Do You Need PowerPoint 2007?

With the recent release of Microsoft Office 2007, you may be wondering whether you should upgrade to the latest version of PowerPoint. We wondered the same thing, so we put that question to PowerPoint expert Ellen Finkelstein, author of How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 (McGraw-Hill, 2007). Her advice in a nutshell is this: If you want to make your presentations more graphically appealing with relatively little effort, PowerPoint 2007 is for you.

“Microsoft worked very hard to help people who are not artists or designers create great looking presentations easily,” says Finkelstein. In particular, there are two new features that will help you transform your text-heavy presentation into a graphic powerhouse:

1. SmartArt. SmartArt enables presenters to convert text into a diagram with just one or two clicks. For instance, say you have three lines of bulleted text on a slide, reading: lower cost, faster implementation, increased ROI. One click and the text from each of those bullets would, for example, be placed in three intersecting circles, allowing you to show that your solution represents the intersection of those three benefits. SmartArt offers “a dynamic, powerful way to express concepts,” says Finkelstein. Creating these types of diagrams previously, she adds, was “difficult.”

2. Quick Styles. To change the style of anything – shapes, backgrounds, charts, tables, pictures, and so on – in PowerPoint 2003, you must go into a dialog box, select the style you want, click OK to apply it, view the result, then go back to undo it if you don’t like the new style. With the Quick Styles feature in PowerPoint 2007, you simply hold your cursor over different style options and the program shows you what your finished chart, table, etc., will look like in that style. When you see the one you like, select it and you’re done.

Certainly, these are great features that will save you time and improve the look of your presentation, but Finkelstein cautions sales reps to remember this: As with any software upgrade, there will be a learning curve. “Don’t switch to the 2007 version when you’re on a deadline,” she warns. “Things are in new places, so you’ll need to set aside some time to play around with it.” Perhaps the most glaring example of things being in new places is that the old toolbars and menus are gone, replaced by what Microsoft calls the Ribbon. The Ribbon, says Finkelstein, is essentially one big toolbar with tabs. It’s very different, she says, which means it will take some time to get used to it.

Rest assured, however, there’s plenty of help out there if you need it. Major booksellers already have shelves filled with Office 2007 guides. And Microsoft’s PowerPoint site (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/default.aspx) has a good Help tool where you can indicate the old location of the command you’re looking for and the tool will show you where that command is now located in PowerPoint 2007. And of course, Finkelstein’s book is a good investment to guide you through the upgrade (www.ellenfinkelstein.com). Not only will it usher you through PowerPoint’s new features, it also offers a lot of advice for non-designers aiming to create a well-designed presentation.

The bottom line is that learning the new program is a minor inconvenience for the graphic design benefits you’ll get from upgrading to the new product. “PowerPoint benefits from the upgrade more than any other aspect of Microsoft Office,” Finkelstein concludes. “I wouldn’t recommend upgrading [to Office 2007] for Word or Excel, but it’s worth it to upgrade for PowerPoint.”