PowerPoint Blog
Today's free template is Azure Wall - download here...
Today's free template is Blue Rock - download here...
Today's free template is Twister - download here...
Today's free template is Cathedral - download here...
Today's free template is Leafage 03 - download here...
Sometime ago, I did a review on SmartDraw 2007 -- this review is on SmartDraw 2007's Healthcare edition. This is a separate version of the same product that's aimed at healthcare professionals like doctors, pharmacists, hospital staff, laboratories, etc.
The product is a treasure for medical professionals since it includes an impressive amount of templates and clip art that are healthcare oriented -- it also allows users to create research papers, plans, diagnoses,etc. easily. You can download a trial version here...
You can read the full review here...
Categories: smartdraw, powerpoint, add-in, medicine
Agent Bleu (pictured to the left) is the pseudo name of a former designer of audio electronic products, such as the Intimidation series of DJ mixers, who then converted to scripting in 2001. He had his first online success with Doc-Film-Net, a popular resource for controversial documentaries, from which Filmator.net evolved.
In this conversation, Agent Bleu discusses Filmator.net and PowerPoint.
Geetesh: How did Filmator.net come about.
Agent Bleu: I designed Filmator.net for artists and documentary makers but with business in-mind. I wanted to create a system whereby businesses could sponsor artists, while at the same time profiting.
Every business has a message they need to convey, and until now that process has been static by way of written text and pictures, or through the traditional presentation which takes endless preparation and requires a captive audience.
Filmator.net seeks to profit by:
A Filmation is an online presentation compiled using images, video, and narration.
Filmators upload their pictures, videos, Flash films, and sounds -- then simply organize the images to play in sequence according to trigger points they set in the sound file.
This is a service that is totally free for non commercial usage and sponsored by business. The concept is simple, businesses want a system where they can create high quality online presentations but they don't want to invest in expensive software. With Filmator.net they can post their presentations online for free -- then every time someone watches their presentation their account is charged between 5 cents and 25 cents, depending on the usage (those with more popular content would pay less).
Geetesh: How do you make a Filmation from a PowerPoint presentation.
Agent Bleu: To make a Filmation from a PowerPoint presentation, you first save your PowerPont slides as single JPEG images (choose File | Save As, and choose JPEG as the file type). Then upload these along with your audio narration.
Thereafter, you set trigger points in the sound file when you want your images to appear (change).
These Filmations can then be embedded into your own websites or hosted free on Filmator.net.
Categories: interviews, powerpoint, powerpoint_flash
Today's free template is Leafage 02 - download here...
None of the templates at Ppted.com are free -- these are all designer templates. I just wanted to say that because lots of readers write in to say that their Indezine passwords don't let them download all the Ppted templates for free!
Ppted released a new PowerPoint template set -- this one is called Chemistry. This set contains a set of background designs that show chemistry equipment. Here are some previews.
Today's free template is Blooms 15 - download here...
Gabe Anderson (pictured to the left) takes care of support and community initiatives at Articulate, a provider of rich media products used for e-learning.
In this conversation, Gabe discusses Articulate's products, and compatibility issues with PowerPoint 2007.
Geetesh: Tell us more about yourself and Articulate.
Gabe: With thousands of customers in more than 75 countries, Articulate is the recognized world leader in elearning software tools. As Director of Customer Support and Community -- see link here... , my job is to keep our customers happy long after the sale by providing the best technical support and online resources possible.
We believe strongly in the power of viral marketing, so our success is built upon not just outstanding products, but a stellar experience with every customer interaction. I've been publishing on the Web and supporting software for more than a decade, and Articulate customers are by far the most passionate users I've encountered.
Our award-winning flagship product, Articulate Presenter 5, converts PowerPoint to Flash and allows authors to create compelling e-learning courses (SCORM 1.2 and 2004 certified, and AICC compliant) by incorporating audio, video, quizzes, live Web sites, and more.
