| As good as this book has been for getting you started with PowerPoint, there's a lot more information and help available to enrich your experience and to take you to the next level. The following sections do not offer an exhaustive treatment of additional resources, nor are these resources necessarily the best or most recommended. However, they can point you in the right direction for getting additional help and information. Caution  | Because virtually all add-ins contain macros, you should be careful when using an add-in from an unknown source. If you're not sure you can trust the source, it's best not to use the add-in. |
Advanced Topic Books If you're ready to move to the next level, you should consider acquiring an advanced book such as Que's Special Edition Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 or Special Edition Using Visual Basic. How do you decide which of the many books out there are right for you? After deciding whether you really need some sort of book to help, you should do two things: Scan the table of contents. Does the book seem to cover the features or procedures you're interested in learning? Choose a sample chapter and begin reading it. Does it speak to you? Is it clear? Does it pack a lot of information?
If you're comfortable with these criteria, the book just might work for you. Presentations Magazine You can also learn a lot from professional journals or magazines. My favorite, and one that I find extremely helpful for beginner and experienced PowerPoint users alike, is Presentations. Because the magazine is supported by advertising, you can receive a free subscription. Each month's issue is chock full of ideas, basic presenting how-to, tips and tricks, and software and hardware reviews. Even the commercial advertisements give you a sense of what can be done in and what's available for PowerPoint. For more information, and to get a sample of what this magazine has to offer, go to www.presentations.com. Microsoft's PowerPoint Newsgroup Newsgroups can be a rich source of information. This is especially true of those that focus on specific subjects, such as the PowerPoint newsgroup, which is hosted by Microsoft but entirely managed by volunteer, non-Microsoft employees. This is a "no-question-is-too-dumb" discussion group where everyone shares freely with everyone else (see Figure 21.8). Figure 21.8. The Microsoft PowerPoint Newsgroup is a great place to ask questions, to find answers, and to learn all about PowerPoint.  Information on how to join the PowerPoint newsgroup can be found at www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00024.htm. Several of the group's moderators also offer their own Web sites, with a variety of free and commercial add-ins, tutorials, graphics, animations, and more. The following are their sites, along with other sites you may want to visit: Steve Rindsberg's RDP Slides site, at www.rdpslides.com Sonia Coleman's site, at www.soniacoleman.com Echo Swinford's site, at www.echosvoice.com Kathryn Jacobs's site, at www.powerpointanswers.com Shyam Pillai's site, at www.mvps.org/skp
The following story, which introduces the PowerPoint newsgroup moderators, is both fun and informative. It was written by one of the PowerPoint newsgroup moderators, Austin Myers, and it can be found at www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00094.htm. As a conclusion to this book, the story helps summarize in an allegorical way the evolution of PowerPoint and its increasing complexities: There was a caveman by the name of Brian (Reilly) that started it all with some really crude drawings on the wall of his cave. Actually the drawings weren't that bad but his ability to speak and point at the drawings was somewhat limited. He asked his friend Steve (Rindsberg) if there wasn't someway to jazz up his presentation and Steve said sure, hold this burning stick up by the drawing you want people to look at, and darkness will hide the rest of the drawings. We believe this was the first attempt at a "Custom Show". Enter agrarian Austin (Myers) who was the one who made all those drums and voices audible and the funny flickering moving pictures visible. He was the one who daily climbed the hill and yelled "CODEC - - MCI - - QT - -MPEG!!!!!!" Everyone wondered about the new words he had invented. They are, to this day, still trying to de-code them, but Austin's voice from the hills cannot be suppressed. Now there were three. One day Kathy (Huntzinger) came walking by and asked the guys what they were doing. At first she thought they had lost their mind but after an explanation she could see what they were trying to do. Naturally she wanted to improve on the situation and suggested they add drum sounds to the presentation. While the three guys thought it had possibilities they didn't want her to be seen so they made her sit off to the side out of sight. (That's why we drag the Icon off the slide to this day.) When Kathy began beating the drum the guys noticed a sound that was almost a duplicate but sounded fainter and far away. Steve asked Brian, do you here that? Brian said of course, it's Echo (Swinford). Hey, did someone call my name said the woman with the strangely colored hair as she came walking into the cave. She looked over what everyone was doing and said that while the pictures were nice, what was needed was some text to go with it. No one had any idea what she was talking about so she showed them by making squiggly marks beside all the drawings. Everyone thought it was a big improvement but the problem was that everyone looked at the squiggly lines before looking at Brian's drawings. Not a problem at all said Echo. Just cover the text with a bear skin and then take it off when you shine the burning stick on it. Should make a nice "transition". Just remember to cover them back up or they won't look right the next time you show it to anyone. Now there were five. With all the improvements cavemen and women came from miles around to see the presentation. But alas, after all the local folks had seen the presentation it became obvious that they needed a way to take the entire thing on the road so they might show it to others. What to do, what to do? Fortunately for our friends there was a woman that lived next to the big water hole who claimed she could transport anything. Her name, Sonia (Coleman), was spoken only rarely but all knew who she was. The group convinced her to look over the problem and asked for her help. After much study and concentration Sonia hit upon an idea. We will "burn" copies of everything on my new invention the wheel. That way we can simply roll the presentation to the next cave and everyone can see the show. Problem solved! Now there were six.
Things went along well for the gang, but you know how people are and they soon started complaining about not having enough tools to make drawings, text, and sounds with. Complain as they might, there just weren't any better tools available. That is until the day they met a traveler from far, far away by the name of Shyam (Pillai). Because he was a decent sort of fellow he agreed to help out and had soon produced many new tools. Sharp sticks for text, wide sticks with all sorts of berry juices on the tip for drawing, and he even made a better set of drums for sounds. He was immediately invited to live in the cave and now there were seven. Things just couldn't get any better and these folks found a life long calling explaining how to make presentations to others. The Absolute Minimum In this chapter, you've been nudged toward the next level. Here's what you've done: You learned about some of PowerPoint's advanced features. You learned that some advanced features depend on having additional software, hardware, or special servers. You explored several additional resources where you can find help and advanced information.
In the next chapter....Oops, there is no next chapter. In fact, I am delighted to officially certify you as no longer being an absolute beginner! Happy presenting! |
| 