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How the Cavemen and Cavewomen Developed PowerPoint

by Austin Myers, et all

Have you ever wondered how PowerPoint came to be? Well, Microsoft PowerPoint MVP Austin Myers offers this humorous take on how the MVPs developed it in pre-historic times!

There was a caveman by the name of Brian (Reilly) that started it all with some really crude drawings on the wall of his cave. Actually the drawings weren't that bad but his ability to speak and point at the drawings was somewhat limited. He asked his friend Steve if there wasn't someway to jazz up his presentation.

Steve (Rindsberg) said "Sure, hold this burning stick up by the drawing you want people to look at, and darkness will hide the rest of the drawings." We believe this was the first attempt at a "Custom Show".

Next thing they knew, they were joined by the agrarian Austin (Myers) who made all those drums and voices audible and the funny flickering moving pictures visible. He was the one who daily climbed the hill and yelled "CODEC - - MCI - - QT -- MPEG"!!!!!! Everyone wondered about the new words he had invented. They are, to this day, still trying to de-code them, but Austin's voice from the hills cannot be suppressed.

One day Kathy (Huntzinger)came walking by and asked the guys what they were doing. At first she thought they had lost their mind but after an explanation she could see what they were trying to do. Naturally she wanted to improve on the situation and suggested they add drum sounds to the presentation.

While both guys thought it had possibilities they didn't want her to be seen so they made her sit off to the side out of sight. (That's why we drag the Icon off the slide to this day.) When Kathy began beating the drum the guys noticed a sound that was almost a duplicate but sounded fainter and far away. Steve asked, "Brian, do you here that?"

Brian said, "Of course, it's Echo(Swinford)!"

"Hey, did someone call my name?" said the woman with the strangely colored hair as she came walking into the cave.

She looked over what everyone was doing and said that while the pictures were nice, what was needed was some text to go with it. No one had any idea what she was talking about so she showed them by making squiggly marks beside all the drawings. Everyone thought it was a big improvement but the problem was that everyone looked at the squiggly lines before looking at Brian's drawings. "Not a problem at al," said Echo. "Just cover the text with a bear skin and then take it off when you shine the burning stick on it. Should make a nice 'transition.' Just remember to cover them back up or they won't look right the next time you show it to anyone. "

With all the improvements cavemen and women came from miles around to see the presentation But alas, after all the local folks had seen the presentation it became obvious that they needed a way to take the entire thing on the road so they might show it to others. What to do, what to do?

Fortunately for our friends, there was a woman that lived next to the big water hole who claimed she could transport anything. Her name, Sonia (Coleman was spoken only rarely but all knew who she was. The group convinced her to look over the problem and asked for her help.

After much study and concentration Sonia hit upon an idea. "We will burn copies of everything on my new invention the wheel. That way we can simply role the presentation to the next cave and everyone can see the show."

Problem solved!

Things went along well for the gang, but you know how people are and they soon started complaining about not having enough tools to make drawings, and sounds with. Complain as they might, there just weren't any better tools available. That is until the day they met a traveler from far, far away by the name of Shyam (Pillai).

He was a decent sort of fellow he agreed to help out and had soon produced many new tools. Sharp sticks for text, wide sticks with all sorts of berry juices on the tip for drawing, and he even made a better set of drums for sounds.

Now those funny drawings that Brian made, Steve jazzed up, Kathy added the drum sound to, Echo added her text magic to, and Shyam automated, roll to the next cave seamlessly as long as you use the 2002 B.C. Viewer. Things just couldn't get any better and these folks found a life long calling explaining how to make presentations to others.