The Presentation Summit is not a web conference and it is not a big trade show. It is a user conference, featuring live presentations, workshops, and a hands-on support center. People attend in order to learn how to become better content creators, better presentation designers, better storytellers, better presenters, and better users of PowerPoint and other software.

It might not be terribly helpful to simply answer that this conference is for everyone involved in business pursuits, although it would be accurate, because if you are in business today, you need to present yourself and your organization in the best possible light. Let’s categorize:

It’s true, PowerPoint is not difficult to pick up and begin creating slides. Our host’s daughters began creating slides when they were each 8, and we all know people who installed it and immediately began creating slides in advance of an upcoming presentation they had to give. It is probably the easiest program in the Office suite to learn.

This is the bad news, not the good news.

This is why the risk is high with PowerPoint. This is why Death by PowerPoint is in everyone’s lexicon. With other creative apps, such as Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Access, potential users know that it is too difficult to develop proficiency without help. But inexperienced PowerPoint users can already be on their fifth not-so-attractive slide within 15 minutes of breaking the seal. And PowerPoint presentations are rarely created for private use -- they are made to be shared with others. That means that an entire company’s reputation goes along for the ride when an inexperienced user begins creating and delivering presentations.

When we debuted this conference in 2003, presentation skills were barely on anyone’s radar. Companies were content to invest in traditional advertising and branding initiatives, secure in a belief that PowerPoint was an easy skill to pick up.

Everything has changed.

If you need help convincing your boss of the value of the Presentation Summit, here you go...

The end users who join us at the Presentation Summit in the fall will not have to sit through keynote addresses about sales forecasts, industry trends, or document object models. Instead, if you are one of the 200 to secure a seat at this conference, you will be watching the true experts in the presentation community. You will be watching the most talented presentation experts showcase their talents:

Definitely not. We design the Summit for those who use the software regularly, or expect to do so, but we make no assumptions about your level of expertise. We offer three concurrent seminars and workshops, and there will always be a seminar taking place designed for beginning and/or intermediate users, or else there will be instructors in the Help Center dedicated to working with new users on fundamentals and basics.

So we are by no means a conference just for experts, although you’ll surely meet your share of them there and your career is likely to be enhanced by the relationships you'll be able to cultivate with them. We think of ourselves as a conference for earnest users, for those who have made a significant commitment to the presentation industry.

Does Microsoft run the event?

It does not. The conference is independently owned and operated. Microsoft contributes in a very important and tangible way, but does not participate financially. This suits both parties -- we produce an independent event, in which you know you are getting real-world advice and instruction, and Microsoft can support a conference that doesn’t create a resource drain.

Microsoft's Chris Maloney on the value
of the event to the PowerPoint team
and the product's development

As we said above, the Presentation Summit is independently owned and operated. The host, Rick Altman, is a computer journalist of over 25 years with a noted lack of shyness for offering opinion and commentary. So while many trade show events have as their primary purpose the selling of goods, services, and technology, our primary purpose is the teaching of them. Trade shows offer carefully-staged demos in which the software always looks terrific; our presenters are there to show you what to do when the software doesn’t look so terrific. If a feature is awesome, we take delight in showing you. And if a feature doesn’t work properly, we take seriously our responsibility to tell you so, and more importantly, to show you the way around it.

Jamie Garroch on the open and direct dialogue
that the conference promotes

The Presentation Summit is not a trade show, but it features one. The Summit qualifies 15 to 20 third-party vendors to exhibit their goods and services. The Summit Expo is held on the Tuesday of the conference, and we integrate it into the program, so you can visit the vendors and not miss out on any seminars you want to attend.

Sunday is our Registration day and also our so-called Crash Course Day. On this day, we offer optional seminars for those who are new to the software, who want to brush up on their fundamentals, or who want to explore a topic more deeply before the main part of the conference begins. Our Sunday Crash Courses are the only part of the curriculum not covered in the base conference fee. They carry an extra charge of $149 per two-hour course.

Sunday evening, we officially kick off the conference with our Welcome Reception, beginning at 5:00p, open to all patrons and partners.

