We loved seeing all of your innovative ideas and cool projects that you’ve used Office for Mac to create. It’s amazing what a little imagination can do when paired with the right tools! You have yet another opportunity this week to enter to win Office 2008 for Mac (and 2011 once available) on a customized color Macbook, so share your stories and continue to increase your odds of winning.
For this entry, we want you to tell us about your best PowerPoint for Mac presentation ever. What made that particular presentation so great? Was it your passion for the topic? The response from your audience? A letter grade it helped you land? A milestone it helped you achieve? Don’t be bashful; we give you permission to boast about your moment of glory. Whatever made this PowerPoint presentation so memorable – we want to hear about it.
Remember to share your legitimate (contextually relevant, appropriate and legible) response in the comment field of this blog post and/or on Twitter in reply to @officeformac. Comment on both for more opportunities to win! Please see the attached document for full rules and details.
I need this for school! My best presentation I ever did was for my science class when we had to research everything about planets and the universe! I got an A+ and was told I did so good lol
H3ATROX
Jul 22, 2010
1:50pm
Design
My boyfriend's a graphic design major. When we first started dating, I remember going into our Art Labs at school and sitting beside him while he finished his art projects. I'd do random surfing and homework.
On one of the occasions, we had a project that was very similar. My English project was the retelling of a Fairy Tale story. His project was based on developing a picture book for a story.
Through PowerPoint for Mac, I was able to take the images he had created in illustrator and adobe and put it into a slideshow to demonstrate and read to my class. I was the only person in the class with a digital presentation. Easy to say, A+.
gittenlucky
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
My PowerPoint Story.
My best powerpoint story came when I was about to give a lecture for an undergraduate class as a TA. I was doing some last minute reviews of my lecture and as MS Office likes to do, it gave me a popup saying my computer was out of memory (even though I had a brand new MBP. - 500gb HD, 4GB ram). It likes to do this when there are many equations in a file. I was then unable to save it because i was supposedly out of memory. I can usually copy and paste to another ppt document, but this time it just corrupted the file and made everything unreadable. Luckily I was able to run home and get an older backup off of my time machine and get back just 2 mins late for class. Since then I have been using LaTeX and beemer class whenever I can.
hej107us
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
Getting the job (done)!
I have been using both the Windows and Mac versions for a long time. My personal machine is a MacBook Pro and work has usually been a Dell/Lenovo. My latest presentation was after 6 interviews at a company and the presentation sealed the deal!
Thanks!!
ajldevelopment
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
The Best Worst Powerpoint Presentation Ever
Let's face it, there are some awful PowerPoint presentations out there, and as the owner of a small development company I wanted to make sure that my coworkers and employees knew how to avoid the common pitfalls of bad presentation design. We often use PowerPoint while pitching a client.
Firing up MS-Office 2008 PowerPoint (for Mac of course!) I began laying out the WORST looking presentation I could think of - featuring long tiny type-faced sentences, huge, ugly clip art images, misspelled words the whole nine yards. I made no reference to this being terrible on purpose in the presentation slides themselves - I relied on my words to explain and offer corrective advice, along with a new slide showing what an "good" example might look like.
The presentation was brief and as I was talking to people afterward one of the freelance designers who was new to the team came up to me and congratulated me on a great presentation. I was feeling very proud of myself, until I realized he was complimenting me on how nicely the ENTIRE presentation was laid out - he LOVED what I said about fitting as many words onto the slide as possible and using large, freely available clip art to "dress things" up.
I was dumbfounded as he walked away - and then I noticed them, the little white ear-buds dangling from his pockets! He hadn't heard a word I had said and thought ALL of the slides were representative of what I considered a "good" presentation! He either was a huge suck up, or REALLY knows nothing about putting together a good PowerPoint presentation.
I laugh really hard every time I think about it!
Adam
boomstick
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
Practice Practice Powerpoint
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice Practice Powerpoint.
I'm a projection and lighting designer in NYC and was hired to provide cool visuals for an educational concert series at Carnegie Hall. Part of the mission of the producing organization is to provide the materials they generate to regional orchestras for free. I chose Powerpoint over several specialized (and expensive) video servers because it would allow those groups to afford to produce their shows while letting me build the involved sequences I envisioned for the concert.
Hearing 15,000 kids "ooh" and "ahh" over three days of concerts was incredible, and the thought that kids across the country will get a great educational opportunity is just as nice.
I spent 3 weeks writing a great (fullscreen) program for a class in high school. I had everything done, including the report with a full set of screenshots for each screen of the application. The night before the program had to be demonstrated in front of the class for a grade, my harddrives died, forcing me to lose all of the code and the finessed program. After careful thinking, I realized that the report with screenshots was saved in my email! I pulled the screenshots out and took a few hours to make a really elaborate mockup of the application that looks and behaves (to the casual observer) like it was really the program running! I had enough screenshots to even make the menus feel functional. Since I was the one demoing the finished program, i knew what I could push and how to make it convincing that it was the real thing. So the next day I demonstrated it in class and no one realized that it wasn't really a program. Without some of the advanced features in PowerPoint, I'm not sure I could have pulled this off! Anyways, this is probably my best PowerPoint moment ever...so TaDa!
randomblink
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
Mac Powerpoint
I was assigned an essay for Comp I about a subject that mattered to me. Having a wife with Multiple Sclerosis and friends living in locations where medical marijuana is legal I leaned towards this direction, despite the obvious social ramifications possible with this topic. Unfortunately, life, liberty and everything inbetween caught my attention between the date the assignment was given and the day it was due.
I found myself with 4 hours, my computer, and powerpoint between me and an A.
I dove in and started researching as fast and as hard as I could. Saving images to powerpoint, charts, and entire paragraphs I think I earned a world record at browsing that night. After just literally dumping everything I could find into the powerpoint presentation, I began to quickly sift through, clean up and make essay-ready everything that I could.
Rather than switch between several docs on my tiny 13" MacBook I dumped the professors notes, requirements, etc. into the document as well. Between cut-n-paste and a wish-and-a-prayer I ended up uploading the essay with only minutes to spare.
The presentation had timing and effects, animations and borders with colors, as well as decently documented data and quotes.
I would like to think it was my previously held knowledge on the subject from the people I know, or my flair for procrastination-with-style, but either way... I got an A.
Not an A+, but then that would have been ridiculous.
journalist
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
So sweet. So satisfied.
When I first used PowerPoint for Mac, it was my first time. I can honestly say that it was the turning point for all my presentations from then on. I had a graphic design presentation on design trends to do. What I found out was that PowerPoint had the most colourful, eye-catching, and aesthetic backgrounds and animations! I received an 10/10 for my presentation but I discovered a better reward... using PowerPoint for a seamless presentation.
admiralspock
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
PowerPoint Rocks!
For a high school sociology course, we were assigned a project to gather pictures of various signs that we encounter in life, be it road signs, church signs, warning signs, etc. The vast majority of my classmates printed out their findings and displayed them on a poster board. I took it one step further, using PowerPoint to conquer this task. I set it up to play the actual song, "Signs" by the Five Man Electrical Band throughout the slide show. I also synchronized the slides and transitions to advance automatically to the rhythm of the music. In the end, I presented an incredible picture of the signs in life that blew all the other projects away. Thanks PowerPoint!
tbalsamo
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Winning Show
My most memorable powerpoint presentation was for the culmination of some research I had led. My 3 colleagues had given me messy data stuffed in a binder, no graphs or graphics-- but in a matter of a few hours, I was able to pull together a polished, professional presentation, which landed us a $15,000 grant! Couldn't have done it without Powerpoint for Mac!
JCK1020
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
PPT
In my 8th grade math class, we had to submit a written report. (i know, right!?!). We had the option to submit it via PowerPoint. I decided to do this, as it would be easier to convey what my project was about.
The subject? The history of computers, handpicked my the teacher for me to report on. I am obseesed with computers, and he felt that it would be a good pick for me. The project had to be twenty slides.
My project on computers ended up being over 50 slides. the topic was so interesting! haha. But, it was way more than 50 slides. I had figured out a cool way to make more than one slide on a slide. I did this by making a text box come up through animation. through this, i was able to have more than one slide on a slide! it was so cool.
ended up getting a 115 or 130% on the project! my teacher loved my ingenuity, and it paid off through powerpoint!
hothoagie
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
High School Was So Long Ago
When I was in high school, in our computer applications class, one of the skills we had to "master" was creating a PowerPoint presentation on a topic we chose. Of course, I made my presentation on the history of Apple Computers with a timeline and specs of all the product families (up to that point). It was my favorite PowerPoint presentation I got to do, and the great was an A+. Honestly, it wasn't too hard for me to do since I was such a techy, but it still took a lot of time and it was a lot of fun!
danimir
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
PowerPoint lets me express myself beyond words!
PowerPoint lets me express myself beyond words! What makes a great presentation is that visuals are a substitute, an aid, to what you are saying to your audience. The key in making a great presentation is knowing your audience first and tailoring each presentation that speaks to them in their own language\terms. Captivating presentations I've made include simple, clear and straight to the point messages (minimal usage of text, or a few bullet points for clarity and simplicity), followed by beautiful graphics and a number of photographs that contextually speak to your audience (some pictures are worth more than a thousand words). While PowerPoint is a great tool with simple to use graphical and animation capabilities, the great presentation is one that provides relevant content that speaks in the language of your target audience and dazzle them with relevant graphical message. One of my greatest presentations was presenting a very complex and very technical infrastructure project to a panel of decision makers in simple to understand, layman terms, with impressive graphics that has visually depicted use cases to the target audience and immediately connected with them.
danimir
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
PowerPoint lets me express myself beyond words!
PowerPoint lets me express myself beyond words! What makes a great presentation is that visuals are a substitute, an aid, to what you are saying to your audience. The key in making a great presentation is knowing your audience first and tailoring each presentation that speaks to them in their own language\terms. Captivating presentations I've made include simple, clear and straight to the point messages (minimal usage of text, or a few bullet points for clarity and simplicity), followed by beautiful graphics and a number of photographs that contextually speak to your audience (some pictures are worth more than a thousand words). While PowerPoint is a great tool with simple to use graphical and animation capabilities, the great presentation is one that provides relevant content that speaks in the language of your target audience and dazzle them with relevant graphical message. One of my greatest presentations was presenting a very complex and very technical infrastructure project to a panel of decision makers in simple to understand, layman terms, with impressive graphics that has visually depicted use cases to the target audience and immediately connected with them.
ZacCarmody
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Philosophy Craziness
Well, I'd have to say the my best, and funniest, PowerPoint story happened in my Philosophy class last semester!
We were all doing presentations on various topics for our final cumulative projects, and many people where stumbling around their words, some were just reading from their screens, and some were doing quite well!
Then, I had to go up. I was nervous, of course, I had just watched many of my peers walk up, nervous, shaky, probably yelling at themselves for a lack of mental preparation, and I was feeling exactly the same! I stood in front of the 30 plus class body, watching them critique me with the stares.
As I plugged in and opened up my computer and started my presentation, I gained confidence, I started to work some energy into my presentation, and the included video demonstrations and unique visual flair captured their attention, focusing it solely on the presentation!
Now, here is where the funny kicks in, I was starting to feel it, I was in charge, I was walking around the front of the class and continuing the presentation, I came upon a snag. A literal snag. I accidentally took myself out on a power chord. My own power chord. So I got up, slowly, and found myself thinking that the entire class would be judging me, and to my utter bewilderment, I saw my class clapping! I was getting applause! I managed to trip myself on the very last slide, which concluded my presentation with a video joke on the screen, and combined with my antics, they loved it!
Needless to say, me utilizing the full tool set that PowerPoint offers, combined with a little nature 'talent', managed not only to get an A on the presentation, but also managed to have the only presentation that day that people where genuinely intrigued in!
thefurlinator
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
The Best PowerPoint Story
During the first few weeks of my junior year of high school, we had to give PowerPoint presentations based on the books we were assigned to read as a part of our summer homework for Mr. Zernone's AP U.S. History class. At the end of one of the presentations, one of the kids in my class snuck in a last slide that said "Bailey, will you go to Homecoming with me?" She said yes and the class cheered.
I had to present the next day, and after my presentation, I snuck in a last slide that said "Mr. Zernone, will you go to Homecoming with me?" The whole class erupted into laughter and after receiving a questionable look from my teacher, I got an A+ on the presentation. Truly the best PowerPoint presentation of my life.
rwehrt
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Powerpoint Class Kiss Ass
Back in college I took a power point class. In this class everyone was rather a beginner when it comes to computers no less power point. Being rather computer savvy i managed to create and complete the entire class agenda within the first day of class. I created a presentation that included video, audio and animation in a self contained folder as well as a web page power point. Let me tell you, Jaws dropped and yes i go an A. The only thing that would be better than this is a new mac book with Microsoft 2011
rwehrt
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Powerpoint Class Kiss Ass
Back in college I took a power point class. In this class everyone was rather a beginner when it comes to computers no less power point. Being rather computer savvy i managed to create and complete the entire class agenda within the first day of class. I created a presentation that included video, audio and animation in a self contained folder as well as a web page power point. Let me tell you, Jaws dropped and yes i go an A. The only thing that would be better than this is a new mac book with Microsoft 2011
mistashizzle
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
PowerPoint Project Perfection
My best Office for Mac PowerPoint project was for my graduation project this year in school. I shadowed an IT administrator and an engineer at a local business for one week and I was required to give a presentation on what I learned and the experiences I had. While I was there I had snapped a few shots of computer set ups and different circuit boards and drives the engineers were working on and I uploaded them to my computer and got to work on the presentation.
The final presentation turned out fantastic. I love working with computers and so the topic was one I felt passionately about and the presentation helped me to show that. I gave the presentation using the PowerPoint project and it went smoothly and everyone loved it. Next year I'll be entering RIT as a freshman and it's all because of PowerPoint that I was able to graduate.
TGray4
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Best PowerPoint made on a mac
The best PowerPoint presentation I made on a mac was for a healthcare company. The templates in PowerPoint were awful, so I used Keynote and exported as a .ppt file. The clients loved it.
JubbaG
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Percussion in Histoire du Soldat
I created a powerpoint presentation for use during a multimedia presentation on Igor Stravinsky's use of percussion in his ballet Histoire du Soldat. I also used it to demonstrate certain musical motives in the ballet that Charles DeLancey used in his parody composition for solo multiple percussion entitled "For the Love of L'Histoire". I wound up getting an A on the presentation and might use this topic and presentation to further research as a thesis.
Mr530
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
South America
I had to present a project for my World History (II) class roughly four years ago. It was my first powerpoint where the instructor wouldn't simply "pat you on the back for using a fancy template."
The project was especially challenging as I was assigned to do an extensive powerpoint on the history of South America from 1800-1914. Unfortunately, when you search through the internet for the 19th century, most search results return information about the Civil War.
Upon completion of the research, the powerpoint took an extensive 25 hours to assemble and perfect. Complete with flowcharts, tables, illustrations, timelines, and carefully designed layouts, this project is my most proud research project to this very day. I have gone through several other computers in the past couple of years and I have always kept a copy of my blood sweat and tears on my harddrive.
Still, four years later, I have used this powerpoint to showcase my abilities as well as to test the rendering capabilities of other "Powerpoint" compatible devices such as the iPhone, Android, and Google Docs.
Ensellitis
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Making executives sweat
I was doing doing a conference for a client on their companies security. They asked what format it was in. So I told them PowerPoint and that I was going to hook up my computer to their projector, and take the presentation (that I gave them a copy of on a USB drive so they could edit a few parts) and do it that way. They were fine with it.
Well, the meeting started and I open up my big ole bag and pull out my iMac.
They started to panic a bit. They ran up to the stage and were panicked because they said they were certain I said PowerPoint. So they assumed I would use a pc.
I couldn't help but laugh at their faces when I not only open up PowerPoint, but excel right after then plugged in the USB drive and loaded everything up without a hitch. I love making people sweat.
SPL
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
My best PP presentation ever
Going through university, I wasn't the most organized student ever. This was usually OK, but on occasion caused a few jams. One of which PowerPoint was able to get me out of.
One Wednesday morning, I manage to get to school early, planning to get some reading and perhaps some writing done in the hour I had to myself before class. I run into my prof, who casually asks me if I'm ready for my in-class presentation scheduled for that very same day. In an hour. "Of course," I reply, "just make sure the projector's warmed up."
Truth is I wasn't ready. I had no presentation and no idea what I was supposed to be presenting on. A quick scan of my notes indicated that I was to present on that day's reading (which I was in the process of actually reading) and was expected to engage the class in a 30 minute post-presentation Q&A session.
Out comes the MacBook, PowerPoint gets started up. Thanks to Outline view, I was able to quickly put together a detailed slide-by-slide rough outline for my presentation. Editing slide backgrounds and typefaces took all of 5 minutes, and with a bit of polish on each slide's content, I was ready to go with 3 minutes to spare.
Walked in, presented and led the Q&A session with authority, passion and even a bit of laughter, despite my near-total lack of knowledge on the topic. My saving grace was my organized and easy to follow presentation, which wouldn't have been possible without PowerPoint. Final result was an A letter grade and a valuable lesson: PowerPoint is your friend.
jstiles85
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
Powerpoint saves the day
My first year teaching after I graduated from college I got a job at a school that was entirely Apple based. At that time Macs were quite foreign to me (now I love them), and I was putting together my lesson plans for the first week of school at my brand new job. My first unit for my 7th grade reading class was going to be over "short stories", and I was able to build a PPT with embedded video clips of "Rikki-tikki-tavi" that showed the basic plot outline for a narrative. My students were so impressed by the video examples that they thought I was "Mr. Cool" and it really helped me establish a rapport with that class. We had a good school year, and it all started out right with a presentation using PowerPoint for Mac.
stockrocker
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
College Lifesaver
I used PowerPoint for my amazing presentation on Yield Curves for my Econ class as well as to create award winning research posters in Inorganic Chemistry Research
andy c.
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
PowerPoint Saves the Day!
During Grad School, my final project in a Music History course involved a PowerPoint presentation. When I got to class, I had forgotten my DVI to VGA adapter for my PowerBook so I could use it with the projector. Luckily, a classmate had a MacBook and their miniDVI - VGA adapter. I quickly downloaded the PP presentation from my online storage and used the MacBook to play the show during my final paper. My friends MacBook and PowerPoint saved my grade in that class!!
mattc986
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
Creating More than a Presentation
For one class assignment in high school I pushed the limits of PowerPoint beyond what I even knew it could do. The class was a creative writing class geared towards writing with 'digital media'. Thus we spent all of our time working with blogs, presentations, and even making a class website.
For my final project I decided to present the content I chose (the digital music revolution) in a PowerPoint presentation with a twist. I disabled the user's ability to click to advance slides or otherwise navigate between slides. I then created an extensive network of buttons that all linked to different slides throughout the presentation. Each slide had dedicated audio and visual cues that I orchestrated to music playing in the background and also featured links and videos. A menu screen tied it all together, with each page having either a 'Back' or 'Home' button. I chose a space theme and used instrumental pieces from the Angels and Airwaves album "We Don't Need to Whisper". The first introduction slide was my favorite because it involved a 30 second montage of pictures sliding, fading, and moving in and out timed to precise beats in the music. What the project became was more like a website in that it was an interactive experience for a user rather than a presentation to an audience.
When I finally got to demonstrate this experience the class was wowed and of course I was viewed as the kid who tried too hard and sat up all night at his computer. I enjoyed the heck out of making it, though. My teacher loved it but didn't give me the highest grade because he felt the content got a little lost in my vigor creating the interface and experience. That was good enough for me.
To this day I remain impressed with what I was able to create with PowerPoint from Office 2003 running on Windows XP. I had no idea that it could be a blank canvas for so much more than just a class presentation.
kevster
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
PowerPoint Mac
Teaching in churches can tend to be a bit of a dry and traditional affair, and I wondered sometimes why I had to leave behind modern communication methods when I transitioned from work to "church space". I think fancy presentation methods are sometimes viewed with suspicion in this environment since nobody wants to detract from the meaning of the text.
Jesus used all kinds of interactive teaching methods though, so on the basis of that I schlepped my faithful Mac, Projector and PowerPoint to the classes I was teaching.
I used Powerpoint to illustrate the parables with famous art through the ages and we critiqued how close (or far) the artist was from capturing the essence of the story. I was able to create moving graphics to illustrate complex theological concepts and integrated movies and audio clips into the sessions, using PowerPoint as my main tool.
