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Looking for some good resources to put together a well laid out, comprehensive and effective battle analysis PowerPoint presentation to be used in conjunction with a standard military-style battle analysis.This is for my American Civil War class... I will NOT be writing about Gettysburg 😉
I analyze every battle using OKOCA, and the military principles of fire, maneuver, and surprise. Those things can pretty much sum up every battle ever fought if you substitute melee for fire in battles with edged weapons. Which battle will you be writing about?
Right now it is a toss up between Antietam, Chickamauga and Wilson's Creek… I have done general PowerPoint presentations in regards to military research papers, but have not done a battle analysis PPT as of yet.
I would guess it would be a little easier than writing a paper since PowerPoint is actually inimical to imparting useful information. Bullet comments and graphics just make it seem as though you are gaining knowledge. It is much easier to BS your way through something with PowerPoint.Do you have a minimum or maximum slide number? I would outline it first just like any other academic project. You can then turn your outline into slides.
Looking for some good resources to put together a well laid out, comprehensive and effective battle analysis PowerPoint presentation to be used in conjunction with a standard military-style battle analysis.This is for my American Civil War class... I will NOT be writing about Gettysburg 😉
I give in-class powerpoint presentations on an almost daily basis, and I normally give a few paper-based powerpoint presentations during the course of a semester. I find that giving these presentations can be a fun and rewarding experience, so long as you have planned well enough in advance.Since you've already given presentations, perhaps you don't need this, but I did post a few personal presentation tips a while back:http://forum.writersofhistory.com/index.php?topic=156.0
Actually, PowerPoint is in addition to a standard Battle Analysis.I basically understand the Battle Analysis Methodology to use as research.The final paper comprised of:Intro: Who-When-Where, Brief Results and then BLUFBody: Minimal background, key events to show BLUF, Transitions and OutcomeConclusion: Sum the whole thing upMy stickler is how to incorporate the PowerPoint into the whole mix effectively. I have an idea, but want to weigh that idea with others who have done it.
Looking for some good resources to put together a well laid out, comprehensive and effective battle analysis PowerPoint presentation to be used in conjunction with a standard military-style battle analysis.This is for my American Civil War class... I will NOT be writing about Gettysburg 😉
I give in-class powerpoint presentations on an almost daily basis, and I normally give a few paper-based powerpoint presentations during the course of a semester. I find that giving these presentations can be a fun and rewarding experience, so long as you have planned well enough in advance.Since you've already given presentations, perhaps you don't need this, but I did post a few personal presentation tips a while back:http://forum.writersofhistory.com/index.php?topic=156.0
I had not read that, and while I have an understanding of PPT, it's alwasys good to get back the basics and remind oneself that PPT is a tool to enhance a presentation, and not BE the presentation.
I dont mean to sound too negative about PPT, perhaps I have been working as a staff puke too long. I have had to generate way too many PPT shows that are long on content and short on information over the past several years.I have never had to do a PPT Presentation for class although my has had to do a couple. The only advice I could give would be what I said above about outlining. To me there is an art ot giving a good presentation and that is in delivery. Too many people try to let slides speak for themselves and what they should really do is highlight main points while the briefer fleshes them out. There is also a tendency to make slides too busy which I think is distracting. Slides should be simple yet compelling at the same time.
I have never had to do a PPT Presentation for class although my has had to do a couple. The only advice I could give would be what I said above about outlining. To me there is an art ot giving a good presentation and that is in delivery. Too many people try to let slides speak for themselves and what they should really do is highlight main points while the briefer fleshes them out. There is also a tendency to make slides to busy which I think is distracting. Slides should be simple yet compelling at the same time.
Almost every single class I have been in recently ultimately wants a PPT presentation to go along with either a speech or class project.This class i no different. I have a 12 page research paper (on General Order No. 11), two in-class essays on Civil War topics TBD, midterm, and then this battle analysis project with PowerPoint.I agree about overkill on the PPT presentations. In fact, I recall in my speech class about going over the do's and don'ts of PowerPoint presentations (death by bullets, screaming colors, animations, etc).
In the end I think that the single best way to approach a presentation is to remember one that someone else gave which you really liked, and to copy that style. As a corollary to this, remember a a bad presentation or two that you've been to and avoid what you disliked about them. 🙂
I see that Donnie pulled the Writers of History forum down, so now my presentation tips post is not accessible. I’ll have to come up with some more ideas and post it on the front of WCF.
In any case, here are a few tips for the heck of it (this will vary based on the type of presentation):
– Don’t read a paper word-for-word during a presentation
– Don’t put too much text into slides
– Do make eye contact with the audience on a regular basis
– Do use a bit of scholarly humor to the presentation – as in dry humor regarding the content – to lighten up academic topics
