Even I can learn something...
Even I can learn something from a SSP training event. Okay, perhaps it’s more like -- recall from memory a nice little feature that escaped my mind.
Today I taught The Basics class at Seacoast Church. I don’t normally teach the SSP classes, but our regular trainer for this season had to back out at the last minute so I ended up filling in. You’d think that, as the architect and primary developer of SSP that any feature that SSP has to offer wouldn’t surprise me. However, today I was reminded of a little feature that had escaped my memory.
I was demonstrating the PowerPoint import utility for importing song lyrics into the SSP database. If you’re familiar with this utility, you’ll recall that you are presented with all of the text extracted from the PowerPoint presentation. You then highlight parts of the text, and then press various buttons, like “Verse 1”, “Chorus”, “Title”, etc., to place that text into the parts of the imported song. Well, as I was demonstrating the use of this utility, I noticed that the PowerPoint file I was using didn’t include a song title, nor did any part of the song include the song title. This was a problem because, after all, I certainly needed a title for the song I was importing.
I mentioned this problem to the class, then went ahead and clicked the import button to see what would happen. After clicking the button, SSP presented me with a message telling me that there was no title – I knew that. But it then asked me if I would like to enter one now. How helpful! I clicked yes, and it took me to a text edit control letting me enter the title and then assign it to the song. This little convenience was something that complete escaped my memory. I wouldn’t have mentioned this, other than it was apparent to the class that I was surprised and pleased by it.
Now, the biggest benefit I get in teaching or attending these training classes is to meet SSP users face to face. This is tremendously valuable to me. But then, once in awhile, I get reminded of a little feature or two that has been buried and forgotten about over these years. It causes me wonder how many other features have escaped my memory…hmmm.
(BE37)