Through the course of our sessions I noticed more and more seats filling up. I didn't think anything of it at first, but afterwards people told me that they had heard about how moving and engaging the classes had become and showed up to see what the buzz was all about.
Most importantly, long after the first class, people still tell me they remember the point of the lessons, which is, after all - the point.
We have had to purchase two of our own projectors now and use multimedia regularly in our teaching efforts.
mattismac
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Presentation
My best presentation was in front of my class two years ago. It was a career project and I put all my time and hard work into. I practiced for hours to just get it right and I ended up getting an award at the end of the year by surprise. This was my favorite presentation and I always look back to it for example.
bigb792
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
English
My best PowerPoint story has to be when I had to do a project for my college English class. It was a fairly large project so I had a partner. He ended up slicing his hand so badly that he wasn't able to use a computer at all and we hadn't started the project at all. I used PowerPoint to put together a 12 minute presentation while my partner did absolutely nothing. I, with some help from PowerPoint, ended up earning an 'A' on the presentation.
MacPrince
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Clever (ab)use of PowerPoint
My favorite use of PowerPoint is at a high school in our district. The assistant principal installed 50" LCD TVs in the entranceway and in the cafeteria as sign boards to run announcements and photo albums. They're fed via HDMI from DVI on a spare Mac mini in a closet nearby. PowerPoint 2008 runs on it controlled by a scheduled AppleScript that I wrote. At 7 PM, it:
- closes down the slide show and PowerPoint
- opens the newest version from a shared folder (first file ending in PPTX)
- sets every slide to auto-advance in 15 seconds
- sets the slide show to loop
- re-starts the slide show
This way, the AP just mounts the shared folder from his PC before he leaves and copies in the new slide deck. At 7, the display automatically refreshes itself, so it's up to date for students arriving the next morning.
This allowed us to use a spare Mac we already had instead of splashing out $1000 for a proprietary Cisco solution that doesn’t work as well and draws more power.
Myth
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
A great presentation speaks for itself
About five years ago, while I was still in college, my final project for a class was to give a five minute informative presentation on a randomly drawn topic. The topic I drew was hybrid vehicles. For the next two weeks, I did research and compiled a great presentation.
Then disaster struck: the day before my presentation I wound up with a terrible case of strep throat and couldn't speak! I went to the nurse, got some anti-biotics (why do they give enormous pills for throat infections?) and a note explaining that I couldn't speak. Then I sat down and began working on an alternate version of my presentation. This backup presentation was crafted in such a way that I wouldn't have to speak in order to present it. The whole thing worked out beautifully. Most of my presentation was already pictures and there were never more than ten words on a slide. A friend volunteered to record the notes I had written and those were worked in as linked audio files. Careful preparation went into the timing of everything.
When I arrived at class the next day, my throat was still so swollen I couldn't speak. I handed the professor my nurse's note and a brief letter explaining my solution and intent to still present that day. My time came and the presentation went flawlessly. The entire class was blown away that I was able to put on a five minute presentation without ever speaking. I got an A for the assignment and for the class.
jmello
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Office for Mac is Awesome!
As a Business Student, I use Office for Mac, especially Word and Excel, to work on assignments for my classes. However, my best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation was at a meet-and-greet hosted by a good friend of mine, for local business owners.
The main speaker was unable to come at the last minute, so myself and several other new members of the group got in front of everyone to introduce ourselves.
I used PowerPoint to put together a quick presentation that I did in front of 40+ local business owners, to tell them about my very small computer repair/support business.
I had to throw the presentation together at the last minute and with PowerPoint, my MacBook, and my Wacom Tablet, was able to provide an impressive, graphically-rich presentation that got me several compliments afterwards. I had several people ask me about the Mac as a platform, and when I told them that they could run Office, or even run Windows if they wanted to, while still having the stability and features of OS X, they were floored.
Six months later, I still get calls from people asking how easy it is to switch their office to Mac, and after assisting two small business owners and a few individuals looking make the switch to Mac, that has become my main focus. When people ask what I do for a living, I tell them that I am a "Professional Switcher."
Needless to say, that PowerPoint presentation and Office for Mac's cross-platform compatibility has helped me expand my customer base beyond what I could have imagined when I got up on that stage. I couldn't have done any of this without Office for Mac.
raene
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Spongebob + Biology
We were learning about sea animals in biology class. The teacher split us into several groups, and designated each group to a particular type of sea animals. My group was assigned to the crustaceans. I think it was the most fun I've ever had making a PowerPoint presentation since we incorporated Larry-the-Lobster-esque (from Spongebob) graphics/sounds/short clips into the presentation very well, and received an A!
User99
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
My ultimate Powerpoint presentation
I have no doubt about my best Powerpoint presentation. When my best friend graduated his medical residency after 9 years training, I used Powerpoint to augment my speech. While others spoke briefly, I not only not only congratulated him, but used hilarious photos and video to roast him too. With the multimedia presentation, I literally had the audience falling out of their seats laughing. More importantly, I gave my friend and his wife a great memory to take with them as they moved >2500 miles away. I still smile thinking about it. Mac Powerpoint made it so easy.
User99
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
My best PowerPoint for Mac presentation
I have no doubt about my best Powerpoint presentation. When my best friend graduated his medical residency after 9 years training, I used Powerpoint to augment my speech. While others spoke briefly, I not only not only congratulated him, but used hilarious photos and video to roast him too. With the multimedia presentation, I literally had the audience falling out of their seats laughing. More importantly, I gave my friend and his wife a great memory to take with them as they moved >2500 miles away. I still smile thinking about it. My PowerPoint for Mac made it so easy.
tljdesign
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
PowerPoint earned me an internship offer from the director of a $600 million facility...
Our university (Lee University) has a partnership with a $600 million pharmaceutical facility and sends student teams each semester to improve the manufacturing processes in this facility in Cleveland, TN as a immersive learning experience. Our team worked specificially with one of eighteen of the manufacturing lines in this facility, and presented improvements that saved the company more than $5 million per year.
We presented our research and solution to a panel including the director of the facility, his support staff, and our professor (an ex-VP for Toyota). PowerPoint gave me, the presentation coordinator and designer, the tools to create a highly animated, intuitive presentation that literally blew the audience away. The team leader and myself highly praised after the presentation by all who were present, were offered high-paying internships at the facility, won favor from the professor in classes to come, and earned recognition throughout the school for our success with this project.
Needless to say we made a A+ on the project, in the class, and in classes to come. After this presentation, I received countless emails from other student teams willing to pay me to coordinate their PowerPoint-driven presentations. So, in the end, one really well done and intuitive presentation earned me a great internship offer, a priceless recommendation letter for graduate school, and food money to work with student teams. All invaluable resources for an undergrate student.
Thanks for letting me brag on my big PowerPoint win!
TJMSr
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Enjoyed using Powerpoint better than Keynote
I have always been a Microsoft Office user; although it took me sometime to get used to gui changes of Office 2007 to Office 2008 for Mac, but I have enjoyed it so far, I honestly love the many options given rather than Keynote...
SLPatterson
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Cross-Platform Bliss
I had a critical PowerPoint presentation to do for work and started it on my PC in Office 2007. After a few hours and well past dinner time, I saved the presentation to my Dropbox account and after arriving home, opened the presentation on my iMac using Office 2008 for Mac.
I was delighted to see the presentation exactly as I had created it. I continued working on it for several hours that night and the next morning opened it back at work (in Windows 7) and presented a perfectly-formatted presentation to our executive team!
Love that cross-platform collaboration!
eberyvody
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Plain and simple...
I first used PowerPoint in computer class in the seventh grade. The assignment was simply to teach ourselves PowerPoint and to teach the class about any subject of our choice. Because I liked surfing and koala bears, I chose Australia. Eight years later I remember this day vividly, particularly how much fun my peers and I had creating the presentations and how proud I was (and am) of my presentation. I continue to use it throughout my academic career, and even outside of it, helping my parents perfect their own presentations for lectures and the like. Whenever I get frustrated with the program, I just think about how much fun I had with the program in junior high, and remind myself that if I could make a quality presentation then, I can definitely make one now! PowerPoint was kind of a gateway program for me--I can now use Final Cut Pro and the Adobe Creative Suites! I'm certain that a new MacBook would provide the perfect avenue for PowerPoint and I to rekindle the passion that once sparked our relationship nearly a decade ago.
Frogleg311
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
A First time for Everything!
I am Finance and IT Manager and I have a presentation with all my employee's every month to go over company figures and goals. We have been having the company meetings every month for the last two years. Back in March of 2010 I went to pull out my laptop (PC) and boot up the presentation. Nothing was going right that day and my laptop was suffering from a bad hard drive apparently. Thankfully I had emailed myself a copy of the presentation and a co-worked stated I could use his MacBook for the presentation. I have been a PC user all my life and was fearful that this would be a disastrous presentation since I have never used a Mac before. Within minutes I had the Macbook running the presentation flawlessly on PowerPoint for Mac 2008. My co-worker and his Mac were true saviors that day and I am happy to announce I had a great first time experience with PowerPoint for Mac. My current laptop is on it's last legs even though I put in a new hard drive. I'd love to be the owner of a new Macbook so I can continue to make great presentations for my employees!
Rasputin99
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
PowerPoint at Trial
Two years ago I had a civil jury trial against two individuals who were accused of engaging in insider trading. Much of the evidence was circumstantial. For my closing argument, I created a Powerpoint presentation on my Mac which tied to getter all the key evidence. With Powerpoint, I created a timeline slide showing what the defendants did in the week leading up to the sale of their securities, including key meetings and events whre one defendant was exposed or had opportunity to obtain confidential company information. Also, I created a chart on Powerpoint of stock price and volume and time which highlighted how the defendants sold all their stock right before the stock tanked after the public learned the company bad news that the defendants already had. I also used Powerpoint slides to highlight again to the jury phone records showing the defendants calling each other several times right before the stock sales. In a jury trial, visual evidence is powerful and using Powerpoint at closing is a highly effective way to tie key evidence together and make an effective argument to the jury. My closing was successful and the defendants were found liable on on counts. Every trial attorney should consider using Powerpoint in making both an opening argument and closing argument to a jury.
space
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
Best PowerPoint ever
My best PowerPoint was just the other day...
I tried to email a PPT to my aunt, she didn't have MS Office on her Mac and couldn't open the file to view it.
I went looking for a standalone PPT viewer, took quite awhile but the only one I found was for OS 9 (!?!?).
I could have had her use the MS Office Trial, but once that expires it's not a real solution anymore, is it?
My aunt really wanted to see this PPT, she's out of work and not gonna go drop big $$$ just for MS Office, and she couldn't view the file no matter what I tried because there is no free PPT viewer that works... Grr.
Oh wait, yes there is... I had her install OpenOffice, and only then was she able to view the PowerPoint
netricate
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
When email fails, powerpoint prevails!
I'd been trying in vain to convince our corporate overlords to give us the money and resources to rebuild our websites. Spreadsheets, conference calls and email chains over the course of months did little to show them that we were falling behind.
I had to try a new approach. I created a visual masterpiece, complete with video, animation and enough lolcats to cover all my bases.
At last, in a shining moment of corporate rags-to-riches, my presentation reached the eyes of the president of the company. He loved it and approved my entire resource plan.
I now sit atop one of the biggest departments in the company that's to a single ppt.
Metronome49
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
Saving Lives
I used PowerPoint for Mac to do presentation slides for a CPR training class I did, and the students said that it really helped them to grasp the procedure better and keep them involved with the material.
It was so easy to put everything together even for someone with not a lot of experience like me, and the response was overwhelming. It made feel so much more professional.
The BEST part is, one of the students from that class went on to save someone's life with the information from the presentation that I gave! How awesome is that! When the information is that important, I'm glad I used PowerPoint for Mac.
resmungo
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
Board of Regants
At my last position I had the monthly task of setting up the Powerpoint for the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents meeting. Powerpoint and a bluetooth clicker worked very well. The interface for the projector was pretty hit or miss, however, so that was where most of the support was required. There was one time when I needed to include some video but the only program I could get it to play in was VLC but that only happened once.
nogreenworld
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
rehearsal dinner
my best powerpoint goes way back to 2001. my (now wife, but at the time) fiancee and i were finishing up our respective schooling.
we were financing most of our wedding ourselves. while i wanted to give her something wonderful and special as a wedding gift, money was--obviously--tight. we were squeaking it all together with our jobs and by being extra frugal with our student loan monies...anywhere we could hang on to a few extra bucks.
covertly, i started rummaging through old pictures and scanning them. i then created a slide show that followed pictures of her and myself from birth, growing up with our respective families, and then through when we met. i was able to put it all together in powerpoint on my trusty PowerMac 7200, using custom transitions, some for for visual interest and some for humor (an animated arrow to point out a young me in the background of a photo being, shall we say, a bit less than couth). I was able to sync it up to two songs that were very special to us: the first was one that we both liked from being younger, and then at the point in the slideshow where it got to the two of us together, it switched to the song we had picked for our first dance.
at our rehearsal dinner, we were in the back room of a small local restaurant. i had called ahead to make sure they had a tv there that we could use. we had the dinner, people made toasts, and then i announced that i had something to share. with the help of one of AV guys from school, i was able to figure out a way to rig up the presentation to play on their tv, and had gotten in early to set it up. the tv was part of the room setup, so no one even noticed until i turned it on.
it worked perfectly. it captured the wonder and excitement of that timeframe perfectly. it helped me say--in a way that i likely could not have said with words--what a great journey had shared already, and it created that sense of endless potential for the future, of hope, of love. my wife was completely surprised. i think i may have watched her watching it more that night than i did the presentation (i had watched it a lot getting everything perfect ahead of time). everyone was suprised, i got tons of compliments. there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
now it's almost 10 years later, we're happily married, with a daughter, and that powerpoint presentation (now converted to a newer powerpoint version) is still one of our favorite mementos that we have from our wedding. it's better than any jewelry i could have bought, better than any card i could have written, better than any toast i've ever given. it was perfect.
remember a lot of my powerpoint presentations, most pretty well. but i remember this one, nearly a decade later, perfectly. and every time i think of it or watch it, i am excited, i am happy, i feel lucky and i feel that same sense of potential that i felt that day.
thanks, powerpoint.
y2kemo
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
PowerPoint in a 5th Grade Classroom
When I taught fifth grade math I needed a way to engage students. I didn't know flash at the time so I used what was available...PowerPoint. So, midway through my first year I created the following PPTs (http://web.uncg.edu/dcl/user_temp/chrisdunst/files.htm). My students loved 'em. They loved being able to control the slides and watch math come to life.
weizzmann
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
One PowerPoint to Rule Them All
This summer has been surreal. I am studying the natural sciences in the Black Hills of South Dakota and am picking up a new extreme sport-- freebording. Snowboarding on paved hills during the summer with a specialized board is any snowboarder's dream... until you fall and the pavement isn't as forgiving as Colorado's cool fresh powder. My good friend and I have piles of video footage of great falls, and have compiled it into an action packed short clip.
When it came time to create my anatomy presentation, freebording instantly came to mind. The sport involves countless movements and intricate combinations of muscle contractions. It was the perfect topic, and PowerPoint was the perfect medium for the multimedia that would drive the message home.
After working through the specific anatomic movements, I set out to create the presentation. I embedded video, used slide transitions, and highlighted specific points. I practiced the presentation using the built in presentation tools, and when it came time to deliver the presentation, the class was in awe. Needless to say, the professor approved! When I received my final grade, she had written at the top of the page, "98%, One PowerPoint to Rule Them All."
JoeBin
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
Power Point Compatibility!
It wasn't as much the content of the Power Point presentation that made it the best Power Point presentation ever.... I had put together Power Points on my MacBook to run for a leadership conference in Egypt a few months ago. Problem was when I got there that I forgot my VGA adapter to hook up my MacBook to a projector.
With no time left to find an Apple Store or any store to buy an adapter to present my Power Point from the MacBook, I dumped my Power Points onto a thumb drive and gave it to the media guy running all the videos for the conference. Although the man didn't believe that my Mac-made Power Point would work on his Dell laptop, he plugged it into his USB and presto! It worked like a charm! My presentation on the other side of the world went as smooth as butter.
Thanks to the built-compatibility, my best Power Point Presentation for Mac ended up being the best one ever pulled off on a PC.
frafoso
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
Something never done before
Just about a month ago I was struggling to make a visual aid for the presentation of my final project. Everyone was making really cool models of the book they were assigned and some even real -life sized models of the characters. Added to this, I was the last one to present, so I needed something extremely amazing to get a good grade. I decided to use the powers of Powerpoint.
What I did left everyone mouths-open. I started to create anaglyph images that would explain the story of my book, in 3D. I handed everyone glasses, and as I presented, they could see the characters talking and the background coming to life, again- in 3D! Together with the amazing transitions and sound effects, I was the only one who got the audience paying attention the whole presentation, and learning about the book.
It was an amazing experience. My best presentation got me a 102% out of a 0-100% limit. 102% for my final grade!! The best presentation made on my mac which ended its life last week Still, Powerpoint made me shine!
bioadam
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
A winning case
In law school I ran a power point presentation for a mock jury. This not being a real court room, I took some liberties. I had pictures of the defendant, a recreation of the crime scene, and a ticking timer to show the jury how long 15 seconds can really be. The mock jury loved it and acquitted my mock defendant. I also got an A!
sirtophamhatt
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
PowerPoint for 2492 Miles
In sixth grade, my science teacher wanted to enter my class into a competition hosted by Alaskan Airlines. The competition was to create a presentation on Seattle's history and culture, and the winner would receive a free trip from Boston to Seattle for a week. For four months, my classmates and I stayed after school researching anything involving Seattle and pieced together slides in Microsoft's PowerPoint. On the day the presentations were to be held, we learned that the official rules stated that only students in grades seven through nine could enter.
Although we weren't old enough according to the rules, we showcased our PowerPoint to a panel of judges, which included a retired Celtics player. We had all dressed up as different Seattle icons, myself dressing up as Nintendo's mascot Mario. It was really fun and everyone was optimistic; the judges were impressed with our slideshow, saying that it had been much better than the presentations created by the older students.
We ended up winning the competition, and because my class was so small, we extended our prize to students at another high school who came in second. We all went to Seattle and visiting Boeing, The Experience Music Project, the Seattle Space Needle, the islands in Lake Olympia, and many museums and historical sites. All of us came from poor, urban families and could never imagine being able to fly so far away and experience the offerings of a city on the opposite side of the US.
The trip to Seattle was the best thing that I have ever won and remains one of the best trips I have ever taken. Even if I don't win, I'd like to thank Microsoft's PowerPoint for making it possible. The stories I'm able to tell because of this trip has helped me get jobs, into after school programs and even into college. Thank you Microsoft and PowerPoint.
neeqi
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
Pop and Lock
The best PowerPoint for Mac presentation I have ever made may quite possibly be the best presentation ever! It was awesome! It happened about two years ago ::insert dream sequence music here:: Back in college I was a Journalism major and Music Management minor so I always incorporated music into all of my papers and presentations. One time I had to write a 15 page paper and PowerPoint on the history of Hip-Hop. Every once in a while when I needed a second to gather my thoughts or to switch my set of notes,I would switch to a slide where I had a bouncing stereo jumping up and down and "Rapper's Delight" playing. I didn't have time to discuss all of the aspects of Hip-Hop so to incorporate dance without having to talk about it, I created a character (10 of the same character each with a different arm movement) so that every time I added a new element, it appeared that the character was pop locking and pointing to the new element! It took 10 hours to make but it was brilliant! I made the only A in the class and got a standing ovation
jtomkiw
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
No lie
I had a new client presentation to reveal our findings for a proposed campaign. Put together a PPT on the mac and brought the client in. The client literally oohed and ahhed from slide to slide. Was it the content? Or the template? Perhaps a little of both?
justin_Sullivan
Jul 23, 2010
10:26am
Memories of a Loved One
I was attending the University of Wisconsin Stout, now a polytechnic university where they have a laptop program that provides a laptop with Microsoft Office to each and every student. When the matron of our family, my grandmother, passed in 2008 I created a unique gift to present at her funeral to friends and family. I was able to create a slide show of her many cherished photos and also attached a soundtrack of her favorite songs using MS Office Powerpoint. We scanned a whole bunch of photos and organized them into an elegant power point. I then uploaded about 12 of her favorite songs and included them with the slide show. BEAUTIFUL!! I was able to burn the powerpoint to a CD, attached a label bearing her picture, and included the music on the other side, making a hybrid disc. We saved money from the cost of a similar service provided through the funeral home and we were able to send a copy of the disc along with anyone and everyone who wanted one. My other family members were very impressed with the quality and very appreciative of my effort. A+ all around.
