Power Point Anxiety

Have you ever used Power Point for a presentation? I think Power Point is great. When I first learned about this program I was excited as a second grader with my first box of 64 Crayolas with a sharpener in the back of the box. You can easily make a series of slides with cool graphics and even videos. You can move from slide to slide in many cool transitions. For years I've made a staff training presentation on the Vulnerable Adults Act using power point. I've made it into a game, jeopardy style. People love it. My first round has 5 questions for all 5 categories in money amounts ranging from $100 to $500. My second round ranges from $1000 to $5000. No one gets any real money but, despite the fact I work with people in human services, they get VERY competitive. I've done this game every year for the past 15 years or so. The first five years I did it the old fashioned way with paper on a board. Power point is WAY easier. But this year, for some reason, I had extra anxiety about my inservice. I've never had any major trouble with the power point. The problems I did have were solved before the people arrived. So why the extra anxiety? I thought about it and I think I know why. When I was taking some nature classes last winter, our instructor had a horrible time with his power point presentations. Every week he struggled and as time went on, his problems worsened. He really tried hard to get it to work. He consulted all the tech experts to no avail. Some of the problem was a faulty wire in a plug in. He handled these problems with more grace than I would have but I still had to feel sorry for the guy. I think that is why I had more anxiety this year. I've seen how it is when Power Point goes wrong. The first of my five presentations was today and Power Point worked like a charm for me so I'm sure the rest will too.