We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/01/captain_travis.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:45:20 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification This is old news in the sense that this broke into the news cycle around December 15 on ABC. I missed it because I was involved in the Specialist McGinniss story and it was further swamped by the death of Marine Major Megan McClung, which is interesting, since Captain Travis Patriquin died in the same IED explosion. This won't be news for some of you, but for others, it will. It came to me from a different source, so, even late, I'm posting it, if for no other reason than a cyber-memorial to Captain Patriquin and as a source for... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/01/captain_travis.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/01/captain_travis.html Wed, 03 Jan 2007 07:41:50 -0600 Still got my markers and I've still got the OHP slides I did for the Aviation Warrant Senior Course in '91: "How to Properly Peel a Banana." The lone female in the class did her presentation on the "Briefing Medium of the Future -- PowerPoint." Gotta give her major points for prognostication, but mine was funnier -- and it only took me an hour to put the six slides together. Poor Lyn worked on her show for a month... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/01/captain_travis.html#comment-54639 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/01/captain_travis.html#comment-54639 Wed, 03 Jan 2007 11:05:02 -0600 Wow, Larry. Pretty strict. If I followed those rules, my 35 slide presentation to the Heffalumps would have been over 150. Obviously, there are some situation awareness things you have to consider, the subject and audience being the most important. Around here, we worry about... line spacing. And quibble about font sizes. Though, to be honest, most of the rules we follow here are useful. Especially the one about each slide being able to stand-alone. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/01/captain_travis.html#comment-54636 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/01/captain_travis.html#comment-54636 Wed, 03 Jan 2007 10:19:52 -0600 My personal rules for PPT: White background with dark lettering keeps people awake and can be used in in low light rooms as opposed to dark rooms which allows people to sleep. PPT is a NOTES program not a text or word prcessing program so no more than five lines to a slide no more than 5 words to a line -- and that is pushing it -- don't write a book. No bells and whistles. If you want to have lines enter one at a time copy the previous slide and add a line. The next slide feature seldom breaks while animated entries often do. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/01/captain_travis.html#comment-54634 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/01/captain_travis.html#comment-54634 Wed, 03 Jan 2007 10:09:25 -0600 Good 'points' all (pun intended). In fact, I imagine that you won't be surprised to find out that users in high tech organizations have similar problems in designing efficient presentations. The other pet peeve I have is animation madness. Unless the slide is showing a process in steps, for instance, don't animate all the crap on it! It's nothing but distracting - and that is the ultimate sin for any presentation. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/01/captain_travis.html#comment-54631 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/01/captain_travis.html#comment-54631 Wed, 03 Jan 2007 09:47:18 -0600 back in '90, when i did CAS3, my small group instructor said we could use three colors on any one slide, as long as two of them were black and white, and the red or blue was used for underlining. and by the second to last brief, he actually did let us use a computer program instead of grease pencils and flimsies. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/01/captain_travis.html#comment-54629 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2007/01/captain_travis.html#comment-54629 Wed, 03 Jan 2007 08:02:42 -0600