POWERPOINT 2003 PERSONAL TRAINER
by CustomGuide, Inc.
Published by O'Reilley Media, Inc.
1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472
(800) 998-9938 http://www.oreilly.com Price: $29.95 USD, $43.95 CAD
Have you ever wanted to learn how to make a PowerPoint presentation? (You've probably been sent lots of them by E-mail!) Have you ever tried, but just not been able to figure it out? Have you ever needed to make a presentation and struggled through it with less than happy results? If so, PowerPoint 2003 Personal Trainer is just the "how to" book for you. It is best if you have the 2003 version of PowerPoint, but you can certainly learn a lot from this book even if you have another version.
PowerPoint 2003 Personal Trainer is not just another manual to read. It is a teaching tool that can be used in a number of ways. The book is divided into ten chapters, each having a number of lessons in it. A CD comes with the book and is another teaching tool. It depends on the kind of learning style you have just how you approach this subject. If you are a totally visual person, you can just read the book. If you are more of a "show me, tell me" person as well as like to have a little hands-on, you can run the CD and follow the lessons on it. This tells you how to do it, shows you where to do it, and lets you try it yourself. However, if you like the really hands-on approach, reading the book and doing the lessons in it by accessing the files on the CD is the way to go.
If you are familiar with PowerPoint and just want to learn specific aspects of it, you can find that topic in the book and do just those lessons. There is something in this guide for everyone. If you have never used a computer program before, as long as you know how to turn the computer on, you will be able to be a pro at PowerPoint by the time you are finished with the book. That said, there is a lot found here that the experienced user can learn as well. Each lesson has an exercise with step-by-step instructions for you to follow, along with pictures so that you know exactly what is being talked about. Each topic leads very naturally into the next, having started with the very most basic steps and ending with not-so-often used, more complicated things. At the end of every lesson, you will find their exclusive Quick Reference box to help you review your skills and as a handy reference to check on later.
Every chapter ends with a quiz and some homework to help you see what you have learned and then put it into practice.
I had some familiarity with PowerPoint, but wanted to make the most of the program, and needed instructions to do so. I found this book and CD to be most beneficial to me. I learned things in the beginning stages of the book that surprised me as well as learning the aspects that I wanted to learn and some things I didn't even know existed! And I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed learning this way. And the best part is, that if you forget how to do something, you can always go back to the book or even the lessons and refresh your memory! I would recommend this book to anyone really wanting to make the most of PowerPoint. And because of this book, I would also recommend any of the Personal Trainer series.
The minimum requirements for just using the interactive CD are Windows 98 or better, 64 MB RAM and 150 MB Disk Space. If you want to follow the full lessons, then you must have a computer with Windows 2000 or later, and PowerPoint 2003 installed.
If you have technical questions or comments on the book, you can send an email to: bookquestions@oreilly.com The web site for PowerPoint 2003 Personal Trainer lists examples, errata, and plans for future editions. You can find this page at: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/ powerpointpt
A SCUG Review
By Grace Halliday, SCUG Member
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