Power Point Version Hell

Software makers release new versions of their products all the time -- and each version upgrade adds an updated file format that can no longer be opened by users of previous versions. This makes sure that users upgrade all the time -- and it's easier for the software maker too since they don't have to find workarounds for users of previous versions.

Microsoft doesn't work that way -- they make sure that users of older versions can still open new and improved file formats -- this approach is laudable but it's not without its share of problems -- these problems have been more rampant than usual in the case of PowerPoint. While it was already a tough task moving PowerPoint presentations between Windows and Mac machines, now it's downright difficult moving between PowerPoint 2007 for Windows and users of older Windows versions of PowerPoint. Welcome to PowerPoint Version Hell!




Introduction

If you have are still working with PowerPoint 2003, and work in a mixed environment where some users have upgraded to PowerPoint 2007, you know that it’s no easy task working with presentations that have been opened, edited, and saved on both versions. The opposite is also true. If you are using PowerPoint 2007, and need to share files with users who are still working on PowerPoint 2003 (or even older versions), you know that there have been some unhappy times!

And if you really haven’t noticed any issues while working with different PowerPoint versions, then you are absolutely lucky – but even then, make sure you are aware of the possible pitfalls.

Now, let us look at another part of this version story that spans across OS platforms – with file issues, link problems, and media maladies that stem from viewing and editing PowerPoint presentations created on Windows on the Mac – or even vice versa. Everything isn’t too well on that front too.

All these issues can be placed under a common umbrella that I’ll call Version Hell – and while it’s no fun being under this umbrella, life can be much more uncomplicated if you are aware of these problems, and ready to look at workarounds and best practices. You might have noticed that I never promised any solutions – that’s because very few of them exist – most of the time, you’ll have to look at workarounds for existing content, and plan with best practices for any new slides you create. As goes the famous saying: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Version Hell can raise its head at a time you least expect it to show up – and many times, there’s nothing much you can do. However, I don’t expect you to pray, and fully recommend that you be prepared for any such situation. That calls for a two pronged approach.

First, be aware of the common problem areas.
And secondly, follow a set of guidelines all the time.

Let me first show you the main problem areas. In exploring these, I decided to categorize them into three distinct areas:

* Template Issues between PowerPoint 2003 and 2007
* Charting Issues between PowerPoint 2003 and 2007
* Cross Platform Issues between PowerPoint on Windows and Mac

Back

line
Template Terror

It’s quite apt that this is named template terror. What else would you call it when your masters gets deleted, multiple masters become hundreds of slide layouts, and you end up with something that doesn’t work within PowerPoint 2003 or 2007?

As one my friends explained it: Huge client makes a move to PowerPoint 2007 -- needs all their templates and presentations updated for 2007 using new layouts, charts, and tables (and needs them all to work in PowerPoint 2003 as well)! Cannot go backwards, layouts become many, many masters and charts lose the wow factor. Version Hell raises its head yet again.

The workaround for this is actually quite simple – so simple that some would call it blunt. As far as possible, create a separate set of templates and prototype presentations for PowerPoint 2007 and 2003 (and earlier). Use multiple masters for version 2003 and earlier sets, and slide layouts for version 2007. Also, if you also need to use these templates on PowerPoint for Mac, be aware that 2003 and earlier on Windows roughly translates to 2004 and earlier on the Mac. Similarly 2007 on Windows is the file format equivalent of 2008 on the Mac. Ignore this approach, and you’ll have a nightmare sorting out the hell you’ll be in!

Also, if there are some important presentations that are shown by large groups using different versions of PowerPoint – make sure you keep separate PPT and PPTX versions of them. This will make sure that you are prepared for any situation.

To a certain extent, smaller groups working with a very simple template (one slide master, no title master) and simple slides may relax these rules. In that case, working in both versions might be possible. But again in that case, your templates and master need to use the PowerPoint 203 PPT and POT file formats, and version 2007 users will have to work in compatible mode. This might alleviate some issues, but it still will only address the template terror in version hell – you are still prone to other version problems. Evolve your simple template with a single master to something that includes a title master, or heaven forbid multiple masters – and you are again on the highway to version hell.

So, if you make the template in PowerPoint 2007, will it be okay in PowerPoint 2003? How about making it in PowerPoint 2003 – will it work in PowerPoint 2007? Short answer: if you make the template in 2007, you may have some oddities with title slides in 2003. If you make the template in 2003, the color scheme will not be right in 2007. It’s best to make the 2007 template in 2007 and the 2003 template in 2003.