Our other award-winning products include:
I can't wait for our customers to see Articulate Online, which is currently being beta tested and receiving much praise, as well as our other unannounced products. The market will be blown away, and these products will further secure our position as the #1 elearning tools vendor in the world.
Geetesh: Tell us more about Articulate Presenter compatibility with PowerPoint 2007
Gabe: We expect to support PowerPoint 2007 no later than the end of Q1 2007, following the January 2007 general public release date of Office 2007. You can learn more here:
Articulate Presenter & Office 2007
Categories: articulate, powerpoint, elearning, powerpoint_flash, interviews
PowerPoint transitions can be so cool -- it's essentially a moving, animated effect that metamorphoses one slide to another over a period of time. PowerPoint itself has plenty of inbuilt transitions -- and volume 7 of PowerPlugs Transitions from CrystalGraphics, which I am reviewing now adds an impressive library of new transition styles.
Read the full review...
Categories: crystalgraphics, powerpoint, add-in
There are plenty of illustration programs out there, but Xara's new Xtreme Pro is different. For starters, it is blazing fast, easy to use, and does much more than illustration. It also doesn't cost too much, and we'll explore some possibilities with the product in this review.
Xara Xtreme Pro lets you work with illustrations, photos, animations and page layout -- all within the same interface using a familiar set of manipulation tools.
Read the full review...
Categories: xara, graphics
Today's free template is Textured 21 - download here...
Harbinger Knowledge Products today announced the release 6.5 of Elicitus, its award-winning rapid authoring tool for e-learning. This new release offers several new benefits such as improved productivity, enhanced interactivity and additional flexibility for course developers and learners......Elicitus 6.5 productivity features include export of course data to XML files and bulk import of glossary in addition to questions and PowerPoint presentations.
More on the Training Press Releases site...
Categories: elearning, powerpoint
Microsoft posted an updater for Mac Office, version 11.3.2 on Tuesday. The update provides improvements for PowerPoint and Entourage only. Edelman PR which represents Microsoft provided some clarifications.
More on the Mac Observer site...
Categories: office_mac, powerpoint
Today's free template is Blooms 14 - download here...
Today's free template is Blooms 13 - download here...
This question comes up often now:
Can I really continue using Office 2003, or some other older version of Microsoft Office on Windows or Mac, and still work with the new Office 2007 file formats?
Yes indeed -- you can, if you are using the following versions of Microsoft Office for Windows:
If you are using any of the above versions, just download the Compatibility Pack that lets you open and save the new Office 2007 XML based formats for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Download the Compatibility Pack here...
And what about users of Microsoft Office versions for the Mac?
Those users will have to wait a little longer, but Microsoft has confirmed that there's going to be a Compatibility Pack for them too -- read this older blog post to learn more...
Categories: microsoft_office, powerpoint_2007
Yet, when the academic presenter walked to the front of the room he immediately turned down the lights and said the following words; "My PowerPoint presentation begins with some statistical information ..."
Okay, statistics are important, particularly the big numbers that paint a big picture. But as more and more charts, graphs and numbers were introduced in slide after slide, board members became bored. After 25 minutes and dozens of slides, the PowerPoint presentation finally ended.
More on the Star-Ledger site...
Categories: case_studies, powerpoint
Today's free template is Blooms 12 - download here...
Today's free template is Blooms 11 - download here...
My new book Special Edition: Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 is released! I just received a copy yesterday, and it feels so good. You can buy it now at the Que site, or pre-order it from Amazon.com
Watch out for more coverage on the book, including an excerpt.
Categories: books, powerpoint_2007
Getting the right kind of music for the presentation in terms of duration, quality, availability and copyright is very important -- Opuzz, the music service that we are reviewing on this page can help you attain this objective.
Read the review here...
Categories: sounds, powerpoint
Neuxpower released version 2.5 of NXPowerLite, their PowerPoint optimization program earlier this week. Highlights include better compatibility with Office 2007, and a simplified registration process for corporate users.
A full list of changes can be found on the NXPowerLite site...
