J
John Wilmet
I posted some questions regarding the OfficeFX add-in last week, and after
deciding to use it, I promised to summarize how the presentation went to the
group.
The presentation was yesterday. I developed the slides, and someone else
gave the talk. That gave me the opportunity to sit in the back of the room
and check out how people reacted.
I must say, OfficeFX helped gain the audience's attention and enthusiasm.
Even people who started out hardly paying attention (like, they were
checking their e-mail and looking over other docs on their laptops) were
drawn into the talk. That's good.
The downside was that it seemed like some people were only paying attention
to the cool OfficeFX graphics, not the meat of the speaker's message.
That's bad.
Nonetheless, I think the net result was good. My guess is that without
OfficeFX, even more people would have zoned out (or never zoned in), and
there was definitely a core group of audience members who seemed to really
get into the talk because of the graphics. (Of course, maybe they would
have gotten into it even without the graphics, but my guess is that the
graphics really helped.)
I could go into a lot more detail about what worked and what didn't, and
what I like about authoring with OfficeFX and what I didn't, but I'll wait
to see if there's interest from the group before going into detail.
Executive conclusion: I would likely use OfficeFX again for this same type
of small-to-midsized venue, and I would definitely use it for a larger
"keynote" type of presentation.
John
PS One other tidbit. I got good e-mail support from Instant Effects, but I
was surprised they don't have an online support forum. Turns out they will
have a new forum up and running soon. Their old forum was hacked and
maliciously destroyed, so it had to be taken down. They said their new
forum should be up and running in a few weeks.
deciding to use it, I promised to summarize how the presentation went to the
group.
The presentation was yesterday. I developed the slides, and someone else
gave the talk. That gave me the opportunity to sit in the back of the room
and check out how people reacted.
I must say, OfficeFX helped gain the audience's attention and enthusiasm.
Even people who started out hardly paying attention (like, they were
checking their e-mail and looking over other docs on their laptops) were
drawn into the talk. That's good.
The downside was that it seemed like some people were only paying attention
to the cool OfficeFX graphics, not the meat of the speaker's message.
That's bad.
Nonetheless, I think the net result was good. My guess is that without
OfficeFX, even more people would have zoned out (or never zoned in), and
there was definitely a core group of audience members who seemed to really
get into the talk because of the graphics. (Of course, maybe they would
have gotten into it even without the graphics, but my guess is that the
graphics really helped.)
I could go into a lot more detail about what worked and what didn't, and
what I like about authoring with OfficeFX and what I didn't, but I'll wait
to see if there's interest from the group before going into detail.
Executive conclusion: I would likely use OfficeFX again for this same type
of small-to-midsized venue, and I would definitely use it for a larger
"keynote" type of presentation.
John
PS One other tidbit. I got good e-mail support from Instant Effects, but I
was surprised they don't have an online support forum. Turns out they will
have a new forum up and running soon. Their old forum was hacked and
maliciously destroyed, so it had to be taken down. They said their new
forum should be up and running in a few weeks.