Back

line
Charting Concerns

Charting concerns are not as terrible as template terrors – even then I’ll put them on a close second rank since many presentations that belong to the PowerPoint 2003 and earlier era have charts that were created using the Microsoft Graph component. Enter version 2007, and the amazing improvements in charts stemmed from the fact that Excel 2007 rather than Graph was doing the charting.

I need to add here that if you have PowerPoint 2007 installed without Excel 2007 on your system, you’ll still get to use Microsoft Graph. That could be an advantage if you need to share chart slides with users who are still using PowerPoint 2003 or earlier. However, for the rest of this content, I’ll assume that you are using Excel 2007 as the charting component for PowerPoint 2007, and Microsoft Graph as the charting component in PowerPoint 2003 – that’s the default, and I don’t find an easy way to change that option.

Some users report error messages about open dialog boxes in Excel when the try to insert a new chart in PowerPoint 2007 – most of the time, running the Office Diagnostics option in Office Button | PowerPoint Options | Resources resolves the issue. This, and other similar issues may result from some broken registry entries between 2007 versions of PowerPoint and Excel as far as charting is concerned – running Office Diagnostics is therefore a good idea even if you run into a similar, unrelated issue.

A majority of charting problems stem from the fact that PowerPoint 2007 prompts you to convert, convert all, or edit existing charts when you try to edit a chart that was created in PowerPoint 2003 or earlier using Microsoft Graph. If you need to share these slides with users of older versions of PowerPoint, make sure you choose the Edit Existing option. In fact, you can change the default behavior in PowerPoint 2007 to Edit Existing by using a registry key edit explained by PowerPoint MVP Steve Rindsberg.

Create this key in the registry (registry editing is not recommended for the faint hearted – always keep a backup of your system before attempting any registry edit):

* Quit PowerPoint 2007 if it's running.
* Choose Start Menu | Run (in Windows XP) or Start Menu | All Programs | Accessories | Run (in Windows Vista) and type in “regedit” without the quotes to open the Registry Editor.
* Navigate to this folder in the registry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Office/12.0/Common/Charting/
* Click on Charting, right-click and choose New | DWORD Value.
* Registry Editor now inserts a new value, and leaves it highlighted for you to rename.
* Type in “MSGraphEnable” without the quotes. If you clicked off the new value, you'll need to rightclick it and choose Rename, then type the new name.
* Now doubleclick the MSGraphEnable value and set the data value to 1 in the dialog box that appears.
* Click OK to close the dialog box then quit Registry Editor.

This change in the registry results in new behaviors in PowerPoint 2007 as far as charting is concerned:

* PowerPoint will no longer convert existing Microsoft Graph charts to Microsoft Excel 2007 charts – nor will it prompt you to do so when you try to edit one by double-clicking.
* Inserting a new chart via the Insert options, or by clicking the chart icon in a content placeholder will result in a Microsoft Graph chart that you can share with users of pre-2007 versions of PowerPoint.
* PowerPoint 2007 will also retain Microsoft Graph charts if you choose the Office Button | Convert option to create a PPTX file from a PPT file.

If you edit a 2007 chart in 2003, you lose the colors. Maybe something to note for users.

Updated information on this technique can be always found at: http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00872.htm

To restore the charting options to Excel 2007, just delete the DWORD key you created.

Back

line
Cross Platform PowerPoint

PowerPoint started life as a Mac program that was acquired by Microsoft, which continued creating a Mac version of PowerPoint along with Windows versions. Somewhere along the way, maybe around version 4 – both the Mac and Windows versions started drifting a little as far as the feature set and media support was concerned. The rift is at its widest in PowerPoint versions 2007 and 2008 although these current versions are better behaved in the way they explain these errors.

PowerPoint 2008 for the Mac includes the Compatibility Report option (View | Compatibility Report) – this checks the open presentation for compatibility issues with profiles of all versions of PowerPoint on Windows and Mac – right back to PowerPoint 97 and 98 – it then tells you exactly what features may be compromised, and what will not work.

PowerPoint 2007 has a similar Compatibility Checker that can be accessed from Office Button | Prepare | Run Compatibility Checker – but this option only looks at compatibility issues with older versions of PowerPoint on Windows – there’s no reporting on problems with Mac versions of PowerPoint.