Categories: add-in, powerpoint
Now, let us assume you want the slide number to start from 31 instead of 1 -- why would you want to do that? There are several reasons, but most of the time, you might want to break up your presentation into 2 or more smaller presentations, and you then want the slide numbers to start from a number other than 1. Tip: You can also renumber your slides from "0", this means your second slide will be numbered "1".
Someone asked me this question today:
When you put in the auto number thing so that you can see what slide number you are on, can you start that at any number?
Yes, you can! Let me start by showing how you can put in the slide number first. These instructions are for PowerPoint 2003, but should work in previous versions, although things work a little differently in PowerPoint 2007.
Figure 1: Opt to show slide numbers
Here's how you can do that:
Figure 2: Renumber your slides from a number other than 1.
Categories: tutorials, powerpoint
What mediums do you use to teach? Have you any experience working with PowerPoint? What do you expect of this workshop? Probing questions for a 20-strong group of us, who would most probably rather be spending our Saturday afternoon just chilling out after a grinding week commuting between schools and firms in and around Munich.
Instead we have assembled at the city's Volkshochschule, or adult education centre, to learn more about multi-media teaching presentations, which, if we're honest, our students probably know more about than we do.
Read more on the Telegraph site...
Categories: case_studies, powerpoint
Today's free template is Spotlight 06 - download here...
Someone asked me this question today:
I am researching software to convert PowerPoint presentations to Flash. What do you recommend? I briefly tried Articulate, Camtasia, and PPT2Flash. Only Camtasia converted everything in the original PPT slides. But the file was very large. The other programs left out font characters and had problems with animation. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
It all depends on your requirements. I haven't worked with PPT2Flash, but you have to choose from one of two approaches:
We do this sort of work all the time in-house in our studio, and every presentation is different. I wish I could say that there is a way with which you can attain one-click nirvana as far as your PowerPoint to Flash conversion needs are concerned. But that's not the case today.
Articulate does a great job, but as you have discovered they don't replicate the PowerPoint model entirely. I normally suggest that you do a quick conversion with Articulate Presenter, and then tweak the areas that don't get converted too well. This normally involves changing some animation styles, and some more fine-tuning. Using Articulate Presenter again after this housekeeping will get you better results.
With Camtasia, try to reduce your computer resolution to 1024 x 768 pixels (or even 800 x 600 pixels) and then do the capture -- since Camtasia has to work with a smaller area, this results in better captures, and files with smaller output sizes. Camtasia 4 does a much better job with the sound capture than earlier versions -- this is important if you have narration within your PowerPoint presentation.
Categories: powerpoint_flash, powerpoint, articulate, camtasia
Digital Vector Maps provides several hundred maps on their site -- most maps are available in Adobe Illustrator and PDF format -- so you'll need to resave them in a PowerPoint compatible format if you want to use them in your next presentation.
Shelly from Digital Vector Maps informed me that all of their blank outline state maps for the US are available at no charge -- for example, here's a link to the page for the California state map...
Other maps need to be purchased, and most maps range from $3.95 to $279.
The royalty-free maps are fully editable in Adobe Illustrator 8 or higher, with all major map features residing on intuitively labeled layers to make possible separate editing of such map elements as lines, colors, symbols and text. Such objects as geographic place names, country borders and reference text are provided as separate editable objects.
Categories: clip_media, powerpoint
Coloring a black and white image is no easy task, although it is possible to do this manually within almost all the image editing applications such as Adobe Photoshop. Coloriage is a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop from AKVIS which makes this task much easier.
Read the review here...
Categories: photoshop, plug-in
Microsoft accidentally posted a pre-release update for Office 2004 for the Mac Wednesday, but quickly yanked the security and stability patch once it noticed the mistake.
According to the update description still on the Microsoft Web site, the unspecified fixes were to "vulnerabilities in Office 2004 that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code," as well as a stability patch for PowerPoint and several improvements to Entourage, the suite's e-mail client.
More on the InformationWeek site...
