3 Free Tools to Help You Nail Your Next Presentation

BY Oct. 25, 2010 28 Comments


Let’s face it. Solid, dynamic, well-planned and creatively executed presentations are what really sell ideas. Whether you are preparing for a meeting with a potential investor or pitching your service to a prospect, taking the time to create a memorable presentation can tip you over the edge to success.

Unfortunately, as entrepreneurs, there are two factors that always seem to get in the way of developing presentations that generate tremendous results: time and money. While it may be hard to eliminate both factors in your quest to create a presentation that fuels a sale, there are three free tools savvy presenters are starting to take advantage of that are beginning to generate more compelling, interesting, persuasive messages than Microsoft PowerPoint ever could.

Prezi

Created with the intention of ridding the world of boring, linear presentations, Prezi offers a very dynamic and rich method of presenting information on a large canvas.  Providing a surface for rich text and embedded images, you are able to zoom in and out to show how concepts relate to one another within the presentation. The interface is simple and intuitive, and offers the ability for users to record their presentation sequence.

Animoto

Want to incorporate a quick video into your next presentation but just don’t have the time to orchestrate the effort? If you haven’t checked it out already, Animoto is a fantastic resource for quickly throwing together an artistic compilation of pictures, video clips, and music. You can make as many 30 second clips as you’d like for free, but longer videos cost $3 individually, or they have a subscription for $5 per month. If you are looking to impress with a minimal budget, I would definitely suggest to check this out!

Daytum

Have some data that you want to convey? Searching for an original way to present it? I would suggest trying out Daytum, a free, customizable web page that allows you to display a newspaper style outlay of your facts and figures. One solid way to incorporate this into your presentation could be to offer your audience a breakdown of key takeaways to remember.

Can you think of any additional online presentation tools that would help your fellow entrepreneurs the next time they present?

Entrepreneurship, Your Brand
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  • http://www.cs3311.com Heather

    This is very nice of you to share this with us. I am sure that people will appreciate it very much. Everyone needs a helping hand that does not cost them anything. I will be using them.

    • http://moderncommunicator.com David Guzman

      Great, glad to hear that these will be helpful to you, Heather! Best of luck in your effort. : )

      -d

  • http://uniqueblog.net Derek Jensen

    Will have to check out Prezi. Thanks! I would recommend using Google Picassa to upload the images from your presentation to the web so people can view the slideshow at their own pace as well.

    • http://moderncommunicator.com David Guzman

      Thanks for the comment, Derek. I would definitely recommend checking out Prezi – seriously awesome for creating audience engaging presentations and for showing how concepts connect. I’ve definitely used Picassa in the past – another great resource for any on the hunt for a free image host. For sharing slide presentations, my personal favorites tend to be Slideshare and Google Docs.

      Thanks again for stopping by and contributing to the discussion!

      -d

  • http://www.lavenderuses.com Patricia@lavenderuses

    Thanks for making us aware of this. I am starting to do presentations in 2 weeks when I show my products to prospective customers through my lavender parties. This post is right on topic David. Thanks
    Patricia Perth Australia

    • http://moderncommunicator.com David Guzman

      H Patricia,

      Thanks for your great feedback. Always good to know whether or not this information is helping our readers!

      Best of luck with your lavender parties!

      -d

  • http://www.bloggingaccess.com Felix @ Blogging for Profit

    I learn about Animoto from a friend awhile ago. And see this thing works.

    I will try to also use the other two. Thank you very much for sharing.

    - Felix

  • http://www.foursides.ca James M

    I don’t have to do presentations for work, but I’ve been playing around with Prezi just in case I do have to create a presentation. It is definitely an awesome piece of software to work with and people will remember your presentation for a long time to come. I only had to watch the Prezi introduction video and I was sold on it. It really is worth checking out that video if you have any doubts.

    • http://moderncommunicator.com David Guzman

      Hi James,

      Awesome, glad to hear that this piece of presentation software appeals to you. It is definitely a more memorable tool that can be utilized to pitch to an audience or even create a case study for your users.

      Thanks for stopping by and feel free to drop a follow-up comment on how your use of Prezi goes in the future.

      -d

  • http://www.throwingabrick.com Roy Scribner

    Prezi is very cool! I’d caution anyone against not doing some extensive practice with it, first, though. Daytum looks very interesting, David – thanks!

    • http://moderncommunicator.com David Guzman

      Thanks for your thoughts, Roy. While Prezi does take a bit of initial practice to get the hang of (both from the perspective of a presenter and a presentation designer), it is well worth the effort to captivate and engage your audience.

      -d

  • http://www.barbaraling.com Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach

    My favorite is Open Office, the opensource answer to Microsoft Office Suite. I’m now creating all of my deliverables via that software.

    • http://moderncommunicator.com David Guzman

      Hi Barbara,

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Open Office is definitely a great, free platform to utilize for creating presentations for clients / customers.

      Thanks again for reading and commenting.

      -d

  • http://www.blog.web6.org Kimi

    Never heard nor tried the tools you have listed.

    Thanks for the share David, will definitely try them since they are free :D

    • http://moderncommunicator.com David Guzman

      Hi Kimi,

      Glad to hear that this piece convinced you to take the plunge and give a few of these tools a shot! : )

      Best of luck!

      -d

  • http://armandomontelongolive.tv/blog/armando-montelongo-gets-pranked-by-office-halloween-special/ Morgan

    Sweet resources! I’ve been looking for something along these lines and will definitely be using them. Thanks!

    • http://moderncommunicator.com David Guzman

      Great, always good to receive positive reinforcement from the readers!

      Thanks, Morgan!

      -d

  • Anne

    Hi, I’ve been using MS Powerpoint in my previous presentations and it gets boring in the long run. My listeners were not anymore participating. Although the topic is interesting, the presentation itself is so boring. Upon reading this article, I downloaded and installed the Daytum. I choose it because it is what we need in my business. Anyway, I am still learning on how to use it but I’ve seen wonderful presentations using this software. Thank you for sharing this list.

    • http://moderncommunicator.com David Guzman

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Anne. I agree that the typical powerpoint presentation can get a bit boring and mundane. This is precisely why I opted to write about these non-mainstream presentation tools that are good options to keep in mind. Glad to hear that you are trying Daytum. Best of luck with your effort – and feel free to stop again to share how it goes.

      -d

  • Hunter

    There is nothing better than free tools. Thanks for sharing.

    • http://moderncommunicator.com David Guzman

      My pleasure, Hunter. Thanks for stopping by and reading the article!

      -d

  • http://www.entertainmentinsight.com Entertainment Insight

    Great post! We’ve been using Prezi and have had excellent results. Definitely going to start exploring with Daytum — looks like a really useful tool.

    - Brian, @ent_insight

    • http://moderncommunicator.com David Guzman

      Awesome to hear that you guys have had great results from Prezi. I have as well. I really love how the format fights the usual feel of the average two-dimensional presentation tools.

      Daytum is definitely an interesting and potentially useful tool. Love the notion of the personalized statistics.

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Brian!

      -d

  • http://www.free2biz.com/ Patrick Luczak

    Excellent resources for entrepreneurs. Nice job. This will be valuable for many start up firms on a budget (aren’t all of them).

    • http://moderncommunicator.com David Guzman

      Hi Patrick,

      Thanks for stopping by to comment. Glad to hear that you think these might be valuable to startups. Feel free to test them out and let us know how it goes! : )

      Best of luck,

      -d

  • http://www.ediy.co.nz/ internet marketing

    Among these 3 free tools, I admire animoto the most. Making your video so unique and artistic.

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