REPORT ON PRESENTATION SOFTWARE 26/11/2017 Comparing Presentation Software This report will compare 3 different presentation software stating the advantages and disadvantages of each.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Report on presentation software 1) INTRODUCTION... 1 2) PREZI... 1 2.1) Creating Presentations... 1 2.2) Presenting in Prezi... 2 3.3) Sharing and Collaboration... 3 2.4) Advantages & Disadvantages... 4 3) MICROSOFT SWAY... 4 3.1) Creating Presentations... 4 3.2) Group Content... 5 3.3) Sharing and Collaboration... 6 3.4) Advantages and Disadvantages... 7 4) GOOGLE SLIDES... 7 4.1) Creating Presentations... 7 4.2) Presenting... 8 4.3) Collaboration and Sharing... 9 4.4) Advantages and Disadvantages... 9 5.0) CONCLUSION... 10 Report on presentation software C O M P A R I N G P R E S E N T A T I O N S O F T W A R E 1) INTRODUCTION The purpose of this report is to assess 3 different presentation software and how useful they would be in the IT workplace based on their features, advantages and disadvantages. The 3 software that this report aims to compare are Prezi, Microsoft Sway and Google Slides. This report will recommend the best selection out of the 3 software. 2) PREZI 2.1) Creating Presentations Prezi is a cloud based presentation software that allows you to create presentations with ease, there are a variety of templates to start your presentation. You can customize the text color, background color or Page 1
add an image to act as your background. You can easily create extra slides by clicking the add circle button. Prezi also allows one to drag the circle frames around to organize the presentation in a unique manner. Arrows can be added to give viewers of the presentation an idea of the content flow. Subtopics can be created within main topic slides; the subtopics will be hidden until the main topic is highlighted. Simple animation such as zooming and fade in or out can be added to slides to add some life to a presentation flow. By clicking and dragging, you can easily rearrange the order of the presentation slides. A user can add a variety of content to their presentation slides such as text, images, videos, charts, arrows and shapes. These features allow the user to create creative and structured presentations easily. 2.2) Presenting in Prezi Prezi allows a presenter to display their slides in a linear format like any other presentation software, but it also allows them to traverse through the presentation outside of the typical flow by clicking on relevant slides. This allows a user to give a slightly customized presentation based on the interests of the audience. A user can add visual cues and verbal prompts to assist with the flow of their presentation, these notes are only visible to the presenter, so the audience will not be able to see them during the presentation. There is also a timer that can be added so the user can ensure that they stay on pace during their presentation, like the other cues, they are only visible to the presenter. Page 2
Prezi also allows you to present on a phone or tablet. This is good for quickly showcasing presentations on the go or to quickly review it before presenting on a larger device. 3.3) Sharing and Collaboration Prezi allows you to share your presentation with ease, you can either create a shareable link for others to click and view the presentation or you can create an exported file to present offline. The latter action can only be done with the Prezi next app. There is an option to deactivate links if a user does not want to share the presentation anymore, this option is only available with a paid subscription on Prezi. Prezi provides an analytics section allowing you to see who has viewed your presentation, you can detect completion rates, who exactly has viewed the presentation and the view time at certain sections allowing you to see if people are interested in your presentation and what points are interesting to them. This feature is only available to Prezi users with a premium license. Page 3
Collaboration is easy to manage using Prezi, adding a collaborator is simply done by adding their email address to the collaborators link, they can be given the option to edit the presentation, present the presentation or be able to comment on the presentation. Up to 10 people are allowed to edit the one presentation. Advantages: 2.4) Advantages & Disadvantages Easy to organize and rearrange content with topics, this create a visually appealing and interesting presentation. Prezi allows for a unique presentation flow, you can present the topics in a different order any time you present. Collaboration is easy to set up, other collaborators must have a Prezi account in order to collaborate. Prezi presentations can be viewed on mobile devices Disadvantages: Most of the advanced features such as analytics and presenter cues are only available on paid subscriptions. The initial page for starting with Prezi only shows the paid options and you must click an extra tab to see the free version. This may not be an issue for an IT company, it is daunting for students. 3) MICROSOFT SWAY 3.1) Creating Presentations Microsoft Sway allows you to create a storyline of slides to present an idea. In the storyline section you can add several types of slides in to the storyline such as heading cards, text cards, image cards, video cards, audio cards and embedded media cards. This allows a user to show a unique combination of Page 4
