Customer Reviews

Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book explores all the rich colors and templates available in PowerPoint and shows how to add glitz to dull, drab slides. However, the glitz doesn't add clarity and the After slides are just as confusing as the Before slides, just with bevelled edges and drop shadows, decorative backgrounds and harmonious fonts.

The authors do have a good grasp of the many new tools in PowerPoint 2007 and I was able to find a few nuggets, like converting a bulleted list into separate slides, and creating custom color palettes.

If you just want to put lipstick on crummy slides, then the Makeover Kit can help you with that. But it won't make your message comprehensible for your audience. For clearer PowerPoint communications, I'd recommend "Clear and to the Point".

My team builds presentations to support instructor-led courses, so we're often asked by other organizations to help with their PowerPoint decks to support their various presentations. Most presentations we're given are just plain TERRIBLE! We're brought into the projects way too late to do anything more than keep the presenters from embarrassing themselves. We do this with some quick and dirty tricks (applying backgrounds, arranging contents to basic grids, swapping out the horrible clipart they've swiped illegally from Google Images, revising terrible titles, & editing grammatical errors). I've been looking for a book to help our internal partners build better presentations from the start (i.e., beyond the quick tricks!).

The Complete Makeover Kit is EXACTLY what it says it is - a makeover kit! Some of the books I've reviewed go deep into why this or that presentation "sucks," then provide a lengthy textual description of how they saved the day. This MAY be followed by some quick after shots OR before shots (I ask you, was that SUPPOSED to be helpful???).

In a welcome contrast, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit starts with a quick walkthrough the new interface (for more detail, use Geetesh Bajaj's other books on using PowerPoint 2007), then dives deep into the makeover. The authors don't waste your time telling you how hard they worked on the transformation - they open the presentation and start working on it. The step-by-step procedures are given enough detail that a newbie can open PowerPoint and follow along. Each key step is supported with a color screen capture from the PowerPoint tool, and there are before and after color shots of the slides throughout the book.

The book is beautifully designed and executed, and well worth the $30 price tag (although on sale for $20 at this time on Amazon), "BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE!" The book comes with a CD containing the before & after versions of the presentations in the book (use them for practice while you walk through the book!), a host of templates, various images, demos of helpful utilities, and two additional chapters for the book (more resources and a basic intro to SmartArt) - that's what makes this a "kit."

Even if your team is still using a previous version of PowerPoint, most of the techniques can be applied to your presentations (you just can't use the power features the authors walk through). I highly recommend buying this book for yourself, your team, and your peers (especially the ones who come to you for help!). (Oh yeah, and subscribe to Indezine - Geetesh' awesome free website and newsletter! The link appears in the "About the Author" section of the Editorial Reviews.)

Power Point 2007 Complete Makeover Kit appears to be a title for more advanced Power Point users. I say this because the first 10 pages or so are an introduction to Power Point while the rest of the book covers specific presentations.

There are some colorful illustrations that attract the reader's attention and the book seems to be reasonably well-written.

If you are looking for a more basic book, then I would check on other titles. For more advanced Power Point users, then this book could be a good fit.

I can't recommend this book unless you have absolutely no idea how to use Powerpoint and want to learn a few mechanics. If you want to learn how to make a bigger impact with your presentations by getting more creative with your design, get "Slideology" and "Presentation Zen" instead.

If you're willing to spring for all of the add-on software that the writer of this book recommends, then you can truly "wow" your audience. This book has good reference coverage on color wheel usage. Also good coverage on creating custom presentations. It could have gone deeper on the Power Point VBA, but hey, this is a book on presentations, not VBA coding!!

I have read, reviewed and edited many books on the topic of software and design. This is one of the most engaging and practical software books I've read on the specific subject of a specific application.

Bajaj and Swinford have used an engaging "makeover" approach to demonstrate the features of PowerPoint. This gives the reader an unusually (and welcome) practical application of the concepts--much more useful than reading a technical manual.

The ideas and lessons in the book are not limited to PowerPoint 2007! The design concepts are sound. (Just because you have a design tool doesn't mean you design well, so learn about both!)

If you use PowerPoint to communicate, influence or entertain, get this book.

I have been using PowerPoint since it was first introduced, and have literally done hundreds of presentations. Most consider me a power user. But this book taught me a lot.

In fact, I can safely say that I have never learned so much, so quickly, as I did with this book. The makeover concept is an awesome educational tool. The makeovers gave me insight not only into the powerful new features in PowerPoint 2007, but also into the sort of things that make one presentation stand out from the rest.

Animation for the sake of emphasis, not just for its own sake.

Subtle timing techniques, and a host of other useful information.

I would recommend this book for anyone. I am not exaggerating when I say that working through these makeovers is more fun than a videogame...

And the bonus material on the CD that comes with the book just adds to its value.

Where Cutting Edge PowerPoint 2007 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) ends PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit begins. This book is a wonderful addition to any library for those who want to quickly design exceptional PowerPoint presentational slides. Each section is thorough and complete in its content and detail. The authors show both before and after images and instructions to enable the novice to easily gain the talent to completely revamp their own projects.

Whether you envision a simple presentation or a complex Trade Show Loop with all the capabilities PowerPoint has to offer you will find the tools you are looking for within the contents of this edition.

This is a excellent compliment to my own, Presentational Skills for the Next Generation, self-help book.

I own and operate a presentation design and training company. With my responsibilities, it never hurts to stay up to speed with anything related to PowerPoint. This is an excellent resource and I have recommended it to my entire team. In addition, the CD which is included is a great value added item. Overall, this is a great read and resource.

Geetesh Bajaj and Echo Swinford are both Microsoft PowerPoint MVPs. Both have written excellent books detailing how to get the most out of PowerPoint. Now they've joined forces to show you how to give your presentations a makeover. PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit contains eight case studies of presentations that need some help. Each presentation is OK as it has been done, but Bajaj and Swinford show how, in just a few steps, each presentation can be made better.

The book starts off with a section detailing how PowerPoint 2007 differs from previous versions. There are a lot of changes that have been made, especially the Ribbon menu interface, and it's important for people who have used previous versions of PowerPoint to understand how these changes affect how you use PowerPoint 2007.

Once the basics have been covered, the case studies start. Bland corporate presentations, basic and boring school project presentations, kiosk displays -- they're all covered, and all made over. The addition of Themes in PP 2007 helps designers a lot -- you can give a consistent look to your PowerPoint and other Office documents, and Bajaj and Swinford use Themes to great advantage in this book.

Of course, the book includes a CD-ROM. Each makeover, both before and after slides, is included, as well as many templates and themes, images, and PowerPoint tools. The CD content is valued at over $100, so it's certainly worth the price of the book just to get the CD!

But the book is valuable in itself. You can read and read instructions on how to do something, but sometimes it doesn't really sink in until you actually do something on your own. You can sit down with the 'before' slides in this book and follow along step-by-step with the book, or you can try your hand at doing it yourself, using the techniques you learn in the book. And then you can get to work on all the dull presentations you've got on your hard drive, kicking them up a few notches.

Obviously, PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit assumes you know how to use PowerPoint, and that you have a copy of PP 2007 of your own. But PowerPoint users of all skill levels can learn something from Bajaj and Swinford.