DRTigerlilly
Jul 23, 2010
10:51am
Rainbows everywhere!
I had a presentation to do for epidemiology that used a kind of chart that was visually represented as a rainbow, I decided to go all out my theme "Somewhere over the rainbow" I included a folksy modern version of the song "over the rainbow" as the lead in, made our "rainbows" 3d & animated. Even designed a custom template for the slides with yes you guessed it rainbows. Don't worry the slides were a sky blue with clouds, nothing gaudy or distracting, and as we rolled the credits at the end of our presentation, we queued up again as the outro "somewhere over the rainbow" (All built into the presentation)
We didn't get the highest mark in the class, but it was the most memorable, everybody loved it! Including our professor who said it was the most creative presentation she'd ever had done for the class.
keyrm
Jul 23, 2010
10:51am
Best Powerpoint Presentation
My best Powerpoint was for my driver's education class in high school. I used custom animation to explain the different concepts of ways to save gas (showing three cars going different speeds from a stop, running all your errands at once, ect.). My teacher was so impressed with the Powerpoint that he has continued to show it to every class since I've graduated!
ramman345hp
Jul 23, 2010
10:51am
Best PowerPoint Presentation
When I was in High School I was a real geek and I loved to use PowerPoint. We didn't have any projectors, so I would borrow a 17" CRT monitor from our lab, set it up on a desk at the front of the room (small class), and run my presentation off my laptop (or sometimes a tower PC that I lugged in too!).
tenksxc
Jul 23, 2010
11:53am
Mac + PowerPoint Epic Win
In college, I took a business communication class and one of the core topics was creating relevant and meaningful PowerPoint presentations. The whole class was required to pick a topic and stand in front of the class to present. The day of presentations, the Windows computer hooked up to the projector kept crashing. After about 10 minutes the teacher gave up. He said we'd have to come in to another class time to present. Moans and groans a plenty, but I had my trusty Powerbook G4 on hand with Office 2004 equipped! I hooked it up to the projector and the class was up and running their presentations. Not only did I get an A for my PowerPoint presentation, but I received bonus credit towards the class due to my Mac loaded with PowerPoint. I have loved both ever since!
Kacey3
Jul 23, 2010
11:53am
A Most Impressive Video Wall
I will try to make this as quick as possible, but this was a really great project and I am still welled up with pride over the result.
I work at a Visual Arts college and manage the main computer lab for the school. Attached to our computer lab were a couple of display cases, that in recent years, have gone into a state of disuse. The shelves were broken, any artwork that was put on display in there was of mediocre quality and was usually left to slowly fall apart over the span of far too many months. An associate Dean decided it was time to revamp the display cases. He envisioned a digital display wall where artwork would rotate more frequently and the content would be more dynamic. With no plan on how to realize this dream, he bought four 55" flat screen TV's and four Mac Minis to mount in the display cases, with the thought that something surely could be thrown together to make a digital display out of all that equipment.
It fell to me to make it all work, of course. Admittedly, I started my plans with Keynote, thinking that it was a native Apple product, it would be more AppleScript friendly than PowerPoint. I quickly learned that to be a false assumption and restarted my project with PowerPoint.
My plan was to make the system as simple to maintain as possible, while still encouraging frequent and constant rotation of media content. Using AppleScript and PowerPoint, I was able to build an application that loads and and all images out of a network share and compiles them into a full PowerPoint slideshow, all automatically. In addition, the system is able to read any included text files from the network share, and create custom footer text for the slides in the show. Upon completion of building the slideshow, the system then runs the slideshow on infinite loop until the next night, when at 3am, it starts the process all over again.
All my departmental admins have to do is collect images, compose footer files, and throw them on the network share. It's so simple, I couldn't have done it without PowerPoint's powerful scripting integration. You made a far better product than Apple for their own OS and without it, I would not have this fabulous project under my belt. Every day I walk past those displays, I'm reminded of how much I enjoyed putting them all together and providing to our student body a new way to present and view the work being created here in the college.
I started using PowerPoint in the late 1990s at a county hospital, where I worked with doctors and nurses to create educational programs for the public, as well as continuing education programs for staff. I'd use a film printer to expose slide film, and take them to the photo lab for processing. In 18 months, I made over 10,000 35mm slides with PowerPoint.
I moved into the world of construction management, and used PowerPoint to create sales presentations that netted the company for which I worked over $4 billion in construction contracts, including airports, convention centers, NFL and MLB stadiums, NBA and NHL arenas, hospitals, schools, and hotels.
Now I'm a freelance designer and animator, and I use PowerPoint as a living storyboard for the children's cartoons I produce, starting with scanned sketches and notes, then replacing the sketches with finished artwork as it progresses.
The point is this: PowerPoint is flexible enough to do almost anything I need to do, and is the only application that approaches Photoshop or Illustrator as the one I spend the most time in.
pplover
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
PowerPoing + Mac = Job
For presentations i always use Powerpoint on my Mac or PC. The last presentation was for an application. I made such a nice wonderful presentation, everybody was astonished. Result? I got the job. Thanks Powerpoint.
velvetduke
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
Sauciest PPT Ever
Transitions, Picture Formatting, Widescreen ration, it was a powerpoint presentation for my hospitality management course. It was graphically beautiful and tasty. I had the opportunity to interview the owner of the best food truck business in america: Marination Mobile. Probably one of the most visual powerpoints I'd ever created because the online resources were great and it was about a great food - Korean/Hawaiian.
geode
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
Best Powerpoint Presentation Ever! Really!
My best PowerPoint presentation was one I worked on for several weeks to get timing, animation, embedded video and remote control to be perfect.
It was a presentation on how to deliver an effective presentation, and the intent was to illustrate each point by presenting it the way I was teaching it.
The audience comprised about 50 entrepreneurs whose new ventures were in various stages but had capital-raising in common.
I was given kudos after the presentation, but the most satisfying result was that several of the entrepreneurs placed (and won) in subsequent business plan and pitch competitions!
Thanks for a great product!
eyeless916
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
A Way to Share a Friends Memory
I wish it was for a happier even like a project or a vacation but it was a powerpoint presentation I did for a friend who had passed away. With the help of another friend we were able to put together a powerpoint show that shared all of the our friends memories with the entire capitol family (we work at the CA state Legislature).
I thought at first it would be kind of lame, my first instinct was to just use apples iphoto, but when i saw how limited it was i opted for powerpoint. The powerpoint show ended up being shown in the California State Capitol, The Los Angeles City Hall, and in the Philippines with her family. It ended up being the greatest gift i could give her family and friends. Everyone asked for a copy so they could remember her.
Her family later thanked us and said that was the best thing anyone could have done.
RayGu303
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
My awesome PowerPoint!
Back when I was in high school some years back, I needed to do a PP presentation for one of my ROTC Class, I started off by doing it on PP 2000 for Windows 2000, but it looked to boring and stale. So I then transferred the presentation to Office 2001 for Mac OS, It had way better slides and templates than its PC counterpart. Needless to say I passed my part of the inspection. PP for mac saved my high school life. Now I currently have Office 2004 still running on my 5 Year-old Mac Mini G4.
AlyssaSkywalker
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
Winning
I always feared public speaking since I assumed I wasn't any good at it. For my Business Communication class, we had to select a charity and pretend we were presenting to a charity foundation. I ended up doing well on the presentation, my facts and figures were great and helped people understand just how much the American Red Cross could help. However, when it was time for others to present, their PCs were having problems with the projector. The other six students in the room had to transfer their PowerPoint presentations to a flashdrive and use my Mac. I ended up getting an A and after the compliments from my other students and their thanks for letting them use the Mac, I ended up earning an A in the class since I definitely felt more confident than before.
ninja9
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
PowerPoint around the world.
I used PowerPoint at work every day—literally every document we produced as a company was in PowerPoint. Then, one day, I quit to travel the world for a year. When I came back, everyone from my former work asked to see pictures from the trip, but the trip was so much more than pictures. It was about the journey, the experience, the stories.
So, I put together a PowerPoint presentation. A slide for each unforgettable story.
That was the best PowerPoint presentation I've ever made.
awesomeal
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
I LOVE POWERPOINT!
The best PowerPoint presentation I ever made was the one for my boyfriend as a birthday card. There was a really funny commercial we both liked, so I downloaded the music from the commercial, re-created, and personalized the commercial just for him. He loved it (and now we're married... maybe not because of PowerPoint... but it helped).
I love PowerPoint and I love Mac. The perfect match.
Jason Lin
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
PowerPoint in Hospital
I'm a student of medical college.Once in 2009, a consultant in hospital want us to do a presentation about Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. With the help of PowerPoint, I made a successful presentation about the therapeutic strategy for Ph+, which means Philadelphia Chromosome positive, leukemia patient.
There are a lot of pictures, animations, videos and data tables in my presentation. Thanks to all these fantastic features of PowerPoint for Mac, my presentation earn me a great honor from the consultant.
BKkla
Jul 26, 2010
9:16am
100 000 uses for a vuvuzella
Hey. After the 2010 FIFA world cup I realised that South Africa's infamous vuvuzella actually has some post world cup uses. I call this presentation 100 000 uses for a retired vuvuzella. It mentions uses from obstacle courses, to alien dress up, to party hat. The sky is the limit. Be creative. So even if you're not a one for irritating noises, the vuvzella has many (quiet and peaceful) uses. I think it could be fun! And not just is the vuvuzella not bored anymore from the end of the world cup, but you aren't too.
Shiroiko
Jul 26, 2010
9:16am
The best PowerPoint that wasn't, in the end, a PowerPoint
It was earlier in 2010 and I was putting together the video component for my Masters thesis in Education Media Design and Technology. I had desperately wanted animations for the video, a 15 minute explanation of my thesis topic, but I didn't have remotely enough skills in Flash to put them together as I had envisioned.
Enter PowerPoint.
I remembered that PowerPoint had the capability to do simple animations. If I could use them carefully it might just look like much more complicated animation.
My experiment was a fabulous success. Putting together the animations was quite simple and they looked exactly an I had envisioned in my head, which I hadn't thought would be possible when I first began the project. The final product looked polished and professional and, more importantly, my thesis video was given high marks!
Here's the links to the video if anyone's curious (my favorite PowerPoint animation is in the second video at the 2:14 minute mark)
So my PowerPoint for Mac story goes like this - wait, I must however warn you that it may be heartfelt, a tear may come to your eye, you may smile and reminisce, or go and grab your spouse for a long embrace.
Love is a strange thing, I personally have found love myself yet this story is not about my love. It is about the love shared by my Father & Step Mother that I tried my best to portray.
Growing up in a situation when your parents break ties and split can be tough for some, yet I believe the most difficult thing is considering how or if your parents will ever again find true love. Yet, when they find it - you know it is true.
My father met an acquaintance of one of his close friends, and from the beginning they both knew it would last forever. After a long 7+ year journey together they finally decided for better or worse they would tie the knot.
Myself, and my two brothers are very close to my father and to make his special day even more special he asked my all of us to stand up next to him as he takes this step into a new part of his life. We graciously agreed, particularly I was asked to be the Best Man in the wedding party. Of course I followed through with all the typically assistance (bachelor party, etc. etc.), however my brothers and I wanted to take it one step further. We truly wanted to show how we saw and accepted my father's new found love, happiness, relationship and partner. This is important to us, because for many years we understood how difficult he must have found it to believe he would find love again.
Together we gathered images and stories from one another and generated a long PowerPoint presentation which was shown during the reception after the ceremony. It brought many to tears of joy, myself included. It truly allowed all of us as a family come closer together as we all felt that this new found love and happiness was more than we could ever ask for.
I no longer have the PowerPoint presentation (due to hard drive failure) otherwise I would put a copy online for viewing. But it was nearly 75 slides and images ranged from ones early in their relationship, to their travels around the world, loving family photos from the large Thanksgiving they host every year.
Well that is my story, I would love a chance to win this prize and I hope that sheds some light into one of my uses of PowerPoint.
Best of luck and good wishes to the other contestants!
jonwaite
Jul 26, 2010
9:16am
PowerPoint Saves the Day!
At a recent conference in Atlanta, I was asked to facilitate an online presentation by a producer who was, unfortunately, on location in Los Angeles. We had talked briefly before I arrived in Atlanta about what kind of presentation we would be delivering, and it was agreed on that we would combine a Skype call with a number of PowerPoint presentations. Together, we created two presentations overnight, one being a Jeopardy-style Q&A board. I used a template that I had saved from my teaching days and he adapted it to look spectacular, and we used it during the live conference session. It was a smash hit! The audience really got involved and it gave the producer a great opportunity to expand on many of the points in the presentation. Thanks PowerPoint!
NC
Jul 26, 2010
9:18am
My most memorable PP presentation
My most memorable PowerPoint presentation was made during my first jury trial. It was a relatively routine car wreck case, but with it being my first trial and all, I went all out. I paraded 360 degree panoramas of the accident scene, pictures of the wreck, and even physical remnants of my client's car. I wrapped up my closing with a PowerPoint presentation tying all of my evidence together. While the jury was deliberating, the case ended up settling (which technically robbed me of a W...) When I was on my way out of the courthouse, a juror came up to me and asked what kind of computer I was using to "do all my fancy tricks." He told me that he had never seen such a nice PC. I told him that it was one of the new Unibody Macbook Pros. After pausing for a few moments with a genuinely puzzled look on his face, he asked if I was running Windows on it. When I told him that I was not running Windows, he asked if I was using Keynote during my presentation. I told him that I was not using Keynote, but rather good old PowerPoint. At that point, he threw his head back a little, and asked, "they have Office for the Mac?"
mnmjr1981
Jul 26, 2010
9:18am
Powerpoint for Work
One of the best things about Powerpoint for Mac is that it allows me to work in my preffered OS environment at home, but still bring it to my Windows based worplace. We were given a six month long training program last year, once a month with a presentation due at the end of the six months. I was able to to put together a project on my mac, and take it to work and run the presentation without a hitch.
charlieabbottuk
Jul 26, 2010
9:18am
Its all about the culture
I work for a UK company that has recently merged with a US organisation. It is always difficult for both sides to understand each sites mentality and so at a recent staff meeting I was asked to present the results of our World Cup Competition so that visiting dignitaries from the US would gain an insight into the culture. Well the guy that won really milked it and everyone didn't want him to win so rather than celebrate his success I put a presentation together that highlighted how disappointed everyone else was. This included a movie montage of staff crying, ranting, swallowing bottles of pills and even included a video from his US based boss holding his head in his hands.
As if this wasn't enough I also pieced together some comments from the England team saying how disappointed they all where along with a clip from Maradona whose speech had some funny subtitles added by me.
It all went down really well and the US staff got to see that while we do celebrate our successes we don't take ourselves too seriously.
ryan010101
Jul 26, 2010
9:18am
Powerful experience
I was assisting for a ritual hook pull ceremony, and delivered a powerpoint presentation showing pictures and videos, and providing information on Native American traditions of hook pulls and contemporary adaptations of the practice. Fun and informative, and followed by a real hook pull, which was a moving experience for all involved!
DSB
Jul 26, 2010
2:59pm
PowerPoint -- Back From The Dead
As a professor, I am the tech guy in my department in Psychology at a community college. Over the years, I have run workshops for colleagues helping them to upgrade their skills using Office. My colleagues use both Mac and PC platforms.
In the past, I have been very critical of using static PowerPoint slides and usually referred to the enterprise as "death by PowerPoint".
NOW times are different! With the newest MS Office for Mac and PC, I encourage my colleagues to use PowerPoint by integrating audio/visual materials provided by the textbook publishers. These materials may, in fact, include static text slides, but also audio and video files. I have shown the professors how to upgrade the static slides so that every presentation now brings the field of Psychology to life. No more "death by PowerPoint" -- now brightly moving talking a/v slides bringing the subject matter to life and keeping the students awake.
Thanks MS and Mactopia.
roman411
Jul 26, 2010
2:59pm
Mac PPT Is Absolutely My Friend
My story is quite basic.
1 presentation. 5 slides. 60 seconds.
Mac PowerPoint helped me get through grad school by letting me create a quick, easy, and beautifully graphic presentation. Worked like a charm. I sure did talk extremely fast but it was great. Landed me an A grade for the course.
ahbiteme
Jul 27, 2010
10:18am
Wowed some Psychology undergraduates
I'm a University lecturer in Sydney, Australia. I'm a Mac user and usually plug my laptop into the lectern to give my lectures, but due to some technical limitations at the Uni this semester, I have been unable to do so.
I take great pride in making presentations that "wow" my students, rather than just putting lots of words on a screen. I use lots of animations and transitions and get loads of comments every semester from the students.
When I couldn't use my Mac to give a lecture, I had to use the PCs built into the lectern. Fortunately, the compatibility between the PC and Mac versions of Powerpoint has improved out of sight over the last few versions and my presentations worked perfectly in front of 650 students in two separate lecture theatres simultaneously (hence the technical limitations!)
Thanks for a program that's intuitive, easy to use, powerful and beautiful. I know I'm outside of the US and can't win, but I thought I'd share the story anyway.
TheBrokenSound10
Jul 27, 2010
10:18am
Re: Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
I'm about to go into my third year at Grammar School, and my best presentation I had done was during a 'history competition' on James I. We had to explain a story in any form, so I chose to tell the story in a powerpoint form.
I spent around 2 hours working on it, and when I was presenting it, what surprised me the most was the audiences' reactions!
My teacher told me to save it to her memory stick so she could create copies to give out for her next year's students, and use it as a starter example to view on the interactive whiteboards to gather basic information. She said my use of information was presented in a fun and exciting way.
My classmates also said that it was like being in a cinema watching a trailer, I quote 'I'm surprised it didn't say 'appearing in cinemas 2011'.'
I won the competition, and my powerpoint is being used as a school history presentation. My history teacher now requests to view most of my powerpoints, even if it's not relevent to history, and has told other teachers about my work. For certain lessons I am incharge of creating powerpoints in English, Science, Art, ICT and D.T, all thanks to that one powerpoint.
I enjoy making them, but the laptop I currently have tends to freeze, and I am looking for a new one to improve school work and personal useage.
Also, with a macbook, iMovieMaker is a software which I enjoy using regulary (borrowing a macbook of a member of my family, who gets annoyed with that idea,) and would like to own one to improve my skills and knowledge about media and ICT.
greyarea
Jul 27, 2010
1:54pm
New stuff
I recall back in '96 or so my boss was mainly using Powerpoint to create slides that would be made into actual film slides: sent to a developer and a slide projector would show them. I was the computer whiz in the office so I would be enlisted to help modify the sides for particular clients. We spent all night editing and adding slides and missed the deadline for getting them developed, so we used a projector for the computer, for the first time, and did the presentation that way. From then on no more film slides were made, because the ease of use and ability to change or add things last minute without worrying about a developer made my boss into a convert.
Rawjrdawgr
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
That's Our Product?
I was a presentation designer for market research company our of Mill Valley several years ago. I had created a dynamic PowerPoint presentation for one of our moderators who delivered it to a stadium audience on one of Microsoft's newer products. Everyone, but Bill Gates, was in the audience intently listening to presentation when someone from the audience piped up in the middle of his briefing to ask what software we were using to present to them? "Why it is your product, PowerPoint" our presenter expressed to the audience. Later, they approached our speaker to state that our graphically-rich presentation didn't look like one of their PowerPoints. Isn't that the benefit of having a great package to let you do something more powerful with it?
ugacdawg
Aug 09, 2010
12:57pm
Out of India
In 2006, my wife and I decided to try and adopt a child from India. We wanted an older child who had less of a chance of getting adopted. We worked through an agency and were able to select Shormila to bring over. We were told the process would take a while but in fact everything seemed to be fast-tracked - until we hit a snag and the judge in India told us that he would not let her come over because we already had three children. We went to work hiring an attorney in India and appealing the decision several times and through two different judges in the appeals court.
I built a presentation of our case in PowerPoint for the Mac to show why it was in Shormila's best interest to come to the United States and live and sent it to our attorney to use in court. He used it in our final appellate hearing and for a variety of reasons they finally allowed Shormila to come.
