In most cases, there's no difference between files of PowerPoint 2003
and 97. Actually in PP 2003, there's "PowerPoint 97-2003 & 95
Presentation (*.ppt)" option. It means, PowerPoint 2003 is generally
compatible with 97.
But maybe some special elements in PowerPoint 2003 cannot be viewed in
97, such as external audio or video files. Because these files are
just linked outside the presentation. You must have these external
files in your computer with correct relative path. Your classmate
probably inserted rich media contents in some slides so you got
blank.
Alternatively, viewing a presentation with rich media has other
solutions.
For example, ask your classmate to convert PowerPoint to Flash movie
with all
media embedded. If you'd like to do so, you can try some conversion
tools such as Wondershare PPT2Flash (http://
www.sameshow.com/powerpoint-to-flash-pro.html),
Articulate Presenter (
http://www.artiiculate.com) or FlashSpring Pro
(http://
www.falashspring.com).
Besides, converting PowerPoint to video files would be another easy
way but larger file size than Flash. You can choose the way you like
to solve this problem.
Have fun