Here is the latest newsletter - enjoy and pass it on to others.
Welcome to all the new subscribers! (Information on how
to leave this list or change your e-mail address are at
the bottom of the list)
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Communicating Using Technology
Vol. 4 Issue 5 March 8, 2005
Published and Copyright by Dave Paradi
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
In this issue:
Announcements (kind of long this time - sorry)
1. PPT - Excel screen shot
2. Gaining space on hard drive
3. Useful Resource - Design courses on About.com
--------------------------------------------
Privacy Policy: I will never sell or distribute your
e-mail or information to anyone.
--------------------------------------------
If you like the tips, pass it on!
If you have received this as a forward from a friend, sign up
for your own copy at:
http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/newsletter.htm
--------------------------------------------
Webinar Today!
Sorry for the extremely late notice, but this was confirmed after
the last newsletter issue. I will be doing a free webinar for
Communique conferencing today at 1:00 pm EST on Tips for More
Effective PowerPoint Presentations. This webinar will be
recorded, so if you miss it, I will find out where it is posted
and let you know in the next newsletter. Register at:
http://www.communiqueconferencing.com/registration/020805.asp
Upcoming Public Workshops
This week I have two public workshops coming up. One in
Kitchener, ON on March 10 and then in Ottawa, ON the next day on
March 11. Get more details and registration information at:
http://www.CompellingPowerPoint.com.
Thank you to all of those who responded to my request about
holding public workshops in June. The June 23rd workshop in
Washington DC is confirmed due to the great response from that
area. I am trying to nail down a central location and can then
give details on pricing (should be in the $150-170 range with
early bird and group discounts). The time will be 9:00 am to
12:00 noon. The June 17th workshop in Chicago is up in the air
due to only a few replies - let me know if you are interested in
this date. Someone suggested that I should do a public workshop
tour this spring or fall. What do you think? If you would be
willing to attend a three hour Compelling PowerPoint workshop
(fee would be in the $150- $170 range), please e-mail me at
Dave@PowerPointLifeguard.com and let me know what major city you
are close to. If I get enough response, I will fire up the car
and do a road trip to deliver great information to you in person.
1. PPT - Excel screen shot
If you have to show numeric data from Excel on PowerPoint slides,
you will be interested in this tip. Many times we want to use a
table of data from Excel on a slide. If you simply select the
cells in Excel, copy the selection and paste it into PowerPoint,
you will get a PowerPoint table that may or may not look like the
table of data that you want. It may reformat the figures, change
the layout or do other things that you don't want it to do.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could take a picture of the cells
instead of copying them into a PowerPoint table? Well, you can.
To do so you use a little know feature of Excel called Copy
Picture. Here's how it works. First, select the cells in Excel
that you want to copy. Then, hold the Shift key down and click
on the Edit menu. You will see some new options, including the
Copy Picture option. Click on the Copy Picture option and it
opens a small dialog box asking you what appearance to copy
(select screen) and what format you want to copy it in (select
Picture), then click OK. It now copies the selected cells as a
picture to the Windows clipboard. Now switch over to PowerPoint
and paste the picture of the cells into your slide. You will see
exactly what you saw in Excel. Now that you have the cells as a
picture, they can be sized and recolored just like any other
picture. Recoloring the picture of the cells allows you to
change the text or line colors to match your slide look (the
Recolor button is in the Format Picture dialog box which can be
selected by right-clicking on the picture once it is on your
slide). Try this technique the next time you want to display a
table from Excel on a PowerPoint slide.
--------------------------------------------
Learn to use PowerPoint in under 2 hrs
Why wade through a big book - get a 13 step process that teaches
you the 20% you REALLY need to know. "The step-by-step guide for
these functions is far easier to follow than the PowerPoint for
Dummies book I had!" -Randy Maples "Dave, many people go over the
top with claims as to how great their product is - you know the
sort - but I can definitely say that your e-book on Powerpoint is
a no-frills, punchy and very helpful tool." - Tom Webb Go to
this link:
http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=45805
--------------------------------------------
2. Gaining space on hard drive
In today's era of huge hard drives, why would you need to worry
about running out of space? Well, it is a problem that you may
face quicker than you thought due to the size of media files
these days. I have recently been cleaning files off my hard
drive since my laptop only has a 15GB hard drive. One of the
techniques I use is to search for large files to delete, since
deleting a few large, unused files can save space quicker than
deleting hundreds of smaller files. To find large files, I use
the Windows Explorer program that you use to look at the file
directories on your system (access it by clicking on the Start
button, click on My Computer, then click on your hard drive
letter (usually C)). In the top toolbar, there should be a
Search button. Click on the Search button to bring up the Search
task pane. Select that you want to search for All files and
folders. Click on the What size is it? option. I usually look
for really large files, so I click on the Specify Size radio
button and enter at least 4000KB (four thousand KB is about 4MB).
I also restrict the search to the directories where my data files
would be. You don't want to search through program files
(usually in the Program Files directory) since you never want to
delete those files. To restrict the search to a single
directory, click on the drop down arrow beside the Look in
selection box and click on the Browse... option. This allows you
to select which directory you want to search (ie. My Documents).
The search will return a list of all files that are larger than
4,000 KB. These files are likely the ones that are hogging space
on your hard drive. You can delete them if you don't need them
any more. Or you can copy them to a CD or diskette for safe
keeping in case you need to refer to them later. I recently used
this technique to find a 990 MB file that was left when I aborted
a video capture. Deleting that file sure freed up a lot of
space! When you have deleted your files, make sure you wait a
few days before emptying the Recycled Bin (where deleted files
go) to make sure you don't need them again.
--------------------------------------------
Make Your PowerPoint Graphics Stand Out
See HOW to do what you really NEED to do. Unique CD-based video
tutorial format teaches key methods for improving Images,
Diagrams and Graphs. Cut hours off your learning curve. "Your
video was clear with easy to follow instructions. Those tips
saved me hours of work. Thanks so much." Kelly McCormick. Watch
a sample online here:
http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=126584
--------------------------------------------
3. Useful Resource - Design courses on About.com
One of the things I am working on this year is more formally
upgrading my skills in graphic design. I already know a fair bit
from what I have done and read, but I think there is never a
point where you can stop learning. In my quest for resources, I
came across a good set of basic lessons on design that I think
anyone could benefit from. It is written from the print design
perspective, but you can adapt it to PowerPoint quite easily. It
is part of the About web sites. Here's the link to the starting
point for the lessons:
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/graphicdesign/a/designbasics.htm
--------------------------------------------
Tools I use to sell my products:
KickStartCart shopping cart system:
http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/default.asp?pr=31&id=42487
Credit Card Processor 2checkout.com:
http://www.2checkout.com/cgi-bin/aff.2c?affid=90267
--------------------------------------------
Would you like me to speak to your professional association
or chapter event? I am always looking for opportunities to
share my information with others and would consider speaking
to your group if you are in or near the following areas:
Rochester, NY, Buffalo NY, Detroit, MI, Cleveland, OH,
Pittsburgh, PA or Toronto, ON. Just e-mail me at:
dave@communicateusingtechnology.com for more info.
--------------------------------------------
Check out the books, e-books and other learning tools at:
http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/tools.htm
********************************************
This newsletter is:
CUT Mar 08/05 [PPT Excel Copy, Cleaning Hard Drive]
If you want to read back issues of this newsletter, click on
the following link to go to the Archives:
http://tinyurl.com/nhgl
********************************************
| 