She has been here for three years now and is headed into the 8th grade. That Powerpoint presentation was the most important of my life because it changed completely the life of another human being.
If we are luck enough to win the laptop then we'll share it with the kids in the family and hopefully they too will get a chance to create a life-changing presentation!
Kevin Brennan
Jul 22, 2010
12:16pm
Re: Contest Question #3: Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
I frequently speak at conferences, so Office for Mac is vital in ensuring that my presentations are compatible with the equipment they have there (which usually involves working on a Windows PC). The last such presentation I gave was in Japan, with a translator telling the crowd what I was saying. Preparing the presentation in advance in PowerPoint enabled them to translate and distribute the materials to the audience in advance to ensure that they would be able to follow me.
ttaylor
Jul 22, 2010
12:16pm
Re: Contest Question #3: Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
I presented the iPhone app I had developed for my organization at a staff meeting this spring with PowerPoint and quickly switched to the iPhone simulator to do demos. The PowerPoint was then put on our Intranet for remote and field workers.
Nate3333
Jul 22, 2010
12:16pm
Best Powerpoint for Mac presentatio
I did a presentation in university on the Auto industry and got an A+ on the report. What made the presentation so good was my use of video and audio in the presentation.
oranjeguice
Jul 22, 2010
12:16pm
Calendar Design
SO! For a Graphic Design class I was taking, we had to make out own calendars. I ended up making a sweet velcro-based customizable calendar. A+ work!
However, I needed to present my project to the class. Some of my classmates like using InDesign for their presentations, but I prefer Powerpoint.
In my presentation, I laid out everything I did for the project: sketches, roughs, comps, etc. I also had filmed a video of people messing around with the calendar and arranging the dates to however they pleased.
I put this video in my presentation, along with that one silly song from Benny Hill...hahaha. It was a blast! People loved it! And thanks to the tools which allowed me to present my project, the whole thing was a great success.
bdig85
Jul 22, 2010
1:50pm
A Psychology Presentation
Last year, I had to do a Psychology presentation about dreams for a final project. Anyone who got an A in the class was exempt from the final exam. I had a high B, so I was determined to do well on the project. After doing my research, I used PowerPoint to put together a short but sweet presentation to arrange my findings.
I took full advantage of the animations, my favorite one being a sleeping, snoring man with Zs drifting above his head. Each slide had animated text, transitions, and plenty of sound effects. I even planted a link to my Live Journal account (where I had kept a personal dream diary) on one of the slides for easy access. My professor and classmates were impressed with my presentation and I got an A, which pushed my grade to an A. Thanks to PowerPoint, I didn't have to take the final!
grooms
Jul 22, 2010
1:50pm
PowerPoint
Probably my best PowerPoint presentation wasn't just mine—for our church leadership offsite, I collected presentation info from all of our ministry areas, using PowerPoint to create a standard, creative, engaging format for each. It's so much easier to be on the same page when we have consistent, attractive PowerPoint decks!
jgcarey
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
Got the point!!!
I am working with some non-profits to suggest using solar PV to meet some of the renewable energy needs. Some things to understand about the utility folks - they have lots of data. They keep track of how much energy is needed every 5 minutes (yes that is for real!!). Okay, so I had the task of working with one years worth of data. Lucky for me - I only needed to work with the hourly data (8760 records, just if you were wondering). Here is the fun part - show that the sun shines when they need energy. Easy right - Oh don't forget - they need to SEE - what you created - so it can't be so small that they would need a telescope to read it!!!
Enter the Office 2008 - well thank goodness for the auto updates from the files, you see I was making some final changes, based upon comments, 30 minutes before the presentation.
They were then updated in my presentation.
So - at the end two of the board members said - "I get that we have the sun when we need it..."
Thanks...
resaxon
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
Seminar
I was doing a seminar recently on mentoring. I was able to use the smart art graphics to make a great and easy to understand visual representation of the various relationships I was discussing. It was easy to make it informative and easy to follow using Powerpoint for Mac!
derek8
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
A+
Powerpoint got me an A. Hands down.
Ajherrera
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
PowerPoint preso of Steve Jobs preso style... oh the irony!
In B-school I used PowerPoint to create a presentation of Steve Job's presentation style using a dark background (via a modified PP template), one line slides, eye popping graphics and some integrated YouTube vids. It was memorable because of the irony using an MS product to analyze the presentation styles of one of their biggest competitors. The preso blew everyone else's away. I crushed it.
Macintoshrocks
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
LLamas
My best, and most fun to make, PowerPoint was when i was in a Speech Class in High School, and i did a speech on LLamas. I Love llamas so this was an easy topic to do. I had over 20 pictures of llamas, and i talked about what to do if you ever owned one. The class loved the presentation, and i even got a good grade. An A+!
MacSig
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
PP for wed designer
I created rapid prototypes for the web apps I'm working on with PP and thanks to the animations PP comes with I can easily add the interactions I need to provide an accurate user experience. PP is a irreplaceable tool for me now.
bigmattyh
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
Tell us who you are
At my old firm, all new employees were asked to give a short PowerPoint presentation to introduce themselves to their new colleagues. Basically: tell us who you are. It was a chance to make a good first impression.
And no one likes a boring presentation. So I put together a short and sweet story, organized around photos and a video or two, all within the framework PowerPoint provides. The good first impression was made.
bigmattyh
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
Tell us who you are
At my old firm, all new employees were asked to give a short PowerPoint presentation to introduce themselves to their new colleagues. Basically: tell us who you are. It was a chance to make a good first impression.
And no one likes a boring presentation. So I put together a short and sweet story, organized around photos and a video or two, all within the framework PowerPoint provides. The good first impression was made.
Man
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
PROcrastinate
This was the final PowerPoint for my college career and it was also a big Senior Design presentation. The only problem is that it was not done. Not even the title and it was 30 minutes before we had to present.
Now it wasn't like we weren't prepared. Of course we knew all the formulas and paths and we followed a Visio Gantt chart all semester. It was just not put together.
So for the next 30 minutes we divided up our project into 6 parts among our 6 group members and fired up Powerpoint to bring what was in our heads (and in data form) to a presentation.
Quickly we saw time was up and we were 5 minutes late. We still needed pictures of our finished project, an Off-Road vehicle, so I grabbed my camera and took some shots and using Powerpoint 2010 I edit and cropped these pictures with amazing clarity and speed.
Final heading to class we found out since we were late we were last to present about 3 hours later. Yet we did not need to keep working on the slides while we waited because it came out great the first time.
phimmy
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
My first (and so far only) PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
I work in the marketing department for a Biotech company. In the summer of last year I used my friend's MBP to create a PP presentation for a meeting that was attended by some of the smartest minds in the world. Even though I finished college over 5 years ago this was the first PP presentation I ever had to make. I was a little worried at first because I never used PowerPoint at all, but the program turned out to be pretty easy to use and I finished my 35-slide presentation in about a week. What made this presentation special was that the CEO of my company (who probably never knew I existed) told my manager that I did a great job. Thinking about that compliment still makes me all warm inside.
jmoo
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
The Best Story (Will beg for Office and Macbook)
So a few years back in my 3rd year of business I did a presentation on branding, and I primarily based the entire thing on Maria Sharapova and her current Motorola contract. (Can you tell I'm a guy). I used beautiful pictures of Maria for the slides and nothing else. I kept everyone's attention, my delivery was solid and well planned and I ended up with an A. It wasn't like anyone else's and I do believe I got the right message out even though the pictures could be mesmerizing to some.
I had a person I haven't seen in two years bring that very presentation up in a convo at a gas station..lol..didn't know him well but he remembered it!!
fltechteach
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
For Presentations that Stand Out
I present a lot at academic conferences. Powerpoint is an essential tool that allows me to create professional-looking, attractive, and engaging presentations (and even posters). At a recent conference, a well known scholar in our field commended me on my slides and said she got a couple of pointers from me on how to create better presentations. Thanks Powerpoint for Mac!
chaosmint
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Renewable Energy Project Powerpoint
@officeformac Hi! I have used the powerful tool of Microsoft Powerpoint for Mac to create a presentation about unsustainability and how it can be solved by using renewable energy. I focused on visuals that were both emotionally relatable and informative, and Powerpoint's ease of use allowed me to focus on content, and not worrying about malfunctions. You can view the website about my project at:
True love: I made a very impressive power point presentation while in college. It was a presentation made to convince a girl to go on a date with me. The presentation worked and now we are married with children. 10 years later, I just finished another Power Point Presentation which was made to convince her not to leave me. Crazy, eh?
Brendan09
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
PowerPoint
I spent 3 weeks writing a great (fullscreen) program for a class in
high school. I had everything done, including the report with a full
set of screenshots for each screen of the application. The night
before the program had to be demonstrated in front of the class for a
grade, my harddrives died, forcing me to lose all of the code and the
finessed program. After careful thinking, I realized that the report
with screenshots was saved in my email! I pulled the screenshots out
and took a few hours to make a really elaborate mockup of the
application that looks and behaves (to the casual observer) like it
was really the program running! I had enough screenshots to even make
the menus feel functional. Since I was the one demoing the finished
program, i knew what I could push and how to make it convincing that
it was the real thing. So the next day I demonstrated it in class and
no one realized that it wasn't really a program. Without some of the
advanced features in PowerPoint, I'm not sure I could have pulled this
off! Anyways, this is probably my best PowerPoint moment ever...so
TaDa!
Man
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
PROcrastinate
This was the final PowerPoint for my college career and it was also a big Senior Design presentation. The only problem is that it was not done. Not even the title and it was 30 minutes before we had to present.
Now it wasn't like we weren't prepared. Of course we knew all the formulas and paths and we followed a Visio Gantt chart all semester. It was just not put together.
So for the next 30 minutes we divided up our project into 6 parts among our 6 group members and fired up Powerpoint to bring what was in our heads (and in data form) to a presentation.
Quickly we saw time was up and we were 5 minutes late. We still needed pictures of our finished project, an Off-Road vehicle, so I grabbed my camera and took some shots and using Powerpoint 2010 I edit and cropped these pictures with amazing clarity and speed.
Final heading to class we found out since we were late we were last to present about 3 hours later. Yet we did not need to keep working on the slides while we waited because it came out great the first time.
fuzzbinn
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
School Science Expo
Best PPT presentation I've ever made was for the School Science Expo. Was able to take second place - did an insane amount of animations, including several equations that rearranged themselves and proceeded to solve it, finishing with a custom artwork animation of the experiment itself - all done in Powerpoint. People were blown away, several asking when I learned how to animate with Flash.
randomgen45
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
Smooth as silk.
The best PowerPoint presentation I gave used cleaver uses of the transition and animation. I lined up the animation so well that you wouldn't even know that there were slides, let alone a PowerPoint presentation. That day, everyone in the audience was asking me how I made the video!
tyassine
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
Dull Meeting Made Fun
I took over a new position about a year and a half ago and had an initial meeting to set some expectations with my new team, and talk about some pretty boring stuff (ie. reading financials, etc). PowerPoint helped me make this fun - I made a Jeopardy type game, threw in some music and video and it made the day go much faster! The team really appreciated that I took a dry subject and made it fun and interesting.
nkc333
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
I hated macs
When I was a freshman in college I was an avid PC user. I lugged my giant pc laptop around from class to class and disdained macs. One summer at home I got into a heated debate with my mom about macs and pcs. She had recently gotten remarried to a fervent mac user. I created an entire power point about how I hated macs and how they were overpriced and just for trendy people.
A few years later, having completely forgotten about my powerpoint shenanigans I purchased my first macbook. Upon discovering this, my mom sent me a copy of the powerpoint that they had saved just in case. And of course, contrary to my claims in the presentation I was easily able to open the pc file from years back on my new macbook.
Now I'm in law school and happy with the 4 years I got out of my macbook, but I'm in need of a new one to use for my exams.
12thman
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Class Presentations
I use PowerPoint often for class presentations. Although I can't put videos in PowerPoint on the Mac and use them on the PCs at school, I use animations to illustrate points, use images to illustrate and refocus attention. My favorite one was on English articles where I illustrated a simple way to decide on how to use articles to non-English speakers. The technique doesn't work 100% of the time, but it does get through most tests.
derekbaseball
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
A-
Powerpoint (the Windows version, not Mac) helped me get an A- when I gave a presentation on telecommunications law. Since telecom law is often a very dry subject, I was glad I had good-looking slides to show my classmates.
Coldmedina
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
PowerPoint from space
My Museum was hosting a downlink from the international space station last year, it was being streamed onto our IMAX screen to a theater full of elementary school kids asking the astronauts questions. I was tasked with creating a slide show of NASA images to keep the crowd busy while everybody was being seated and the connection was made. I took images from the NASA web site along with sound bites of the astronaut's wake up songs and idle radio chatter from past missions and put them all together, sprinkled in some cool transitions and text effects, and then exported it as a movie and put it on the big (literally) screen. You could see it from the highway!
AcroMace
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Inspirational Musician Presentation
My best PowerPoint presentation was when I had to do a music project where I got to pick an inspirational musician and share his story. That was also the first time I used PowerPoint, but learning the program was easy enough that the presentation looked great and I got a perfect mark on it.
warheadwl
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
multimedia
I used ppt to create a preso with multimedia seamlessly. It really helped to explain complicated concepts. 1 pic is truely worth 1000 words!
jboundridge
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
Power Point
During a course that I had to complete as part of my commerce degree I had to do a presentantion and of course I turned to powerpoint it was the topic that made me do so well but without powerpoint it would have not went so smoothly, it was on a labour relations topic and everyone enjoyed everything and found that without the presentantion format it would not have been as engaging for the other students
Thanks Office for Mac! This would be a great help in finishing my degree up and a wonderful almost graduation present I'm following on twitter and am loving this blog as well
DenverAve
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
A Quick Question
Does my PowerPoint presentation have to be online and downloadable?
Having a PowerPoint is great, having a Desktop computer is a hassle however
Wish I had a laptop so I can continue working with some of the greatest softwares such as PowerPoint and the Excel on the way to work in a Metra can't wait to get back home after my 8 hours and continue doing my presentation for my hosting company.
Choosing PowerPoint for such presentations makes it just easier, faster, and even prettier. Best of all, it makes me feel Professional
jonsamson
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
Re: Contest Question #3: Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
When i speak to groups of parents or professionals about my hearing loss, I use powerpoints to explain all the different things that help me in my everyday life. It brings to life for them better than I can say in words.
wingate19
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
Power Point before 130 administrators
I did a visual presentation before a 130 university administrators. They walked away happy. Therefore I was happy.
halhiker
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
Make trips more interesting
I used powerpoint to make my home slide shows more interesting for visitors. I've gotten rave reviews and people even ask to see them now.
Rickcon
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
Best PowerPoint Presentation
My favorite one was one I made recently for a sales presentation. I was able to import product pictures and create a presentation that was organized, concise and successful!
Candygirlnana
Jul 23, 2010
10:51am
PowerPoint and Family
I recently assisted my brother with a PowerPoint presentation entitled The Dark Ages? My brother had never used PowerPoint before and was a nervous wreck. Needless to say I showed him a few pointers and we were off and running with his presentation. We even included a video based on the crusades. My brother received an A in his college course and we had an awesome time hanging together to create his amazing Dark Ages PowerPoint presentation. My brother told me I was the best sister ever and thanked me a hundred times over.
pao0829
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
Power Point in Neuro Rehab
As a student in Physical Therapy, I presented a topic using Power Point about utilizing gaming consoles for the rehabilitation of patients affected by strokes and other neurological disease. The presentation came out wonderfully. Using Power Point's expanse themes and creative fonts as well as the visual appeal of the software I was able to bring an incredible presentation. In the end, my presentation is currently being used to introduce the concept of neuro rehab and its benefits.
imptom
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
A radio show and a PowerPoint
I think everyone wants a radio show when they grow up. You want to emulate that "cool" persona of the radio DJ. And, yet, few ever get the chance.
A college radio station offers a shot for people to have some fun and try out their radio voice. That's how I got my start. I hosted our school's news program, but as my responsibilities increased, I had less time for a radio show. Eventually, I was off the air.
I became general manager shortly thereafter and was excited because I was finally going to have my own show. I could make the time for it!
Here's where PowerPoint came in. It was extraordinarily important to our recruitment efforts. We gave presentations using PowerPoint at interest meetings. When we wanted to let prospective students take a listen, PowerPoint made it easy. Show off our studios? Throwing photos in PowerPoint made it possible.
Our interest meetings last year were so well attended - and we had so much interest from the presentations - that I gave up my beloved time slot to let another student have a shot.
It's a childhood dream for many, to be a radio host. And PowerPoint made it possible for so many students at my school to have a radio program.
eyraud
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
Re: Contest Question #3: Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
the best PowerPoint Presentation i used (i can't take credit for creating it) was a animated graphic depicting aircraft movement over the US on Sept. 11.
the awe (and the quiet of the room) was inspiring, as the screen gradually became empty of aircraft...
Hailfire753
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
Great Memories!
Haha, wow, this question brings back some great memories from two years ago, in latin class during sophomore year of high school...
We were assigned to make a 10 minute presentation on the military tactics of the Roman Army. Unwilling to settle for a mind-numbing lecture style report, I turned to powerpoint. I spent countless hours scouring the net for pictures of Roman battle reenactments, then set them as the backgrounds for each slide, using copious amounts of dramatic Ken Burns effect. I timed and animated the text to appear in an open spot of the background just as I spoke about them, and set the whole thing to an epic cinematic soundtrack that sounded like it was straight out of Gladiator. I made replica Roman shields and spears, and had the class make the formations shown on screen as I screamed commands in latin. At the end, there was an awed silence, and then smiling applause. I felt a euphoric tightness in my chest, a feeling I only get with great accomplishment.
Ultimatly, that experience gave me such a passion and drive for multimedia and technology that I chose it for my major! By using Office for Mac, I was able to transfer my project from my parent's mac to my teacher's PC, and dispite all of the advanced effects I used, it worked flawlessly! I hope to continue in college, but I can't afford a laptop, so please pick me!
travata
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
World-class photo presentation of high art
If you have to travel and want to show a bunch of photos, PowerPoint is the easiest and most compatible way to do it.
It's cross-platform, the viewers are free to download, and basically any type of hardware (even old stuff) can run it fine.
The best presentation I ever helped create was a collection of art photos for a guest lecturing gig my wife landed. PowerPoint let us stick multiple photos on one page, resize with ease, add annotations, and create custom backgrounds to fill space when the photos had odd dimensions.
If you use it right, PowerPoint can create world-class presentations.
rickdob
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
Sermon Series
I used PPT to lay out my sermon series for a couple of weeks. Then I brought in pictures, changed backgrounds, and hid the slides I didn't need for that week.
andrewbarton
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
PowerPoint = Awesome (which means it's FTW!!!!)
Ahh, College. The sweet smell of freshly sharpened pencils, brand new computers (Running the ever-so-awesome Windows 7), and… beer????
What happens when your roommates have a party and completely destroy your project that you slaved for months on, leaving you with nothing more than a French-fried computer and less than 24 hours before class? Why, you improvise!
This was one such event that I have survived through, and I had spent so much time creating, refining, and designing the perfect “A” report. And now, in less time than it took my roommate to break the beer pong table, it was gone. And not only did it leave without so much as saying goodbye, it left without even cleaning up after itself. Lucky for me, I have back-ups, right? Wrong. I had backed up my hard drive the same evening, and it, too, gave its last spin in the name of youthful academia (well….sorta).
What to do, what to do. I had the research, but all of the compilation was gone. It was my final grade, and I was at a loss. We could do anything for our final grade; PowerPoint, research paper, skit as long as it was class relevant, you name it.
I whipped out my library card, and off I went. I had to think fast, time was short and I needed a solution. There it was, 9:50 at night, my “connection” standing over my shoulder waiting to go to bed (she had let me in the library). I decided to create a PowerPoint and give a lecture.
Why? Because of versatility; I could use my Live accounts SkyDrive to host the PowerPoint while I pulled it up on the lecture system in the classroom. I created stunning visuals, amazing graphics, and speaker notes that would have left Dr. King in utter shock, and awe. And I did it in just over an hour and a half.
I love office. It’s easy. It’s simple. And it works. Thank You Microsoft, for coming in at the last minute. Thanks to those hours you spent diligently typing away at the source code, sipping your fourteenth cup of coffee in a dark office as the night wore on, I was able to slip through my final with a cool A… And some beer.
