PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Learn PowerPoint 2010 for Windows: Insert Flash as a Movie

In a previous tutorial, I showed you how you could insert a Flash movie (a SWF file) into your PowerPoint slide. In addition, PowerPoint 2010 provides another way to insert Flash movies — this is much more intuitive and simpler, but the resulting Flash movies will play only within PowerPoint 2010 — older versions including PowerPoint 2007 will not support playback of movies inserted using this process.

Learn how you can insert Flash as a movie/video clip in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2010
Tagged as: PowerPoint 2010, Tutorials

Presentation Summit, Looking Back and Beyond: Conversation with Rick Altman

Rick Altman, a presentation consultant based out of Pleasanton, CA, USA is well known as the host of the annual Presentation Summit and has a strong sense of the needs of the presentation community.

In this conversation, Rick discusses the just concluded Presentation Summit held in San Diego, and the next conference in this series to be held in Austin in September 2011.

Geetesh: Tell us more about the just concluded Presentation Summit.

Rick: In many ways, the Summit was a high-water mark for the conference. It was the first year of its new branding (having spent seven seasons as PowerPoint Live), and while we did not intentionally design our content any different, the event felt “broader” than in previous years. People have always sought more from us than just PowerPoint training, but this year the environment was even more dynamic.

Geetesh: Why do you think that was?

Rick: One reason for sure was our sharply-increased international participation. We had well over twice the number of patrons from countries outside of the United States than we usually attract, with every continent represented except for Antarctica. I don’t think that was a coincidence – if you are about to fly halfway around the world, are you going to do so for “PowerPoint training” or for “presentation skills development”? This might be largely a question of perception, but that perception came into sharp focus this year.

Geetesh: With so many sessions and interactions during the conference, what are the emerging trends that you see within the presentations industry?

Rick: Less is more. Everywhere you turned, you heard presenters espousing the need to hone and distill core messages. We saw Julie Terberg excising unnecessary text in her makeover sessions, I issued the “three-word challenge” during Monday’s general session, and in Tuesday’s keynote, Garr Reynolds extolled the virtues of “being naked.” In these myriad forms, the message became clear: don’t dump fully-composed thoughts on your slides. That’s Death by PowerPoint.

Geetesh: While the expression is well-known, is it just PowerPoint these days?

Rick: Obviously not, and that is certainly another emerging trend. We saw a sharp influx of Mac users this year and people who exhibited at least a passing interest in Keynote. One way or the other, you can expect our coverage of alternative software solutions to increase.

Geetesh: The next Presentation Summit is going to be held in Austin – why did you chose Austin?

Rick: That city has been on my personal radar for over a decade. It is a vibrant, dynamic, progressive city right in the heart of the country. It has wonderful restaurants, more live music than anywhere else in the USA, and great fall weather. So it is no wonder that the entire room let out a collective cheer when we made the announcement.

Geetesh: What can patrons look forward to?

Rick: They can look forward to our continuing to address their current needs while anticipating their future ones. They can expect the absolute highest caliber of talent amassed for those four days. And they can help with the ongoing evolution of one of the greatest communities I have ever been a part of – those who craft and deliver presentation content. Until you have been to the conference, you just can’t imagine the vitality, the energy, the almost intoxicating excitement from over 200 people all coming together to celebrate their common passion. It’s so cool I want to do it all over again next week. But I’ll wait until next September…

You May Also Like: Presentation Summit 2010: Conversation with Rick Altman

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.

Filed Under: Events
Tagged as: Interviews, PowerPoint, PowerPoint Live, Presentation Summit

Dynamic Content Transitions in PowerPoint 2010: Conversation with Glenna Shaw

    Glenna Shaw is an MVP (Most Valuable Professional) for PowerPoint. She works for the US government, and is also very involved with accessibility aspects for PowerPoint. In another avatar, she creates games in PowerPoint. Glenna also runs the PowerPoint Magic site that has plenty of tutorials and downloads.

In this conversation, Glenna discusses the new dynamic content transitions in PowerPoint 2010 (and PowerPoint 2011 for Mac), and how they can be effectively used to add interest.

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed Under: Interviews
Tagged as: Interviews, PowerPoint 2010, PowerPoint 2011, Transitions

Learn PowerPoint 2007: Insert Flash Movies

It’s easy to insert a Flash movie into PowerPoint 2007, and movies inserted using this process should work in PowerPoint 2010 as well. First of all, you need to have the current version of the Flash ActiveX control installed — everything is explained in this tutorial.

Learn how you can insert Flash movies in your PowerPoint 2007 slides.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2007
Tagged as: PowerPoint 2007, Tutorials

Learn PowerPoint 2010 for Windows: Insert Flash Movies

In PowerPoint 2010 for Windows, there are two ways in which you can add a Flash movie to a PowerPoint slide — inserting it as a normal movie through the Insert tab works as long as all recipients of your presentation use PowerPoint 2010. If any of them use PowerPoint 2007 or 2003, you should use the procedure explained on this page.

Learn how you can insert a Flash movie in PowerPoint 2010 for Window susing the Developer tab.

Filed Under: PowerPoint 2010
Tagged as: PowerPoint 2010, Tutorials