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Note: At a recent webinar by Cathy Moore, Bill wrote: "With a little Visual Basic Application scripting you can carry interactive conversation in PowerPoint." I contacted him and asked him to explain—his answer is intriguing and he generously allowed me to post it here—DA

Visual Basic Application (VBA) allows for unlimited expansion of PowerPoint. At my place of work we use Outlook Trainer and Softsimm among other E-Learning packages, but I can typically enhance the outcome by using HTML, XML, Flash/ActionScript. The same can be said for PowerPoint. All Microsoft Office Software is able to utilize VBA behind the scenes to enhance the product.

I recommend the only book I could find on using VBA in PowerPoint. I searched everywhere looking for this type of book and noone knew of anything to recommend, so I felt extremely lucky to find it:

Powerful PowerPoint for Educators by David M. Marcovitz

This book is all you need to begin. Search for it on the internet and you will find an overview explaining what is inside. Initially you learn "scripts," which are little pieces of VB programming. They are easy to learn and can immediately create some interaction on the PowerPoint screen. You can easily learn to do text and graphic popups that you can use for creating scenarios, assessments or games. If you get hooked on it, you might want to expand your knowledge of Visual Basic and learn programming, but it is not necessary. I am currently using it to create assessments, but I hope to use it to enhance our use of TurningPoint ARS. (see: http://www.turningtechnologies.com/)