There are some guidelines that you can follow when you are creating PowerPoint presentations intended to be viewed or edited on both Windows and Mac versions of PowerPoint:

1. Keep things simple – and use PowerPoint’s drawing tools to create shapes and drawings rather than using content from a third party application.
2. Always use industry standard media formats that are not too platform specific: stay away from WindowsMedia and QuickTime file formats – use MPEG videos. Similarly, use DRM-free MP3s rather than iTunes songs or WindowsMedia audio files.
3. Use fonts that can be found as standard on Windows and Mac – these include Arial, Times New Roman, Courier New, Verdana, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS, etc. PowerPoint 2007 and 2008 can also use the new fonts such as Calibri.
4. On the Mac, avoid using PICT graphics – on both OS platforms, GIF, PNG, and JPG work best. For illustrations, use WMF or EMF files.
5. Don’t space out your text too tightly – font rendering differences may add an extra line to a text box on either Windows or Mac versions of PowerPoint.
6. Remember some features don’t work on both platforms – Mac versions of PowerPoint still don’t have motion path or trigger animations – although they can show you motion path animations in presentations created on Windows – you still cannot edit them though.

Back

line
Conclusion

We discussed three important aspects of Version Hell – and there’s a whole lot more than just these issues that you may encounter. The best thing you can do is create a unique set of guidelines for everything you do on a PowerPoint slide. Here’s a starting set of thoughts – add to these, and make changes as per your unique requirements:

* Decide upon the lowest common denominator for your organization, and document them.
* Don’t edit files through a cycle of version pairs. This could be something like this: you created the presentation in PowerPoint 2003, then made changes in 2007 using the compatibility mode, and saved again – and kept alternating between versions.
* Although you should not edit your PowerPoint presentations on different versions, the opposite is true as far as checking them is concerned. Always check the presentations files as often as you can on versions/platforms where you need to deliver.
* As far as possible, use industry standards file formats that are not platform specific.

As you might have realized by now, there are no solutions to version hell – but there is still so much you can do to avoid it in the first place.

Having said that, there’s no better solution to this problem other than creating a long term plan – this is a plan that moves everyone in your organization to working on the same version of PowerPoint. But I guess that does not happen very often in the real world!

Why PowerPoint rules the business world

A CALL FOR VISUAL LITERACY

In many organizations, the beginning and end of any business activity is marked by the PowerPoint presentation. In the early stages of an initiative, PowerPoint is used in strategy sessions, to present proposals and put forth plans. Later, it’s used for updates and progress reports. In the final stages, it’s used to report back and to present findings and conclusions. PowerPoint is everywhere, and it shows no signs of going away anytime soon.

Why is it used so broadly? And how did this simple tool become so entrenched in business? Here are a few thoughts:

1. PowerPoint is accessible. For the novice, it’s easy to learn and use.
2. PowerPoint is everywhere. Pretty much everyone has it, or has the ability to view a file. This makes it easy to share ideas and generally move meaning around. Slides can be borrowed, stolen, recycled and re-used.
3. PowerPoint is flexible. The same document that is used to present information in a meeting or conference, can, with little or no modification, be emailed as a document or shared online, retaining much of its meaning.
4. PowerPoint is easy to read. PowerPoint documents can be scanned and understood more rapidly than text documents. Because they are primarily visual they tend to be more easily understood and remembered.
5. PowerPoint is modular. It can be broken down into single slides, which can be arranged and rearranged into numerous different sequences. Over time you can build up a storehouse of slides that represent your – or your team’s – collective knowledge about any subject, which can be distributed, shared, discussed and modified as things evolve over time.
6. PowerPoint is powerful. For the more experienced user, it’s a powerful multimedia tool, with animation and other advanced effects. It’s easy to add information of any kind: Video, charts, photographs, maps – just about anything that can be digitized can be added to PowerPoint.

People use PowerPoint to represent knowledge, and the main element is relatively small and useful atomic unit we call the slide.

So what’s the problem?
“Death by PowerPoint” is the popular term for the much-dreaded meeting where a presenter subjects his audience to slide after slide, each one densely packed with bullet points or complex, confusing information, leaving the audience bored, frustrated confused.

But PowerPoint is not the enemy. When used appropriately, slides, and short sequences of slides, are excellent tools to represent knowledge. A good slide contains visual and verbal information in equal measure, and as an “information container,” a slide is just about the perfect size for memory and retention: big enough to hold meaningful information, but not so big that it’s likely to become overwhelming. A well-designed slide – one that’s comfortable to view and read – holds just about the same amount of information that you can hold in your short-term memory.

The problem is much, much deeper than PowerPoint. The issue is this: PowerPoint is a visual tool, and we are a visually illiterate society.

