PowerPoint and Presentation News - Issue 019

Introduction

We begin this issue of the ezine with a focus on RnR's PPTools Starter Set. Macromedia Breeze is mentioned next followed by a listing of Quick News. We then look at Autodesk's new Express Viewer and Kathy Jacob's PowerPoint Answers site. A tutorial on using sound across slides in PowerPoint 97 and 2000 is followed by some PowerPoint links that might be interesting to visit.

PPTools Starter Set

Two years ago, I reviewed the PPTools Starter Kit - an assortment of free add-ins for PowerPoint from PowerPoint MVPs Steve Rindsberg and Brian Reilly.

Now, the add-ins have evolved - it's called the PPTools Starter Set and it's still free. The review had to be updated to reflect the changes and I have been delaying it for a long time. I just finished the page - and doing the review was great fun because Steve and Brian have made small changes everywhere that add new options and possibilities that will go a long way in improving your PowerPoint workflow.

Read the review here.

Focus on Macromedia Breeze

A few issues ago, this ezine mentioned Macromedia's acquisition of Presedia. The product is now called Macromedia Breeze - you'll find more info on the Breeze homepage at Macromedia's site:

Macromedia Breeze

There should be a full review about the product on Indezine very soon - meanwhile let's discuss what the product does. Breeze in it's basic form converts PowerPoint presentations to the Flash SWF format. Thereafter, it provides an integrated creation, delivery and sharing system for rich media presentations.

Quick News

Visible Light has announced an update to its OnStage DVD for PowerPoint SE product - the new version is 1.0.6. More info (link no longer exists).

Hemera is offering Photo-Objects Volume II for US$69.95 - that's US$30 off the regular price. The offer is for a limited period. More info (link no longer exists).

You'll also find a tutorial on using Photo Album on this site. Read here.

Latitude has acquired Wanadu, creators of the iCreate range of products that convert PowerPoint presentations to Flash SWF. More info (link no longer exists).

Autodesk's new Express Viewer with PowerPoint

First, Autodesk provided the free WHIP! Viewer to view AutoCAD content - and PowerPoint users discovered a whole new way to interactively view inserted AutoCAD content in a presentation:

PowerPoint and WHIP!

Autodesk followed this by the VoloView Express Viewer - which entailed a download of 25 mb! Again, thanks to an ActiveX control included with the Viewer, PowerPoint users could view AutoCAD content interactively within a presentation:

PowerPoint and VoloView

Now, Autodesk has come up with another Viewer - and they seemed to have got it right now. The new Express Viewer weighs around 2 mb and includes an ActiveX control that can be used to insert AutoCAD content into PowerPoint. However, the Express Viewer only accepts DWF files - not the industry standard DXF ones. You can download the Express Viewer from Autodesk's site:

Autodesk Express Viewer

You'll find instructions to view AutoCAD content in PowerPoint through the new Express Viewer at Ellen Finkelstein's site. Ellen has authored many books on PowerPoint, AutoCAD and Flash.

Visit Ellen's Site

PowerPoint Answers from Kathy Jacobs

PowerPoint Answers is the name of a website created and maintained by Kathy Jacobs, a Microsoft PowerPoint MVP and one of the most active respondents on the PowerPoint newsgroup.

The site itself is very deep with lots of content on PowerPoint. You can learn how to use animated text, create templates, merging presentations, colour scheming and presentation disasters.

Visit Kathy's site (link no longer exists).

Sometime ago, Kathy wrote an article for Indezine.com on overcoming the creativity block. Read it here.

Sound Across Slides in PowerPoint 97 and 2000

In the last ezine issue, we learnt how to play sound across slides in PowerPoint 2002 and 2003 - this time let's take a look at doing this in PowerPoint 97 and 2000. In the next issue, Mickey Stevens will show you how to do that in PowerPoint on the Macintosh.

1. In PowerPoint 2000 (version 97 works similar), navigate to the first slide of the presentation and choose Insert | Movies and Sounds | Sound From File and navigate to the sound file you want to use. Of course, you can also choose from the Sound from Gallery, Play CD Audio Track or Record Sound options from the same menu.
2. 
2. Once you have inserted your sound, PowerPoint 2000 may ask you if you want your sound to play automatically. Choose Yes.
3. You'll find a sound icon within your slide. Right click the icon and choose Custom Animation from the resultant popup menu. Within the Custom Animation dialog box, choose the Multimedia Settings tab, and select the Continue slide show radio button . Also, type in a high number within the Stop playing after number box. 999 is the highest number you can type (see screenshot).



4. In all versions of PowerPoint, you might see a sound icon on the slide where you inserted the sound. If you don't like the icon on the slide, just drag it to anywhere off the slide. Your sound shall still play fine.

PowerPoint Resources

Here are some PowerPoint resources (rather bookmarks) you might want to take a look at:

Microsoft has a listing of some basic PowerPoint 2002 tips contributed by users.

The Edu-Tech Center (link no longer exists) has info for people migrating from Corel Presentations to PowerPoint.

You'll find many ideas at the Presentation Program Tips site.

The Chicago Tribune has an article on PowerPoint's cultural effect on society.

Events & Seminars

Winning Presentations Seminar
April 8 and 9, 2003
May 20 and 21, 2003
Boston, USA
Claudyne Wilder, Wilder Presentations

InfoComm 03
May 31 to June 6, 2003
Orlando, Florida, USA
ICIA, Inc.
InfoComm

PowerPoint Live
October 12 to 15, 2003
Tucson, Arizona, USA
Rick Altman, R Altman Digital Consulting
PPT Live

Credits

During the preparation of this issue of the PowerPoint Ezine, I received assistance and feedback from Ellen Finkelstein, Kathy Jacobs, Mickey Stevens and Steve Rindsberg (all in alphabetical order). I would like to use this platform to thank them for their help.