RE: Single Sourcing: Word to Training PPT and Online Help

[<kathleen -at- writefortheuser -dot- com>]

Michael,

Piggy-backing, sort of, on Jim's comments, if you're using a
single-source solution that outputs to Word files--such as Madcap Flare,
Adobe RoboHelp, Author-it, etc.--what you could do is select the
items/topics you'd like in the PowerPoint and just publish those,
separately, for incorporation into the ppt file.

So far as I know, those programs all output to "online" Help formats as
well. After the original content has been imported into the program
(e.g., Flare) you could select what you wanted included in the Help from
the original document.

But, it might be overkill if you aren't using a single-source solution
already--it will cost and it will take some time to set the system up.
Is it worth it for one document? 

Otherwise, I have no other suggestions about suitable programs, so it
will be interesting to see other possibilities.

Regards,

Kathleen



> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: RE: Single Sourcing: Word to Training PPT and Online Help
> From: "Pinkham, Jim" <Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com>
> Date: Thu, February 18, 2010 11:51 am
> To: "Suzette Leeming" <suzette -dot- leeming -at- gmail -dot- com>, "Pro TechWriter"
> <pro -dot- techwriter -at- gmail -dot- com>
> Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> 
> 
> Well, let's start the ball rolling: )
> 
> Seems to me OP, with this subject line, begs the question that a
> training presentation **should** be single-sourced from Word to
> PowerPoint. Setting aside for the moment the thought that this may only
> be feasible in a very loose sense, I suspect this could be the fast
> track to "Death by PowerPoint." 
> 
> A presentation and a manual, as we all know, are two very different
> beasts, and each should be designed with that reality in mind. In the
> best case, Michael's audience will NOT get the manual reproduced in a
> truckload of slides that are interminable, hard to read, or both.
> Rather, the trainer will extract several of the most salient points from
> the manual for a few slides and develop those points in the course of
> his or her presentation, with PowerPoint as a springboard -- not a
> substitute -- for an effectively planned and delivered teaching
> opportunity.
> 
> That said, if the Word document is well designed and formatted (yes, I
> know, big IF) perhaps the major points are just waiting to be seen from
> a click of the Document Map button. Next step, with or without that
> running start, is to create a basic outline of the major points in Word,
> going down no more than two or three levels. Then choose Word's Send to
> PowerPoint option, apply a template, and just maybe you've got a
> framework into which you can craft the meat of the presentation.
> 
> Sorry for the bit of soapbox there, but I suspect most of us have at
> least one bored-to-oblivion experience from PowerPoint being misused.
> Try googling for "Death by PowerPoint" and you'll soon be in the right
> neighborhood for some curative resources. One good place to start, IMO,
> is the white paper available here: http://www.tellnshow.com/. 
> 
> Jim
> 


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