PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

PowerFinish Vol 5

Tuesday, June 26, 2007, posted by Geetesh Bajaj at 9:14 am

PowerPoint template designs are aplenty—and many vendors create textured and patterned designs that can be used in most presentation scenarios. However, trends change, and new designs are created all the time to create more contemporary looks.

One of the newest such PowerPoint template collections is Volume 5 of the well-known PowerFinish collection.

Read the Indezine review of PowerFinish Templates Volume 5.

Filed Under: Templates
Tagged as: PowerPoint, Templates

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Book Excerpts: How To Do Everything with PowerPoint 2007

Saturday, June 23, 2007, posted by Geetesh Bajaj at 9:38 am

This book extract from How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 is an Indezine exclusive with permission from McGraw-Hill/Osborne.

The book, authored by Ellen Finkelstein is the ideal resource for anyone who wants to create rich presentations with PowerPoint. You’ll find out how to use all the features of the software and get coverage of key topics, such as creating a well-written outline, the fine points of graphic design, and tips for delivering the presentation in front of an audience.

Read an exclusive book excerpt from How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 for Windows

Filed Under: Books
Tagged as: Books, PowerPoint 2007

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PowerPoint Turns 20

Thursday, June 21, 2007, posted by Geetesh Bajaj at 5:02 am

Here are some thoughts from a wide section of the media on PowerPoint’s 20th birthday.

One of the most elegant, most influential and most groaned-about pieces of software in the history of computers is 20 years old. There won’t be a lot of birthday celebrations for PowerPoint; the program is one the world loves to mock almost as much as it loves to use.

Perhaps the most scathing criticism comes from the Yale graphics guru Edward Tufte, who says the software “elevates format over content, betraying an attitude of commercialism that turns everything into a sales pitch.” He even suggested PowerPoint played a role in the Columbia shuttle disaster, as some vital technical news was buried in an otherwise upbeat slide… No quarrel from Mr. Gaskins: All the things Tufte says are absolutely true. People often make very bad use of PowerPoint.

– Lee Gomes discusses more on WSJ.com.

Here are some more links that talk about PowerPoint turning 20.

I did some digging in the PC World magazine library. Here is one of the first ads for PowerPoint that showed up in PC World’s November 1990 issue when the program first became available for Windows 3.0. The ad is a cool three-page foldout ad that includes an M.C. Escher print to hammer Microsoft’s point: With Windows the future takes shape. With our Windows’ applications, it soars.

– Tom Spring on the PC World site

It turns out that this Microsoft ad makes no mention of PowerPoint. But it’s always good to see an M.C. Escher creation!

Back in the late eighties, we laughed at our science teachers when they burned themselves on an overhead projector or fumbled with their clear, handwritten sheets so they weren’t projecting their notes upside and backwards. What a relief when PowerPoint came to our rescue… well not exactly.

– Ken Fisher on the Influx Insights site

Not everyone is complaining about PowerPoint:

At a time when researchers and business gurus alike are condemning PowerPoint and writing its obituary, presenter and author Robert Lane is demonstrating to audiences that PowerPoint could, instead, be approaching its Golden Age to the benefit of presenters and audiences alike.

– Read more on the I-Newswire site.

Filed Under: Thoughts
Tagged as: Memorabilia, PowerPoint, Robert Gaskins

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Mike Pearce: Using PowerPoint in School

Wednesday, June 20, 2007, posted by Geetesh Bajaj at 6:09 am

Mike Pearce teaches social studies at Ellison High School in the Killeen Independent School District in Texas, USA. But Mike is not just another teacher. He uses PowerPoint presentations to deliver a successful teaching system that has shown a phenomenal improvement in the results and passing rates.

Mike Pearce from Ellison High School in Texas discusses his PowerPoint based system.

Filed Under: Case Studies
Tagged as: Case Studies, Education, PowerPoint

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Google Buys PowerPoint Rival

Wednesday, June 20, 2007, posted by Geetesh Bajaj at 4:34 am

Google has acquired online slide presentation company Zenter, filling out its web-based office software portfolio with an application similar to Microsoft’s popular PowerPoint. Financial terms were not disclosed. While the Internet search giant has already made Microsoft’s PowerPoint files viewable in Gmail, Google has not yet launched its own web version of PowerPoint.