Holly Worrall
Presentation Software
A Quest for the Best
Giving a presentation can be daunting. You could be nervous, you could stumble over your words. But worst? You can make your audience fall asleep. Being a visual learner I have always found plain presentations not only boring but very hard to understand or retain any of the information.
Over the years I have tried to spice up my presentation styles in any which way I can, which when you don't want to pay for any fancy software can at times be challenging.
Instead, I have decided to rate different types of software I come across in order to find the best one and hopefully help others develop their presentations. If you would like to visit each sit simply click on the image!
I have used Piktochart for a number of years to create infographics for a range of topics. I always found the application to be quite easy to use, the only boundary that may be a challenge here is your imagination. Piktochart offers a number of icons for you to use as well as beautifully laid out templates and starter charts and graphs. If you do want to insert your own images, the free version can only hold up to 40MB worth, but if you screenshot some images and then insert them, this allows you to save a lot of room. One of the downsides to Piktochart is that you can not animate anything within presentation mode. This means that although you may have beautifully laid out slides there is no opportunity to interact with objects. However, the charts are particularly effective. Large sets of data can be simplified into a range of formats, all equally simple and easy on the eye. Out of all of the presentation software I have come across so far, this would be the only one I would pay to get full access to even though it is £19.02 per month.
Prezi is a software which aims to provide people with quick and easy to use tools to create visual and interesting presentations. Personally, I have always found Prezi to be a popular choice but limited in design opportunities. Prezi is free for 14 days before you must upgrade to standard mode at £7 a month. However, using Prezi can be a blessing or a nightmare. The constant zoom in zoom out features is irritating, and there is little room to design your own presentation without the process becoming extremely complicated. Of course, if you would just like to use a template they work perfectly fine, but may not be fit for your purpose. Although Prezi provides a dynamic and intriguing software, they do not provide the tools to create sets of visual data and only a few icons. A lot of the hassle with Prezi is creating a flowing presentation that isn't too distracting but is also visually pleasing. Personally, I do not like to use Prezi too often as I feel that its templates are quite constricting.
Slidebean provides easy minimalistic snap together segments. This produces clean and simplistic slides, perfect for a business pitch. Similarly to Prezi there is not much you can do in terms of designing elements to your liking, but if you would like to just use a template then this is a very fast way of producing a powerpoint. Mostly this software just provides pre-made generic slides, with little in the way of creativity. Although there are options to add in charts and icons, they are both quite basic and won't add much excitement. Personally, I wouldn't use this software as I find it underwhelmingly lifeless, and when trying to create visually stimulating slides I would like more options to bring my ideas and design concepts to life.
Beautiful AI is a newly created software which first came out in 2015. This software although following the same principles of easy, simple and fast presentation designs adds a new element. The AI part comes into play when you are in the process of designing and laying out your presentation. Indeed what the founders have attempted to do is "build the intelligence of a designer directly into the tool", meaning, suggested elements and layouts to fit your needs. Although this seems quite fresh, it doesn't exactly work. On occasion the suggestions are completely wrong, making some of the elements you want to use, harder to find. In order to use this software, you would have to tinker around for a bit to get your bearings as some tools are well hidden. However, if you like minimalism, text and not saving time on trying to design a presentation, this is for you.
