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Tech Talk

The what, where, and how of presentation applications

Lucius Von Joo Kanda University of International Studies, Japan

Lucius Von Joo currently teaches at Kanda University of International Studies, Japan. He holds an Ed.M. in Comparative and International Education and has teaching experience in deaf education, elementary education and EFL/ESL in California, Japan and New York. His research interests include computer assisted learning, film and documentary content-based learning, student educational backgrounds and learning approaches, video-cued multi-vocal ethnography, and family and communities as educators. E-mail: lucius-v@kanda.kuis.ac.jp

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any class and work projects are often shared via final presentation. These presentations may be the only chance to share hours or days of work with an audience, but with all the time needed to research the content and organize the speech aspect of the presentation, the platform that shares and organizes the information is often either overlooked or too heavily depended on.

Overlooking the platform can often force the information to be organized in a way that the creator did not originally intend, whereas overdependence on the platform can result in a presentation that is more like a book being read aloud by the presenter.

In the past, Microsoft PowerPoint was used for most presentations. The effect of having only one presentation tool to choose from created a uniform and linear pattern of sharing information. This proved to be both functional and limiting. It is important to remember that PowerPoint was designed pre-smartphone, which influenced the amount of user input into design and use. Also, because the application was designed for many different purposes, personalization was not a major priority. The platform allows for change of theme; however, the way in which most information could be organized was limited. Apple made Keynote, its response to PowerPoint, which has a few more visual elements, but is heavily dependent on the Apple application being installed. Now that there are many more options for presentation applications it is nice to see alternative

approaches: however the new platforms can be overwhelming, which will lessen the users’ capacity to personalize their work.

This Tech Talk will discuss some of the different types of presentation applications and summarize how information can be organized.

There are many small features such as color font and other design aspects that each application offers, but for the sake of brevity this Tech Talk will mostly focus on how information is meant to be organized and how I have used these applications both personally and with students.

Each application takes time to learn, however, in this Tech Talk I will explain the main theme of the application, which should aid in choosing which one to spend time learning about.

This Tech Talk will be organized into four different types of presentation applications: Linear Slideshow, Poster or Storyboard, Movie Trailer, and Gallery. These are my own names for referring to these formats of presentation, used for clarity in this Tech Talk, so you may not find anything by googling these terms. Each one of these styles of organizing information has its

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advantages and disadvantages, however, one will usually fit the needs of the information being shared better. In each section I will briefly explain the presentation category, before giving a few examples of some of the more fully developed presentation applications.

Linear Slideshow This is probably the most familiar of the styles of organization I will mention. PowerPoint, Keynote and Google Presenter all use this format. This type of presentation application follows the concept of the classic photo slideshow and reimagines it digitally. The photo slideshow platform has been widely used since the 1950s so most people are familiar with it for information sharing. There is quite a range in the applications that use this format but the main differences are usability, aesthetics and versatility. There are very simple applications such as Haiku Deck, which works both online and with Apple products. It is mostly a dragand-drop platform as you can see in the image below.

With simplification there are always going to be fewer options to personalize, but if you need a quick application that is not going to be too distracting, Haiku deck only requires you to sign up and then click through the options.

Another aspect that is very appealing is cloud editing, which allows groups to work together and store their presentation remotely. Google presenter and Slides.com have the longest reputation of doing this but it is becoming more and more common for most applications. I often take the time to help groups learn how to use a cloud-sharing program as this can help avoid the work being unavailable if one member is missing on the presentation day.

An additional application that I would like to quickly mention is Knovio. This takes the slideshow to the next level. The users can record themselves presenting while simultaneously playing their previously created slideshow. The image below shows an example of this.

I have written about this program in detail in a past Tech Talk (Issue 56, 2012) so I am only mentioning it briefly here.

Poster One of the first serious rivals to PowerPoint was Prezi. This application basically took the concept of a poster presentation and adapted it digitally.

This meant that you could see the entire presentation at once or zoom into certain aspects in a predetermined order. The idea of Prezi is great, and when it is well controlled it can really convey information both linearly and non-linearly. However, because it is harder to conceptualize a poster online than it is in a book, this platform can be dizzying. Prezi is also an online platform (that can now be saved and made offline) so it is easy to do cloud editing between groups of users and share the presentation online. Just as with all online applications you need to make an account and then you can start to design your presentation.

There are now pay options that give you more versatility and support, however, the free account will work for most basic purposes. Once you log in you can choose a basic template that you can personalize.

On the templates above you can see that the presentation will start with a view of the entire presentation and then zoom into the numbered section on the path. Here is an example of the sequencing.

You also have the option to edit the path in any order you would like. You can see the path

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marked out below by the blue lines on the overall poster of the presentation.

As I mentioned before, this type of presentation platform may be able to follow the original vision and explanation of the presenter since you can move around in any order. However, in order to make the presentation clear, a predetermined path needs to be assigned. The only alternative to Prezi I have found that keeps a similar poster format is Emaze. Not all of Emaze’s templates follow the poster format but the ones that do are much easier to design and work with than Prezi, as the path the presentation follows is not as freeform. Just as mentioned with the slideshow presentations, there is a balance between ease of use and custom design. Custom design can enable the creators to follow their imagination without compromise, but it takes more time to understand.

Movie Trailer This format is often used as more of a standalone presentation that doesn’t necessarily work in unison with a live presenter. Editing and playing presentations through this platform is much like editing a movie, incorporating fade and sequencing from each idea to the next.

These types of presentation application will sometimes use pen and ink-like imagery. A few examples of this are Powtoons and Goanimate, which are both free, and VideoScribe which is not free but offers a trial period. I will quickly explain Powtoons to show what I am referring to by the term Movie Trailer.

