carnegie Mellon) made one using a Wii controller, some radio shack components, and a $0.15 Bic pen.

My squadron bought two smartboards a few months ago and they're still sitting in their boxes.

[Guest doofus]

Yep. That technology isn't much more than a Smart Board on steroids.....and the part-timers / O-5s in my unit can't even figure those out.

The problem with power point is, like many of those I've worked with in the AF, nobody understands the concept of "Keep It Simple Stupid." Simple presentations that take 10 sec to format end up turning into gargantuan masterpieces of "art" that take days to create.

And then there are those that are so used to following the rank and file that even a 30-sec step brief has to be given in powerpoint format---when you could have completed the thing verbally in the time it takes to hook up the computer.

Cool demo though. :)

[Guest rivet_doobie]

End of PowerPoint?!? Hahahahaha! Right, that will never go away. Smartboards are useless. My squadron has three of them and nobody uses them! The dumb part is that they're all in mission planning rooms. The dumber part is that our conference room (where we brief the commander) does not have a smartboard. The dumbest part, hardly nobody knows how to use the things correctly. If anyone has one, this will be a shocker to you: if you're using the two tap method to advance slides and the slide does not advance... hitting the screen harder will not work!!! You morons need to spread the distance of the taps for the machine to work correctly.

While I'm sounding like a geek, rather than the military just dumping powerpoint (and the rest of ms office) on us why don't they spend a little money to actually train us to use it. There are actually really powerful things you can do with it that are real simple if you're taught. Like, for instance, when I had to update some two year old document and redo the entire f*cking table of contents! If the doc was formatted correctly in the first place then the table would automatically update itself!

BTW, death by PP is not because of the program or the technology... is because of the moronic briefers I have to hear every day! For crying out loud, read your own slides first before briefing. If you didn't make the presentation... read the slides before briefing. If there's something you don't understand, find the answer. It's guaranteed that someone else won't know and will ask the question making you look like a dumb f*cking idiot! Talk to the audience, not the slide. The audience is not made of second graders. If there's a long list then don't insult my intelligence by reading it to me. I can read just fine! Don't read me your agenda slide, again, I can read. All you have to do is summarize. Try practicing your briefing at least once. This doesn't mean you have to practice in front of a mirror or test subject. You can easily read in your head (unless you still move your lips) and you can get an idea of what you're going to say. Stop saying "uh" 800 times! A couple of time I can understand, but every sentence makes you look like you have no idea what you're briefing about (possibly) or that you're just plain stupid (likely). Just be professional! If you act and look professional you can be briefing about the proper way to clean dog poop and people will still pay attention. The last safety briefing I went to I had to restrain myself from jumping out of my seat and choking the briefer! I don't hate briefings, I just hate briefers. Just email me the f*cking slides. I'll call if I have a question.

[Gravedigger]

I'm glad our squadron spent 10 grand on a smart board a couple of years ago. This guy (guy = PhD at Carnegie Mellon) made one using a Wii controller, some radio shack components, and a $0.15 Bic pen.

That's awesome! I think I'm going to have to try this out.

[busdriver]

Briefing is briefing. If you suck at briefing off a white board, you're going to suck at PP. PP, White boards, Chalk boards, podiums, microphones, smart boards, etc. are tools. Tools cannot makeup for shitty technique.

[Hercster]

Wow, that fancy-dancy board reminds me of the control "tower" in the Matrix with moving things around with your hands. The machines ARE taking over!