PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Web-based PowerPoint Killers?

By way of an entry on Bob Sutor’s blog, I found CNET editor Rafe Needleman talking about the various entries in the marketplace that could eventually serve as Web-based replacements for PowerPoint. Microsoft is already getting some pressure on the word processing and spreadsheet fronts. Should Web-based PowerPoint replacement get any traction, the implications for Office could be serious.

Read more on David Berlind’s blog on ZDNet.

Filed Under: Thoughts
Tagged as: Microsoft Office, PowerPoint

PowerPoint Cartoon Movies

And now you have PowerPoint cartoon movies! These cartoon movies are PowerPoint presentations that have been illustrated and animated within PowerPoint itself. Such a high level of animation or illustration would not have been possible without the synergy of both skills, as we found in this “movie” downloaded from Shawn Toh‘s PowerPoint Heaven site. We’re left wondering if the bar of PowerPoint skills has been elevated yet again.

I asked Shawn about the term “PowerPoint Movie,” and he explains that a PowerPoint Movie is an animated show or cartoon similar to those done using Adobe Flash. It is animated using a series of custom animations such as motion paths and emphasis effects.

Currently, Shawn has two movie series on his site: Shadow Fighter and Evolution Warriors.

Check out the series here.

Filed Under: PowerPoint All Versions
Tagged as: Animation, PowerPoint, Shawn Toh, Templates

Serious Magic: Conversation with Michelle Gallina

  Serious Magic creates award-winning video and presentation tools. Their newest offering Ovation makes it easy to bring professional effects to your existing PowerPoint presentations with a few clicks. In this conversation, Michelle Gallina, the Director of Marketing at Serious Magic joins us to discuss Ovation.

Geetesh: What does Ovation offer to PowerPoint users who have tons of existing presentations?

Michelle: Ovation is a software companion to PowerPoint that quickly transforms plain PowerPoint slides into a great-looking presentation. The result is a presentation that looks as if you hired a graphic design team to create it. It’s really quite powerful when you have a lot of presentations that need a facelift. Ovation also offers tools that help presenters stay on point and on time.

Geetesh: Are their original presentations altered in any way?

Michelle: Ovation doesn’t alter a PowerPoint presentation at all; it works alongside PowerPoint and performs as a player for presentations.

Geetesh: What are the requirements for Ovation in terms of hardware?

Michelle: Because the product adds a lot of movement to PowerPoint slides, it works best on newer laptops (less than 2 years old) with a good graphics processor (GPU). But I’ve seen Ovation produce great results on older computers too.

On our website, we run a system check to tell the user how Ovation will run on an individual computer.

Geetesh: What is the learning curve with Ovation?

Michelle: What’s great about Ovation is that you don’t have to spend a lot of time learning a new piece of software. You create and edit your presentation in PowerPoint like you normally do. Then just drop your PowerPoint file into Ovation. There are some slide customizations that Ovation offers and they’re easily accessible through Ovation’s tab-based interface. It’s really quite simple, but if users like more help, we offer a free video tutorial that is easily accessible within the program.

You can download a trial version of Ovation from the Serious Magic site.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.

Filed Under: Interviews
Tagged as: Add-in, Interviews, Ovation, PowerPoint

Online Slideshow Software

Google isn’t yet talking about its PowerPoint killer, but a few startups, like Zoho, Structured Data, and ThinkFree, are testing products that show us what a presentation service will look like online.

A challenge with all these products is that while they will be great for users who can be online to make presentations, things change if you find yourself offline, with nothing but a laptop and a projector between you and your audience.

Rafe Needleman tells more on the CNET News site.

Filed Under: Thoughts
Tagged as: Online Presentations, PowerPoint

The Michael Doyle Interview

Michael Doyle is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Of Impatica. He has founded several successful high technology companies including Computer Innovations which became Canada’s largest personal computer sales and service organization with revenues of over one billion dollars annually.

In this interview, Michael discusses Impatica in education and business, and Impatica’s new hardware device, the Showmate.

Filed Under: Interviews
Tagged as: Impatica, Interviews, Michael Doyle, Personalities, PowerPoint