This brings us to another very important question. If Billy has a presentation in history class, does he have to lug his family computer to school? What if Mom needs it the same day for a presentation of her own?

That's when packing a presentation comes in.

Is the presentation going on a trip?

You've got it. Packing means putting the whole presentation on a CD, which allows you to do your presentation on any other computer (with the right configuration). A school computer, for example. Here are the steps...

Packing your presentation You can easily pack your presentation on a disk using PowerPoint's Save as CD feature. The feature packs your presentation, as well as software necessary to run the program. You then copy the presentation to the computer you will be using to run your presentation. If the destination computer doesn't have PowerPoint 2007, it will be able to display your presentation. The destination computer must be running Windows 2000 or later. If the computer has an earlier version of Windows, then you first need to save a copy of your presentation in the PowerPoint 97-2003 Presentation format. Click on the Microsoft Office button, select the arrow in the Save As option and then pick PowerPoint 97-2003 Presentation to make a copy of your PowerPoint 2007 Presentation compatible with earlier Windows system software. Note: The PowerPoint Viewer 2007 is automatically installed on your computer when PowerPoint 2007 is installed. Other computers can download this viewer from Microsoft Office Online. The computer must at least be running Windows XP with Service Pack 2. Also, the PowerPoint Viewer 2007 cannot run any presentations formatted in PowerPoint 1997 or earlier. Follow these steps to pack your presentation: 1. Insert a disk CD into your CD drive. 2. Open the presentation you want to pack. 3. Click the Microsoft Office Button, select the arrow in the Publish option and then pick Package for CD. The Package for CD dialog box appears. 4. Click Copy to CD.  The Package for CD feature compresses your presentation and copies it to your blank CD. Note: PowerPoint 2007 cannot directly burn a presentation to a DVD. You need to save your presentation, and all related files, to a folder on your computer. Then you can use DVD burning software to import the folder's contents and then create a DVD.

Okay, packing a presentation sounds pretty easy. But how do you put it on a different computer?

Easy as pie. I can walk you through the steps.

Mmmmmmmm...pie. We really need to get something to eat after the show...

Unpacking your presentation Follow these steps to unpack your presentation from your disk. 1. Place your CD in the CD drive of the destination computer. 2. Open up My Computer from Start on the Windows Desktop. An icon for the CD will be showing in the Devices with Removable Storage area of the window. 3. Double-click the CD icon. The presentation will automatically run. If you don't want to run the Slide Show immediately, follow these steps, so it will run when you want it to. 1. Copy the presentation to the local computer hard drive. Do this by selecting the entire CD and press Ctrl-C. Navigate to a directory on the hard drive and paste using Ctrl-V. 2. To open the file, double-click ppview.exe. The Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer will appear.  3. Select the presentation and click Open. The presentation will now run.