media in their presentation. Each different type of sway card allows you to add different features to them, Sway is also part of the Microsoft office suite, so this allows you to add content such as PowerPoint presentations, Word documents or Excel spreadsheets to your Sway. The design window allows you to edit the appearance of an individual card. You can adjust color palettes, text font, text size and the animation emphasis. This allows further customization to your cards, the are available templates to edit the design or you can customize the design. Sway also contains the focus point feature, this is used on cards with an image. The presentation will zoom in on a set point on the image when the card is on the screen. This can help you provide focus to a certain area of a picture during the presentation. 3.2) Group Content Microsoft Sway also has option to insert group cards which will contain multiple media on one card, you can add a stack group which will present the content as if it were a stack of photos, a grid which will Page 5
showcase the content in a grid, a comparison which will load two images with a slider in the middle to switch between the two and a slideshow where you can add images in and present them as a slideshow. These features are useful for presenting your content creatively and for organizing the Sway content. 3.3) Sharing and Collaboration Sharing and collaboration is easy to set up using Microsoft Sway. There is an option to share with others by clicking the share button. You can set who to share the Sway with which will present different sharing options. A Sway presentation can be shared by email, a visual message will come in the email, there is also the option to share it in an embedded link, you can also share a Sway presentation on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Page 6
These options are only available for allowing someone to view the presentation, a direct link can be sent to another person asking them to view or edit the presentation. Sway has an option to give the presentation a password so only viewers who know the password can view or edit the sway. Advantages: 3.4) Advantages and Disadvantages Easy to organize content using groups Supports different media types Focus points allows emphasis on images You can import content from OneDrive to Sway No need to create a separate account if you already have a Microsoft email address Disadvantages: Sway presentations are only stored on the Sway website There is no option to download sway files so there is no offline editing of Sway presentations 4) GOOGLE SLIDES 4.1) Creating Presentations Google Slides is a presentation software that has similar functionality to Microsoft PowerPoint. You can create new slides at the click of a button, add text boxes to the slide where you can adjust size or font and add images to the presentation. Google slides also allows you to add shapes, lines and tables to present simple ideas. You can add transition animations to move from one slide to another like PowerPoint, you can also animate objects in slides to add more life to the presentation slides. You can add images that you have Page 7
saved to Google Drive or on Google Photos, import slides from other presentations are on Google Drive, import a chart from Google Sheets or insert a video in to the slide. These features allow users to provide information in their presentation in many different forms. There are also add-ons for Google slides that can be downloaded from the google store to enhance your presentations further. 4.2) Presenting While presenting on Google Slides, you can enable a laser pointer to highlight an object on the screen. You can also add speaker notes in the editor below the slide, once you open the presenter view you will be able to see your notes along with what slide you are on and how much time has passed. Google Slides also allows you to set up an online questions and answers session, you share the link, so anyone can ask a question so for as long as the accepting questions switch is on, questions can be asked anonymously. This allows further interaction between you and the audience by providing a better opportunity for people to ask questions. Page 8
4.3) Collaboration and Sharing Google Slides allows you to share presentations with ease, by clicking the share button, you can email a link to the presentation to another person. This link can be customized to allow them to edit, comment or just view your presentation. Comments can be added on any slide informing someone if any edit needs to be made. Any changes made to the presentation will be saved automatically as the file is saved on Google Drive. Sharing the file for others to view is not limited to sending a link. A presentation using this software can be downloaded as many different file types such as a Microsoft PowerPoint file, OpenDocument presentation file or as a pdf file. Advantages: 4.4) Advantages and Disadvantages Presentations can be downloaded as multiple file types Google Slides is free to use with a Gmail account Presenter notes can be added to a presentation easily Questions and answer tools allows for greater communication between the presenter and the audience Options for editing can be expanded using the app store Can be presented on a phone using the Google Slides app Page 9
Disadvantages: Animation options are limited No audio features, this can be circumvented with YouTube videos A Gmail account is required to use Google Slides 5.0) CONCLUSION Through careful analysis, this report concludes that Microsoft Sway would be the most useful for the IT workplace as many different file types can be imported into Sway presentations. It also has a wide variety of visual features to keep viewers of the presentation engaged. Page 10