If you look at the image above, you can see how there is a timeline on the bottom which allows you to organize the action that will happen to the characters on the screen. This is really quite easy to do: you can use a pre-created template or organize your own from scratch. Just like a movie, this sequencing is linear and is much like

the slideshow platform. However the transitions are seamless, which is what I was referring to when I said standalone presentation in the previous paragraph. The presenter does not narrate alongside. These types of effects could be accomplished through autoplay options on an application like PowerPoint, but it would require a lot more finesse and the default effects and editor’s timeline would not be present.

A few other trailer-like presentation tools that are not mainly pen and ink image based are Camtasia and Animoto.

Camtasia is a downloadable application. As you can see from the image above, you control the video track, transition track and sound track.

You are basically designing a video with a very simplified application. Animoto is a great application for classroom presentations. It also offers a free educational upgrade for teachers and students that lasts for 6 months and is renewable for the teacher after that time period expires. This is a very simplified video editing application that is online and offers many stock videos and photos to work with.It can also access and upload personal photos very easily.

With Animoto you first pick a video style, much like picking a theme template with PowerPoint.

After you pick the video theme you can add photos, videos, music and text onto the simple drag and drop timeline you can see below.

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When you like the way the video timeline looks, click ‘Preview video’ and if you like what you have created, click ‘Produce’. The transitions are set automatically through the template you have picked, so again this makes the video look nice but gives the creator less control. This application is very accessible and easy to use – one of the main uses for this kind of application is sending a personalized e-greeting. However, it works very nicely for making introductory videos that students can share as stand alone virtual presentations. I have used this in the past for self-introductions in the first week of class or at the end of semester when there was not enough time to share in person. The application is very straightforward and can be given as a homework assignment and shared easily with others if time is short.

Gallery Gallery may be one of my favorite ways to organize a presentation, however I have not found many templates or applications that virtually put the audience inside a 3D space that can be manipulated like touring through a real gallery or museum. This type of presentation format organizes the information as if you were standing in the middle of a room and could look at different painting in that room in any order you would like. Emaze, the application I mentioned earlier, has a few templates that do this. The application is very easy to sign up for online and as with many of the other applications mentioned in this Tech Talk you are brought to a page of template choices.

Once you pick the template you like you can edit each slide with the information you would like to share. Below is the Green template I mentioned. You can easily adjust the font, shape and size of the elements you place on the stage.

One element that helps with the 3D function is that you can rotate and resize the dimensions with easy-to-use slide bars.

I captured the sequence of images below during the transition between slides to demonstrate how this type of presentation gives the sense of moving between spaces.

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Emaze seems to try to specialize in presentations that are unique for different purposes using preset short animations between slides that create a 3D feel of moving through space. Some of their better templates do this without many distractions. For example the template titled ‘Green’ does this on virtual wooden stages that rotate just as a slideshow does.

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This movement of drifting through a space we are virtually standing in seems to help understand a presentation even if the information is approached in a nonlinear manner. After the presentation is finished you can save, play or share it with your audience. If you save the Emaze presentation for an offline presentation or if the application detects the

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internet connection is weak, the presentation will be converted to a simple still slideshow format, which will make it playable, but the transit movement aspect will be removed.

Summing up Here are a few of the benefits and limitations for the 4 types of presentations I have discussed.

Slideshow This platform is probably the most familiar, which makes it easy to organize information. Most audiences will understand the layout so very little scaffolding is needed.

However because it is familiar, information may be tuned out because of fatigue and familiarity with photo slideshows.

Poster When executed well this format can shift between a macro and micro focus on the information the presenter would like to share. However, the learning curve for this type of platform is steeper.

Trailer This format can be great for sharing information virtually. It teaches seamless editing of ideas, and helps presenters learn to communicate ideas clearly. These types of presentation can be similar to writing a paper: as when writing, the author may not be present to mediate between their presentation and the audience. This is a great exercise in working with communication skills trying to use empathy to predict any confusion the audience might have.

When using this type of platform I have students keep a log of their choices and predictions of what they think might be confusing to audience members and if a feedback forum is arranged the students can see if they were right.

Gallery This format helps the audience feel more connected with the information being shared. The virtual movement helps the audience transition between ideas in a more visceral way. This format can be a little daunting to understand scale and dimension however I have yet to see any students who have trouble with this.

Final thoughts A presentation often happens in a make or break setting in which there are many more pressures than the technology that is displaying it. Often when it comes to learning technology users can spend most of their time learning how to navigate and use the application without getting a chance to question what and why it does what

it does. The more students understand what an application is attempting to do, the more control they will have in using it. When learners question the what, who and how of a computer application, the technology becomes more than a guide to follow, it becomes a stimulus for metacognition. This is similar to the difference between someone banging a hammer aimlessly or questioning how the hammer is made and how they can improve their technique in using it. There is validity in considering how the message is being delivered. Taking the time to understand what real life presentation format an application is virtually emulating can help presenters choose a format that follows their original vision. In my classes I am always impressed with what students can produce after taking the time to critically address the applications we plan to use. I have found that this is best done through examples similar to those used in this article. Technology will keep morphing into new applications so that previous application-specific skills might not work with the new ones. However, the critical process of questioning an application can enable autonomous learners to evolve alongside technology.

Dear Readers,

If you have any requests for future Tech Talks please feel free to contact me. Any request is greatly appreciated and can range from a specific program you want explained to a general lesson that you want to incorporate technology into.

Thank you,

lucius-v@kanda.kuis.ac.jp

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