Categories: office_mac, powerpoint
ClearStory, a provider of Digital Asset Management (DAM) solutions, has shipped ActiveMedia PowerDeck, a management solution designed to manage the brand consistency of Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. By providing access to a centralised library of approved presentation content, PowerDeck gives individual users or cross-departmental teams the ability to share ideas, eliminate redundancy and ensure messaging accuracy.
More on the SDA India site...
Categories: powerpoint
Today's free template is Blooms 10 - download here...
First, check out this tutorial on using media playlists in PowerPoint 2003 -- you can also use the same trick in PowerPoint 2007.
Glenna Shaw, Microsoft MVP says how cool this is for looping presentations. Follow these remaining directions for looping music. Just treat the "movie" like a sound!
Thank you, Glenna!
Categories: sounds, powerpoint, movies
This book extract from Step Up To The Mic is an Indezine exclusive with permission from Rodney Saulsberry / Tomdor Publishing.
In a series of no-brainer inspirational chapters, Rodney explains the voice-over sphere in a simple, uncomplicated manner that will be useful to both beginners and professionals.
Read the excerpts here...
Categories: books, sounds
Microsoft's Mac Business Unit released Tuesday the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.1 Update. The company said that the update includes security and stability enhancements, but stressed that it includes, "fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code."
More on the Mac Observer site...
Categories: office_mac, powerpoint
Today's free template is Ornamental 01 - download here...
...sending greetings as a PowerPoint slide attached to an e-mail would be cheaper and reach more clients. This year NMG will e-mail 400 clients -- about twice as many as before -- at virtually no cost.
Are old fashion greeting cards being replaced by PowerPoint cards? Read more on the CentreDaily site...
Categories: case_studies, powerpoint
None of the templates at Ppted.com are free -- these are all designer templates. I just wanted to say that because lots of readers write in to say that their Indezine passwords don't let them download all the Ppted templates for free!
Ppted released a new PowerPoint template set -- this one is called Indus Valley Civilization. This set contains a set of striking backgrounds showcases sculpture and seals from the area and the era of the famous Indus Valley civilization. Here are some previews.
Today's free template is Leafage 01 - download here...
Ellen Finkelstein, author of the upcoming How To Do Everything with PowerPoint 2007 has been working around the limitation of automatic timed sounds not playing when a hyperlinked slide is accessed for the second time.
Look at this page to learn more about her workaround...
Categories: tutorials, powerpoint
None of the templates at Ppted.com are free -- these are all designer templates. I just wanted to say that because lots of readers write in to say that their Indezine passwords don't let them download all the Ppted templates for free!
Ppted released a new PowerPoint template set -- this one is called Stop Smoking. This set contains a set of soft and muted chart backgrounds that you can use for financial and statistical data slides. Here are some previews.
Today's free template is Cold Circuit - download here...
An excerpt from my book Cutting Edge PowerPoint For Dummies is now available on Microsoft.com -- check it here...
Categories: books, powerpoint
The world of interactive slide shows, now a feature of many business seminars, could soon be allowed in Federal Parliament.
A report tabled in the House of Representatives today suggested Parliament should consider allowing politicians to use computer software such as Microsoft's PowerPoint program to illustrate their speeches.
More on the Fairfax Digital site...
Categories: case_studies, powerpoint
None of the templates at Ppted.com are free -- these are all designer templates. I just wanted to say that because lots of readers write in to say that their Indezine passwords don't let them download all the Ppted templates for free!
Ppted released a new PowerPoint template set -- this one is called Charting. This set contains a set of soft and muted chart backgrounds that you can use for financial and statistical data slides. Here are some previews.
Today's free template is Textured 20 - download here...
Patrick Schmid is a Microsoft OneNote MVP who works with several other Microsoft Office programs including PowerPoint. He can be frequently found in the public newsgroups for Microsoft Office products. At other times, he fine tunes and works on his RibbonCustomizer product, about which he explains more in this conversation.
Geetesh: Tell me more about yourself and RibbonCustomizer. How did this product evolve.
