Two Excel 2007 Webcasts

I’ve presented two one-hour webcasts over the past two months that might be of interest to beginning and intermediate Excel 2007 users. In February, I demonstrated Excel 2007 tables (the updated version of Excel 2003 lists); on April 10, I covered Excel 2007 charts, shapes, and SmartArt diagrams. The material’s not that advanced, but if you know of anyone who could use an overview and demo of either topic, be sure to pass along these links:

 

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9 thoughts on “Two Excel 2007 Webcasts

  1. Curt, maybe you can explain what this is all about. I click the links and I had to register for something or another (which I didn’t do). What is the advantage in doing a registration-required webcast (whatever that is) as opposed to just presenting the material in text form at a web site?

    Call me old-fashioned, but I just don’t get it. None of the content is indexed in Google. And I can read information about 20 times faster than I can listen to it (or watch it).

  2. Hi John,

    I’ll check it tomorrow…the site’s down right until 8:30 AM Saturday.

    Text is faster, but webcasts suit folks who prefer to learn from video. 144 people attended the live ‘cast, so there appears to be some attraction.

    Curt

  3. I’m with John. I am too impatient to sit through a video or audio tutorial. If I have a page to read, I can skip the easy bits I already know and easily skip around and reread parts I don’t get, and I can switch windows and try a few examples on my own. In a 60 minute webcast, I can absorb only a tiny fraction of what I can learn in 60 minutes spent browsing and reading text and image based media. It’s also easier to check out a sampling of Google results to find differences and similarities between tutorials on the same or a similar topic.

    This is in no way a criticism of Curt’s webcasts. I agree that for some people, particularly those less knowledgeable in a subject area, a video presentation may be more effective.

  4. I am with John W. on this.

    “I click the links and I had to register for something or another (which I didn’t do). What is the advantage in doing a registration-required webcast (whatever that is)”

    I have a login for MSN but, it just gives me a “circular formula” and kicks me back the first page. No like to the actual Podcast….

    I like to see the webcast like, Bill Jelin, “MR EXCEL” does because, I and a better visual memory than auditory memory.

  5. meant to say….No “link” to the actual Podcast…. not “like” sorry and please edit my post…

  6. I agree with Curt that some people prefer to learn by seeing it done. However, I have to admit that after I clicked on the link to watch the webcast, I quickly left when I saw the registration requirement.

    I know Curt doesn’t control things on Microsoft’s website. But as a commentary, I hate the way everyone makes you freaking register these days. Register what? Why? For any of you reading this that has a blog or site which requires registration, I submit to you four points:

    1. Chances are you are getting fake email addresses anyway.
    2. There is little chance of you selling the email addresses you collect to anyone.
    3. Any spam or useless newsletter you create gets ignored by 75%+ of your “Users”.
    4. Many visitors are turned away at the door as soon as they see registration requirements.

    But cool stuff anyway Curt.

  7. Thank you for the great web cast presentations.

    Although I do not really like the registration process, I did not find it difficult and it was very straight forward, with options for downloading the wmv files offline, and the forms do allow the option to not be included in any E-mail mailing list.

    It would be nice to have both webcast and text/power point variations of the webcast. 1 hour is a lot of time to sit through.

    Well done Curt.

  8. Thanks to everyone for your comments. You do need to have a Windows Live ID (a.k.a. Microsoft Passport) to view the webcasts. I’ll be sure to make that requirement explicit when I post links to future webcasts.

    My webcasts are heavy on demos, so putting together a full PPT version isn’t really practical. Both John Walkenbach and myself have written plenty of good books for those of you who’d prefer to learn in that mode.

    Curt

  9. Curt,

    My missing the link was totally my fault. I was working on an older laptop with a low screen resolution and did not see the user name request, for the live broadcast, that was off the bottom off my view. I went back to see if I missed something and saw that I missed this part of the login (my first time in one of the Microsoft podcasts). I was able to download and view the file tonight and found it very informative, about the new features in the tables in excel 2007.

    I have already used some of these new tool and find them very helpful for viewing contextual data in a format that highlights and sort, the important data.

    Thanks for an “excel”lent netcast!

    Tom S.


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