Yes but ...
You'll need to know how to code VBA or VSTO in order to get PowerPoint to
play like this. It is not a native function.
HOWEVER (notice that is a big however) that you can set up a master slide
show that calls a file location from the network or local drive. So in your
master slide show you have 6 departmental sections that you will want to
call on in your weekly meetings. Slide one of your master presentation has
a hyperlink to each of these six department's weekly presentations.
Sections 1 (for the sake of argument we'll call this one Accounting) will
create their weekly presentation and store it on the network as
\\myComp\Accounting\WeeklyPresentation.ppt Since your hyperlink points to
that location, the master presentation will start Accounting's presentation
when clicked. The Master presentation (or even the PowerPoint program) does
not know that the presentations are changed every week (frankly, the
PowerPoint has enough on its plate without tracking these details).
Copy this example for the other 5 sections and you will only ever have to
set your master presentation up once.
The departmental section leaders will need to make sure that their weekly
presentations are:
always ready (or last week's data will be shown)
on the network,
always in the same location,
and with the same name (they can rename it after the meeting for keeping
records).
Of course there are a ton of Gotcha's waiting to happen in this set-up.
Most company's IT departments do not like a meeting room computer to
have full access across the network. They may not let you see all the
needed locations.
Most networks are only barely able to handle PowerPoint being run over
their Ethernet. The presentation(s) may hang or corrupt.
Bill