Patrick: I am a Ph.D. student in computer science. Through pure luck, I made it into the Office 2007 Technical Beta, which begun in November 2005. Customizing the ribbon became a much discussed topic almost right away with beta testers complaining that it wasn't possible and Microsoft pointing to this new XML-based language called RibbonX. Eventually, I decided to give RibbonX a chance. The first add-in I wrote simply loaded RibbonX into an Office program. I made it available to all beta testers, but it was barely used. The main reason was that people just didn't want to deal with RibbonX. Why? In Office 2003, we have a user interface that allows us to customize everything we want, whereas in 2007, we need to learn the XML-based language RibbonX. I would bet that most of your readers probably don't want to know about RibbonX, because all they probably care about is being able to customize the Ribbon.
For the second beta release (Beta 1 Technical Refresh), I decided to write a new add-in that featured some user interface in addition to the ability to load RibbonX. That taught me RibbonX pretty well, but it also presented a major struggle with it. If you just read the Microsoft documentation, you get the impression that you can do more than the product actually allows you to do. I discovered those things as I was writing the second add-in, and the code ended up being a mess. With the release of Beta 2, I started over a third time. The result of that is RibbonCustomizer today. Microsoft finished making changes to RibbonX with the last beta release in September 2006, Beta 2 Technical Refresh. In October, I became a OneNote MVP and with that access to better development tools. I took advantage of that and incorporated everything that was only possible into the first release version of RibbonCustomizer.
RibbonCustomizer is far from done. One feature, namely the ability to add individual commands to the Ribbon, is probably the most requested one and I will be starting the design work for it soon. Beyond that, I still have a very long list of things that I would like to realize in RibbonCustomizer.
Geetesh: What do you think about Office 2007's new ribbon based interface?
Patrick: I love it. I have been working exclusively with Office 2007 since November 2005, and I would not want to go back to menus and toolbars. With the Ribbon UI, I get things done faster and better. Also, I have been using features that I never even thought of using in earlier versions. The major downside of the Ribbon UI though is its focus on beginner and intermediate users. Power users simply feel left out. That's where RibbonCustomizer comes in. If I don't like something on the Ribbon, I change it.
Categories: microsoft_office, powerpoint_2007, add-in
A vote to make Microsoft Office document formats an international standard was approved on Thursday, according to a Microsoft representative.
At the general assembly of Ecma International in Zurich, Switzerland, Microsoft's Office Open XML--a set of specifications detailing the document formats in Microsoft's office--was certified as a standard.
More on the ZDNet Asia site...
Categories: microsoft_office, odf
Microsoft's Mac Business Unit announced Tuesday that their timetable has them releasing file converters to read Office 2007 file formats in older Mac versions of Office sometime this Spring, probably late March/early April.
While this is a little later than most users would like, given that Office will be on store shelves the end of January, the announcement was in response to some alarmist articles suggesting that Mac Office users were being screwed, when these file converters had been promised months ago.
More on the WebProNews site...
Categories: office_mac, powerpoint_2007
None of the templates at Ppted.com are free -- these are all designer templates. I just wanted to say that because lots of readers write in to say that their Indezine passwords don't let them download all the Ppted templates for free!
Ppted released a new PowerPoint template set -- this one is called Globes 01. This set contains a set of globes that you can use for almost any presentation. Here are some previews.
Today's free template is Netherworld - download here...
It's true that the biggest new feature in Office 2007 is the interface and thus usability improvements. The new ribbon tabs change dynamically depending upon what task you are doing -- yet unlike the old toolbars of pre-Office 2007 applications, there's no way you can create a new ribbon tab in PowerPoint 2007?
That's not entirely true though sine you can actually create and edit the ribbon tabs in PowerPoint and other Office 2007 applications using a third-party add-in called RibbonCustomizer.
Read the full review...
Categories: microsoft_office, powerpoint_2007, add-in
Wildform has announced a holiday sale of WildPresenter and all their other products including Wild FX, Custom FX, Power Players and the Video Library. For any product you can get an extra 25% discount for the next ten days.
