PowerPoint Blog
Labels: interviews, powerpointlive
Rick Altman is a presentation consultant based out of Pleasanton, CA. Rick is well known as the host of the annual PowerPoint Live User Conference and has a strong sense of the needs of the presentation community. In this conversation, Rick discussed the recently-completed conference that was held in Atlanta, October 2009 and the big news he made for 2010.
Geetesh: Seven conferences in four cities -- how has the journey been, and tell us more about the just concluded PowerPoint Live conference in Atlanta.
Rick: The journey has been almost magical. I have been organizing user conferences similar to this one for 20 years, and I have never met a community of professionals so willing to meet, interact, and connect in such meaningful ways.
The 2009 conference was comprised of over 2/3 first-timers, but by the middle of Day Two, you would think you were attending a 20-year reunion. It was as if they had known each other for years. I'm proud to be the one who has created this opportunity, but I take credit for none of the magic that we saw in Atlanta. The patrons get all of the props for creating an extraordinary atmosphere and environment in which to learn, share, and bond.
Geetesh: The next year's conference moves back to San Diego with a new name -- what does this change of name mean for the attendees?
Rick: Our debut of the Presentation Summit in 2010 does not signal our intention to change our content; it reflects a metamorphosis that has already taken place. I think back to our first year in 2003 -- we were just all about PowerPoint. But since then, our offerings have been much more broad, and becoming moreso each year. Now our seminars focus on crafting strong messages, telling impactful stories that resonate with emotion, designing presentation content that focuses on the audience's needs, and designing slides that invite the audience in and help the presenter engage. We still have a track on software technique, and of course, there is the Help Center, which is the ultimate haven for PowerPoint junkies.
We recognize that 99% of our patrons use PowerPoint and that is likely to be the case for years to come. But that is not all they use and that is not all they need to know. Our rebranding is an acknowledgment of the growth that we have experienced over the past six years, not an indication that we are about to move in some radical direction. We're not -- it's not broken, and we don't need to overhaul it.
Geetesh: Any photos available from this year.
Rick: Hundreds. I think the best ones are part of our memories video that we played the morning of the final day: www.pptlive.com/video.htm.
Categories: interviews, powerpointlive
Labels: interviews, powerpoint, powerpointlive
Rick Altman of PowerPoint Live has launched the PowerPoint Live Template Contest for this year's event to be held from October 11 to 14 at Atlanta. Winners of the template contest will get a free trip to the fall event!For those of you who want to see how the winning entries look like, head to this exclusive page we created last year that shows you all the winners over the years.
Also exclusive is this small conversation with Rick.
Geetesh: So the PowerPoint Live template contest enters its fifth year -- I know you cannot say what you are looking for in a winner, but you could say what you are not looking for?
Rick: I can say both. We are looking for an intelligent and elegant design that will remain as attractive on Day 3 as it was on Day 1. We are not looking for something that shows off a person's knowledge of PowerPoint features. That is the job of our presenters.
Geetesh: Tell us more about what the winner gets.
Rick: Free pass to the conference and round-trip airfare from any city in the United States that Delta Airlines flies to.
Now, how do you take part in this contest? Head here to learn more.
And who judges the entries? The entries are judged by a panel of conference regulars, including "yours truly":
Ric Bretschneider, is Senior Program Manager for PowerPoint at Microsoft and he celebrates many years as a Microsoft veteran, having joined the company in 1993 to work on PowerPoint for Windows and the Macintosh. Over the years, he's contributed to the design and direction of the application, and been awarded three PowerPoint related patents.
Nancy Duarte has been a Principal of Duarte Design since1990. Her firm is in the heart of the Silicon Valley and the client list is loaded with Fortune 500 companies. Her passion for business communications that are clear, meaningful and attractive has opened doors for her in a business world full of cluttered and complex visual communications.
Julie Terberg develops custom presentation solutions -- unique for every client and purpose as owner and principle designer at Terberg Design. She co-authored a book on crafting medical presentations. Julie also conducts training sessions for those who want to expand their skills, and is a Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) for PowerPoint.
Geetesh Bajaj has been a Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) for PowerPoint since 9 years now, and is currently authoring his fifth book on the program. Based in India, Geetesh also runs the popular Indezine.com web site.
Categories: interviews, powerpoint, powerpointlive
Labels: interviews, powerpointlive 
Rick Altman (pictured to the right) is a presentation consultant based out of Pleasanton, CA. Rick is well known as the host of the annual PowerPoint Live User Conference and has a strong sense of the needs of the presentation community. In this conversation, Rick discusses the PowerPoint Live in San Diego that was held in September 2008.
Geetesh: Looking back at the just concluded PowerPoint Live held in San Diego, tell us about the highs and lows, wows and anything else.
Rick: The biggest wow for me was the demographic of the patrons -- so much enthusiasm and spirit this year! Most of them were first-timers, but sent from companies that had sent people in previous years. So they were fresh and yet predisposed to having a good experience. As the host and organizer, you gotta like that!
