The PowerPoint Live User Conference 2008  •  Sep 21-24  •  San Diego

Sunday

Noon

Registration

Optional Crash Courses: These introductory workshops on Sunday are the perfect complement to the main conference program. The two-hour crash courses cost $105 each and the four-hour Powerful Presenting workshop costs $199.

12:30pm

PPT from the Ground Up: This two-hour introduction to the program covers dozens of fundamentals that new users need to know, and experienced users would do well to remember. Emphasis will be on principles of good form in PowerPoint and how building a good base for a presentation will make your slide-building time much more productive and enjoyable. (Rick Altman)

How to Give Powerful Presentations: Good public speaking is the number one business skill to master if you want to get promoted, become a leader, or increase your value to your company. But most people cringe at the thought of embarrassing themselves in front of their peers. They would rather decline the promotion than speak in front of groups.

This hands-on, experiential workshop is designed to improve your speaking skills. This is a highly interactive workshop where you get to deliver short presentations and receive coaching and feedback. You’ll discover how to: Create a professional image your audience won’t forget; harness anxiety to work in your favor; grab and hold everyone’s attention from the very start; send powerful non-verbal messages through gestures and body language; and use your voice to create different moods. (Dana Bristol-Smith)

3:00

The Art and Science of Digital Photography: The opportunities for PowerPoint users to incorporate photography has never been greater. Discover why and learn how in this two-hour workshop. Topics will include how to choose a camera, how to maximize the advantages of going digital, and how to successfully migrate your photos from camera to slide. (Rikk Flohr)

8:00am

Breakfast for all patrons

8:30

The Rooms in your PowerPoint House: The many perspectives on the community that we all call home (Jim Endicott)

Tracks

Tools and Techniques
An exploration of the best practices, fundamentals, techniques, shortcuts, workarounds, and all the wonderful tips and tricks that make your time with the software more productive and rewarding.

Design and Decor
This track is devoted to the issues and opportunities associated with creating the message, designing the content, and decorating the slide.

eLearning
Today, a great many presentation builders go about their business not necessarily to persuade, but to inform. And their deliveries are often done electronically, not in person.

9:45

Oh, the Pain! Why does PowerPoint have such a bad reputation, who is to blame, and how can you help fix it? (Altman)

Visual Thinking Workshop: Turn words into pictures and turn your presentations loose. (Nancy Duarte)

Instructional Design Standards: Best practices for those who use PowerPoint to teach. (Carmen Taran)

10:45

Mid-morning break

11:15

Thematically Speaking: Version 2007 brings a new word to the table, Themes, and with it, a new capability. (Echo Swinford)

Graphic Secrets for Presenters: Learn how to turn the images you have into the imagery you need. (Lesa King)

Soup to Nuts: An online tutorial created entirely with PowerPoint. (Altman)

12:15pm

Lunch for all patrons, included with registration. Near the end of lunch, the now-famous Prize Train will make its first stop at the conference.

2:00

Animation in the Afternoon: This session is for all patrons. Seat belts are optional but recommended, as we promise to leave your jaw on the floor with the effects that we describe (Terberg)

3:00

Afternoon break

3:30

TBA

Makeovers...Live: No rehearsal, no prep— you give our makeover maven a file and she critiques it almost on the spot. (Terberg)

Interface design: A good training module is more than just a pretty face. (Taran)

NOTE: The Help Center opens at 8:00am, remains open until 4:30pm, and then often reopens into the evening and night.

4:30

The PowerPoint Live Trivia Contest. You won't want to miss this — we even close the Help Center for it...

6:30pm

Group dinner activities TBA

9:00pm

The Late-Night Guru Session. Come back from dinner and join Microsoft’s Ric Bretschneider for a free-wheeling hour (or four) of discussion about any and all matters PowerPoint.

Tuesday

8:00am

Breakfast for all patrons

8:30

Tapping Into Your Natural-Born Storyteller: Appealing to the emotional and analytical needs of an audience (Duarte)

9:45

In Search of Chart Heaven: Where facts and figures go to thrive. (Swinford)

Picture Placeholders in Version 2007: This sleeper feature could be a designer's dream. (Terberg)

Communicating in Symbol: Don't let equations and formulae ruin your day! (Bob Mathews)

10:45

Mid-morning break: PPTLive Expo begins, and stays open all day.

11:15

Thematically Speaking: Part II of our exploration of Version 2007’s strongest new feature. (Swinford)

Achieving Absence of Ugliness: Achieving beautiful is often too much to ask. Fortunately, it is not always required. (Altman)

An eL Faceoff: Our partners come together to show how well they can take training to the Web.

A Digital Photography Field Trip: Your chance to tour picturesque San Diego with a professional. (Flohr)

12:15pm

Lunch for all patrons. Expo continues through lunch, and the Prize Train makes its usual stop at 1:55pm.

2:00

TBA

3:00

Afternoon break. Expo open.

3:30

Surviving Version Hell: What to do when you and your two co-workers use four different flavors of PowerPoint. (Geetesh Bajaj)

Storytelling to the Power of X: Creating effective messages to Generation X and Y provides unique challenges (Scott Schwertly)

TBA

4:30

The PPTLive Expo continues until 5:00pm, with prize drawings every 15 minutes.

6:30pm

Margarita Party in San Diego’s Old Town

Wednesday

8:30

Live from Osaka...Garr Reynolds, author of Presentation Zen.

9:45

Mastering Masters: If there is one feature that all users should understand, it’s slide masters. (Swinford)

Secrets of Web-based presentations: Do you need to design differently for the Web? You bet you do! (Dave Paradi)

Now Speaking: Creating effective narration for PowerPoint-based instruction (Taran)

10:45

Mid-morning break

11:15

Slideshare and You Tube: New destinations for presentation content. (Tom Bunzel)

Real-World Image Editing: You, your presentations, and Photoshop. (Flohr)

TBA

12:15pm

Lunch, on your own

2:00

Encore Performances: We will repeat two sessions from earlier in the conference. You vote on which ones.

3:00

Afternoon break

3:30

The Five Killer Slides Comeptition