How This Book Is Organized

Special Edition Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 is divided into seven parts .

Part I, "PowerPoint Basics," introduces the fundamentals of using PowerPoint, such as navigating, using views, getting help, creating a basic presentation, and saving and opening files. If you're an experienced computer user but are new to PowerPoint, these chapters will get you up and running quickly. If you've used PowerPoint extensively in the past, they can serve as a quick review and introduce you to the new, exciting features of PowerPoint 2003.

In Part II, "Editing and Formatting Presentations," you continue on to the most essential, and universally used, features of PowerPoint ”formatting, organizing, and adding content to your slides. You'll learn to work with text and tables, organize with Outline view, and customize and format your presentation. PowerPoint's collaboration and speech tools are also introduced.

Part III, "Making Presentations," takes you to the logical next step ”the actual delivery of a presentation. You'll learn how to easily set up a slideshow, customize it to work with a particular projector, create timings and narrations , preview your work, and even create portable PowerPoint presentations to display from another computer. Finally, you'll learn how to create a variety of printed material, such as notes and handouts, to go with your slideshow.

Next, you can start exploring some of PowerPoint's more advanced capabilities. Part IV, "Working with Graphics, Charts, and Multimedia," introduces you to techniques that you can use to make your slideshows more creative. For example, you can add charts ”including organization charts ”to provide additional information in a presentation. Or you can add clip art, photos, movies, sounds, and animation for a complete multimedia effect. For a finishing touch, you can format, customize, and add a variety of special effects to these multimedia objects.

From here, you can check out PowerPoint's Web capabilities in Part V, "Working with PowerPoint on the Web." From saving PowerPoint presentations as Web pages to designing Web scripts to creating online broadcasts and meetings, you can integrate all the latest Web technologies with your PowerPoint presentation.

Part VI, "Advanced PowerPoint," explores other sophisticated uses of PowerPoint. You can embed and link Office objects, create macros to automate procedures, use the power of VBA (the programming language Visual Basic for Applications), and extensively customize PowerPoint's features and interface. And finally, this part covers areas such as troubleshooting and using PowerPoint's foreign language features.

Part VII, "From Concept to Delivery," takes you out of PowerPoint and into the world of presentation design. Written by a presentations expert, this section offers detailed information and advice about actually creating a presentation specifically for PowerPoint. It covers topics such as scripting a concept, choosing a visual design, developing presentation skills, and using technology in your presentation.