How To Keep Eyes Riveted on Your Presentation

Posted on 27. Nov, 2009 by Squealing.Rat in Internet Tools

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presentationMany in the work environment find themselves forced to give presentations on products, ideas and information. And, more often than not, find themselves on stage, presenting the most bland, dull pitch. But what can you do to spice things up a bit?

Well, we are going to go through a few options to add a little something extra to your presentation.

My Preferred Software

Yes, I have Microsoft PowerPoint on my Mac. Yes, I never use it. And yes, I love Keynote, iWork’s presentation application. Keynote comes with iWork, a $79 package from Apple that is the Mac equivalent of Microsoft Office. If I am not doing a group presentation, I am using Keynote. Keynote has a great, clean interface.

It also has some of the best transitions, that make you feel like you are watching a Star Wars movie. So if you have the choice, grab this application. Colleagues before you will feel like kids again.

Group Presentations

If you are giving a group presentation, I highly recommend using a web app like Zoho Docs or Google Docs to create the presentation. I have used Google Docs many times, and love it. You can make edits in real time with someone 2 feet or 2000 feet away, and see their edits as they make them! Multiple people can edit the presentation, not worry about multiple files, or the other slides people are working on. Check out a more in depth review of Zoho Docs by David Pierce here.

One of the great things that can help spice up the presentation is to invite everyone to view it at the same time using Google Docs, and use the built in viewer to chat with others about it.

Be Unique

I recently heard about this application on This Week in Tech. Prezi is a web and desktop application that takes a unique view on presentations. Instead of the usual slides and boxes, Prezi essentially maps the area to become the entire presentation, then sprinkles the different pages on the area. To see a particular page, you can simply zoom. You can think of the presentation as a large object, with specific points becoming points to be enlarged when you need them. If you are as bewildered as I was when I first heard about this, take a look at an example here. The effect is quite cool, and definitely something to consider when creating your next presentation.

How To Use Prezi

First, you can choose your plan. They do have premium plans that begin at about 55 dollars (the service charges in euros). I chose the free plan that works just fine. The free plan includes the Prezi Logo in your presentations, no offline editing, and no private presentations. You can begin creating by selecting a template and creating a description and title. The creation interface takes a bit getting used to. Like Jing, it uses a menu bar that looks like several circles knitted together. Each can control a different part of the presentation, from the path of the visuals to the contents. Take a look at what I created in just a few seconds.

prezi

What do use to create presentations? Let us know in the comments!

Post by Squealing Rat. Find him on Twitter and check out his latest blog, Looming Tech.

Photo: ivanlanin

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3 Responses to “How To Keep Eyes Riveted on Your Presentation”

  1. Debra Dalgleish

    27. Nov, 2009

    Thanks for the links — flowgram.com seems to be dead though.

    Reply to this comment

  2. Chris Smith

    29. Nov, 2009

    Prezi, huh? Man, I have been wondering what that was!

    My Marketing teacher used a Prezi presentation the first day of class and I thought to myself, “wow, that is pretty hip, and what the heck is it!”

    Now I know, thanks!

    Also, Google Docs is amazing. I love using it in school for group projects.

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