What do I mean by this?
In the modern world we are constantly confronted – you might say bombarded – with visual information: Television and film are the primary culprits, followed closely by billboards, brochures, and, yes, bullet points. Advertisers have long known that visualizing an idea is one of the quickest and most reliable ways to insert it into a human brain.

Due to this visual assault, we have, over time, become more sophisticated in our reading of visual information. In a world where information is digital, where photos can be altered in Photoshop and where films can show impossible things like dinosaurs and talking animals with a high degree of realism, we understand that seeing is no longer believing.

But this kind of visual sophistication is not literacy. Literacy is the ability to both read and write. If a child could read written language but not write it – if he could read a mathematical equation but not perform such operations himself – then we would not consider him prepared for success in the world.

In our school systems we teach our children the three R’s – reading, writing and arithmetic, because we believe them to be fundamental skills for successful integration in society. But the three R’s are no longer enough. Our world is changing fast – faster than we can keep up with our historical modes of thinking and communicating. Visual literacy – the ability to both read and write visual information; the ability to learn visually; to think and solve problems in the visual domain – will, as the information revolution evolves, become a requirement for success in business and in life.

PowerPoint has risen to its current position for two reasons:

1. We’re processing more information than ever before, at unprecedented volumes
2. We don’t have as much time to read anymore, and
3. Much of the information we need to share is non-linear in nature.

PowerPoint is a visual medium. If you want to convey information visually, it’s the most accessible and ubiquitous tool there is. The answer to bad PowerPoint is not to eliminate the tool, but to improve our visual literacy. We need to teach visual literacy in our schools, and to our business people. We need an ABC book of visual language (a project I am working on).

We’re leaving an industrial age and entering an information age, yet we continue to teach, and operate our schools, as if they were factories. In an information age, visually literate societies will succeed and thrive. Shouldn’t we be one of them?

source: http://www.davegrayinfo.com/2008/05/22/why-powerpoint-rules-the-business-world/

MP 'Classic Truths': If You Don't Measure, You Can't Manage: The Best Metrics for Managing Marketing Performance

by Laura Patterson

Without metrics to track performance, marketing and business plans are ineffective.

Businesses need to know which success factors require measuring, and they must understand the differences between measurements (the raw outcomes of quantification), metrics (ideal standards for measurement), and benchmarks (the standards by which all others are measured).

For marketers, three primary metrics constitute a starting point for tracking their performance. Once companies are aware of their competitive position, their desired outcomes, and what it will take to achieve those outcomes, companies will be better able to identify the success factors, benchmarks, and appropriate metrics to meet their target.

Why Measure?

Metrics are a part of our everyday lives: from our heart rate, to our bank balances; from our weight, to the gas mileage on our cars. If we don't pay attention to these numbers, we create a risk for getting a heart attack, being overdrawn, or running out of gas.

The same is true in the business environment. If a company doesn't identify and track important performance measures, it increases its risks.

Metrics provide a means to assess progress; they provide valuable data points against which the marketing organization can track its progress. Metrics demonstrate accountability and allow marketers to better know, act upon, align efforts, and reduce market exposure. Metrics enable the marketing organization to truly serve as the eyes and ears of the company.

And, more importantly, establishing and tracking metrics will have a positive influence on the leadership's satisfaction with Marketing and the marketer's ability to secure funds. Only 38% of US executives say their companies are now measuring the results of their marketing efforts, according to a study of senior business executives conducted in the second quarter of 2004 by Blackfriar.

Will measurement actually change investment in Marketing? Blackfriar compared planned marketing spending for companies that measure marketing with those that don't. The result? Firms that measure marketing planned to spend an average of 41% of their annual marketing budgets during the second quarter. Those that don't measure planned to spend only 33%; apparently, they felt more comfortable planning to spend their marketing dollars than those that don't measure.

Measuring marketing also has an impact on the satisfaction of senior executives regarding their investment in Marketing. Some 16% of executives at companies that measure marketing said they were dissatisfied with their marketing efforts. But at firms that don't measure marketing, 28% said they were dissatisfied.

The simple act of measuring marketing results reduced the dissatisfaction of senior executives significantly. In other words, measurement allowed Marketing to prove its worth.

Defining Metrics

The world of metrics can be confusing for people new to these concepts. To better understand metrics and how they work, several terms must be defined:

• Measurements are the raw outcome of a quantification process, such as a company's numbers, ratios, and percentages.
• Metrics are the standards for measurement, providing target values that a company must achieve to reach a certain level of success.
• Benchmarks are the best measurements to aspire to, the standard by which all others are measured. Companies that set benchmarks in their industries are the ones often lauded in "Top Ten" and "Most Admired" lists and articles.