Your promo code is: HOLIDAYCUS25
Categories: wildpresenter, powerpoint
Today's free template is Cumulus Dust - download here...
Joel Harband heads Tuval Software Industries, based in Israel. Notes-Over, their new PowerPoint add-in creates and manages formatted speaker notes coordinated with the slide contents. Not only can notes now be related to individual slides, but you can also link them to individual slide elements like shapes. In this conversation, Joel explains more.
Geetesh: Tell us more about Notes-Over.
Joel: Notes-Over is based on the thesis that good speaker notes are the key to a good presentation. Unfortunately, we all work under deadlines and there isn't much time to write good speaker notes. Notes-Over answers the need for specialized productivity software for speaker notes.
Notes-Over is a PowerPoint add-in that creates and manages formatted speaker notes that can be linked with slide elements. The note "sticks" to the slide element, so that when you rearrange or add bullet text items on the slide, the notes are automatically reordered. Notes attached to slide graphics or unattached notes are reordered by up/down arrow controls. A full-featured notes editor lets you dictate notes and cut and paste them between elements. The notes appear on the PowerPoint notes pane and can be distributed as handouts and saved with the presentation.
Geetesh: How did Notes-Over evolve, and how does it integrate with your other products.
Joel: I'm glad you asked that question. The original idea for Notes-Over came from Scott Burmester of Microsoft. When we told him about our Speech-Over product, he right away said: "Oh, it reads the PowerPoint notes aloud". The product didn't exactly work like that at the time, but the idea was so great and simple that now all three products in the Speech-Over Studio suite are based on speaker notes text.
The three products, Notes-Over, Record-Over and Speech-Over, are organized like a fugue: Notes-Over is standalone, Record-Over includes Notes-Over, and Speech-Over includes Record-Over and Notes-Over.
Altogether, the products broaden the verbal/textual capability of PowerPoint and, at the same time, integrate the verbal with the visual. They support the entire life-cycle of a presentation: Notes-Over supports preparation and delivery and Record-Over and Speech-Over support stand-alone slide shows and post-presentation "leave-behinds" for colleagues that didn't attend.
Categories: add-in, powerpoint, interviews
Today's free template is Spirofur - download here...
Sharing pictures is a great way to show visual content like digicam pictures -- these pictures can be sent as e-mail attachments, photo albums, slide shows, etc. Or you could use Flash Slide Show Maker, a free software that creates Flash based photo slide shows with ease.
Read more here...
Categories: digicam, tutorials
Today's free template is Planet 05 - download here...
PowerPoint MVP Kathy Jacobs has a new blog where she talks about PowerPoint, books, life, and anything else. Right now, she is telling you about:
Her blog is called Vitamin CH -- and CH stands for chocolate!
Read Kathy's blog now...
Categories: powerpoint
None of the templates at Ppted.com are free -- these are all designer templates. I just wanted to say that because lots of readers write in to say that their Indezine passwords don't let them download all the Ppted templates for free!
Ppted released a new PowerPoint template set -- this one is called Ayurveda. This set brings the world of this ancient Indian curing system to the canvas of a PowerPoint template. Here are some previews.
Julie Larson-Green had presented her work to Bill Gates earlier in her career, and like just about everyone in her shoes, had to manage some butterflies beforehand. But in January 2005, the stakes were higher. The 39-year-old program manager was out to persuade the company's chairman to radically overhaul one of the most profitable products in the history of mankind: Microsoft Office. The drop-down menus and toolbars that Gates had personally helped craft in the '80s had to go, she would tell him, to be replaced by an onscreen "ribbon" loaded with options that would dynamically change according to what you were poised to do next.
More on the Newsweek site...
Categories: microsoft_office, powerpoint_2007
Today's free template is Planet 04 - download here...
Paul Stannard is CEO of SmartDraw.com, creators of the popular SmartDraw program. It's been a while since I interviewed Paul on Indezine.com. This small conversation focuses on SmartDraw's newest release called SmartDraw 2007.