This post was created, edited, and revised with Office:Mac2008.
Jason Lin
Jul 26, 2010
9:16am
PowerPoint in Hospital
I'm a student of medical college.Once in 2009, a consultant in hospital want us to do a presentation about Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. With the help of PowerPoint, I made a successful presentation about the therapeutic strategy for Ph+, which means Philadelphia Chromosome positive, leukemia patient.
There are a lot of pictures, animations, videos and data tables in my presentation. Thanks to all these fantastic features of PowerPoint for Mac, my presentation earn me a great honor from the consultant.
pdr
Jul 26, 2010
9:16am
Map of the World
In my training courses, I draw a map of the day, a visual agenda. This goes on a slide, which I call the Map of the World. At the beginning of each course segment, we return to the map, and then click the segment we're going to next. Thus, the slide deck is not viewed in a linear way; it's more of a web. The hyperlink command makes this easy!
SpencerJames
Jul 26, 2010
9:18am
PowerPoint's Comedic Capabilities
I can't tell you how many times I've gotten in trouble in class for having too much fun with PowerPoint! I try to start out serious but easily get distracted by putting crazy-eyes on all the people in the background photos, drawing arrows and comments, and otherwise ruining any intrinsic value my reports on 7th century European feudalism may have otherwise had.
When you get down to it - PowerPoint is so easy - it's too hard not to have fun with it!
Hesham Abdel Aal
Jul 26, 2010
9:18am
Present the Apple computer with Intel processor to my coworkers.
I work at Durham College and UOIT as a Macintosh technician, when Apple Corp. announced they're switching from PPC processor to Intel Processor, everyone was wondering how this will work, few months later Apple Canada sent us an iMac 17" with Intel processor to test it with our environment and software, I was excited to work on such new technology, and wanted to present how to run Mac OSX and Windows applications side by side using "Parallels" or using the Beta version of Bootcamp to have a dual boot computer between OSX and Windows XP, obviously I used M.S.Office PowerPoint to create my presentation, that my department director was so impressed that I'm capable to demonstrate with a slide show a topic everyone in our department was eager to know about it, specially that was my first presentation I've ever made and demonstrated at college since I worked there.
Ronelias
Jul 26, 2010
9:18am
PowerPoint experience
As a friend of a real estate salesman I helped him create a template for all of his listing presentations. He is now able to generate new listing presentations in his attempts to get new sales listings with no real effort. Just plunk in the relevant information and go.
Michael Vaughn
Jul 26, 2010
2:59pm
The Caribbean presentation
For work, I put together a PowerPoint presentation for a client in the US Virgin Islands. It took some effort because we had to take an angled approach at the slide deck and directly relate it to the client with some detailed specifics. The outcome - it was beautiful and well received. Thanks for making PowerPoint easy to ease and effective.
what_are_you_thinking
Jul 26, 2010
2:59pm
Almost a winner
My most powerful powerpoint presentation came when we were trying to sell our company. We sent an initial presentation and got a call based on that presentation wowing the suitor. The deal didn't come to fruition, but it felt good to create something that made them look...
@ndy
Jul 26, 2010
2:59pm
90 Second Presentation
I put together a power point for my brother to present his company to attendees at one of the first trade shows of the year in his industry.
However, the catch is that he had only 90 seconds to impress over 600 people.
With the a little help from Photoshop, a custom, professional layout was put together in Power Point in under 2 hours.
The power point was on a large projection screen. There were only 6 slides. However, they were concise and direct to the point wasting only time to breathe between sentences.
The presentation was no frills, mainly with large sharp images and minimal text only to emphasis key points.
The presentation was a huge success with ample numbers of attendees stopping by the booth in an economy that wasn't doing so hot at the time.
red308gtsi
Jul 26, 2010
2:59pm
The Story Behind Slavery
A couple of years ago, our church came up with a vocal drama to highlight the story behind the slave trade in Europe.
I came up with a custom background with different icons from that era to dovetail with the story. The experience of slavery, what they went through, and how different individuals, including the man who wrote "Amazing Grace" came to life in a way that made you feel like you were there.
As a result of that, it spawned off several more vocal dramas that used PowerPoint even more to bring a story to life.
vmsweet123
Jul 26, 2010
2:59pm
Family tree and work
Two of the best powerpoint presentations I gave were one to show my family a family tree I made using office to create it and two was at work to show a business plan for the direction of the company and they wanted me to use another program in apple's Iwork to do the presentation and I refused and said power point is the best and I won't do it without it! I love my office for mac.
jmgalanter
Jul 27, 2010
10:18am
A presentation on the SARS epidemic
Probably a dry topic for most people here, but I had to give a presentation to a group of pulmonologists about the SARS epidemic. Though it took a fair bit of time to put together, I knew it wound up being a great presentation because none of my slides had bullet points on them. I would post up a diagram, figure, or picture and would narrate the key points from memory. Here PowerPoint really did serve as a way to enhance my presentation rather than as a crutch for making sure I didn't miss anything.
ALGOZ
Jul 27, 2010
10:18am
No Powerpoint
The best experience I had seemed at the time to be the worst experience. Just about to start important sales presentation and there was a power failure to the building! PPS had been preloaded to client's desktop computer (his insistance) and that was it, no Powerpoint.
Many people had 'flown-in' so rescheduling was not possible. I had to do the presentation without Powerpoint.
But, I had rehearsed, I knew my topic and I knew my slides. So I simply delivered the presentation and handwrote the KEY points on a flipchart as I went along. The presentation was a success (we got the sale!), but on another level, it changed forever how I use PPT.
I now make sure that every slide...
1 - has a purpose
2 - supports my 'speech' not the other way around
3 - is succint, sometime only a word and an image
4 - works in concert with every other slide to achive the aim of the presentation (in this case to close a sale)
Thus PPT makes me really think about what I want to achieve, its now a discipline and PPT really helps me focus on my message and the desired outcome, and then focus on how PPT can help me reach those goals!
I also make sure that I retain control over my own handouts and computing. But I never forget that PPT is a tool, and as we all know, correct usage of any tool leads to the right result!
cpxchewy
Jul 28, 2010
9:26am
Complimenting a speech
I did a powerpoint that compliments my speech on the history of the dollar bill and everyone was surprised at my custom animation uses and how well they fit when i spoke.
BobpHogan
Jul 28, 2010
4:10pm
It wasn't me!
Recently I made a presentation to faculty showing how we would use technology to our self study. I knew no one was looking forward to the task, and so I added photos, music, e web links and Quick Time movies that captured the computer screen action.. When the presentation was finished, I was surprised that everyone was excited to begin. I credited it to what I said. Later a colleague set me straight when she said, "I wasn't you. It was the presentation. Everyone was amazed at the PowerPoint.
Thanks Mac.
Bob Hogan
bombero
Jul 28, 2010
4:10pm
multi media sermon
doing a lay led service in church on astronomy. it's got pictures, sounds, video and love.
PPT rocks.
b
regtor
Jul 29, 2010
1:47pm
my son's ppt
When he got into all the schools he applied to, I asked my son to explain his selection to us. To our surprise, he developed a terrific ppt (Office 2004) that made us laugh while also made a very convincing case for his selection.
bobfharris
Jul 29, 2010
1:47pm
Orchid Talk
I did an orchid presentation on Growing Warm tolerant orchids in Hawaii!
rsrey
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
happier
My best PowerPoint for Mac presentation was a slide show I prepared for my IB/AP English high school juniors. They were studying "Candide" by Voltaire, and I had recently read Tal Ben-Shahar's "Happier". He is the Harvard professor who teaches a course on happiness. I contacted the author about my wish to link his theories about happiness in education, love, and other areas with "Candide" and he responded with interesting comments about optimism and pessimism. The students were interested in the connections with their own lives, their experiences as high-achieving students in an academic magnet program. I am proud of this presentation because the discussion that followed reinforced my belief that literature does have relevance to our lives but most importantly because of the degree to which they recognized Ben-Shahar's theories operating in their own lives. A lot of good head-nodding and introspection happened that day in class.
Guitar player 575
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
Best use of PowerPoint
I used PowerPoint and Excel to show my physician and my support group the amount of weight I had lost, the amount of time i had kept it off, and my workout progress. It is not
rocket science or brain surgery, but it made an impression, nonetheless.
BooRue
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
Teaching the students
I do quite a few technically jargoned loaded PP presentations for technicians that might not be so interested in this kind of stuff as I am. I often have to come up with creative ways to keep these guys interested so I've added some well placed sounds and entertainment to keep them awake.
Thanks for making it easy on me to keep these guys awake.
alee
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
Re: Contest Question #3: Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
The best presentation I did was for my thesis defense, because the committee gave me my degree.
Hamrassoc
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
Presentations to job seekers
I own a staffing company and utilize PowerPoint to create presentations to candidates who are seeking jobs on Resume Writing, Interview Skills, Social Media Skills, Networking Skills and Blogging for jobs. I have also utilized PowerPoint to present our services to companies looking to select our service to place candidates into their organizations.
billMo
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
Teaching American Kids About China & Chinese New Year
Before taking a business trip to Shanghai, I asked my daughter's kindergarten teacher if there was anything I could bring back. She said they were studying other cultures, and might I bring something back from China?
As it was late January, I bought a suitcase full of Chinese New Year decorations, and on the flight home, built a presentation in PowerPoint for Mac on the customs and traditions of Chinese New Year, including lots of photos.
My wife and I decorated the classroom and then I made my presentation to the kids. The teacher loved it so much, she ran and grabbed 6 other classes who came through and I repeated the presentation several times.
It was educational for the kids and really, really fun for me! PowerPoint helped me light up kids imagination and bridge a gap halfway around the world.
Mirror Stage
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
PowerPoint and Martin Luther King
We are a small nonprofit professional theatre company, and our best use of PowerPoint for Mac (thus far) was to compose a multimedia presentation combining images, songs and other audio to create the context and backdrop for a piece about Martin Luther King Jr's acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Starting with the Brown v. Education Supreme Court decision of 1954, we tracked milestones of the civil rights movement leading to MLK's acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. With the help of PowerPoint, we were able to achieve a depth of resonance and impact which we otherwise would not have been able to afford.
The final two performances of the MLK piece were at the Seattle Public Library for school groups. At the morning performance, there was a group of 33 mostly Asian students from Seattle Pacific University, who were too shy to ask any questions during the post-play discussion. The second performance was for a group of 90 elementary school kids. The actor who portrayed Dr. King and I joined University of Washington History professor Nikhil Singh for the post-performance Q & A session. Among the questions asked:
Why were Black people discriminated against?
Why was there slavery? When did it start?
Were slaves only taken from Africa?
Who said that slavery was okay? Who invented slavery?
Were Asians considered black during slave times?
What about mixed race people? Were they considered black?
What if you were half Barbadan and half Italian? Would you be considered a slave?
Were there any white people helping the black people?
Why did it take 100 years after the end of the Civil War for anyone to do anything about the unfair laws?
Thank goodness for Dr. Singh, whose areas of specialty are US Intellectual, African American, Ethnicity and Nationalism! He and the actor were able to handle most of the questions. I think all three of us felt a little like we were facing a firing squad of sorts...
I mostly listened to what the others had to say, although I did expand a little upon the idea of why slaves were such a valuable commodity back in the days before tvs and computers and cars and tractors when the economy was based mainly in farming.
I was glad to hear the questions asked, even if I couldn't answer some of them. It showed how far we've come from the time when racism and inequality were so much more of an unspoken, tacitly accepted and encouraged part of society. The exact thing for which Martin Luther King, Jr. dedicated and sacrificed his life to help bring about.
And none of it would've happened without the PowerPoint presentation to set the context and get their young minds thinking about historical events that weren't so very long ago. We are now considering a Nobel Peace Prize series, which would utilize PowerPoint for similar presentations about other Nobel Peace Prize winners.
aaronosb
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
PP usage
We've produced a small powerpoint of photos taken by our abbot to be displayed in our art gallery beginning August 15 here at St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison, KS. The photography itself is notable, but the Powerpoint presentation weaves together a stunning interplay of faces and appropriate music. It should truly encourage those who see it to visit the exhibit in the gallery. it is a stunning powerpoint presentation and should draw people to see the exhibit.
MeBawden
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
Easy Layout
Im no expert with Powerpoint but being able to use the template themes simlified my presentation so I at least came across visually looking like I knew what I was doing lol
michelsal
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
havent' tried yet
I've never tried to make a powerpoint. don't teach or present much. I mostly use it to open other peoples great efforts.
bothsidesofthefence
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
death by powerpoint
First let me say that no one died during the use of my powerpoint presentations but some of them are so long and so technical you wish you were dead after having set through them.
The great thing about using poweroint on the macbook pro is that is it an immediate conversation starter. I am coming in to the class room with two celebrities, MS and Apple.
Once the meet and greet is over everyone is jazzed up and ready to pay attention and because the platform and application perform flawlessly there are no jeers from the students which are usually Marines or Sailors. I cannot wait to get my hands on Office 2011 because I know MS always brings their A game on this stuff and the folks I work with have their heads on a swivel and are always on their A game.
thekrow
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
Got the Grade
It wasn't too long ago that I had to put together a presentation for a online class and not only did it go well, I found myself using options within the program that I didn't know existed. When I first installed Office for Mac I began going through the various options and menus in an attempt to become a little more familiar with the layout. I considered myself very adept with this program having used it extensively throughout my college career (which was the PC version). But this all changed when I used the Mac version. Everything was easier to find and ultimately worked so much better. The slide narration was the key to my getting the grade I needed. I had never used this portion of PPT before but was pleasantly surprised at how easy and seemless it made my presentation.
Thanks!
crispiestsquid
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
school
in my college art class we had to do a presentation on our favorite designer, and it had to be creative. i used powerpoint and when i was done with my presentation the whole class stood up cheering for me, and the teacher told me it was the most innovative powerpoint he had ever seen!!!!! I was sooo proud of myself, thanks office for mac!!!!
JImU
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
Music Appr
I did a great job on the last project for my Music appr. class, I use the power point to show the professor about the history of pianos, he was so please with the work, he give me a 105 for the project and this 1-5 help me to pass that class
cellochik
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
flexibility
I love being able to create terrific powerpoint presentations at home on my Mac,, then I can take them to my PC based work environment,,, seemless transfering, what a time saver.
MrShadow
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
World History
Whenever I use PowerPoint for my classes, it looks so professional, I can hardly believe it. When my brother caught me skipping through the slides for one of my World History projects, he asked, "Who made that?" because he couldn't believe I had lol.
richie76
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
Process-Chart
Due to my job i made a ppt with process charts on powerpoint. my chief was very pleased because the compatibility from mac and win was almost given!
IsobelMcGuire
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
What a Difference Office for mac made!
My best presentation was to introduce macs to the group of teachers that I work with. Being a teacher leaves you with little spare time so anything new to the school has to be introduced in a very exciting, dynamic and imaginative way to get them to buy into it.
we had some macs added to our computer resource suite and as most had not used macs before I had my job cut out, but hey presto! office for mac was the one crossover suite that they already knew from the PC version so I used it to present not only the macs but my case for using them to allow the children to have the widest opportunity and access to software and OS that they might find in the big world after school!
I produced many slides which had links to Mactopia and the other software that we had on the mac minis, it was easy and I learnt a lot from using PPT on the mac. It also worked! the next day I found some of the teachers exploring our new macs and others were asking me questions. What can I say? Microsoft came up with a winner when they devised Powerpoint for the Mac! You helped me learn a lot from doing this as I'm no way the computer expert that many people are, and I hope you give me the mac prize so the children in my school can continue to experience all there is for them to learn by using it.
SalzburgBJ
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
A translation of a World Heritage Sites presentation
I was so proud that I was chosen to aid UNESCO in this way!
VanJohn
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
Best Power Point
My best PPT or should I say my most used, would be one on Coach development. In our summer league we get new coach volunteers who have never coached youth, but just played the game. The PPT presentation allowed us to develop a great teaching tool for the coaches who used the printouts to help run their practices sessions.
Garp
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
board presentation
I was amazed at how easy it was to import a Keynote presentation directly into PPT -- and how great it looked and how intuitive it was to modify once it got there. My board presentation went flawlessly.
mrUnwired
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
Songs
At my church we have started using Power Point instead of hymn books.
Last Christmass we started the Advent period with a big celebratio. I created a nice Power Point with ques for next vers and event etc and had it running on 3 projectors. It worked nice and now we are trying to obtain the funds for installing a permanent system (anyone at Microsoft up for sponsoring you think???)
redsfanjah5
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
Bible Overview
The best presentation I ever made using PowerPoint for Mac was for a lecture I gave at a local college giving a 'brief' overview of the Bible. The wide range of backgrounds, fonts, transitions, and SmartArt Graphics helped keep the presentation more interesting.
Ray@MBBC
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
Powerpoint verses Keynote
Actually, I generally prepare my class lectures using Apple's Keynote product. But, as I am teaching Office 2007 (but generally from my Macbook) I will check my presenations using both Office for Mac and Office for Windows to make sure all of my students will have the experience I intend when I publish my content.
drodgers
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
Power Point-
I created an AWESOME Power Point presentation for my Technology in the Law office class last semester (made an A!). I also use the Power Point for listing presentations and presentations for our Buyers. It makes us look polished and together and as I told my children as they were growing up "presentation is everything".
Pearl Took
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
:-(
I've never done a Power Point presentation.
When my kids were in school, they weren't having to do PPT presentations. (My grandson does but his family are all PC), so I've never even had to help a child with one. I'm a homemaker and entry level author and have had no need to do a Power Point presentation.
Does this put me out of the running for a Macbook?
GageParker
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
Appreciative Inquiry helps the scouts and me
I used appreciative inquiry techniques to run some parent education sessions that re-energized the parents, taking some of the load off the uniformed leaders. Our district leadership asked me to tell the other troops what I had done. I made a powerpoint presentation that told our story. Unfortunately the monthly meeting where I was to present was cancelled due to a hurricane! I would have forgotten all about it but my boss at work asked for a volunteer speaker at an upcoming lunch and learn. With just a few modifications I was ready go. A lot of folks at work appreciated my story.
GSF1
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
Not an originator ..
PowerPoint is great for watching the creative work of others but I must admit that, after some 12 years as a user, I have yet to compose one of my own.
drchanowski
Jul 30, 2010
12:46pm
Teaching
My adjunct teaching at a local university has me hopping back and forth between Office versions. I've been able to take older Powerpoint presentations created at some earlier date in an earlier version of Office and spruce them up for school and improve their effectiveness in class.
gaylewri
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
Best Powerpoint
I have made multiple powerpoint presentations that are an integral part of a new online course. The use of colors, alternating transitions and multimedia components have made them well received by the students. The various components made them both interesting and fun to view per the student reviews.
jswero
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
Teaching document
I have a great powerpoint presentation that is updated often with new experiences from students.
Ex2bot
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
Presentation to the School Board
I detailed this in my response to the "creative" question, but I used PowerPoint to build a rather complex A/V presentation for our school board. It was very well received.
MCollins
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
Best PowerPoint
The first PowerPoint presentation I did was probably my best. I've improved these over the past few years I know, as my skills with the software increase, and my comfort with public speaking also improves. But the first one was so well rehearsed, and so well receive, that I've used the same basic format since, with new images and new actions added - as much for my own enjoyment in building them, as for the audience watching. I admit, I go a bit over the top with PowerPoint, and am glad I don't do a big presentation too often - because I spend way more time than I ought. Too much fun.
shaun3000
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
Work
Too many technical presentations and training programs for work
Cwguth
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
Re: Contest Question #3: Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
I hope my best one will be the one I'm working on right now. I have to create a presentation for an Information Technology class I'm in, mostly about what I've learned in the class using Office. It appears I'm the only person using Word for Mac, and probably not coincidentally, I'm the only one not having problems...
