The PowerPoint® Blog

- Troy @ TLC

Okay so the 'little' bug in PPT 2007 is driving you crazy! The fix is on the way with SP2 for Office 2007 (really), but you need to adjust the length of your straight lines today.

Here is a PPT 07 line

To adjust length AND maintain same angle you hold down the SHIFT KEY + CLICK on end of line and it zooms out to infinity

One solution is to duplicate the line, group the 2 lines together, then adjust the length of the group

The original line stays in the same position, the length was adjusted, the angle was maintained! Now ungroup and delete the duplicate line leaving you with the adjusted line (made shorter in this example)

- Troy @ TLC

This may make the 'elevator speech' and sales presentations even more engaging. T-Mobile will be carrying the Logic Bolt cell phone which looks to have a fully functional projector built into it!

It is being shown at CES this week and features a touch screen interface, quad band GSM, support for Powerpoint, Excel, Word as well as the ability to connect directly to most video sources, and built-in projector that casts images 36-64"+.

- Troy @ TLC

Christmas is a big deal around our house - full of family events, traditions and lots of decorating!

But this is the weekend the holiday lights come down (there's no snow in Southern California, so no need to wait until March)...

- Troy @ TLC

Microsoft is definitely changing the direction and strategies of their software development. I really think the changes will make team projects, asset management and presentations (very excited about the next/future version of PowerPoint!).

Click here to view videos of the major MS Keynote addresses.
27:40 - 44:00 = Demo of Windows 7, Windows Live and Windows Mobile
1:10:00 - 1:19:00 = Overview of key trends and future software demo

And the super-wide, multi-screen staging is really impressive too!

- Troy @ TLC

Each year InfoComm puts out an online survey where you can compare yourself with others in InfoComm International's annual Presentation Professional survey.

This year it's shorter, easier and faster to complete. Whether you're one of many in a corporate setting, or a one-person shop wearing all the hats, see how you compare in the skills you have and the challenges you face. Best of all, all participants receive a report of the full survey results.

Click here to take the survey.

- Troy @ TLC

As we start off 2009 what better time to introduce one of the best people at Microsoft I interact with. For all that use PowerPoint you want to know and acknowledge at least one person at Microsoft - Ric B.

Ric Bretscheider has been at Microsoft for over 15 years with nearly all of that time spent on the PowerPoint development team (starting with the PowerPoint IV - PPT 2007 is version XII/12). He is the Lead Program Manager for PowerPoint and has been a huge influence in listening to end users and steering the program to address our real world needs (and if you don't like PowerPoint - you would dislike it even more if it were not for the efforts of Ric B! )

Many contributed to his 15 year anniversary with presentations, notes and videos. This one is one of the few that made it to public domain and does a good job of giving a look at Ric B.

Click here to view.

- Troy @ TLC

Here I am with my equipment backstage at an event. It takes a lot of gear with computers, backup computers, routers, etc.

I personally favor cases by Pelican for shipping all of my equipment as they come in a variety of sizes, well padded and virtually indestructable. But recently they have introduced a new, BIG, series of cases - big enough to pack your own producer!

(Note: modeling the jumbo pelican case is "Hodgie", Steve Hodges, a great show producer I get to work with several times a year).

- Troy @ TLC

Looking forward to a great year! Above image was created in PPT 2007.
- Troy @ TLC

Microsoft's Office Online has a collection of additional Smart Art objects that can be donwloaded and added to the PPT 07 library!

These work in PowerPoint, Excel, Word and Outlook. All are FREE. click here to go to the download page.

- Troy @ TLC