Geetesh: Tell us more about SmartDraw 2007 -- I also noticed that the tabs do look like you are making this version of SmartDraw a seamless integration with Office 2007?
Paul: SmartDraw is the world's most popular business graphics software and makes it easy for anyone to create professional-quality graphics, such as flowcharts, org charts, floor plans and more, in minutes -- no experience or training required. Each day more than 6000 people install SmartDraw for the first time and more than 10 million users have downloaded SmartDraw.
Our market is made up of millions of computer users who want to create attractive and effective business graphics, but lack the time and expertise to learn complicated graphics software designed for technical people. The key to SmartDraw's success is its unique SmartTemplate(tm) technology that makes creating business graphics as easy as typing a letter with a word processor. SmartDraw has developed hundreds of SmartTemplates for every conceivable type of business graphic. Each SmartTemplate loads a specific SmartPanel(tm) command set and the associated SmartHelp(tm) step-by-step instructions. By using a SmartTemplate, a user becomes an instant expert on how to make a complex diagram and with SmartDraw's gallery of professionally designed styles, an instant graphic designer as well.
We have always supported Office and that goes for Office 2007 too. Many of our graphics end up in PowerPoint presentations and Word documents, and we have always performed as a standard Office-like application. We've incorporated one-click transfer to all Office applications from our toolbar so it simply made sense to support a similar interface so users can learn one standard.
Both Office 2007 and SmartDraw 2007 use the new ribbon interface for the same reason: Too many of our users were unable to find the commands and features they were looking for because they were buried in menus and dialogs. Microsoft has indicated than 80% of the features requested for Word were already in Word. The new ribbon interface solves this problem by making commands more accessible, and, like Microsoft, our testing has confirmed that users find it easier to use.
Geetesh: How do you typically use SmartDraw in your everyday work -- at office and at home?
Paul: I use it for just about everything. Once you get your hands on a tool like SmartDraw you wonder how you lived without it.
I use it extensively in business planning and communicating those plans to co-workers. I make flow charts, organization charts, Gantt charts and calendars to explain processes, organizational changes and project schedules. We used it to plan our move to our current offices. We space-planned using SmartDraw and added layers for networking and furniture to the floor plan.
I also use it for personal projects like my Christmas letter and gift certificate I designed for my kids. My wife uses it to layout photo pages for an album.
I am always finding new uses for it and even if I don't know the rules for a particular type of graphic, the SmartTemplate makes me an expert in a few minutes.
Categories: smartdraw, powerpoint, interviews
Applying a packaged design can greatly streamline the design process, but it comes at a price. Although it does address a key issue, it may not be the answer for presenters who want to truly stand out from the pack. In this chapter, Tom Bunzel examines the PowerPoint Design Templates and looks more deeply into proven design principles and how to apply them to our own work.
More on the Informit site...
Categories: education, powerpoint
Today's free template is Planet 03 - download here...
By far, the only way to make text stand out in PowerPoint is by using color and animation. And even animation is not uncomplicated -- presentation designers often have to tweak PowerPoint's animation timings and the timeline to create out of the ordinary animation effects. PowerPlugs Animator from CrystalGraphics tries to provide a solution -- it includes a library of animation styles that enhance PowerPoint's built in effects -- these can also be imparted to text with a few clicks.
Read the full review here...
Categories: animation, powerpoint, add-in, crystalgraphics
Labels: interviews, powerpoint, sounds 
Vivian MacPartland (no -- that's not her picture, she calls it her avatar) is part of Business Development at Opuzz, a source for royalty free music. Opuzz customers includes corporations and businesses, educators, producers, TV and radio networks, developers for web, games and multimedia, retailers and business owners and others. In this conversation, Vivian discusses Opuzz, their music, and the use of music tracks in PowerPoint presentations.
Geetesh: Tell us more about Opuzz and how it evolved.
