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...
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.
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. More
info...
AlienSkin has announced Xenofex 2 - a set of Photoshop
compatible filters that work with many image editing applications. More info...
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:
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.
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.
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".
When prompted to have the sound on the slide play automatically,
choose "Yes".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
Winning Presentations Seminar
April 8 and 9, 2003
May 20 and 21, 2003
Boston, USA
Claudyne Wilder, Wilder Presentations http://www.wilderpresentations.com/
During the preparation of this issue of
the PowerPoint Ezine, I received assistance and feedback from
Mickey Stevens, Rick Altman, Shyam Pillai, Tim Root and Vince
Scafaria (all in alphabetical order). I would like to use this
platform to thank them for their help.
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.
DealMaven,
a New York based entity creates solutions that help analysts gather,
analyze, check and present data more efficiently. 
