Powerpoint training

[Cookie]

Dear TEF,

I've been tasked by my boss to  become a powerpoint master. Do any of you bastards have experience of training in powerpoint and if so can you recommend me a training centre or any alternative to getting proper good at it?

Thanks in advance

[Sippo]

What version and what sort of thing are you trying to achieve?

[4D]

Are you sure he doesn't want you to just plug things in?

[Bewster]

Teach yourself like everyone else does

[Cookie]

Work have 2007 installed although have 2010 at home so whichever is best. What I'm trying to acheive is a good understanding of all the functionality available to be able to produce decent looking presentations. I guess being able to produce something along the lines of the presentations in the link below.

http://labnol.blogspot.co.uk/2007/05/best-powerpoint-presentations-in-world.html

Actually looking at them I'd probably also need to become a good graphic designer too which isn't going to happen overnight. So I probably just need a course to show me all the bells and whistles which I might not find by bumbling through myself.

[Sippo]

http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-powerpoint/

These are quite good books. Ideal for first users.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0735627282/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0538748435&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=06CK692CEN50R1A8YZN8

[Samdy Gray]

Highlight everything.

Animation > Fly In From Right

Job done.

[4D]

Don't bother with any of it. Do any presentations David Brent style, with a boom box and a baseball cap.

[Dozno9]

I'm a PowerPoint trainer at work and a few tips I would give are;

Don't overkill the animations it will take away from what you are saying.

PowerPoint is meant to assist you and highlight main points in your presentation only and is not meant to be your presentation it can remove personality from it.

Don't put on paragraphs and read word for word use bullet lines and print off notes pages and add your own notes to them to remind yourself if you need to embellish a section.

Keep all fonts the same and only have 2 or 3 sizes.

If you're using a new version then add border effects to pictures, something simple and if you have slide with only text on add a simple small picture to the corner somewhere to break the text up, a white stick man is the type I often use.

[SuggWillSugg MBE]

Don't overkill the animations it will take away from what you are saying.

fuck that!

Make everything fly in, spin then explode when you've finished making your point, all with accompanying sound effects obviously.

[Dozno9]

fuck that!

Make everything fly in, spin then explode when you've finished making your point, all with accompanying sound effects obviously.

One of my sales guys added applause once to his sales figures when they came up. 

[Coca Fola]

One of my sales guys added applause once to his sales figures when they came up. 

[jonny72]

I'm a big fan of Train Signal (trainsignal.com) training video's. I've never tried their Office stuff but I've used their IT certification videos (Cisco, Microsoft, VMware) and they are better than anything else I've seen.

[slinky]

I'm a big fan of Train Signal (trainsignal.com) training video's. I've never tried their Office stuff but I've used their IT certification videos (Cisco, Microsoft, VMware) and they are better than anything else I've seen.

Agree, have used Train Signal myself and also Lynda.com.  Lynda have a free week trial which is long enough to take a single course.

[china red]

White back ground, black font.  Have something decent to say and the PPT is not so important