John, a sales rep for the JQ Paint Company, e-mails Marsha in the creative services department to say he needs a presentation for a department meeting. Oh and, by the way, the meeting is in three days, he adds, but he’ll be on the road making customer calls and won’t have the time or resources to complete the presentation in time. John also asks to review the presentation ASAP, so he can approve it.

Despite having lots of work on her plate already, Marsha replies that she would be happy to do this project; she just needs some details.

John outlines the following structure:

• A slide of the departmental reorganization with the new director’s biography (“The names and other information are available on the department intranet site,” he wrote.)
• A slide for the sales figures for the first six months of last year (“See the spreadsheet on the intranet site for the numbers.”)
• A slide for the department’s goals and objectives this year (“It’s available from the department intranet site.”)
• Printed handouts of the presentation
• Check the meeting room for use of Windows laptop for the presentation

Although JQ Paint is a fictitious company, this situation is not too far-fetched in today’s fast-paced business world. To face the challenges of the familiar question “You want it when?”, employees need a solution that delivers results in a short amount of time. An innovative solution for a simple task can often serve as a model for the whole company.

At JQ Paint, how will Marsha rise to the challenge of finding an innovative solution that delivers the sales presentation on time? The answer is simple: FreeHand MX and Macromedia Flash Player.

Choosing FreeHand MX for the Job
Let’s see what leads Marsha to decide to choose FreeHand MX for the presentation:

• She can use existing company artwork created in FreeHand, thereby cutting production time and streamlining her workflow.
• The SWF export command in FreeHand MX creates a small file size that she can view in Macromedia Flash Player.
• She can create organizational charts quickly with the Connector tool.
• She can use the Action tool to create navigation, which saves the user time.
• By saving production time up front, she has extra time for enhancing the presentation with features such as beveled edges and imported animations.
• She can print handouts using the powerful print capabilities of FreeHand.

In addition, Marsha notes the following benefits:

• She can use animation in a new way in the presentation.
• She has the ability to create a nonlinear presentation.
• She’ll end up with a new template for creating company presentations

Next, let’s view presentation for the sales department meeting that received great accolades from his coworkers. They wanted to know how he created such a great presentation. He answered, “I just used FreeHand MX and Macromedia Flash Player.” To show them how, John immediately e-mailed Marsha and requested a training session on creating presentations in FreeHand MX.

Marsha taught three mini-lessons on “Creating a Presentation” class:

• Customizing FreeHand MX for Multimedia/Web Output
• Creating an Organizational Chart Using the Connector Tool
• Creating the Navigation for the Presentation Using the Action Tool