Chart training & templates

[Don]

Some background: Our company uses PowerPoint primarily to produce charts
(bars, lines, pies, etc) to display economic data. We would like to create
templates for each type of chart we produce so that all work product will
have the same look rather than having the look of each presentation vary
depending on who prepared it. I should add that we recently switched to
PowerPoint 2007 which is complicating our lives somewhat. Basically we need
to standardize line thinkness, bar & line colors, font sizes, positions of
legends, axis titles, etc. There will be about 30 chart types in all.

Question: We would like to send one or two people for training so they can
create these templates. All of the PowerPoint training programs we have seen
focus on things like arty graphics, background colors, video and animation.
Does anyone know of a vendor who provides the kind of training we need...in
the Washington DC area? Or is there a decent book on the subject? Or is
there some sort of on-line tool available?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[Echo S]

There's nothing chart-specific that I'm aware of, but that is one of my
areas of expertise. And I do training. If you're interested, drop me a line
at echos at indy dot net.

PPT 2007 does have chart templates, but you must provide them to each
user -- they don't travel with a template or theme. They also don't respond
to theme changes, which may or may not be a problem in your case. You can
also provide sample slides to your users, then all they have to do is change
the data.

 

[Echo S]

Or a certain add-in?

Well, yes, that, too.

To the original poster, Steve Rindsberg developed this great add-in that
lets you provide sample slides easily for your users to pull from. It does a
ton of other stuff, too, that's especially useful for corporate users. You
can contact Steve via http://www.pptools.com/contactform.htm