Four Days in the French Quarter...

The Seminars

Exactly 199 presentation professionals from all over the United States and the world descended upon
New Orleans for four days of discovery and engagement.

Charles Cranford sets the quintessential anything-goes tone at the conference: two chairs, notebook computer, sport jacket, blue jeans, and bare feet.

Rick Altman:
"Graphics come in many types and for many uses. Knowing the flavors makes you a better content creator."

Jim Endicott:
"There is a difference between you giving information and your audience getting it."

Julie Terberg:
"A corporate template consisting of a title slide and body slide is simply not enough information for the non-designers at the company. Ask what you can provide to help them prepare more effective presentations."

Glen Millar:
"When you first look at PowerPoint, you find a range of features and options, menus and buttons. Dig deeper and you find techniques that allow you to build presentations with increased productivity and clarity of design. Then you find the inner layer where few dare to go."

Richard Harrington:
"It has become increasingly common to see video integrated into PowerPoint presentations. Video can capture and hold your audience’s attention, but using video can be tricky with several different formats and large file sizes. What’s a top presenter to do?"

Nancy Duarte:
"The time I spent in India changed my life. As communicators, the trends that we see developing there will have profound impact on the way we practice our craft."

The Help Center

Open every day, all day, the conference's Help Center is the ultimate hangout for PPT junkies.

Microsoft MVP Geetesh Bajaj comes from India each year to work the Help Center. Here, he and Jean Sanford discuss the finer points of setting hyperlinks and actions on slides.

One of many aha! moments enjoyed in the Help Center, this one by Lucy Thomson and Rebecca MacLachlan.

The Expo

Seventeen vendors, every single one of them with a product or service for the presentation community, create an amazing buzz on Tuesday.

And these 17 vendors, like Mimeo.com, know that every one of the 199 people who might visit their exhibit is a presentation professional.

Not only has TechSmith exhibited at all five conferences since 2003, but Betsy Weber, the company's chief evangelist, has personally been to all five. Talk about your glutton for punishment...

Non-stop hustle and bustle. If we are not tiring you out, we're not doing our jobs...

The Trivia Contest

Our Monday afternoon respite from all things normal has as its centerpiece the hilarious and ridiculous PowerPoint Live Trivia Contest.

Liane Fuji tries to get her teammates to the correct phrase, "Transition." The problem is that she is not allowed to say the words next, slide, change, or move.

Host Rick Altman has had years of practice playing the Alex Trebeck / Pat Sajack character. One of these years, he'll get it right...

The contest is so official, it even has judges, in the form of Steve Rindsberg, Echo Swinford, and Bill Dillworth. Of course, the judges accept all forms of bribes from the contestants.

Shirley Corbin-Trujillo, Diane Raab, Jeri Taylor, and Becky Miller, aka the F4s, all listening intently to a question, ready to tap the bell...or hoist a beer...or both...

Potpourri

Veteran Help Center expert Tom Bunzel makes a point during the opening keynote address.

Live from PPTLive...
Microsoft's Ric Bretschneider (second from right), leads a round-table podcast with (left to right) Nancy Duarte, Julie Terberg, and Jim Endicott.

Conference IT wizard Bob van Duuren, flown out all the way from Holland to oversee networking and hardware, indulges in a rare quiet moment.

One very talented balcony (left to right): Lucy Thomson, PPT wizard from Australia; April Spence, Microsoft liaison to the MVP program; author and MVP Echo Swinford; Microsoft Program Manager Ric Bretschneider; and MVPs Glen Millar, Todd Dunn, Tony Ramos, Bill Dillworth, Geetesh Bajaj, and Steve Rindsberg.

The French Quarter by day. What a serene and peaceful scene...

The same city block in the evening...what a zoo!!

Conference cruise director Sherri Capezzuto, leading 20 conference goers to probable demise on Bourbon Street.

Denise, Mike, Tommy, Rod, Jennifer, Tina, Justin, George, Patrice, and Chantal. They are all conference patrons...

...and these four are not...

Jennifer, Glenna, and Julie...conference revelers...

...um, not conference revelers...we think...we hope.

Not everything on Bourbon Street is insane—these six conference buddies take in a good meal in a quiet eatery (they do exist).

Afterward

Those who stayed on for a few days got to experience a more relaxed French Quarter than just the crazed Bourbon Street. Like taking in a beignet at the quaint Cafe Du Monde.

Conference AV meistro Todd Dunn doubles as a tour-grade sax player. He was in heaven in New Orleans, with just about every corner offering talented musicians whom he could join for a few good licks.

Conference do-it-all Sheila McGurin and tireless volunteer Denise Then enjoy their time off with a cruise down a genuine southern bayou.