PowerPoint and Presentation News - Issue 020

Introduction

We first take a look at PPT Live through an interview with Rick Altman followed by some info on PowerPoint video tutorials by Tim Root. Some quick news to read - and then we discuss DealMaven's PresLink product. We talk about the PresentationPro music library before Mickey Stevens teaches us to insert sound across slides in PowerPoint on the Mac. We finally look at Shyam Pillai's excellent PowerPoint site before we finish with a listing of upcoming events.

Rick's Interview, PowerPoint Live

You might have heard about PPT Live, an event for PowerPoint users being held at Tucson, AZ, USA from October 12th to 15th, 2003. It's the first time ever that an event of this type is being held anywhere and I had to interview Rick Altman, who is the person responsible for PPT Live.

PowerPoint Live will feature over 40 seminars covering all topics and skill levels and unparalleled hands-on technical support.

Rick's interview is in a casual, conversationalist style where he shares his thoughts about PPT Live. He also provides insight about his experiences and ideas. Read the interview here.

MightyCoach PowerPoint Video Tutorials

Timothy Root has created an entire set of video tutorials on using PowerPoint 2002 at his MightyCoach.com website. End users can view the videos online through a subscription service that costs US$25 for three months access.

According to Tim, 'as you listen to the videos, you may notice that they are given in a kind of "conversational" tone ... they are a little informal, but I think easier to listen to than a read script.'

The entire PowerPoint video tutorial series have won acclaim from end-users. You can view a few free samples at the MightyCoach site.

Mighty Coach PowerPoint Tutorials

Quick News

Sony Pictures Digital acquired the Acid, Sound Forge and Vegas range of audio and video editing products from Sonic Foundry in return for US$18 million in cash and assumption of some liabilities. More info.

TechSmith has upgraded its Camtasia screen recording software to version 1.1 - new features include enhanced Flash playback controls, precision video editing, improved audio editing and new tools to build Flash movies, convert movie file and customize CD menus.

AlienSkin has announced Xenofex 2 - a set of Photoshop compatible filters that work with many image editing applications. More info.

Focus on PresLink

DealMaven, a New York based entity creates solutions that help analysts gather, analyze, check and present data more efficiently.

Their PresLink product is an add-in that works within PowerPoint (and Excel as well) to provide a rapid workflow in the creation and formatting of presentations that retain the look and feel of your corporate identity. PresLink also allows easy and seamless import of data from Excel that can be updated automatically.

Watch out for a full review on this site soon. More info at the PresLink site:

DealMaven PresLink

PresentationPro Music Library

PresentationPro now provides an extensive music library through a collection of sound effects and musical scores. All sounds are available in the MP3 file format.

More info here.

Sound Across Slides in PowerPoint on the Mac

In the last two ezine issues, we learnt how to play sound across slides in PowerPoint 97, 2000, 2002 and 2003 for Windows - this time Mickey Stevens shows us how to do that in PowerPoint on the Macintosh.

1. Navigate to the slide where you want the sound to begin playing, which is usually the first slide of the presentation. Go to Insert | Movies and Sounds | Sound from File, locate the sound file you want to have play, and click Insert.
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2. When prompted to have the sound on the slide play automatically, choose Yes.
3. Control-click the sound icon, and choose Custom Animation from the contextual menu. The Options tab of the Custom Animations window should then open, with the inserted sound pre-selected as the object to animate.
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4. Check Play using Animation Order, and choose Continue slide show for While Playing. For Stop Playing, enter After 999 slides. Check the box to Hide when not playing if you do not want the sound icon to appear when you show the presentation. You can toggle the option to Loop until stopped if you wish for the sound to repeat if the sound is finished yet the presentation is not.
5. You can now adjust timing options for the sound. In the Custom Animations window, click the Order and Timing tab. If you wish for the sound to play right when you open the slide, choose the Media entry under Animation Order that matches the one selected in the left pane, and press the Up arrow next to the list until the selected entry is on top. This ensures that the sound animates before any other objects do.
6. Under Start Animation, choose "Automatically, 0 seconds after previous event". This ensures that the sound begins playing as soon as you open the slide, or as soon as the previous object has finished animating if the Media object is not first in the Animation Order list.
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Shyam's Site

If you use any type of VBA and/or macro programming within PowerPoint, you owe it to yourself to pay a visit to PowerPoint MVP Shyam Pillai's site. Shyam has created several excellent add-ins for PowerPoint and shares so much info about the whole process on his site.

While there, you can download several free add-ins and demos of his commercial add-ins. Visit Shyam's site.

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.