Everybody who has been in front of an audience knows that preparing and giving presentations is not as easy as it seems. The biggest challenge in giving presentations is finding ways to effectively present and introduce your ideas, but also keep the attention of your audience.
All of this requires effective preparation and rehearsal. In this process, technology can be of great help to us. Here is a list of six lesser-known presentation tools that, while not as popular and well-known as others, can be just as good. And of course, all of these tools are completely free to use.
1) Photopin
Images and illustrations are a necessary part of every interesting presentation. They can help us to captivate an audience and share our message more effectively. However, not any image we find on the Internet can be used, due to copyright. That is why we need to search for creative commons images, which can be used freely. The best image directory on the Internet is Flickr, where there are plenty of images available for free commercial use and modification. Since Flickr’s search is not so efficient, we can use a third party tool for searching Flickr images. The best tool of this kind is Photopin. On this website, you can search for images quickly and filter them by the copyright level you need.
2) Cometdocs
Modifying and existing presentation can allows us to save in the process of creating a new one. If that existing presentations is in the PDF format, we can see that modifying it is not that easy. However, one of the conversion formats Cometdocs supports is PDF to PowerPoint. So if you need a tool for converting PDF slides to the PowerPoint or Impress format look no further, Cometdocs is the right tool.
3) Epicpen
This software allows you to draw on the screen while giving a presentation. You can highlight text in different colors, or draw different shapes on the screen in a variety of colors. He tools is easy to use, just choose between Highlighter or Pencil mode, select a color and line height, and you are ready to go. It is possible to draw on any screen and any program, and also delete the drawing or shape after you are done. This is especially useful in cases where you might need to hold a presentation or a lecture that could be a little unpredictable. Instead of having a prepared animation or image for the presentations, you can do it on the go. This is beneficial for when an unexpected question or topic pops up in the middle of your presentation.
4) PowerPoint Viewer
A simple PowerPoint viewer is something you always need to have on your USB drive. You can never be sure which PowerPoint version exist on the computer you are going to present on, or if the Internet connection is going to be good enough. In such cases, it’s always best to have Microsoft’s own PowerPoint viewer with you at all times.
This is a browser extension that is very effective. Sometimes you need to hold a presentation remotely to an audience that is not in the same room as you. In such cases, you can use this extension, which enables users to log in to their personal computers very easy and access their computer or someone else’s computer remotely.
6) Zoomit
Zoomit is a tool which enables you to zoom part of your active computer screen. You can create zoom effects in the PowerPoint itself, but sometimes it’s better to do it on-the-go, and that is where this tool can be helpful. It is extremely light and very reliable.
