Introduction

I never set out to become a PowerPoint wiz. In fact, I started using PowerPoint by accident.

Way back in 1997, I worked as a temporary employee for a medical meeting planning company. I asked the owner if I could create our presentation slides in-house rather than pay an outside firm to do the work. She agreed with my proposal, which forced me to learn PowerPointand learn it fast.

Of course, I soon ran afoul of PowerPoint and its many quirks. For example: Why does the file size increase tenfold after you insert a JPG? How do you plot individual error bars on data points in a column chart? I even remember the panicky feeling I got after I upgraded from PowerPoint 95 to 97 and had to scrounge around for the Write Up tool. Where did it go? How could I make good looking handouts without it?

Over the years, I've had to dodge many such bullets and develop workarounds for PowerPoint's most puzzling dilemmas. (No wonder I thought I could write a PowerPoint book in my sleep.) Hopefully, the tips and tricks you find here will help you master, or at least survive, PowerPoint, and you can learn to enjoy it as much as I do.