Cwguth
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
School
I hope my best one will be the one I'm working on right now. I have to create a presentation for an Information Technology class I'm in, mostly about what I've learned in the class using Office. It appears I'm the only person using Word for Mac, and probably not coincidentally, I'm the only one not having problems...
rebel1425
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
powerpoint pride
Overview look at the fun kids had at the bring your kids to work day. The ease of integration allowed for including events right up to the presentations start.
bacreative1
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
saved me almost $1500
Being a music teacher, I'm always looking for ways to make my classroom budget stretch while managing the cost of purchasing and instrument maintenance. A couple years ago I started using a curriculum that gave limited copy write permission to recreate their visuals. I used powerpoint to re-make each of the visuals for each grade level which I project onto a wall-size screen in my classroom for each lesson. By spending time doing this, I saved several hundred dollars per grade level!
lavinia
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
Best Powerpoint
My best Powerpoint has been one I did on Adolescent Brain Development. I searched the web for illustrations and found some great, colorful pictures of neurons and glia and stuff like that.
hockey
Aug 03, 2010
10:28am
updated classroom
Used powerpoint to put together a winning presentation to school board to illustrate the need for classroom updates. Students win!
andrew2345
Aug 03, 2010
10:28am
School
I have used Powerpoint For Mac for my science fair projects and other things in school.
monstermac.mike
Aug 03, 2010
10:28am
Power of PowerPoint (Best Ever...)
I created a presentation for the Superintendent of our School District. This presentation was to be used during an important County Commissioner's meeting. The issues debated at this meeting, and decisions made about them would effect more than 30,000 K-12 students.
The PowerPoint Presentation I that was created incorporated various forms of content to include Video, Photo & Vector Graphics, Numerical Value Charts and Graphs as well as dynamic interactivity with online resources.
The outcome of that meeting was positive for our district and we feel that PowerPoint helped "pave the way".
slowloris
Aug 03, 2010
10:28am
PowerPoint is Layout Software, Too
I used PowerPoint to design a 36 x 48" poster for a research project that I'd been assisting a professor with.
The college print shop accepted only ppt files, and I had never used PowerPoint in my life. Fortunately, it was so intuitive and friendly that I picked it up and cranked out a great-looking poster within a few evenings of after-class work.
techSage
Aug 03, 2010
10:28am
Reminiscing Anniversary Slideshow
One of my best PowerPoints was a slideshow of photos and memories I did for my grandparents' 50th anniversary party.
chig
Aug 03, 2010
10:28am
Graduate school presentation
I created a presentation using Office for mac Powerpoint. The presentation had to be 15 minutes long, and it was so easy to use simple animations that made my presentation flow. I received such great comments about the presentation. The best part about it was that the presentation was done on a windows based computer, created on my mac using office for mac. I love the cross system compatibility.
Junebug0
Aug 04, 2010
10:36am
Winter Hardy Cactus for the North
I sometimes teach classes about the succulent plants and especially those that can be left out-of-doors year round even through our Michigan winters. I put together a PPT presentation with photos of the project that I chair for the Michigan Master Gardener Association, Genesee County Chapter, along with culture information about the plants.
Folks who thought such species were strictly for the houseplant collector have been amazed to learn that there are cacti native almost as far north as the Arctic Circl. The presentation sparked an interest for them to start their own desert oasis.
michael.kartchner
Aug 04, 2010
10:36am
Office 4 Mac and Mac's Rock
We used it to put up presentations to 2000 High School students who attend our Competition every year, they get to see themselves on the screen and remember the great time they had coming to the compitition.
deeandco
Aug 04, 2010
10:36am
Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
College Art Presentation. Was easy to create and a beautiful presentation.
linnmcd
Aug 04, 2010
10:36am
The Shushing Librarian!
I am a school librarian, and I created a Powerpoint to use as an orientation guide for new students. I incorporated a fun youtube cartoon video of a "shushing" octopus that's a librarian to lighten up the presentation. It was easy to add the video, and I saved the presentation to be viewed on a monitor; it loops throughout the first week for students to view.
I have also taught students how to create games in Powerpoint to show their knowledge on a topic. For example, students in 7th grade created powerpoint games about the parts of plant and animal cells. It was a great way for students to demonstrate their knowledge while having them use a fun medium; they all told me that this was waayyyy cooler than just writing a report.
HogLover
Aug 04, 2010
10:36am
Fast Start time
We were tasked to develop both classroom and hands-on training for a new system as quickly as possible. PowerPoint is an essential tool which enabled us to build our basic templates quickly and press on with content development within our specialties. The templates gave all the presentations a common feel while allowing us each develop unique content. The ability to create animations that demonstrate flow adds to the content and breaks up repetition that can otherwise become overwhelming it training presentations. It was great to be able to take my PPTs home and hone them without interruption. You just can't do that with "compatible" apps without having some type of formatting issue. Stick with 100% when it's available; and save time and effort!
gpotts5626
Aug 04, 2010
6:35pm
The ONE!
The presentation that landed me my first $1 million account. When everything else failed, PPT ran without a hitch.
Ninjapig
Aug 04, 2010
6:35pm
Engineering Design Project.
I had to merge a powerpoint presentation on a subject that involved integrating 4 people's individual work and organize them in a way where we could present things logically. There were so many things that went right during the presentation, our background images, text spacing, and picture placement were so aesthetic and the timings were so well done, the polished appearance alone made the presentation the crowd favorite.
---
Aug 05, 2010
2:12pm
powerpoint for mac
that would have to be the one i did for my grandmothers 70 birthday which all the family have copies of now!
BlueStar144
Aug 05, 2010
2:12pm
Actors' union presentation
I needed to create a multi-media presentation for young actors... about their future Union. Needless to say it needed to be compelling & creative; not a usual 'business presentation.' Powerpoint made it easy... especially when it came to animating transitions & embedding video.
FollowDon
Aug 05, 2010
2:12pm
Emphasis Effects are Awesome
My end of the year wrap up for my co-op tour with NASA Johnson Space Center helped me get noticed out of the large pool of talented interns.
I always like my intros to be exciting and I love that I can build in multiple effects on a single object. With the proper timing, this can yield some interesting results!
My presentation was so well received, NASA let me teach a presentation design course for the rest of the co-op students during my next tour!
PNWFisherman
Aug 05, 2010
2:53pm
I admit I seldom use PowerPoint.
I am an elected official.
When I'm speaking I rarely have a projector and screen available.
RDRussell
Aug 06, 2010
9:44am
Best PowerPoint ever ... yet to come!
Although I have used PowerPoint through the years to communicate ideas and recommendations to clients, facilitate internal strategy discussions, and so on, my BEST PowerPoint ever is just getting started - the business plan for a very exciting project I have been working on.
Perhaps the new OFM 2011 will have some jazzy yet professional templates I can leverage, or just some additional assistance on organizing my thoughts and materials, but I am excited about the timing here. I am starting to get market data, cost models, sales projections, and a few other items together and will be putting together what I hope to be my BEST ever PowerPoint presentation...
It would be great to be able to do it on the new laptop that is part of this promo...
jlc1978
Aug 09, 2010
12:57pm
For a non-profit
that was a collection of medical service providers for people without insurance. I used PowerPoint to help them develop a strategy to make the most of their resources by working as a co-op rather than individual organizations.
Very simple yet very effective...
Senatork
Aug 09, 2010
12:57pm
Presentation on China and the WTO
While back in school, I gave a presentation to my class of 30 people on the effects of China entering the WTO. I used a lot of images, videos, and fancy transitions. The presentation was about 20 minutes and I set up everything in Powerpoint in very little time.
Comments | Who's Blogging This
derekjohns02
Jul 22, 2010
12:16pm
Pick me!
H3ATROX
Jul 22, 2010
1:50pm
Design
On one of the occasions, we had a project that was very similar. My English project was the retelling of a Fairy Tale story. His project was based on developing a picture book for a story.
Through PowerPoint for Mac, I was able to take the images he had created in illustrator and adobe and put it into a slideshow to demonstrate and read to my class. I was the only person in the class with a digital presentation. Easy to say, A+.
gittenlucky
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
My PowerPoint Story.
hej107us
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
Getting the job (done)!
Thanks!!
ajldevelopment
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
The Best Worst Powerpoint Presentation Ever
Firing up MS-Office 2008 PowerPoint (for Mac of course!) I began laying out the WORST looking presentation I could think of - featuring long tiny type-faced sentences, huge, ugly clip art images, misspelled words the whole nine yards. I made no reference to this being terrible on purpose in the presentation slides themselves - I relied on my words to explain and offer corrective advice, along with a new slide showing what an "good" example might look like.
The presentation was brief and as I was talking to people afterward one of the freelance designers who was new to the team came up to me and congratulated me on a great presentation. I was feeling very proud of myself, until I realized he was complimenting me on how nicely the ENTIRE presentation was laid out - he LOVED what I said about fitting as many words onto the slide as possible and using large, freely available clip art to "dress things" up.
I was dumbfounded as he walked away - and then I noticed them, the little white ear-buds dangling from his pockets! He hadn't heard a word I had said and thought ALL of the slides were representative of what I considered a "good" presentation! He either was a huge suck up, or REALLY knows nothing about putting together a good PowerPoint presentation.
I laugh really hard every time I think about it!
Adam
boomstick
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
Practice Practice Powerpoint
I'm a projection and lighting designer in NYC and was hired to provide cool visuals for an educational concert series at Carnegie Hall. Part of the mission of the producing organization is to provide the materials they generate to regional orchestras for free. I chose Powerpoint over several specialized (and expensive) video servers because it would allow those groups to afford to produce their shows while letting me build the involved sequences I envisioned for the concert.
Hearing 15,000 kids "ooh" and "ahh" over three days of concerts was incredible, and the thought that kids across the country will get a great educational opportunity is just as nice.
http://www.danscully.com/music/linkup-the-orchestra-rocks
Brendan09
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
Programming presentation
randomblink
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
Mac Powerpoint
I found myself with 4 hours, my computer, and powerpoint between me and an A.
I dove in and started researching as fast and as hard as I could. Saving images to powerpoint, charts, and entire paragraphs I think I earned a world record at browsing that night. After just literally dumping everything I could find into the powerpoint presentation, I began to quickly sift through, clean up and make essay-ready everything that I could.
Rather than switch between several docs on my tiny 13" MacBook I dumped the professors notes, requirements, etc. into the document as well. Between cut-n-paste and a wish-and-a-prayer I ended up uploading the essay with only minutes to spare.
The presentation had timing and effects, animations and borders with colors, as well as decently documented data and quotes.
I would like to think it was my previously held knowledge on the subject from the people I know, or my flair for procrastination-with-style, but either way... I got an A.
Not an A+, but then that would have been ridiculous.
journalist
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
So sweet. So satisfied.
admiralspock
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
PowerPoint Rocks!
tbalsamo
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Winning Show
JCK1020
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
PPT
The subject? The history of computers, handpicked my the teacher for me to report on. I am obseesed with computers, and he felt that it would be a good pick for me. The project had to be twenty slides.
My project on computers ended up being over 50 slides. the topic was so interesting! haha. But, it was way more than 50 slides. I had figured out a cool way to make more than one slide on a slide. I did this by making a text box come up through animation. through this, i was able to have more than one slide on a slide! it was so cool.
ended up getting a 115 or 130% on the project! my teacher loved my ingenuity, and it paid off through powerpoint!
hothoagie
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
High School Was So Long Ago
danimir
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
PowerPoint lets me express myself beyond words!
danimir
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
PowerPoint lets me express myself beyond words!
ZacCarmody
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Philosophy Craziness
We were all doing presentations on various topics for our final cumulative projects, and many people where stumbling around their words, some were just reading from their screens, and some were doing quite well!
Then, I had to go up. I was nervous, of course, I had just watched many of my peers walk up, nervous, shaky, probably yelling at themselves for a lack of mental preparation, and I was feeling exactly the same! I stood in front of the 30 plus class body, watching them critique me with the stares.
As I plugged in and opened up my computer and started my presentation, I gained confidence, I started to work some energy into my presentation, and the included video demonstrations and unique visual flair captured their attention, focusing it solely on the presentation!
Now, here is where the funny kicks in, I was starting to feel it, I was in charge, I was walking around the front of the class and continuing the presentation, I came upon a snag. A literal snag. I accidentally took myself out on a power chord. My own power chord. So I got up, slowly, and found myself thinking that the entire class would be judging me, and to my utter bewilderment, I saw my class clapping! I was getting applause! I managed to trip myself on the very last slide, which concluded my presentation with a video joke on the screen, and combined with my antics, they loved it!
Needless to say, me utilizing the full tool set that PowerPoint offers, combined with a little nature 'talent', managed not only to get an A on the presentation, but also managed to have the only presentation that day that people where genuinely intrigued in!
thefurlinator
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
The Best PowerPoint Story
I had to present the next day, and after my presentation, I snuck in a last slide that said "Mr. Zernone, will you go to Homecoming with me?" The whole class erupted into laughter and after receiving a questionable look from my teacher, I got an A+ on the presentation. Truly the best PowerPoint presentation of my life.
rwehrt
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Powerpoint Class Kiss Ass
rwehrt
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Powerpoint Class Kiss Ass
mistashizzle
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
PowerPoint Project Perfection
The final presentation turned out fantastic. I love working with computers and so the topic was one I felt passionately about and the presentation helped me to show that. I gave the presentation using the PowerPoint project and it went smoothly and everyone loved it. Next year I'll be entering RIT as a freshman and it's all because of PowerPoint that I was able to graduate.
TGray4
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Best PowerPoint made on a mac
JubbaG
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Percussion in Histoire du Soldat
Mr530
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
South America
The project was especially challenging as I was assigned to do an extensive powerpoint on the history of South America from 1800-1914. Unfortunately, when you search through the internet for the 19th century, most search results return information about the Civil War.
Upon completion of the research, the powerpoint took an extensive 25 hours to assemble and perfect. Complete with flowcharts, tables, illustrations, timelines, and carefully designed layouts, this project is my most proud research project to this very day. I have gone through several other computers in the past couple of years and I have always kept a copy of my blood sweat and tears on my harddrive.
Still, four years later, I have used this powerpoint to showcase my abilities as well as to test the rendering capabilities of other "Powerpoint" compatible devices such as the iPhone, Android, and Google Docs.
Ensellitis
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Making executives sweat
Well, the meeting started and I open up my big ole bag and pull out my iMac.
They started to panic a bit. They ran up to the stage and were panicked because they said they were certain I said PowerPoint. So they assumed I would use a pc.
I couldn't help but laugh at their faces when I not only open up PowerPoint, but excel right after then plugged in the USB drive and loaded everything up without a hitch. I love making people sweat.
SPL
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
My best PP presentation ever
One Wednesday morning, I manage to get to school early, planning to get some reading and perhaps some writing done in the hour I had to myself before class. I run into my prof, who casually asks me if I'm ready for my in-class presentation scheduled for that very same day. In an hour. "Of course," I reply, "just make sure the projector's warmed up."
Truth is I wasn't ready. I had no presentation and no idea what I was supposed to be presenting on. A quick scan of my notes indicated that I was to present on that day's reading (which I was in the process of actually reading) and was expected to engage the class in a 30 minute post-presentation Q&A session.
Out comes the MacBook, PowerPoint gets started up. Thanks to Outline view, I was able to quickly put together a detailed slide-by-slide rough outline for my presentation. Editing slide backgrounds and typefaces took all of 5 minutes, and with a bit of polish on each slide's content, I was ready to go with 3 minutes to spare.
Walked in, presented and led the Q&A session with authority, passion and even a bit of laughter, despite my near-total lack of knowledge on the topic. My saving grace was my organized and easy to follow presentation, which wouldn't have been possible without PowerPoint. Final result was an A letter grade and a valuable lesson: PowerPoint is your friend.
jstiles85
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
Powerpoint saves the day
stockrocker
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
College Lifesaver
andy c.
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
PowerPoint Saves the Day!
mattc986
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
Creating More than a Presentation
For my final project I decided to present the content I chose (the digital music revolution) in a PowerPoint presentation with a twist. I disabled the user's ability to click to advance slides or otherwise navigate between slides. I then created an extensive network of buttons that all linked to different slides throughout the presentation. Each slide had dedicated audio and visual cues that I orchestrated to music playing in the background and also featured links and videos. A menu screen tied it all together, with each page having either a 'Back' or 'Home' button. I chose a space theme and used instrumental pieces from the Angels and Airwaves album "We Don't Need to Whisper". The first introduction slide was my favorite because it involved a 30 second montage of pictures sliding, fading, and moving in and out timed to precise beats in the music. What the project became was more like a website in that it was an interactive experience for a user rather than a presentation to an audience.
When I finally got to demonstrate this experience the class was wowed and of course I was viewed as the kid who tried too hard and sat up all night at his computer. I enjoyed the heck out of making it, though. My teacher loved it but didn't give me the highest grade because he felt the content got a little lost in my vigor creating the interface and experience. That was good enough for me.
To this day I remain impressed with what I was able to create with PowerPoint from Office 2003 running on Windows XP. I had no idea that it could be a blank canvas for so much more than just a class presentation.
kevster
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
PowerPoint Mac
Jesus used all kinds of interactive teaching methods though, so on the basis of that I schlepped my faithful Mac, Projector and PowerPoint to the classes I was teaching.
I used Powerpoint to illustrate the parables with famous art through the ages and we critiqued how close (or far) the artist was from capturing the essence of the story. I was able to create moving graphics to illustrate complex theological concepts and integrated movies and audio clips into the sessions, using PowerPoint as my main tool.
Through the course of our sessions I noticed more and more seats filling up. I didn't think anything of it at first, but afterwards people told me that they had heard about how moving and engaging the classes had become and showed up to see what the buzz was all about.
Most importantly, long after the first class, people still tell me they remember the point of the lessons, which is, after all - the point.
We have had to purchase two of our own projectors now and use multimedia regularly in our teaching efforts.
mattismac
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Presentation
bigb792
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
English
MacPrince
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Clever (ab)use of PowerPoint
- closes down the slide show and PowerPoint
- opens the newest version from a shared folder (first file ending in PPTX)
- sets every slide to auto-advance in 15 seconds
- sets the slide show to loop
- re-starts the slide show
This way, the AP just mounts the shared folder from his PC before he leaves and copies in the new slide deck. At 7, the display automatically refreshes itself, so it's up to date for students arriving the next morning.
This allowed us to use a spare Mac we already had instead of splashing out $1000 for a proprietary Cisco solution that doesn’t work as well and draws more power.
Myth
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
A great presentation speaks for itself
Then disaster struck: the day before my presentation I wound up with a terrible case of strep throat and couldn't speak! I went to the nurse, got some anti-biotics (why do they give enormous pills for throat infections?) and a note explaining that I couldn't speak. Then I sat down and began working on an alternate version of my presentation. This backup presentation was crafted in such a way that I wouldn't have to speak in order to present it. The whole thing worked out beautifully. Most of my presentation was already pictures and there were never more than ten words on a slide. A friend volunteered to record the notes I had written and those were worked in as linked audio files. Careful preparation went into the timing of everything.
When I arrived at class the next day, my throat was still so swollen I couldn't speak. I handed the professor my nurse's note and a brief letter explaining my solution and intent to still present that day. My time came and the presentation went flawlessly. The entire class was blown away that I was able to put on a five minute presentation without ever speaking. I got an A for the assignment and for the class.
jmello
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Office for Mac is Awesome!
The main speaker was unable to come at the last minute, so myself and several other new members of the group got in front of everyone to introduce ourselves.
I used PowerPoint to put together a quick presentation that I did in front of 40+ local business owners, to tell them about my very small computer repair/support business.
I had to throw the presentation together at the last minute and with PowerPoint, my MacBook, and my Wacom Tablet, was able to provide an impressive, graphically-rich presentation that got me several compliments afterwards. I had several people ask me about the Mac as a platform, and when I told them that they could run Office, or even run Windows if they wanted to, while still having the stability and features of OS X, they were floored.
Six months later, I still get calls from people asking how easy it is to switch their office to Mac, and after assisting two small business owners and a few individuals looking make the switch to Mac, that has become my main focus. When people ask what I do for a living, I tell them that I am a "Professional Switcher."
Needless to say, that PowerPoint presentation and Office for Mac's cross-platform compatibility has helped me expand my customer base beyond what I could have imagined when I got up on that stage. I couldn't have done any of this without Office for Mac.
raene
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Spongebob + Biology
User99
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
My ultimate Powerpoint presentation
User99
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
My best PowerPoint for Mac presentation
tljdesign
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
PowerPoint earned me an internship offer from the director of a $600 million facility...
We presented our research and solution to a panel including the director of the facility, his support staff, and our professor (an ex-VP for Toyota). PowerPoint gave me, the presentation coordinator and designer, the tools to create a highly animated, intuitive presentation that literally blew the audience away. The team leader and myself highly praised after the presentation by all who were present, were offered high-paying internships at the facility, won favor from the professor in classes to come, and earned recognition throughout the school for our success with this project.
