so I have to go out of powerpoint to change it? and I don't seem to have that
option on my control panel - i'm on a gov't of canada computer and may have
limited options. any way to do it inside of powerpoint?
No, it's a Windows setting and is not and cannot be changed within PowerPoint.
For Canada it defaults to Metric. Contact your IT administrator if you don't
see Regional and Language Options on the Control panel.