This is the question we are asked the most. We think that the Presentation Summit offers the best of all worlds, as we provide both hands-on and hands-off components. The formal seminars are presentation style, with sessions typically attended by several dozen people.

The hands-on component features our renowned Help Center, at your beck and call from morning to night every day. At the Help Center, a staff of experts flanks a small armada of networked computers, and their job is to say “Yes Ma’am” or “Yes Sir” when you approach them with any question or problem. You can bring files with you on media or bring them on your notebook. You can watch over their shoulders, have them watch over yours, or have them clear out so you can just experiment. However you decide to utilize it, the Help Center is about as hands-on as you can get. We have patrons who come just for the Help Center, and others who describe to us about the 15 minutes spent there on Sunday afternoon (before the conference officially began) that made the entire event worthwhile.

Got an hour? The list reads like a who’s who of presentation professionals and PowerPoint experts. We combine the following groups of people to form our team:

• The true luminary and transcendent figures in the presentation industry, such as Garr Reynolds and designers from Duarte.
• Members of Microsoft’s Most Valued Professional (MVP) team of volunteers who assist users from around the world.
• Technical specialists who have developed international acclaim for their books, tutorials, training expertise, and perspective on presentation.
• Leaders of firms who create presentations for some of the largest organizations in the world.
• Members of the Microsoft team of product developers, the people responsible for creating PowerPoint.

See our comments above about our incredible Help Center. There, you can ask any question under the sun.

San Diego is easy to get to, is famous for its warm fall weather, and is like home away from home for our host Rick Altman. The DoubleTree Hotel is close to the airport, close to downtown, across the street from a San Diego Trolley stop, and has an excellent ratio of sleeping rooms to ballroom space. We will have all the meeting space we could hope for and at the same time will be the only group in house. We will feel as if we have taken over the property, with familiar faces and conference badges greeting you in the restaurant, by the pool, and in the bar.

Yes and no, respectively. Spouses, domestic partners, and companions in general are welcome, and for as long as we have space available, we offer three options for accommodating them:

1. Single-day attendance at $500 per day. This includes full access to sessions, breakfast, lunch, breaks, and an after-hours reception for the day.

2. After-hours social activities at $150 for the duration of the conference. This provides access to our hosted after-hours receptions, which we hold every evening, Sunday through Wednesday.

3. If your spouse/partner would like to join you for all conference meals in addition to after-hours receptions, $375 includes access to all food and beverages hosted by the conference over the entirety of the event.

If you would like to provide for a companion through any of these options, he/she must register in advance and show a conference badge to enter the ballroom or reception area. Should the conference sell out, we will be unable to accommodate anyone not registered.

For more information, please call or email us.

Yes. Buffet breakfasts each morning, full sit-down lunches on Monday and Tuesday, morning and afternoon snacks, and evening hors d'oeuvres on multiple days. Wednesday’s lunch is on your own, as many in attendance choose to take some time for themselves or head out in small groups to local restaurants.

Yes, we are already busy checking out all of the city’s hotspots and thinking creatively about using the resort's nice pool area.

And you haven’t lived until you’ve watched or participated in our famous PowerPoint Trivia Contest, which will take place on Monday, right after the seminars conclude. Imagine a cross between Jeopardy and Family Feud, set to questions about PowerPoint.

You should be comfortable, however you define it. Some people wear business suits and pants suits to our conferences, but most don’t. Most wear pants and slacks, many wear jeans and conference t-shirts. Expected San Diego temps in late-September to be in the mid-70s by day and upper-60s in the evening.

Reaching San Diego is a very easy assignment. San Diego International is serviced by all the major airlines, including Southwest, and offers robust international service. Many major U.S. cities offer non-stop service, and there are few cities across the globe that cannot get to San Diego within one stop. International travelers could consider flying into Los Angeles (LAX) and then driving, Ubering, or training down the coast.

It is about a 15-minute drive to our host hotel, the DoubleTree, and taxis and Uber drivers are in abundance.