Vivian: Let me start by telling you how Opuzz is different -- one main feature of the Opuzz Royalty Free Music Library is our consistency in providing multiple edit versions options and music loops which gives our clients flexibility where needed. That way, they can mix and match, insert transitional stinger intros and outros, as well as clearly define segments of their presentation with appropriate music. Every track in our stock music library is available in edit versions of 10, 15, 30, 60 seconds, full mix, alternate mixes, stingers and multiple loop versions.
Application wise, you can use say a Blues 30 second track as your introduction piece followed by a stinger for the transition to the body of your presentation. Then, use a Loop A version of the same track for section A, Loop B for section B and Loop C version for section C of your presentation. At every transition point, you can use our stinger version to indicate a change in the section. End with a 15 second track of the same track. Voila! That truly will make your presentation sound custom and cohesive.
We also offer music in a wide range of musical genre from commonly use electronic music for presentations to dramatic orchestral themes, pop music, rock, classical, world and more. Music loops are commonly use for web or PowerPoint for their small file size and seamless 'loopabilty'. Music loops allow presenters to take their time and not rush through their slide yet having music accompanying them. Our music loops are quality loops that are not too short so they don't sound monotonous. They approximately 8-30 seconds long.
Our royalty free music is readily available in WAV & MP3 file formats at affordable prices starting from $2.99 and can go as low as a couple of cents for bulk purchases. We offer high-quality royalty free music as immediate downloads, CDs or DVDs. We have recently released our Opuzz Hard Drive option for power users. It is pack with our complete library and all edit versions of over 100 CDs. With over 13,000 track on a cool stylish yet rugged 80GB LaCie mobile drive (design by F.A. Porsche), this ultra-lightweight portable hard drive weighs only 180g and fits snugly on your palm. It also comes with both USB and Firewire connectivity and is plug-and-play for Windows XP/2000 and MAC OS X. Treat it like your personal/corporate library for legal royalty free music. We will have an option in future to update hard drives with latest releases. This will be announced at a future date.
Geetesh: How can sound enrich a PowerPoint presentation -- and what guidelines should one follow when using music within a presentation.
Vivian: PowerPoint presentations are critical components of many successful businesses. Appropriate music or 'soundtracks' can enrich these presentations, thus not only bring life to your presentation but also capture your audience's attention. Presenters everywhere are discovering that affordable, royalty free PowerPoint presentation music is the perfect choice to fulfill their business needs. Music in general is a creative tool so don't be over cautious or be over-governing by imposing too many rules. However some guidelines in presentations are recommended.
If your presentation is of a more serious tone, be sure to use the appropriate music or mix. For instance, if you like a music track we have in our library but find it a little too 'busy', do look out for our 'Alternate-Mixes'. These edits are of the same flavor but usually have less instrumentation and therefore sound more subdued or 'less busy'.
Music can also be used to effectively segment your presentation. You may want to break your 'story' into several segments since audiences tend to better follow your message if it is presented in 'digestable' portions. Use 'Stingers' to help in segmentizing your presentations. "Stingers" are edits from the full track and just a few seconds long -- they can be effectively used as intros, during scene changes, or endings ("outros").
Music is meant to complement your presentations, and add life to it -- but don't let it overpower your message. When fitted well together, music will surely enhance your presentation -- it also tells your audience that you have put in extra effort when preparing your presentation. One last but very important guideline is to remember to have fun when adding music to your presentations. Remember to visit the Opuzz site for royalty free music for your PowerPoint presentations.
Categories: sounds, powerpoint, interviews
Common menus and toolbars have been replaced by the "ribbon," a strip of commands at the top of the screen that make sense only in the context of what you are doing. In Excel, for example, you'll see commands for editing a chart only if a chart appears in your spreadsheet.
The revamp is worthwhile for anyone who got lost navigating to commands buried inside previous versions. And it's nice to be able to preview editing changes before committing to them.
Edward Baig explains more on the USA Today site...
Categories: microsoft_office, powerpoint_2007
Today's free template is Wiresphere - download here...
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