The highest high and the lowest low were actually the same event: the Wednesday keynote address with Garr Reynolds was amazing, as we established a video connection with him from his home in Osaka Japan, at 1:00a in his morning. It was an incredible experience for everyone. And it was, without any doubt, the most stressful hour of my conference career, as we careened out of control, totally at the mercy of the technology and a fragile hotel Internet connection.
The non-academic high water mark had to have been the concert at the beach Tuesday evening, where we took over a Mexican restaurant on the boardwalk for a big margarita party and visit from a Journey tribute band who really played and sounded like the real thing. People were buzzing about that all day on Wednesday.
Geetesh: What gets PowerPoint Live to San Diego every alternate year?
Rick: I just love the city. I grew up vacationing down there (I'm from Northern California, about 500 miles north) so it's in my blood. It offers a perfect September-October climate (when other parts of the country are beginning to get cold and even snowy), it's easy to get to, affordable, with lots of attractions.
Also, the hotel we choose fits us like a glove and has many services and amenities nearby. At some point, the patrons might get bored of going there every other year and will tell us so, but so far, nobody has.
Geetesh: Why did you choose Atlanta for the next PowerPoint Live in 2009?
Rick: We are alternating between east and west each year, but we have not yet gone all the way to the East Coast. We know of many people who will appreciate direct flights or simple drives to Atlanta, as well as people whose companies simply don't have the budget to travel for conferences.
And the Buckhead community of Atlanta is a fantastic place to visit, with lots of dining, shopping, and entertainment. The hotel we chose was purchased by Marriott six months ago and is almost finished with a $65M renovation, so it will essentially be a brand new hotel for us.
Categories: interviews, powerpointlive
Labels: powerpointlive
Day 1 of PowerPoint Live started in the afternoon of Sunday, the 21st of September with the registration. This picture shows the registration desk just before it opened.
And if you noticed the blue T-shirts, you'll want to see them close to see the Indezine logo -- see this picture:
The first day had two sessions -- one each by Rick Altman and Rikk Flohr.
Categories: powerpointlive
Labels: powerpointlive
It's great to be in San Diego a day before PowerPoint Live begins. It's 4:30 pm, and I still have an hour and half before I need to get down to the hotel bar and join the informal opening. So when I fall into the bed due to jet lag, I assume I can take a 15 minute rest. Turns up it is past 6 when I wake up, and my eyes are so red that I am scared to look at myself in the mirror.
It's a miracle that the eyes are back to being white in 10 minutes -- and I go to the bar. Lots of voices and familiar faces -- and I smile back at everyone. A few hugs and some conversations later, I still don't know what is happening -- but I am smiling. And then there's a call from home -- I pick up the phone, and get away from the bar. And the next thing I know is that I am asleep in the room. Again.
Categories: powerpointlive
Labels: amtrak, powerpointlive
I took the Amtrak again to San Diego -- Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner goes all the way through most of Southern California to San Diego. Along the way, you get to see spectacular scenery including a seaside ride for some part of the way between San Juan Capistrano and Oceanside.
I started from Simi Valley -- after a few stops, the train chugged into Los Angeles station for a half an hour halt. I found these birds on an empty rail track (see below).
Got to San Diego at 10 minutes past 3 in the afternoon, and was in the hotel by 4 pm. Met Sheila and Denise in the lobby, checked in, and then the jet lag hit me!
Categories: powerpointlive
More about my missing bag! Looks like Thai Airways sent this bag to Taipei rather than Los Angeles -- fortunately, they sent the other bag to Los Angeles so I had half my stuff when I landed at LAX airport. Labels: bangkok, flight, powerpointlive, thai_airways
Thai Airways does not do the missing baggage handling on their own -- they outsource it to another company -- and this other company outsources the actual delivery of the delayed bag to another transport company -- so that's a whole lot of baggage numbers, file reference numbers, and tracking codes to keep track of.
Finally, Thai Airways confirmed that the delayed bag had made its way from Taipei to Bangkok, and to Los Angeles. Sixteen phone calls later, I received my bag a little more than 24 hours after I landed in LAX -- delivered to my sister-in-law's place just after midnight! If I had not made those sixteen calls, I may have received the bag a day later -- and that would have been after I took the Amtrak train from Simi Valley to San Diego.
Here's a picture of the Rush tag on the bag:
Categories: powerpointlive
Labels: bangkok, flight, powerpointlive
This year, I took my annual flight to PowerPoint Live in San Diego on a different route -- choosing Bangkok rather than Singapore as the transit point. That decision provided me with a bunch of expereinces -- let me start with Bangkok, the city and the airport.