Needless to say we made a A+ on the project, in the class, and in classes to come. After this presentation, I received countless emails from other student teams willing to pay me to coordinate their PowerPoint-driven presentations. So, in the end, one really well done and intuitive presentation earned me a great internship offer, a priceless recommendation letter for graduate school, and food money to work with student teams. All invaluable resources for an undergrate student.
Thanks for letting me brag on my big PowerPoint win!
TJMSr
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Enjoyed using Powerpoint better than Keynote
SLPatterson
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Cross-Platform Bliss
I was delighted to see the presentation exactly as I had created it. I continued working on it for several hours that night and the next morning opened it back at work (in Windows 7) and presented a perfectly-formatted presentation to our executive team!
Love that cross-platform collaboration!
eberyvody
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Plain and simple...
Frogleg311
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
A First time for Everything!
Rasputin99
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
PowerPoint at Trial
space
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
Best PowerPoint ever
I tried to email a PPT to my aunt, she didn't have MS Office on her Mac and couldn't open the file to view it.
I went looking for a standalone PPT viewer, took quite awhile but the only one I found was for OS 9 (!?!?).
I could have had her use the MS Office Trial, but once that expires it's not a real solution anymore, is it?
My aunt really wanted to see this PPT, she's out of work and not gonna go drop big $$$ just for MS Office, and she couldn't view the file no matter what I tried because there is no free PPT viewer that works... Grr.
Oh wait, yes there is... I had her install OpenOffice, and only then was she able to view the PowerPoint
netricate
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
When email fails, powerpoint prevails!
I had to try a new approach. I created a visual masterpiece, complete with video, animation and enough lolcats to cover all my bases.
At last, in a shining moment of corporate rags-to-riches, my presentation reached the eyes of the president of the company. He loved it and approved my entire resource plan.
I now sit atop one of the biggest departments in the company that's to a single ppt.
Metronome49
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
Saving Lives
It was so easy to put everything together even for someone with not a lot of experience like me, and the response was overwhelming. It made feel so much more professional.
The BEST part is, one of the students from that class went on to save someone's life with the information from the presentation that I gave! How awesome is that! When the information is that important, I'm glad I used PowerPoint for Mac.
resmungo
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
Board of Regants
nogreenworld
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
rehearsal dinner
we were financing most of our wedding ourselves. while i wanted to give her something wonderful and special as a wedding gift, money was--obviously--tight. we were squeaking it all together with our jobs and by being extra frugal with our student loan monies...anywhere we could hang on to a few extra bucks.
covertly, i started rummaging through old pictures and scanning them. i then created a slide show that followed pictures of her and myself from birth, growing up with our respective families, and then through when we met. i was able to put it all together in powerpoint on my trusty PowerMac 7200, using custom transitions, some for for visual interest and some for humor (an animated arrow to point out a young me in the background of a photo being, shall we say, a bit less than couth). I was able to sync it up to two songs that were very special to us: the first was one that we both liked from being younger, and then at the point in the slideshow where it got to the two of us together, it switched to the song we had picked for our first dance.
at our rehearsal dinner, we were in the back room of a small local restaurant. i had called ahead to make sure they had a tv there that we could use. we had the dinner, people made toasts, and then i announced that i had something to share. with the help of one of AV guys from school, i was able to figure out a way to rig up the presentation to play on their tv, and had gotten in early to set it up. the tv was part of the room setup, so no one even noticed until i turned it on.
it worked perfectly. it captured the wonder and excitement of that timeframe perfectly. it helped me say--in a way that i likely could not have said with words--what a great journey had shared already, and it created that sense of endless potential for the future, of hope, of love. my wife was completely surprised. i think i may have watched her watching it more that night than i did the presentation (i had watched it a lot getting everything perfect ahead of time). everyone was suprised, i got tons of compliments. there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
now it's almost 10 years later, we're happily married, with a daughter, and that powerpoint presentation (now converted to a newer powerpoint version) is still one of our favorite mementos that we have from our wedding. it's better than any jewelry i could have bought, better than any card i could have written, better than any toast i've ever given. it was perfect.
remember a lot of my powerpoint presentations, most pretty well. but i remember this one, nearly a decade later, perfectly. and every time i think of it or watch it, i am excited, i am happy, i feel lucky and i feel that same sense of potential that i felt that day.
thanks, powerpoint.
y2kemo
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
PowerPoint in a 5th Grade Classroom
weizzmann
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
One PowerPoint to Rule Them All
When it came time to create my anatomy presentation, freebording instantly came to mind. The sport involves countless movements and intricate combinations of muscle contractions. It was the perfect topic, and PowerPoint was the perfect medium for the multimedia that would drive the message home.
After working through the specific anatomic movements, I set out to create the presentation. I embedded video, used slide transitions, and highlighted specific points. I practiced the presentation using the built in presentation tools, and when it came time to deliver the presentation, the class was in awe. Needless to say, the professor approved! When I received my final grade, she had written at the top of the page, "98%, One PowerPoint to Rule Them All."
JoeBin
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
Power Point Compatibility!
With no time left to find an Apple Store or any store to buy an adapter to present my Power Point from the MacBook, I dumped my Power Points onto a thumb drive and gave it to the media guy running all the videos for the conference. Although the man didn't believe that my Mac-made Power Point would work on his Dell laptop, he plugged it into his USB and presto! It worked like a charm! My presentation on the other side of the world went as smooth as butter.
Thanks to the built-compatibility, my best Power Point Presentation for Mac ended up being the best one ever pulled off on a PC.
frafoso
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
Something never done before
What I did left everyone mouths-open. I started to create anaglyph images that would explain the story of my book, in 3D. I handed everyone glasses, and as I presented, they could see the characters talking and the background coming to life, again- in 3D! Together with the amazing transitions and sound effects, I was the only one who got the audience paying attention the whole presentation, and learning about the book.
It was an amazing experience. My best presentation got me a 102% out of a 0-100% limit. 102% for my final grade!! The best presentation made on my mac which ended its life last week
bioadam
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
A winning case
sirtophamhatt
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
PowerPoint for 2492 Miles
Although we weren't old enough according to the rules, we showcased our PowerPoint to a panel of judges, which included a retired Celtics player. We had all dressed up as different Seattle icons, myself dressing up as Nintendo's mascot Mario. It was really fun and everyone was optimistic; the judges were impressed with our slideshow, saying that it had been much better than the presentations created by the older students.
We ended up winning the competition, and because my class was so small, we extended our prize to students at another high school who came in second. We all went to Seattle and visiting Boeing, The Experience Music Project, the Seattle Space Needle, the islands in Lake Olympia, and many museums and historical sites. All of us came from poor, urban families and could never imagine being able to fly so far away and experience the offerings of a city on the opposite side of the US.
The trip to Seattle was the best thing that I have ever won and remains one of the best trips I have ever taken. Even if I don't win, I'd like to thank Microsoft's PowerPoint for making it possible. The stories I'm able to tell because of this trip has helped me get jobs, into after school programs and even into college. Thank you Microsoft and PowerPoint.
neeqi
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
Pop and Lock
jtomkiw
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
No lie
justin_Sullivan
Jul 23, 2010
10:26am
Memories of a Loved One
DRTigerlilly
Jul 23, 2010
10:51am
Rainbows everywhere!
We didn't get the highest mark in the class, but it was the most memorable, everybody loved it! Including our professor who said it was the most creative presentation she'd ever had done for the class.
keyrm
Jul 23, 2010
10:51am
Best Powerpoint Presentation
ramman345hp
Jul 23, 2010
10:51am
Best PowerPoint Presentation
tenksxc
Jul 23, 2010
11:53am
Mac + PowerPoint Epic Win
Kacey3
Jul 23, 2010
11:53am
A Most Impressive Video Wall
I work at a Visual Arts college and manage the main computer lab for the school. Attached to our computer lab were a couple of display cases, that in recent years, have gone into a state of disuse. The shelves were broken, any artwork that was put on display in there was of mediocre quality and was usually left to slowly fall apart over the span of far too many months. An associate Dean decided it was time to revamp the display cases. He envisioned a digital display wall where artwork would rotate more frequently and the content would be more dynamic. With no plan on how to realize this dream, he bought four 55" flat screen TV's and four Mac Minis to mount in the display cases, with the thought that something surely could be thrown together to make a digital display out of all that equipment.
It fell to me to make it all work, of course. Admittedly, I started my plans with Keynote, thinking that it was a native Apple product, it would be more AppleScript friendly than PowerPoint. I quickly learned that to be a false assumption and restarted my project with PowerPoint.
My plan was to make the system as simple to maintain as possible, while still encouraging frequent and constant rotation of media content. Using AppleScript and PowerPoint, I was able to build an application that loads and and all images out of a network share and compiles them into a full PowerPoint slideshow, all automatically. In addition, the system is able to read any included text files from the network share, and create custom footer text for the slides in the show. Upon completion of building the slideshow, the system then runs the slideshow on infinite loop until the next night, when at 3am, it starts the process all over again.
All my departmental admins have to do is collect images, compose footer files, and throw them on the network share. It's so simple, I couldn't have done it without PowerPoint's powerful scripting integration. You made a far better product than Apple for their own OS and without it, I would not have this fabulous project under my belt. Every day I walk past those displays, I'm reminded of how much I enjoyed putting them all together and providing to our student body a new way to present and view the work being created here in the college.
I posted a quick teaser of the setup here : http://flic.kr/p/8m2YVv
jasonbaldwin
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
20,000 slides and counting
I moved into the world of construction management, and used PowerPoint to create sales presentations that netted the company for which I worked over $4 billion in construction contracts, including airports, convention centers, NFL and MLB stadiums, NBA and NHL arenas, hospitals, schools, and hotels.
Now I'm a freelance designer and animator, and I use PowerPoint as a living storyboard for the children's cartoons I produce, starting with scanned sketches and notes, then replacing the sketches with finished artwork as it progresses.
The point is this: PowerPoint is flexible enough to do almost anything I need to do, and is the only application that approaches Photoshop or Illustrator as the one I spend the most time in.
pplover
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
PowerPoing + Mac = Job
velvetduke
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
Sauciest PPT Ever
geode
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
Best Powerpoint Presentation Ever! Really!
It was a presentation on how to deliver an effective presentation, and the intent was to illustrate each point by presenting it the way I was teaching it.
The audience comprised about 50 entrepreneurs whose new ventures were in various stages but had capital-raising in common.
I was given kudos after the presentation, but the most satisfying result was that several of the entrepreneurs placed (and won) in subsequent business plan and pitch competitions!
Thanks for a great product!
eyeless916
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
A Way to Share a Friends Memory
I thought at first it would be kind of lame, my first instinct was to just use apples iphoto, but when i saw how limited it was i opted for powerpoint. The powerpoint show ended up being shown in the California State Capitol, The Los Angeles City Hall, and in the Philippines with her family. It ended up being the greatest gift i could give her family and friends. Everyone asked for a copy so they could remember her.
Her family later thanked us and said that was the best thing anyone could have done.
RayGu303
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
My awesome PowerPoint!
AlyssaSkywalker
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
Winning
ninja9
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
PowerPoint around the world.
So, I put together a PowerPoint presentation. A slide for each unforgettable story.
That was the best PowerPoint presentation I've ever made.
awesomeal
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
I LOVE POWERPOINT!
I love PowerPoint and I love Mac. The perfect match.
Jason Lin
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
PowerPoint in Hospital
There are a lot of pictures, animations, videos and data tables in my presentation. Thanks to all these fantastic features of PowerPoint for Mac, my presentation earn me a great honor from the consultant.
BKkla
Jul 26, 2010
9:16am
100 000 uses for a vuvuzella
Shiroiko
Jul 26, 2010
9:16am
The best PowerPoint that wasn't, in the end, a PowerPoint
Enter PowerPoint.
I remembered that PowerPoint had the capability to do simple animations. If I could use them carefully it might just look like much more complicated animation.
My experiment was a fabulous success. Putting together the animations was quite simple and they looked exactly an I had envisioned in my head, which I hadn't thought would be possible when I first began the project. The final product looked polished and professional and, more importantly, my thesis video was given high marks!
Here's the links to the video if anyone's curious (my favorite PowerPoint animation is in the second video at the 2:14 minute mark)
1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqjxlWt6kaw
2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-qVXn6wVUE
qbattersby
Jul 26, 2010
9:16am
I really really do!
Love is a strange thing, I personally have found love myself yet this story is not about my love. It is about the love shared by my Father & Step Mother that I tried my best to portray.
Growing up in a situation when your parents break ties and split can be tough for some, yet I believe the most difficult thing is considering how or if your parents will ever again find true love. Yet, when they find it - you know it is true.
My father met an acquaintance of one of his close friends, and from the beginning they both knew it would last forever. After a long 7+ year journey together they finally decided for better or worse they would tie the knot.
Myself, and my two brothers are very close to my father and to make his special day even more special he asked my all of us to stand up next to him as he takes this step into a new part of his life. We graciously agreed, particularly I was asked to be the Best Man in the wedding party. Of course I followed through with all the typically assistance (bachelor party, etc. etc.), however my brothers and I wanted to take it one step further. We truly wanted to show how we saw and accepted my father's new found love, happiness, relationship and partner. This is important to us, because for many years we understood how difficult he must have found it to believe he would find love again.
Together we gathered images and stories from one another and generated a long PowerPoint presentation which was shown during the reception after the ceremony. It brought many to tears of joy, myself included. It truly allowed all of us as a family come closer together as we all felt that this new found love and happiness was more than we could ever ask for.
I no longer have the PowerPoint presentation (due to hard drive failure) otherwise I would put a copy online for viewing. But it was nearly 75 slides and images ranged from ones early in their relationship, to their travels around the world, loving family photos from the large Thanksgiving they host every year.
Well that is my story, I would love a chance to win this prize and I hope that sheds some light into one of my uses of PowerPoint.
Best of luck and good wishes to the other contestants!
jonwaite
Jul 26, 2010
9:16am
PowerPoint Saves the Day!
NC
Jul 26, 2010
9:18am
My most memorable PP presentation
mnmjr1981
Jul 26, 2010
9:18am
Powerpoint for Work
charlieabbottuk
Jul 26, 2010
9:18am
Its all about the culture
As if this wasn't enough I also pieced together some comments from the England team saying how disappointed they all where along with a clip from Maradona whose speech had some funny subtitles added by me.
It all went down really well and the US staff got to see that while we do celebrate our successes we don't take ourselves too seriously.
ryan010101
Jul 26, 2010
9:18am
Powerful experience
DSB
Jul 26, 2010
2:59pm
PowerPoint -- Back From The Dead
In the past, I have been very critical of using static PowerPoint slides and usually referred to the enterprise as "death by PowerPoint".
NOW times are different! With the newest MS Office for Mac and PC, I encourage my colleagues to use PowerPoint by integrating audio/visual materials provided by the textbook publishers. These materials may, in fact, include static text slides, but also audio and video files. I have shown the professors how to upgrade the static slides so that every presentation now brings the field of Psychology to life. No more "death by PowerPoint" -- now brightly moving talking a/v slides bringing the subject matter to life and keeping the students awake.
Thanks MS and Mactopia.
roman411
Jul 26, 2010
2:59pm
Mac PPT Is Absolutely My Friend
1 presentation. 5 slides. 60 seconds.
Mac PowerPoint helped me get through grad school by letting me create a quick, easy, and beautifully graphic presentation. Worked like a charm. I sure did talk extremely fast but it was great. Landed me an A grade for the course.
ahbiteme
Jul 27, 2010
10:18am
Wowed some Psychology undergraduates
I take great pride in making presentations that "wow" my students, rather than just putting lots of words on a screen. I use lots of animations and transitions and get loads of comments every semester from the students.
When I couldn't use my Mac to give a lecture, I had to use the PCs built into the lectern. Fortunately, the compatibility between the PC and Mac versions of Powerpoint has improved out of sight over the last few versions and my presentations worked perfectly in front of 650 students in two separate lecture theatres simultaneously (hence the technical limitations!)
Thanks for a program that's intuitive, easy to use, powerful and beautiful. I know I'm outside of the US and can't win, but I thought I'd share the story anyway.
TheBrokenSound10
Jul 27, 2010
10:18am
Re: Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
I spent around 2 hours working on it, and when I was presenting it, what surprised me the most was the audiences' reactions!
My teacher told me to save it to her memory stick so she could create copies to give out for her next year's students, and use it as a starter example to view on the interactive whiteboards to gather basic information. She said my use of information was presented in a fun and exciting way.
My classmates also said that it was like being in a cinema watching a trailer, I quote 'I'm surprised it didn't say 'appearing in cinemas 2011'.'
I won the competition, and my powerpoint is being used as a school history presentation. My history teacher now requests to view most of my powerpoints, even if it's not relevent to history, and has told other teachers about my work. For certain lessons I am incharge of creating powerpoints in English, Science, Art, ICT and D.T, all thanks to that one powerpoint.
I enjoy making them, but the laptop I currently have tends to freeze, and I am looking for a new one to improve school work and personal useage.
Also, with a macbook, iMovieMaker is a software which I enjoy using regulary (borrowing a macbook of a member of my family, who gets annoyed with that idea,) and would like to own one to improve my skills and knowledge about media and ICT.
greyarea
Jul 27, 2010
1:54pm
New stuff
Rawjrdawgr
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
That's Our Product?
ugacdawg
Aug 09, 2010
12:57pm
Out of India
I built a presentation of our case in PowerPoint for the Mac to show why it was in Shormila's best interest to come to the United States and live and sent it to our attorney to use in court. He used it in our final appellate hearing and for a variety of reasons they finally allowed Shormila to come.
She has been here for three years now and is headed into the 8th grade. That Powerpoint presentation was the most important of my life because it changed completely the life of another human being.
If we are luck enough to win the laptop then we'll share it with the kids in the family and hopefully they too will get a chance to create a life-changing presentation!
Kevin Brennan
Jul 22, 2010
12:16pm
Re: Contest Question #3: Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
ttaylor
Jul 22, 2010
12:16pm
Re: Contest Question #3: Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
Nate3333
Jul 22, 2010
12:16pm
Best Powerpoint for Mac presentatio
oranjeguice
Jul 22, 2010
12:16pm
Calendar Design
However, I needed to present my project to the class. Some of my classmates like using InDesign for their presentations, but I prefer Powerpoint.
In my presentation, I laid out everything I did for the project: sketches, roughs, comps, etc. I also had filmed a video of people messing around with the calendar and arranging the dates to however they pleased.
I put this video in my presentation, along with that one silly song from Benny Hill...hahaha. It was a blast! People loved it! And thanks to the tools which allowed me to present my project, the whole thing was a great success.
bdig85
Jul 22, 2010
1:50pm
A Psychology Presentation
I took full advantage of the animations, my favorite one being a sleeping, snoring man with Zs drifting above his head. Each slide had animated text, transitions, and plenty of sound effects. I even planted a link to my Live Journal account (where I had kept a personal dream diary) on one of the slides for easy access. My professor and classmates were impressed with my presentation and I got an A, which pushed my grade to an A. Thanks to PowerPoint, I didn't have to take the final!
grooms
Jul 22, 2010
1:50pm
PowerPoint
jgcarey
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
Got the point!!!
Enter the Office 2008 - well thank goodness for the auto updates from the files, you see I was making some final changes, based upon comments, 30 minutes before the presentation.
They were then updated in my presentation.
So - at the end two of the board members said - "I get that we have the sun when we need it..."
Thanks...
resaxon
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
Seminar
derek8
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
A+
Ajherrera
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
PowerPoint preso of Steve Jobs preso style... oh the irony!
Macintoshrocks
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
LLamas
MacSig
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
PP for wed designer
bigmattyh
Jul 23, 2010
9:27am
Tell us who you are
And no one likes a boring presentation. So I put together a short and sweet story, organized around photos and a video or two, all within the framework PowerPoint provides. The good first impression was made.
bigmattyh
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
Tell us who you are
And no one likes a boring presentation. So I put together a short and sweet story, organized around photos and a video or two, all within the framework PowerPoint provides. The good first impression was made.
Man
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
PROcrastinate
Now it wasn't like we weren't prepared. Of course we knew all the formulas and paths and we followed a Visio Gantt chart all semester. It was just not put together.
So for the next 30 minutes we divided up our project into 6 parts among our 6 group members and fired up Powerpoint to bring what was in our heads (and in data form) to a presentation.
