While Lesson 03 is only 14.5 minutes long, I started following along with the video and pausing it here and there so I could do the steps myself. It drastically increases the training time, but it really helps with learning the new stuff that goes beyond the simple basics of Lessons 1 and 2. This lesson is about working with the actual slides, managing their order for example, and so it includes adding and removing slides, changing the slide layout, organizing slides into sections, and simply rearranging slides.

I confess, as I mentioned previously, I was pretty confident that I could do most things I needed to do in PowerPoint. Which is apparently not the same as doing them the RIGHT way, which is way faster than my hacked techniques. Take for example where I’m really not sure how I want a slide to look, so I might start with a slide with dual text box layouts.  » Read the rest

Since I’m working from home, and I have an opportunity to do some additional training, AND I found out that the Ottawa Public Library has free access to Lynda.com training, I thought I would try to improve my Powerpoint skills. I use Powerpoint for various things at work, as well as some basic graphics work for my website from time to time, but I’ve never really had any formal training in it, particularly not in really getting the full bang for my buck. Lynda.com has a 14-hour training package to “become a PowerPoint 2013 MS Office specialist”, so why not?

Introduction

The course starts with a quick intro to the various parts of the interface like the quick access bar, ribbon, task pane, main window, slide sorter, status bar etc. Nothing overly new there, I’ve been using it for quite a while. But even then, I did find it interesting that she views the task/activity pane as entirely optional as everything in it is also in the ribbon.  » Read the rest