Here's a great video that shows one of the coolest new features in PowerPoint 2010 -- the ability to compare two presentations and merge them together:

Sometimes you want the sweeping, dramatic, and sexy look of curved lines in your PowerPoint slides. But how? Here's an easy way, using Edit Points and Gridlines.

This is the eighth in a series of quick video tips for business managers using PowerPoint by guest blogger Bruce Gabrielle, author of Speaking PowerPoint.

-- Bruce Gabrielle

Want to do more with video in your PowerPoint 2010 presentations? Want rich, media-based presentations that can be accessed from virtually anywhere and viewed in a web browser? Want to capture and synchronize audio, video, PowerPoint slides, and images, and then preview and publish your presentations?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you're in luck. Use Microsoft Producer, and take your video to the next level.

Screenwriter and script consultant Dave Trottier has a free PowerPoint template available on his website that writers can use to outline scenes or chapters in screenplays or books. It's called StorySorter, and it's the last item on the page.

If you're looking for some truly world-class art for your presentation, take a look at the PowerPoint Facebook page. We've lined up some of the best up-and-coming artists, illustrators, painters, photographers and asked them to design PowerPoint slides that you can use.

Today is the final day that you can submit your presentation to SlideFest for a chance to win a trip to the 2012 TEDActive conference in Palm Springs. Entries must be received by today (May 5, 2011) before 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. So get your presentation in and share your greatness with others.

While we're at it, here's another example of how not to create a presentation -- don't repeat yourself.

-- Erik Jensen

As the PowerPoint Product Manager, I'm proud of Microsoft Office. It helps one billion people get work done around the world. With that breadth of usage comes great responsibility. So if we detect a security vulnerability, we must move quickly, but with an eye on stability - a balancing act that often presents us with some hard choices.

On April 12, we released a security fix via Windows Update that fixed a vulnerability in PowerPoint 2002 and PowerPoint 2003. 

But in our effort to get those security issues resolved, we inadvertently introduced a data loss issue around background images on slide masters for our PowerPoint 2002 and PowerPoint 2003 customers. Some of you experienced hangs when opening PowerPoint files. And in some cases, this led to the corruption of the original file.

I and the rest of the PowerPoint team deeply regret these issues if you've experienced them. Know that we value you as a customer and don't take this lightly.

Have you ever been on the phone with someone and suddenly wished you could just show them what you mean? You can! With PowerPoint Broadcast Slide Show and a few clicks, you can send your slides to your customer or partner and walk them through your message.

In this excerpt from the Office Show, Doug Thomas shows you how the new PowerPoint 2010 feature Broadcast Slide Show allows you to send your live presentation across the web to many different devices.

Doug Thomas has a new Office Casual post out, this time about video backgrounds and how they help tell new stories in PowerPoint presentations.

Great stuff. Do yourself a favor and head on over and check it out.

-- Erik Jensen

Use lots of color in your PowerPoint presentation to thrill and engage your audience. Right? Not necessarily.

Too much color can actually be distracting. Keep in mind, you want your audience to listen to what you're saying. You don't want them to be distracted by what's on your slides - too much text and, yes, even too much color can detract from your message.

Check out this video, part of SlideFest, for more savvy dos and don'ts about using color, including how to use built-in themes to keep your presentation looking professional.