Is Presenting Via PowerPoint Dead?

Presentations have been around for years. Love them or hate them, we’ve all had to do one at some point be it in education or at work.

As soon as you think of presentations, it’s fair to say that the majority of the population tend to think of the Mircosoft software that has been with us for years; PowerPoint. The ‘reliable uncle’ of presentations you can trust. It’s always been at our side as we stand in front of numerous people on any given topic. Best of all, it’s fairly simple to use. Never fancy, but does the job.

Technology has greatly advanced over the years and it seems like PowerPoint has been left behind. It was only as recent as 2014 that apps for Word, Excel and PowerPoint were released. There’s a lot of professionals out there that present from iPad or from Apple computers and these apps were well overdue. One of the biggest questions is ‘how much longer can PowerPoint fight off its competitors?’ Don’t get us wrong, PowerPoint has improved to some extent over the last decade (much like the rest of Microsoft’s products), but at its base, it’s still a relatively limited piece of software for presenting that can be a struggle when transferring across platforms or running video. How many times have you seen a PowerPoint presentation look like it was made in the 90s or struggle with a link or video playback?

One of the biggest alternatives to Powerpoint is Prezi – a presentation software idea that uses the idea of ‘zoom’ and ‘pathway points’ to a new level to compete against Microsoft. Prezi looks fantastic and it can really be a show when presenting. The only downside to Prezi is the amount of time it can take to really make stuff look great, but when done right it looks amazing, taking you on a journey from start to finish.

GoAnimate is another great way to present in that you can turn your presentation into an animation. While this seems childish, it really isn’t and can get your message across just as well as a presentation on slides.

Presenting is stuck in the past as a format and there aren’t many ways to get around the need to present but there are a number of ways you can still use PowerPoint to bring a presentation that engages people, for example, presentations create by Wright Angle Marketing are made in Adobe Illustrator first to make them look stunning. Obviously, what you’re presenting is important, but to deliver it in a way that keeps people interested can be the difference between a successful and a failed presentation.