Last week, President Obama delivered the annual State of the Union speech. It was widely discussed in the US media and Steve Ballmer also referred to it in a subsequent Microsoft Employee Town Hall. What made the speech so good?

Bruce Gabrielle, author of Speaking PowerPoint, has done a short analysis of the "We Do Big Things" part of the president's speech.

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We wind up up in our series of posts by PowerPoint's summer interns with Software Development Engineer Luiz Pereira.  But check back in a bit for one final intern surprise. My name is Luiz Pereira and I’m nearing the end of my internship as a Software Development Engineer (SDE) in PowerPoint’s Multimedia team. I’m currently finishing up my Master’s in Computer Science at Stanford (just a quarter left!), with a concentration in Human-Computer Interaction. I got my Bachelor’s...

You want feedback on your presentation, but you don't want the headache of having to re-do edits that your reviewers make. If this sounds familiar, take a look at this guest post on the MVP Awards Program blog by Microsoft MVP Echo Swinford.

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  Trevor Florence, Nirav Sanghani, Mike Rodgers, Jesse Harvey, Luiz Franca Pereira Filho The next few posts will introduce you to a select group of individuals, with a special relationship with PowerPoint.  Each year, the PowerPoint program management, test and development groups hire a few interns for the summer. This is a fairly common practice at Microsoft, part of a larger recruiting and hiring effort, which allows college students the opportunity to work for a few months contributing...

First in our series of posts by PowerPoint's summer interns is Program Manager Nirav Sanghani. Hi, I’m Nirav Sanghani, a Program Manager intern on PowerPoint for the summer. I can’t talk about exactly what I’m doing at PowerPoint (top secret!) but I’d like to talk a bit about my background, what an intern can expect in this type of internship, and what I like most about Microsoft. I just finished my sophomore year at the University of Pennsylvania way over in Philadelphia. After having me interview...

Microsoft Office Labs just released a fun new concept test called Ribbon Hero that lets you play games to improve your Office skills. Earn points while using Office, play a challenge to discover new features, or connect with Facebook to compete with your friends. Learn more over at the Office Labs blog , and see how high you can get your PowerPoint score!   - Nathan Penner

With PowerPoint, creating a one-of-a-kind gift for the holidays is fun and easy. Make an album of your family's most memorable moments in PowerPoint, burn it to a disc, and giftwrap it.

Start by downloading a template that you like, and then upload your favorite photos to PowerPoint 2010 or PowerPoint 2007. Burn the resulting presentation to disc (instructions here for 2010 and here for 2007) and hand them out like fruitcake.

At last, a homemade treat that won't make anyone feel bloated. 

-- Kristin Beck, for the PowerPoint blog team

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Next up in our series of posts by PowerPoint's summer interns is Software Design Engineer Jesse Harvey.   Hello All, My name is Jesse Harvey and I am in my seventh week as a Software Design Engineer in Test (SDET) intern with the PowerPoint team. I was born and raised in a small town in Western New York.  I am a 5 th year student at Rochester Institute of Technology ( RIT ) in NY working on the Computer Engineering dual degree (BS & MS) program. RIT is a very career oriented school...

Every now and then we get a choice in how we deliver information -- either give a presentation, or write a report.

But there's a third option to consider. You could create a slide presentation in PowerPoint, but rather than deliver it in person in front of an audience, distill the main points and send it instead (via email, for example). No big report for you to write and your audience to read, and more visually interesting, too.

Which would you rather get in your Inbox, 10 slides or 10 pages? I'd take 10 slides any day, because I can go through them fast.

Keep reading to find out how.

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Yes! Friday was the big day. We're all thrilled of course. There will be plenty of news coverage, but for now let us suggest the following links for the juicy details: The Microsoft Press Release - The official announcement. Jensen Harris: An Official User Interface Bog - Personal details about the ship party and box photos. Thanks to our readers, especially those who comment. We do listen. You do have impact. We hope it shows. Enjoy Microsoft Office 2007, and we can't wait to see what you do with...