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The PowerPoint Ezine - 47
by Geetesh Bajaj, August
25th, 2004
Get this ezine in your mailbox...
Improvements
It has been almost a month since you received the last ezine issue
- and there's been so much happening here behind the scenes. Most
of that involved making this ezine less formal.
What makes me so confident about the fact that you will love the
new format and contents even more?
Simple - all changes are based on user feedback! I've heard so
much from all of you - and wish to thank you all personally for
taking out the time to write to me. Change and improvement are
ongoing processes - so please continue to send me the feedback.
Thank you once again - this is for YOU.
Giveaways for Everyone
First, let me announce that Tommy Powell of Neuxpower is giving
away two copies of NXPowerLite,
their PowerPoint file-size squeezing product - and Betsy Weber
of TechSmith has assured two more copies of their award winning SnagIt screen
capture tool that integrates so well with PowerPoint. In addition,
I'm giving away two copies of my Texture
Triumph collection of PowerPoint templates. Before you know,
you might receive a mail asking you to claim a prize - do get back
soon since I don't accept claims that take more than 24 hours to
get back to me!
Last month's winner for the Digital
Dots collection of PowerPoint templates is Andris Avots -
congratulations!
Special Offer for PowerPoint Live and PowerPlugs
If you want to meet me in person, I'm going to be there at PowerPoint
Live at the Help Center. If you would like to get a $75
discount for the event, use promo code IND75 - the event
will be held from October 10 to 13 in San Diego, CA.
Speaking of promo codes, Nicole Ha of CrystalGraphics has allowed
me to share this amazing offer with you all: Get a copy of the PowerPlugs suite
of seven PowerPoint add-ins as part of the SuperSaver
Combo 7. The product is priced at US$399 which itself is a
special offer valid until August 31st. You can get a further $200
off to order the product for only $199!!!! To avail this special
price, just enter the word "SUPER7" in the marketing
code box (on the first CrystalGraphics shopping cart page). Then
click on the <Proceed to checkout> button to see your savings.
You Can Bank On Your Voice
A good way to begin this issue is to tell you the name of the
book I'm reading now. It's Rodney Saulsberry's "You
Can Bank On Your Voice". Rodney, who is one of the best
voice-over artists in the United States, shares his top secrets
about how almost anyone can benefit from improving their voice.
Read what Rodney says about the book and about using voice-overs
in PowerPoint presentations in this Indezine
exclusive interview....
Rodney sent me an autographed copy of his book - if you want your
own autographed copy, be sure to order
it from his web site...
Articulate Presenter
Rodney agrees that Online
Rich Media (ORM) is definitely the next big thing for the
voice-over and the presentations industry. That brings me to
Articulate, a product that heralds the second generation of ORM
tools.
Articulate Presenter is an ORM tool that uses PowerPoint content
as its source. After converting all nuances of a typical PowerPoint
presentation to a faithful Flash output, it packages the rich media
in a highly customized interface that is normally equipped with
narration. You'll
find my full review of Articulate here....
If you don't want to read the whole review, here's my final verdict:
All put together, Articulate is the perfect balanced solution you'll
find that provides a ROI on both the price and performance fronts.
It is the next generation of PowerPoint sourced online rich media.
Watch out for an exclusive interview with Adam Schwartz, President
of Articulate - and if you have any questions for him, send
it to me in the next two days...
Backdrop Designer
Another product that I have been working with is Digital
Anarchy's Backdrop Designer. Regina Cachuela from Digital
Anarchy sent me a copy even before the product was actually released
and I'm already addicted.
Backdrop Designer is not a standalone program - it is a Photoshop
plug-in that plugs into Photoshop and many other image editors.
What makes Backdrop Designer very interesting for PowerPoint users
is the fact that it provides you with an almost unexhaustible source
of attractive backgrounds to use in your PowerPoint presentations.
Here are some free
PowerPoint template designs I created using Backdrop Designer
I must mention that Backdrop Designer is a cross-platform product
that works on both Windows and the Mac.
The Vitaliy Kuznetsov Interview
One more product that is cross-platform is actually PowerPoint.
Many users are not aware that PowerPoint originated as a Mac product
- in fact there was no Windows version until version 3.
I was provided the opportunity to interview the PowerPoint:mac
Program Manager Vitaliy Kuznetsov. Be
sure to read this interview where Vitaliy discusses everything
about using PowerPoint in a cross-platform scenario. In fact, Vitaliy
even provides you with some guidelines to ensure that you don't
run into problems.
I would like to thank April Dalke and Jessica Sommer of Microsoft
for facilitating this interview.
Until Next Time
This brings me to the end of this ezine issue.
More PowerPoint related info on the PowerPoint
Blog and PowerPoint
Notes. And free
PowerPoint templates for all of you....
Until next time - have a nice day. And
keep the feedback coming...
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Credits
During the preparation of this issue of the PowerPoint Ezine,
I received assistance, content or feedback from Adam Schwartz,
April Dalke, Betsy Weber, Jessica Sommer, Kathy Jacobs, Nicole
Ha, Regina Cachuela, Rick Altman, Rodney Saulsberry,Tommy Powell
and Vitaliy Kuznetsov (all in alphabetical order). I would like
to use this platform to thank them for their help.
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