Presentations are a fantastic way to convey ideas, whether in a business environment or in a learning one. Most of us are familiar with Microsoft PowerPoint which comes as part of the Microsoft Office Suite of software and it still remains the tool of choice for electronic presentations. However there are a number of exciting alternatives available which can add a dynamic new twist to your presentation whilst usually being far simpler to use. Pro Drive take a look at a couple of our favourites.
Prezi
is from a new generation of presentation software. Part presentation tool, part whiteboard, it helps you create a visual thought process by zooming in and panning across your ideas. The visual effects certainly give presentations a different dimension (quite literally) and when used correctly it can really help your audience focus in on your points.
Whilst Prezi is far less complex than PowerPoint, there is still a learning curve. It is available as a cloud service (and does have a free of cost plan) or a downloadable installed application – just be careful with the cloud service as some plans leave your presentations in the public domain!
Prezi claim to have over 40 million registered users worldwide so is certainly no longer to be considered a niche product.
Keynote
is Apple’s own presentation software and is available for Mac, iPad and iPhone and is widely considered to be far simpler to use than PowerPoint (although Keynote presentations can be viewed and edited in PowerPoint).
Keynote offers modern and slick presentation themes, far more so than PowerPoint, and a Keynote presentation will often be more visually appealing than a PowerPoint equivalent.
The Mac version is available as a download and the iOS tablet / smartphone version as an app. Creating a new presentation is generally better handled via Mac version and there is no PC version available.
It should be said though that no software, however innovative, will transform poor content into a good presentation so make sure you are creative with your content!
