Office Pro Exciting Release, Exciting conference

The release of Office 2010 has been very exciting for all of us in Office Marketing. No matter where we sit on the business spectrum – with enterprise customers at one end and retail customers at the other – it’s been a solid release. And frankly, no one is more excited than I, the Product Manager for PowerPoint. I took the role just three short months ago. The chance to look after PowerPoint was a no-brainer for me; I was already working in Office Product Management. I knew there was a lot of serious work done for PowerPoint. It clearly looked like the place where I wanted to work. Imagine my surprise when I found out yet another juicy tidbit: PowerPoint is the star at the Presentation Summit,Office 2007 Professional, a great conference on presenting with a large variety of sessions on PowerPoint. I was, simply put, amazed. To my knowledge the other Office client applications do not have a conference (take that, my fellow Office Product Managers,Office 2010 Pro!). It shows that PowerPoint is a serious tool for communication, persuasion, and decision making for many companies. This year the conference is in San Diego (and that is not too shabby when you spend your days in Redmond trying to stay dry…) running from October 17 to October 20. It’s fun, of course, to ponder beautiful San Diego anytime of the year,Microsoft Office Professional Plus, but I have some key items on my agenda that make it a must attend: MEET THE POWERPOINT MVP COMMUNITY I used the superlative “amazing” earlier. Before you write me off as a “marketing guy,” keep in mind that the conference features some of the greatest PowerPoint talent in the world, all of whom are happy to chat and share their knowledge. I’ve spoken to a small handful of them so far, many who go all the way back to the 1990’s on the product. And the talent is not just from the US as you might first expect. The summit will have MVPs from places like India,Microsoft Office 2007, Australia, and the UK just to name a few. I am sure there are many more out there as well. LEARN TO BUILD BETTER PRESENTATIONS Yes, I know that might sound funny coming from a Microsoftie. The reality is that while I am comfortable with PowerPoint, there is an entire realm of visual skills and approaches that can make your slides shine. I am really excited to hear Presentation Design expert Garr Reynolds speak. If you have not seen his books, Presentation Zen and Presentation Design,Microsoft Office 2010, then you are missing out. Lovely and yet full of very definitive examples. Another expert – Julie Terberg is planning to attend. Have you seen her work at office.com? I am definitely going to be chatting with her and attending her session. I’ll be the guy in front with the big happy face IMPROVE MY PRESENTATION SKILLS How you present yourself and how you use visual aids is really important for most of our jobs today. The summit goes beyond teaching you clicks and tricks. It’s also about being a better presenter. Sometimes that means knowing when to say “enough!” to your tools… even PowerPoint. <Gasp!> Did the PowerPoint Product Manager really just type that? He did. When you attend a conference of all-stars, there is definitely going to be a lot to learn. So come and meet the real stars of PowerPoint – those who have made it their passion. And hey, say hello to the Microsoft staff who also attend – we are real people who want real feedback on the future of the product. Paul Cannon
PowerPoint Product Manager <div