A good example of a marketing benchmark can be traced back to the early 1990s. Over a decade ago, market research firm IntelliQuest (now Millward Brown IntelliQuest) conducted a customer satisfaction research study for the personal computing industry.

The firm spoke to customers who rated the companies in the industry, which resulted in a measurement on a one-to-nine scale. It then learned that 84% of users who rated their satisfaction as a seven, an eight, or a nine would consider the same brand for their next purchase. Seven, eight, or nine became the metrics that companies aspired to attain. The benchmark was nine.

Three Metrics Gauges

To determine which success factors to measure and the appropriate metrics for each, marketers must have a clear understanding of the company's goals. A young company looking to gain traction in the market is focused on factors different from those of a more established company wanting to improve its customer relationships.

For those beginning to use metrics, listed below are four key performance indicators that support three metrics gauges: market share, lifetime value, and brand equity.

These gauges are directly linked to the three specific performance areas that Marketing can impact: acquisition, penetration, and monetization.

The first responsibility of Marketing is to identify and enable the organization to acquire customers, without whom there is no revenue, without which there is no business. Acquisition enables the company to increase its market share.

Although Marketing may not close the deal, marketing strategies move the customer through the buying process, from awareness to consideration. Four key performance indicators enable you to address market share:

1. Customer growth rate
2. Share of preference
3. Share of voice
4. Share of distribution

The second responsibility of Marketing is to keep the customers that the company acquires and increase the value of those customers. It is expensive and ultimately disastrous to have customers coming in one door only to go out another. High customer churn signals a variety of problems and hinders your ability to create leverage.

The following performance indicators will help your drive these penetration-related metrics:

1. Frequency and recency of purchase
2. Share of wallet
3. Purchase value growth rate
4. Customer tenure
5. Customer loyalty and advocacy

The third responsibility of Marketing is monetization. Up until the 1970s, a company's value was determined by its book value. Over time, intangible assets, such as a company's intellectual property, customer value, franchises, goodwill, and so on have had an increasing effect on a company's market value.

Marketing professionals can improve the market value of their company by improving their performance in four key areas:

1. Price premium
2. Customer franchise value
3. Rate of new product acceptance
4. Net advocate score

A recently published report, "Measures + Metrics: Assessing Marketing Value + Impact," by Glazier, Nelson and O'Sullivan, corroborates these gauges and performance metrics. In their report for the CMO Council, the authors specified four performance metrics:

1. Business acquisition/demand generation, which can include such metrics as market share gains, lead acquisition and deal flow
2. Product innovation/acceptance, which can include market adoption rates, user attachment and affinity, loyalty and word-of-mouth
3. Corporate image and brand identity, which can include growth in brand value and financial equity, awareness and retention of employees
4. Corporate vision and leadership, which can include share of voice and discussion, retention and relevance of messaging, and tonality of coverage

Regardless of which model companies choose to deploy, to fully capitalize on the benefits of metrics they should consider establishing a continuous process in which metrics are collected, analyzed, and reported on a regular basis.

Over time, metrics can reveal valuable information about which marketing tactics are most effective, what types of prospects are most likely to buy, which customers are most profitable, and how the market in general develops over time.

Also important to remember is that metrics themselves can change over time. As the market and the company evolve, marketers must diligently review and adjust their metrics.

Innovative competitors will continue to set higher benchmarks, ratcheting up the acceptable range of metrics. The airline industry's 45-minute airplane turnaround time was considered standard until Southwest Airlines decided to do it in 15 minutes. Some metrics may become outdated, and newer metrics and methods of measurement will require attention.

To work without metrics is to work blindly. A lack of metrics makes it extremely difficult to assess whether a course of action is working or needs adjustment. The proper use of metrics can provide guidance to help a company expand market position, lower costs, and retain the best customers so that the company can ultimately set the benchmarks in its industry.

Note: This MarketingProfs "Classic Truths" article was first published on November 23, 2004.

Laura Patterson (laurap@visionedgemarketing.com) is president and founder of VisionEdge Marketing, Inc. (www.visionedgemarketing.com) and author of Measure What Matters: Reconnecting Marketing to Business Goals and Gone Fishin': A Guide to Finding, Keeping, and Growing Profitable customers.

Published on October 23, 2007