What makes a good slide show great? In reality, most of us have an intuitive idea of how to create a basic slide show, but without careful study, most people underestimate the number of tricks that make a great slide show. When you’re ready to go beyond the basics and do more with your shows, when you’re ready to create a piece of art and not just another slide show, you’ll find this book is for you.

Before I started writing this book, I knew there was a gap in the available educational material about one of the most common things that people want to do—make slide shows. The capabilities promised by the computer and photography industries had stretched people’s expectations far beyond simplicity, and few were educating how to do it. I didn’t realize how much of a gap there was until I had committed to this book.

In my research for the book, I was shocked that I could not find a single book precisely on this subject. There were many books on business presentations, video editing, and film making. Even these books were surprisingly sparse on the tips and tricks I already knew made great slide shows work.

Why had nobody written a good book on the subject? The simultaneous evolution of digital photography, computers, and television had collided, causing a vacuum of knowledge, superimposed on a geyser of technical capability, combined with a fantastically large number of consumers with the same agenda: slide shows. These consumers have different media than previous markets. The media they have is produced with different intentions than before. The customers want end results slightly differently from ever before. And they want to know how to make that happen.

This book is about what makes a great slide show; this is not just a book about ProShow, though. I intentionally don’t explain how to use ProShow’s user interface or exactly how ProShow works. Instead, ProShow comes with a comprehensive User’s Guide that you should refer to for that. I’ve included ProShow examples on the DVD, and I strongly encourage you to study them to understand what I’ve done to construct them.

The content of this book could easily be applied to any number of different types of software, including business presentation programs, video editors, and 3D animation programs. ProShow is used as the example application, but most of the core principles apply.

This book is about concepts first and methods second. To make a great show, you really do need a solid understanding of the concepts. Without this, you won’t understand why the methods work. Once you understand the concepts, you’ll be able to refine your own methods using the starting points I offer. My hope is that you will take what you learn from this book and apply it in new ways to audiences. I’m hoping I can see examples of this in the future and learn from those who have learned from me.