Quickly we saw time was up and we were 5 minutes late. We still needed pictures of our finished project, an Off-Road vehicle, so I grabbed my camera and took some shots and using Powerpoint 2010 I edit and cropped these pictures with amazing clarity and speed.
Final heading to class we found out since we were late we were last to present about 3 hours later. Yet we did not need to keep working on the slides while we waited because it came out great the first time.
phimmy
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
My first (and so far only) PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
jmoo
Jul 23, 2010
9:32am
The Best Story (Will beg for Office and Macbook)
I had a person I haven't seen in two years bring that very presentation up in a convo at a gas station..lol..didn't know him well but he remembered it!!
fltechteach
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
For Presentations that Stand Out
chaosmint
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Renewable Energy Project Powerpoint
http://bit.ly/cSoNwy
And download the resulting powerpoint at:
http://bit.ly/criiKT
DAP56
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
Fantastic Power Point Presentation Story
Brendan09
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
PowerPoint
high school. I had everything done, including the report with a full
set of screenshots for each screen of the application. The night
before the program had to be demonstrated in front of the class for a
grade, my harddrives died, forcing me to lose all of the code and the
finessed program. After careful thinking, I realized that the report
with screenshots was saved in my email! I pulled the screenshots out
and took a few hours to make a really elaborate mockup of the
application that looks and behaves (to the casual observer) like it
was really the program running! I had enough screenshots to even make
the menus feel functional. Since I was the one demoing the finished
program, i knew what I could push and how to make it convincing that
it was the real thing. So the next day I demonstrated it in class and
no one realized that it wasn't really a program. Without some of the
advanced features in PowerPoint, I'm not sure I could have pulled this
off! Anyways, this is probably my best PowerPoint moment ever...so
TaDa!
Man
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
PROcrastinate
Now it wasn't like we weren't prepared. Of course we knew all the formulas and paths and we followed a Visio Gantt chart all semester. It was just not put together.
So for the next 30 minutes we divided up our project into 6 parts among our 6 group members and fired up Powerpoint to bring what was in our heads (and in data form) to a presentation.
Quickly we saw time was up and we were 5 minutes late. We still needed pictures of our finished project, an Off-Road vehicle, so I grabbed my camera and took some shots and using Powerpoint 2010 I edit and cropped these pictures with amazing clarity and speed.
Final heading to class we found out since we were late we were last to present about 3 hours later. Yet we did not need to keep working on the slides while we waited because it came out great the first time.
fuzzbinn
Jul 23, 2010
9:34am
School Science Expo
randomgen45
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
Smooth as silk.
tyassine
Jul 23, 2010
9:36am
Dull Meeting Made Fun
nkc333
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
I hated macs
A few years later, having completely forgotten about my powerpoint shenanigans I purchased my first macbook. Upon discovering this, my mom sent me a copy of the powerpoint that they had saved just in case. And of course, contrary to my claims in the presentation I was easily able to open the pc file from years back on my new macbook.
Now I'm in law school and happy with the 4 years I got out of my macbook, but I'm in need of a new one to use for my exams.
12thman
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Class Presentations
derekbaseball
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
A-
Coldmedina
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
PowerPoint from space
AcroMace
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
Inspirational Musician Presentation
warheadwl
Jul 23, 2010
9:37am
multimedia
jboundridge
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
Power Point
Thanks Office for Mac! This would be a great help in finishing my degree up and a wonderful almost graduation present
DenverAve
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
A Quick Question
Jul 23, 2010
9:40am
DenverAve
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
Big Fan!
Having a PowerPoint is great, having a Desktop computer is a hassle however
Wish I had a laptop so I can continue working with some of the greatest softwares such as PowerPoint and the Excel on the way to work in a Metra
Choosing PowerPoint for such presentations makes it just easier, faster, and even prettier. Best of all, it makes me feel Professional
jonsamson
Jul 23, 2010
9:39am
Re: Contest Question #3: Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
wingate19
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
Power Point before 130 administrators
halhiker
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
Make trips more interesting
Rickcon
Jul 23, 2010
9:41am
Best PowerPoint Presentation
Candygirlnana
Jul 23, 2010
10:51am
PowerPoint and Family
pao0829
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
Power Point in Neuro Rehab
imptom
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
A radio show and a PowerPoint
A college radio station offers a shot for people to have some fun and try out their radio voice. That's how I got my start. I hosted our school's news program, but as my responsibilities increased, I had less time for a radio show. Eventually, I was off the air.
I became general manager shortly thereafter and was excited because I was finally going to have my own show. I could make the time for it!
Here's where PowerPoint came in. It was extraordinarily important to our recruitment efforts. We gave presentations using PowerPoint at interest meetings. When we wanted to let prospective students take a listen, PowerPoint made it easy. Show off our studios? Throwing photos in PowerPoint made it possible.
Our interest meetings last year were so well attended - and we had so much interest from the presentations - that I gave up my beloved time slot to let another student have a shot.
It's a childhood dream for many, to be a radio host. And PowerPoint made it possible for so many students at my school to have a radio program.
eyraud
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
Re: Contest Question #3: Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
the awe (and the quiet of the room) was inspiring, as the screen gradually became empty of aircraft...
Hailfire753
Jul 26, 2010
9:12am
Great Memories!
We were assigned to make a 10 minute presentation on the military tactics of the Roman Army. Unwilling to settle for a mind-numbing lecture style report, I turned to powerpoint. I spent countless hours scouring the net for pictures of Roman battle reenactments, then set them as the backgrounds for each slide, using copious amounts of dramatic Ken Burns effect. I timed and animated the text to appear in an open spot of the background just as I spoke about them, and set the whole thing to an epic cinematic soundtrack that sounded like it was straight out of Gladiator. I made replica Roman shields and spears, and had the class make the formations shown on screen as I screamed commands in latin. At the end, there was an awed silence, and then smiling applause. I felt a euphoric tightness in my chest, a feeling I only get with great accomplishment.
Ultimatly, that experience gave me such a passion and drive for multimedia and technology that I chose it for my major! By using Office for Mac, I was able to transfer my project from my parent's mac to my teacher's PC, and dispite all of the advanced effects I used, it worked flawlessly! I hope to continue in college, but I can't afford a laptop, so please pick me!
travata
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
World-class photo presentation of high art
It's cross-platform, the viewers are free to download, and basically any type of hardware (even old stuff) can run it fine.
The best presentation I ever helped create was a collection of art photos for a guest lecturing gig my wife landed. PowerPoint let us stick multiple photos on one page, resize with ease, add annotations, and create custom backgrounds to fill space when the photos had odd dimensions.
If you use it right, PowerPoint can create world-class presentations.
rickdob
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
Sermon Series
andrewbarton
Jul 26, 2010
9:14am
PowerPoint = Awesome (which means it's FTW!!!!)
What happens when your roommates have a party and completely destroy your project that you slaved for months on, leaving you with nothing more than a French-fried computer and less than 24 hours before class? Why, you improvise!
This was one such event that I have survived through, and I had spent so much time creating, refining, and designing the perfect “A” report. And now, in less time than it took my roommate to break the beer pong table, it was gone. And not only did it leave without so much as saying goodbye, it left without even cleaning up after itself. Lucky for me, I have back-ups, right? Wrong. I had backed up my hard drive the same evening, and it, too, gave its last spin in the name of youthful academia (well….sorta).
What to do, what to do. I had the research, but all of the compilation was gone. It was my final grade, and I was at a loss. We could do anything for our final grade; PowerPoint, research paper, skit as long as it was class relevant, you name it.
I whipped out my library card, and off I went. I had to think fast, time was short and I needed a solution. There it was, 9:50 at night, my “connection” standing over my shoulder waiting to go to bed (she had let me in the library). I decided to create a PowerPoint and give a lecture.
Why? Because of versatility; I could use my Live accounts SkyDrive to host the PowerPoint while I pulled it up on the lecture system in the classroom. I created stunning visuals, amazing graphics, and speaker notes that would have left Dr. King in utter shock, and awe. And I did it in just over an hour and a half.
I love office. It’s easy. It’s simple. And it works. Thank You Microsoft, for coming in at the last minute. Thanks to those hours you spent diligently typing away at the source code, sipping your fourteenth cup of coffee in a dark office as the night wore on, I was able to slip through my final with a cool A… And some beer.
This post was created, edited, and revised with Office:Mac2008.
Jason Lin
Jul 26, 2010
9:16am
PowerPoint in Hospital
There are a lot of pictures, animations, videos and data tables in my presentation. Thanks to all these fantastic features of PowerPoint for Mac, my presentation earn me a great honor from the consultant.
pdr
Jul 26, 2010
9:16am
Map of the World
SpencerJames
Jul 26, 2010
9:18am
PowerPoint's Comedic Capabilities
When you get down to it - PowerPoint is so easy - it's too hard not to have fun with it!
Hesham Abdel Aal
Jul 26, 2010
9:18am
Present the Apple computer with Intel processor to my coworkers.
Ronelias
Jul 26, 2010
9:18am
PowerPoint experience
Michael Vaughn
Jul 26, 2010
2:59pm
The Caribbean presentation
what_are_you_thinking
Jul 26, 2010
2:59pm
Almost a winner
@ndy
Jul 26, 2010
2:59pm
90 Second Presentation
However, the catch is that he had only 90 seconds to impress over 600 people.
With the a little help from Photoshop, a custom, professional layout was put together in Power Point in under 2 hours.
The power point was on a large projection screen. There were only 6 slides. However, they were concise and direct to the point wasting only time to breathe between sentences.
The presentation was no frills, mainly with large sharp images and minimal text only to emphasis key points.
The presentation was a huge success with ample numbers of attendees stopping by the booth in an economy that wasn't doing so hot at the time.
red308gtsi
Jul 26, 2010
2:59pm
The Story Behind Slavery
I came up with a custom background with different icons from that era to dovetail with the story. The experience of slavery, what they went through, and how different individuals, including the man who wrote "Amazing Grace" came to life in a way that made you feel like you were there.
As a result of that, it spawned off several more vocal dramas that used PowerPoint even more to bring a story to life.
vmsweet123
Jul 26, 2010
2:59pm
Family tree and work
jmgalanter
Jul 27, 2010
10:18am
A presentation on the SARS epidemic
ALGOZ
Jul 27, 2010
10:18am
No Powerpoint
Many people had 'flown-in' so rescheduling was not possible. I had to do the presentation without Powerpoint.
But, I had rehearsed, I knew my topic and I knew my slides. So I simply delivered the presentation and handwrote the KEY points on a flipchart as I went along. The presentation was a success (we got the sale!), but on another level, it changed forever how I use PPT.
I now make sure that every slide...
1 - has a purpose
2 - supports my 'speech' not the other way around
3 - is succint, sometime only a word and an image
4 - works in concert with every other slide to achive the aim of the presentation (in this case to close a sale)
Thus PPT makes me really think about what I want to achieve, its now a discipline and PPT really helps me focus on my message and the desired outcome, and then focus on how PPT can help me reach those goals!
I also make sure that I retain control over my own handouts and computing. But I never forget that PPT is a tool, and as we all know, correct usage of any tool leads to the right result!
cpxchewy
Jul 28, 2010
9:26am
Complimenting a speech
BobpHogan
Jul 28, 2010
4:10pm
It wasn't me!
Thanks Mac.
Bob Hogan
bombero
Jul 28, 2010
4:10pm
multi media sermon
PPT rocks.
b
regtor
Jul 29, 2010
1:47pm
my son's ppt
bobfharris
Jul 29, 2010
1:47pm
Orchid Talk
rsrey
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
happier
Guitar player 575
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
Best use of PowerPoint
rocket science or brain surgery, but it made an impression, nonetheless.
BooRue
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
Teaching the students
Thanks for making it easy on me to keep these guys awake.
alee
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
Re: Contest Question #3: Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
Hamrassoc
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
Presentations to job seekers
billMo
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
Teaching American Kids About China & Chinese New Year
As it was late January, I bought a suitcase full of Chinese New Year decorations, and on the flight home, built a presentation in PowerPoint for Mac on the customs and traditions of Chinese New Year, including lots of photos.
My wife and I decorated the classroom and then I made my presentation to the kids. The teacher loved it so much, she ran and grabbed 6 other classes who came through and I repeated the presentation several times.
It was educational for the kids and really, really fun for me! PowerPoint helped me light up kids imagination and bridge a gap halfway around the world.
Mirror Stage
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
PowerPoint and Martin Luther King
Starting with the Brown v. Education Supreme Court decision of 1954, we tracked milestones of the civil rights movement leading to MLK's acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. With the help of PowerPoint, we were able to achieve a depth of resonance and impact which we otherwise would not have been able to afford.
The final two performances of the MLK piece were at the Seattle Public Library for school groups. At the morning performance, there was a group of 33 mostly Asian students from Seattle Pacific University, who were too shy to ask any questions during the post-play discussion. The second performance was for a group of 90 elementary school kids. The actor who portrayed Dr. King and I joined University of Washington History professor Nikhil Singh for the post-performance Q & A session. Among the questions asked:
Why were Black people discriminated against?
Why was there slavery? When did it start?
Were slaves only taken from Africa?
Who said that slavery was okay? Who invented slavery?
Were Asians considered black during slave times?
What about mixed race people? Were they considered black?
What if you were half Barbadan and half Italian? Would you be considered a slave?
Were there any white people helping the black people?
Why did it take 100 years after the end of the Civil War for anyone to do anything about the unfair laws?
Thank goodness for Dr. Singh, whose areas of specialty are US Intellectual, African American, Ethnicity and Nationalism! He and the actor were able to handle most of the questions. I think all three of us felt a little like we were facing a firing squad of sorts...
I mostly listened to what the others had to say, although I did expand a little upon the idea of why slaves were such a valuable commodity back in the days before tvs and computers and cars and tractors when the economy was based mainly in farming.
I was glad to hear the questions asked, even if I couldn't answer some of them. It showed how far we've come from the time when racism and inequality were so much more of an unspoken, tacitly accepted and encouraged part of society. The exact thing for which Martin Luther King, Jr. dedicated and sacrificed his life to help bring about.
And none of it would've happened without the PowerPoint presentation to set the context and get their young minds thinking about historical events that weren't so very long ago. We are now considering a Nobel Peace Prize series, which would utilize PowerPoint for similar presentations about other Nobel Peace Prize winners.
aaronosb
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
PP usage
MeBawden
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
Easy Layout
michelsal
Jul 30, 2010
9:18am
havent' tried yet
bothsidesofthefence
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
death by powerpoint
The great thing about using poweroint on the macbook pro is that is it an immediate conversation starter. I am coming in to the class room with two celebrities, MS and Apple.
Once the meet and greet is over everyone is jazzed up and ready to pay attention and because the platform and application perform flawlessly there are no jeers from the students which are usually Marines or Sailors. I cannot wait to get my hands on Office 2011 because I know MS always brings their A game on this stuff and the folks I work with have their heads on a swivel and are always on their A game.
thekrow
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
Got the Grade
Thanks!
crispiestsquid
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
school
JImU
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
Music Appr
cellochik
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
flexibility
MrShadow
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
World History
richie76
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
Process-Chart
IsobelMcGuire
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
What a Difference Office for mac made!
we had some macs added to our computer resource suite and as most had not used macs before I had my job cut out, but hey presto! office for mac was the one crossover suite that they already knew from the PC version so I used it to present not only the macs but my case for using them to allow the children to have the widest opportunity and access to software and OS that they might find in the big world after school!
I produced many slides which had links to Mactopia and the other software that we had on the mac minis, it was easy and I learnt a lot from using PPT on the mac. It also worked! the next day I found some of the teachers exploring our new macs and others were asking me questions. What can I say? Microsoft came up with a winner when they devised Powerpoint for the Mac! You helped me learn a lot from doing this as I'm no way the computer expert that many people are, and I hope you give me the mac prize so the children in my school can continue to experience all there is for them to learn by using it.
SalzburgBJ
Jul 30, 2010
9:19am
A translation of a World Heritage Sites presentation
VanJohn
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
Best Power Point
Garp
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
board presentation
mrUnwired
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
Songs
Last Christmass we started the Advent period with a big celebratio. I created a nice Power Point with ques for next vers and event etc and had it running on 3 projectors. It worked nice and now we are trying to obtain the funds for installing a permanent system (anyone at Microsoft up for sponsoring you think???)
redsfanjah5
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
Bible Overview
Ray@MBBC
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
Powerpoint verses Keynote
drodgers
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
Power Point-
Pearl Took
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
:-(
When my kids were in school, they weren't having to do PPT presentations. (My grandson does but his family are all PC), so I've never even had to help a child with one. I'm a homemaker and entry level author and have had no need to do a Power Point presentation.
Does this put me out of the running for a Macbook?
GageParker
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
Appreciative Inquiry helps the scouts and me
GSF1
Jul 30, 2010
9:20am
Not an originator ..
drchanowski
Jul 30, 2010
12:46pm
Teaching
gaylewri
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
Best Powerpoint
jswero
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
Teaching document
Ex2bot
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
Presentation to the School Board
MCollins
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
Best PowerPoint
shaun3000
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
Work
Cwguth
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
Re: Contest Question #3: Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
Cwguth
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
School
rebel1425
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
powerpoint pride
bacreative1
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
saved me almost $1500
lavinia
Aug 02, 2010
9:15am
Best Powerpoint
hockey
Aug 03, 2010
10:28am
updated classroom
andrew2345
Aug 03, 2010
10:28am
School
monstermac.mike
Aug 03, 2010
10:28am
Power of PowerPoint (Best Ever...)
The PowerPoint Presentation I that was created incorporated various forms of content to include Video, Photo & Vector Graphics, Numerical Value Charts and Graphs as well as dynamic interactivity with online resources.
The outcome of that meeting was positive for our district and we feel that PowerPoint helped "pave the way".
slowloris
Aug 03, 2010
10:28am
PowerPoint is Layout Software, Too
The college print shop accepted only ppt files, and I had never used PowerPoint in my life. Fortunately, it was so intuitive and friendly that I picked it up and cranked out a great-looking poster within a few evenings of after-class work.
techSage
Aug 03, 2010
10:28am
Reminiscing Anniversary Slideshow
chig
Aug 03, 2010
10:28am
Graduate school presentation
Junebug0
Aug 04, 2010
10:36am
Winter Hardy Cactus for the North
Folks who thought such species were strictly for the houseplant collector have been amazed to learn that there are cacti native almost as far north as the Arctic Circl. The presentation sparked an interest for them to start their own desert oasis.
michael.kartchner
Aug 04, 2010
10:36am
Office 4 Mac and Mac's Rock
deeandco
Aug 04, 2010
10:36am
Your Best PowerPoint for Mac Presentation
linnmcd
Aug 04, 2010
10:36am
The Shushing Librarian!
I have also taught students how to create games in Powerpoint to show their knowledge on a topic. For example, students in 7th grade created powerpoint games about the parts of plant and animal cells. It was a great way for students to demonstrate their knowledge while having them use a fun medium; they all told me that this was waayyyy cooler than just writing a report.
HogLover
Aug 04, 2010
10:36am
Fast Start time
gpotts5626
Aug 04, 2010
6:35pm
The ONE!
Ninjapig
Aug 04, 2010
6:35pm
Engineering Design Project.
---
Aug 05, 2010
2:12pm
powerpoint for mac
BlueStar144
Aug 05, 2010
2:12pm
Actors' union presentation
FollowDon
Aug 05, 2010
2:12pm
Emphasis Effects are Awesome
I always like my intros to be exciting and I love that I can build in multiple effects on a single object. With the proper timing, this can yield some interesting results!
My presentation was so well received, NASA let me teach a presentation design course for the rest of the co-op students during my next tour!
PNWFisherman
Aug 05, 2010
2:53pm
I admit I seldom use PowerPoint.
When I'm speaking I rarely have a projector and screen available.
RDRussell
Aug 06, 2010
9:44am
Best PowerPoint ever ... yet to come!
Perhaps the new OFM 2011 will have some jazzy yet professional templates I can leverage, or just some additional assistance on organizing my thoughts and materials, but I am excited about the timing here. I am starting to get market data, cost models, sales projections, and a few other items together and will be putting together what I hope to be my BEST ever PowerPoint presentation...
It would be great to be able to do it on the new laptop that is part of this promo...
jlc1978
Aug 09, 2010
12:57pm
For a non-profit
Very simple yet very effective...
Senatork
Aug 09, 2010
12:57pm
Presentation on China and the WTO
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