Bangkok is always different -- the first thing that assails a vegetarian is the smell of meat -- that's everywhere in the city and pervades the air. The first time I was in Bangkok, it took me 2 days to just get used the smell in the air! The city itself moves at break-neck speed -- something is happening all the time. Whether you are on the street or in a mall, there are nuances that will leave an impression in your mind all the time.
Since I was in Bangkok only for a few hours, I did not do any sightseeing. My hotel was in in Sukhumivit area -- close to all the malls, street shopping, restaurants, and the train stations.
The Suvaranabhumi international airport reflects the nature of the city itself -- it's nowhere as efficient as Kuala Lumpur or Singapore -- surprisingly, the new airport at Hyderabad from where I flew from seemed much more efficient than Suvarnabhumi. However, Suvarnabhumi has surprises every few steps. The architecture is different, and you can see Thailand's Indian influences everywhere -- in art, religion, and culture.
Get into the departures area, and the first thing that catches your attention is the giant statue of Vishnu standing over a tortoise -- a serpent (Vasuki) is on either side of the tortoise -- and the gods and the demons pull it from those sides. That explains why this sculpture is called "Churning of the Ocean".
Here are some pictures -- click on them to see a larger view:
For an airport that showcases Indian art, it is surprising to find that there's almost no vegetarian food available at the airport -- Indian food or any other vegetarian food. The flight on Thai Airways from Bangkok to Los Angeles was good -- but when I landed in Los Angeles, I discovered they lost my bag! More about that soon.
Categories: powerpointlive
Labels: powerpoint, powerpointlive
As yet another PowerPoint Live conference makes itself visible on the horizon, I think it's a good idea to look ahead at what's going to be visible on the slides at the conference this year -- especially the new template design that will be provided to all speakers. Read the whole story here along with a conversation with Rick Altman, the host of the PowerPoint Live conference.
Meanwhile, take a look at these winning entries (and finalists) from the last few years:
PowerPoint Live 2008 Template -- Uploaded on authorSTREAM by Indezine
Other Finalists for 2008 - Uploaded on authorSTREAM by Indezine
PowerPoint Live 2007 Template -- Uploaded on authorSTREAM by Indezine
PowerPoint Live 2006 Template -- Uploaded on authorSTREAM by Indezine
PowerPoint Live 2005 Template -- Uploaded on authorSTREAM by Indezine
Categories: powerpoint, powerpointlive
Labels: powerpoint, powerpointlive
Ric Bretschneider's newest podcast is now live on the Presentationsroundtable site.
In this podcast, Ric does a candid conversation with three PowerPoint MVPs who have been regulars at five successful yearly PowerPoint Live gatherings -- indeed some of the PowerPoint MVPs were responsible for the idea behind the PowerPoint Live conference -- this podcast recalls those origins, and reflects on why the event gets rave reviews from attendees.
The participants in this podcast are (as shown in picture above, clockwise from the larger photo) Ric Bretschneider, Steve Rindsberg, Echo Swinford, and Glen Millar.
Make sure you put up a comment on the podcast page!
Categories: powerpoint, powerpointlive
Labels: movies, powerpointlive, youtube
This muvee was created with pictures clicked during PowerPoint Live in New Orleans -- Halloween coincided with the last day of the user conference. I imported some of these pictures in muvee and used their Halloween Horrors superStyle to create this video.
Categories: movies, powerpointlive, youtube
Labels: powerpoint, powerpointlive Rick Altman (pictured to the right) is a presentation consultant based out of Pleasanton, CA. Rick is well known as the host of the annual PowerPoint Live User Conference and has a strong sense of the needs of the presentation community. In this conversation, Rick discusses the PowerPoint Live in New Orleans that was held in October 2007.
Geetesh: Five PowerPoint Lives in as many years -- give us some retrospective thoughts.
Rick: I can speak on behalf of the entire team that we had a simply terrific time in New Orleans, and judging by the feedback that most patrons shared with us, so did they. The keynote addresses were perhaps the strongest we have had in our five-year history. Breakout seminars represented high-water marks, as well.
The Birds of a Feather discussion groups were well received, as was the Expo, which saw almost 20 vendors set up for an entire day. Even the fluff stuff, like the PPTLive Trivia Contest and the Killer Slides competition, were popular.
I was especially gratified to see how well the patrons mixed. Sometimes, conferences that have several years of history can spawn cliques of attendees, and that is their right. We can't legislate how they choose to interact. So it was particularly pleasing to see how well they met, mingled, bonded, and became friends.
And Bourbon Street was just downright insane...
Geetesh: You announced that the next PowerPoint Live will be held in San Diego in 2008 -- tell us more, and do you want to share some secrets?
Rick: September 21-24, and the secret stuff is so deeply classified and sensitive, that even I don't know what it is yet...
Categories: powerpointlive, powerpoint
Labels: photos, powerpointlive
This page shows some pictures of the just concluded PowerPoint Live event at New Orleans.
Look here...
Categories: photos, powerpointlive
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