PowerPoint and Presenting Blog: November 2006
Thoughts and impressions of whatever is happening in the world of PowerPoint.
See Also:
PowerPoint and Presenting Notes
PowerPoint and Presenting Glossary
CounterPoint takes the omnipresent symbol of today's retail driven world -- the counter display and merges it with a PowerPoint presentation so that you can create more interactive counter displays that entertain and inform while you wait for your turn.
And in this Indezine exclusive, we have Kurt Dupont who heads PresentationPoint -- creators of CounterPoint, DataPoint, and other amazing PowerPoint add-ins.
Geetesh: Tell us more about CounterPoint.
Kurt: Well, CounterPoint is our latest addition to our product range of dynamic presentations. We all know that number display (Now serving 34) in a shop or take-away restaurant.
Boring and simple as it can only display a number from 1 to 99 and has no additional features. No additional information can be displayed and it is only used in peak times.
CounterPoint now offers that same functionality by using Microsoft PowerPoint. The big advantage here is that you can format your counter as you which and add general-purpose or advertising slides to the slide show.
You can now run a normal PowerPoint slide show with company and product information, promotions etc, all combined with your counter. As soon as an employee presses the button of a mouse -- this could also be a PowerPoint presenter remote control -- a counter slide is shown, the running counter is incremented and a sound is played. After an idle time that you can configure, the counter slide is made invisible and the normal slide show continues. You can even use multiple service desks by sharing the common number.
Geetesh: Give us some case studies about organizations using CounterPoint.
Kurt: A trendy Belgian take-away restaurant was looking for a counter display system with more functionality. The normal counter display they already had (costs EUR 400) was simply replaced by a normal PC with a 20" TFT monitor. This was even an old computer that was not used anymore. CounterPoint was installed and the owner started playing with the slide show. She created a presentation of some 20 slides with meals and promotional information. At the end a CounterPoint slide was added. Just as easy as that. Now the system is running continuously and serves as a counter display system in peak times.
The advantage that she saw was that they can better control the waiting queue in the restaurant and animate the customers with promotional information, which also leads to more sales.
At the end the customers are entertained and informed, the waiting queue is managed correctly (first in, first out), promotions are displayed and finally the employees are better organized and more effective. And all of this with CounterPoint and a spare computer.
Categories: add-in, powerpoint, interviews, presentationpoint
Ppted released a new PowerPoint template set -- this one is called Looking Leaves. This set brings the world of pills, pharma, and prescriptions to the canvas of a PowerPoint template. Here are some previews.
None of the templates at Ppted.com are free -- these are all designer templates. I just wanted to say that because lots of readers write in to say that their Indezine passwords don't let them download all the Ppted templates for free!
Categories: templates, powerpoint
Bad presentations have long provided a rich source of frustration and tedium for many, especially those in education and the corporate world, and lamentably, such poor standards seem to be the norm.
Microsoft PowerPoint, only one of many digital slide programs available on the market today, belongs to a family of modern influential mediums used to aid impartation of perspectives and boosting hard sells, termed persuasive technologies.
More on The Brunei Times site...
Categories: training, powerpoint
Users who need more hands-on help with Excel and Outlook can get in-depth training at Office Online. Also available are 30- to 60-minute "Get up to Speed" training courses that familiarize users with the Office 2007 suite of applications and the ribbon interface.
IT managers concerned about the new file formats introduced in Office 2007 can point users to the file-format section of Office Online, which includes videos explaining the new file formats, how to use the compatibility modes and how documents can be shared among different versions of Microsoft Office.
More on the eWeek site...
Categories: microsoft_office, powerpoint_2007
In the classroom, new technology is finding more important roles when it comes to educating students. More professors are creating their lectures as PowerPoint presentations, which allows them to combine visual aids with their lecture, and are using computers in other ways to run their classes.
Read more on the Purdue Exponent site...
Categories: education, powerpoint
Ppted released a new PowerPoint template set -- this one is called Pharmacy. This set brings the world of pills, pharma, and prescriptions to the canvas of a PowerPoint template. Here are some previews.
None of the templates at Ppted.com are free -- these are all designer templates. I just wanted to say that because lots of readers write in to say that their Indezine passwords don't let them download all the Ppted templates for free!
Categories: templates, powerpoint
Ppted released a new PowerPoint template set -- this one is called Microbiology. This set draws inspiration from the objects that can be seen in the laboratory, or by magnifying simple biological material. Here are some previews.
None of the templates at Ppted.com are free -- these are all designer templates. I just wanted to say that because lots of readers write in to say that their Indezine passwords don't let them download all the Ppted templates for free!
Categories: templates, powerpoint
Impatica Inc. has announced that Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) is the first wireless carrier to offer the Impatica ShowMate as a must-have accessory for its BlackBerry customers. The Impatica ShowMate is a tool that can help extend the workplace for customers, as it is the first and only device of its kind to project PowerPoint presentations from a BlackBerry. Impatica ShowMate is available online at www.sprint.com.
"The Impatica ShowMate creates a compelling reason to carry a BlackBerry," said Ujval Alva, Sprint National Product Manager, Accessories Division for Sprint Nextel. "ShowMate lets our customers do more with their BlackBerry handsets. By choosing to offer this unique product, we hope to send a message that we provide our clients a suite of value-added mobile productivity tools."
More on the Impatica site...
Categories: impatica, powerpoint, blackberry
Impatica Inc. announced it has entered into a channel partnership with Simply Wireless, a national provider of wireless technology for consumers and businesses. Under the terms of the agreement, Simply Wireless will offer its clients Impatica's ShowMate based solution for PowerPoint viewing and projecting on BlackBerry handhelds. With the pocket-sized Impatica ShowMate, the BlackBerry can connect to any projector or display to present compelling PowerPoint presentations that include rich text, images, charts, graphs, animations and slide transition effects.
"We are delighted to welcome Simply Wireless to our global family of channel partners." said Michael Doyle, Chairman and CEO of Impatica Inc. "Simply Wireless has a very strong presence in the mobile communications market, through a combination of direct sales force, retail outlets and online stores."
Read more on the Impatica site...
Categories: impatica, powerpoint, blackberry
Tuval Software, creators of Speech-Over Studio for PowerPoint have announced Notes-Over , a new PowerPoint add-in that creates and manages formatted speaker notes coordinated with the slide contents. Not only can notes now be related to individual slides, but you can also link them to individual slide elements like shapes. In addition, you can dictate your notes and Notes-Over converts that to text.
Notes-Over also includes a full featured Notes editor. A trial version can be downloaded from their site...
Related Links: The Joel Harband Interview
Categories: add-in, powerpoint
I always like to think of PowerPoint as a glue that holds disparate media together -- these media elements include sound, movies, pictures, clip art, and animation clips. Judiciously used, these elements can make your presentation look good -- but they can also dramatically increase file sizes. Optimization software is the solution -- and there are many such programs available. The newest of them all is PPTshare File Compressor -- this allows you to optimize presentations using different compression levels.
Read the full review...
Categories: add-in, powerpoint
Ppted released a new PowerPoint template set -- this one is called Leonardo da Vinci 02. Based on the sketches of the renowned artist, this series attempts to bring his art to a PowerPoint template series. Here are some previews.
None of the templates at Ppted.com are free -- these are all designer templates. I just wanted to say that because lots of readers write in to say that their Indezine passwords don't let them download all the Ppted templates for free!
Categories: templates, powerpoint
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