ICASSP presentations not versatile

My fiancee bought me a new laptop before I left for Japan and Taipei (ICASSP), but rather than pay $100-150 for MS Office, I decided to try Open Office because I think it's easier to have the application on my machine versus having to synchronize Google Docs if I want to work on a flight or something. I'm a huge fan of Open Office so far since it seems to have all the power of MS Office with no real cost. However, ICASSP doesn't feel that way. First, you are supposed to use their laptops. Fair enough, but why this:

The ICASSP laptops are equipped with:
--Windows XP sp3
--WirelessLAN connection, USB port, DVD Player
--Office 2003 and Office 2007
--Adobe Reader, Flash Player, Media Player (Microsoft/real/Quicktime)

Ugh!  Apparently if you use free software, you're screwed.  I've tried to take my slides and save it as MS Powerpoint, but that didn't work because all the animations and MS Visio drawings I made didn't go through the transition.  I have MS Office, but it's on my computer back at Georgia Tech, so I have to remote connect and fix my slides.  It's an incredibly slow process!  Anyway, for shame on ICASSP for no embracing open source.