July 7, 2011

Does the thought of standing in front of an intimate crowd of half a dozen people or several hundred turn you cold? When your next meeting is around the corner how do you generally prepare? Possibly you’ll whip up a PowerPoint complete with colorful slides, fun calligraphy, and the ever-nifty slide transitions?

Then you think, “This PowerPoint will be different, it will certainly blow minds and knock socks off!” But, once you finish the presentation in retrospect it looks pretty familiar to your last five, doesn’t it?  The same presentation with the same old fumbling through your speech, button clicking, and bad stock photos.

Most likely, you’ve sat in a sales, motivational, briefing or training presentation or lecture that left you unimpressed and wishing you had sat next to the closest exit.

Besides the monotony of it all, people often make common PowerPoint mistakes.  A few being: cramming too many words on one slide, writing out exactly what the speaker will say, and getting all too excited over the frequent  utilization of bullet points.

Everyone in your next meeting has likely seen all your tricks by now—the ‘Star Wars’ themed text movement, the clapping sound effect that goes  hand-in-hand with your ‘The End’ slide, what else ya’ got?

Skip the ho-hum PowerPoint presentation for one of these five alternatives that will be sure to really WOW em’ at your next meeting.

Tell a Story with Prezi

Their motto is: “With Prezi you can tell your story in a non-linear, dynamic way.”  I feel there’s no other way to describe this presentation outlet than a better, and more creative, Powerpoint.

The web-based presentation application and storytelling tool is extremely user-friendly given there are no definite ‘slides’ and text can be added virtually anywhere on the screen in any format.

You can also collaborate with colleagues in real time on the same canvas as well as view and work on the presentation with online and mobile devices. Learn more about Prezi.

Flex your Tech Expertise with Dreamweaver

Skip on the whole slide presentation and just make a simple website. Dreamweaver, industry-leading web design software, provides both visual and code-level capabilities for creating standards-based websites and designs for the desktop, smartphones, tablets, and other devices.

The biggest benefit of this presentation tool is the menu available on the side of your presentation screen.  No matter which current screen you are viewing, you have easy access to the rest of your presentation making it easy to flip around if questions arise or your presentation goes astray. Checkout Dreamweaver.

Sell with Sellfolio

Can you really create a presentation in a few minutes? Sellfolio enables the most novice user to make sites, slideshows, presentations and intros.

The software offers a turnkey approach and provides an intro, main page, autoplay slideshows, contact page, unlimited pages, free music loops and content. Test drive Sellfolio.

Engage with Informative Videos

A skit about good office behavior could be a fun way to learn about a topic some may otherwise fall asleep upon learning the meeting’s topic. You could even get creative and make your own home-movie office video with a Flip camera!

Wow, Look Ma, no hands!

The good ol’ spoken word will always be in style for presentations—just look at Barack Obama.  There’s something so powerful about a single person strongly standing at the front of the room making valid points about a topic he knows much about.

Plus, with no additional reading to pay attention to, the room actually needs to pay attention to what is being said when the information is spoken without visual aids.

That being said, if a speaker would like to hand out a chart to go with his talk, he can still hold the focus of the room because he is a single person.   No flash cards is best, but if you need one in your back pocket in case of emergencies, feel free.

Be inspired by these Powerpoint free presentations.  Surprise your audience with something they’ve never seen before in your next meeting—knock those socks off!

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