Above, Gen. David H. Petraeus uses a PowerPoint on stage at the 92nd Street Y last week. So it was with interest that we read today’s report in The New York Times on PowerPoints as the bane of military commanders everywhere:

Like an insurgency, PowerPoint has crept into the daily lives of military commanders and reached the level of near obsession. The amount of time expended on PowerPoint, the Microsoft presentation program of computer-generated charts, graphs and bullet points, has made it a running joke in the Pentagon and in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Brig. Gen. H. R. McMaster, for one, is not fan. The Times reported McMaster: “banned PowerPoint presentations when he led the successful effort to secure the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar in 2005...”

The paper of record also spoke to Gen. David H. Petraeus, who confided that although sitting through PowerPoints was “just agony,” he appreciates the ability to of PowerPoints to display trends and maps. “He has,” wrote The Times, “also conducted more than a few PowerPoint presentations himself.”

Indeed he has. As a matter of fact, during his lecture at 92Y, the General even had a few quips about needing to know how to use it. He gave special mention to the laser pointer as one perk of having to give a PowerPoint presentation!

Browse all upcoming Lectures & Conversations at 92Y, and remember that Eliot Spitzer, former Governor of the State of New York will be here on May 2. Read more on the 92Y Blog, and if you have any questions for Mr. Spitzer, let us know and we will do our best to get it to him during the Q&A.

» Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Join our eNews