Microsoft Office Reference Guide

Mar 26, 2004

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There are, in my opinion, two different ways to get proficient in a computer, and more important, a professional discipline of some kind. One way is methodical, and the other way is to wing it.

I must confess that when I get a new program these days, I mainly try to intuit how it works and have little patience for methodical training.

But when I encounter methodical training, as I do in Echo Swinford and Geetesh Bajaj’s Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit, I am always reminded of how superior it is.

Particularly in a professional discipline like presentation coaching, consulting or authoring, and a program like the new PowerPoint 2007, taking a project oriented approach and then digging deep into the precise whys and wherefores helps to ground any end user thoroughly in techniques that are empowering and enduring.

At first I was a bit concerned about the book’s focus on PowerPoint 2007 because it occurred to me that in the real world a lot of makeovers would involve going between the newer and earlier versions. But the fact is that if you’re going to do a real makeover you should use PowerPoint 2007 — because it has the Photoshop like features for graphics and other neat stuff. You can also see how Geetesh and Echo benefit from the Newsgroups which they contribute to — because they anticipate many compatibility issues and provide tips related to them.

The other benefit is that as you go through these projects is that you inevitably become a power user of PowerPoint 2007 because the reason behind the formatting choices and the consequences of each move are clearly explained.

Probably the best testimonial I can give to the skills of the authors, besides their respective web sites and my experience with them at PowerPoint LIVE and elsewhere, along with their status as Microsoft MVPs is to show a quick preview of the corporate presentation makeover that is the first project.

Figure 1437

Conveniently the files required for working along with the book are included on the book CD.

Notice that even with these two before/after slides you can get a sense that your revised presentation will be classier and much more professional looking. The fact is that almost by just applying a new PowerPoint 2007 Theme you can achieve some nice effects – but you might get in trouble if you don’t understand what applying a theme means.

This book will set you straight, believe me.

The other very valuable aspect of this book is that if you are a dabbler at presentations, you can take advantage of how a couple of real pros conceptualize and go about their task.

And if you’re already a pro in your own right, you will benefit, I can promise you, from seeing how two fellow professionals take advantage of features of PowerPoint 2007 you may have seen but have not thoroughly explored or understood.

Many of us stumble around PowerPoint without truly understanding why things happen, and when we get the result we like (or can live with) we save the file but have no clue on how to repeat what we did.

For example, in the second chapter, which is a great case study for a medical speaker training event (one of the most stressful and high stakes events you can work on as a presenter), Echo and Geetesh go through the steps of making a clear and clean table in a concrete and methodical fashion.

Figure 1438

They follow up with SmartArt diagrams and a chart, thereby covering in detail the skill sets required — in a project oriented way — to accomplish the presentation of complex visual information in the most effective way possible.

Because Echo and Geetesh have vast experience, there are also tips along the way that anticipate "gotchas" and explain the reasons for making key decisions in dialog boxes that would otherwise be confusing and stressful.

The other aspect of the book is that there are scenarios addressed that I for one have not seen very often. For example Makeover 4 is a Group Presentation which takes into account the need for consistency in a collaborative situation.

Some of the makeovers can be applied to different situations and scenarios with a bit of creativity. For example, the Halloween Scrapbook makeover covers the use of some sophisticated techniques that could really jazz up anything from a real estate presentation to corporate meeting — because it combines special effects, imagery and music and builds the project step by step.

In each of the eight Makeovers the authors spell out clearly the need filled by the presentation they are improving. My guess is that by simply reading these introductions you will find an excellent role model for virtually any project to be created using PowerPoint 2007.

As we’ve discussed before there are varying theories on how to present effectively and the trend is definitely anti-bullet. The king of this movement is Cliff Atkinson and his book Beyond Bullet Points which has been updated for PowerPoint 2007.

Geetesh and Echo cover similar ground in Makeover 7 in which they makeover a concept rather than a design and create a presentation that many would do well to emulate. It helps that is based on a professional project that provides a very nice subject for the project.

Figure 1439

Finally the authors work in fairly complex concepts like animation in the context of their projects. A common project is a self running looking project for a trade show, and this is covered in Makeover 8.

The book concludes with a Gallery illustrating common design issues that did not necessarily come up in the projects, but which the authors feel are important.

What you get from the Complete Makeover Kit is a real look into the presentation trenches by two professionals who have paid their dues, and it shows. If you want to avoid lots of mistakes because others have already made them, and learn from the experience of some real craftsmen (and women), this is a worthwhile investment for any presentation professional.

By the way, this book is also available on Safari.com. Echo’s web site which is a veritable cornucopia of PowerPoint info is http://www.echosvoice.com. I have long relied on Echo to explain the arcane workings of elements like Color Schemes, Themes and Masters. Geetesh manages several sites, the most significant of which is the famous Indezine which reviews other peoples’ books and articles and provides a wealth of product reviews and tutorials. I urge you to take advantage of both.

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