Presentations can be boring.
This Thing will introduce you to some tools to help add a bit more visual interest to your presentations. We will also explore how to share presentations with colleagues.
Creating Presentations (not in PowerPoint)
The following tools will allow you to create a presentation in an open source, freely available program from any computer. They allow you to share your presentations with colleagues and even embed the presentation in your blog!
Note: As with most of the 'Things', you may need to create several usernames/passwords. We suggest a small address book to write them down. Do NOT use your banking password, '12345', or 'password' as your passwords. The librarians have used these sites often with no security issues.
Note: This Thing is extensive. You may not have time to explore everything in detail. Please spend half of the time (1/2 hour) reading and exploring links, and the other half (1/2 hour) working on the assignments and blogging about what you have learned.
Google Docs
What CAN'T Google do? Seriously. If you can think of something Google can't do, please leave a comment in this post. Anyway, you may use Google in a variety of ways: Google Reader, iGoogle, gmail, etc. Try creating a presentation in Google Docs (go to Google and click on 'more' at the top of the page, then click on 'documents')! There are less features in Google Docs than in PowerPoint, but the beauty of Google Docs is that you are not tied to PowerPoint. If you are collaborating on a presentation, storing it in Google Docs (or a similar format) is the way to go. (The link above is a parody of Google - it really can't do that....yet)
ZohoShow
Click on the link above and then try ZohoShow. ZohoShow looks very similar to Google Docs. There are a few more features in Zoho. It's fun and easy to create a presentation. As with Google Docs, you can create a nice, clean presentation that you can share with colleagues.
280 Slides
This is a new-comer. Create very clean, nice-looking presentations. Any zooming, flying words and dizzying fade-ins? No. Do you need all of those sound effects and zipping/zooming? No. Share your presentations from 280 Slides. You can send them to colleagues as a PowerPoint file in an email (280 Slides does this all for you behind the scenes) or you can send your presentation to SlideShare (we'll cover SlideShare later) or you can get the html code and paste it in your blog!
Prezi
**Awesomeness Alert** Check out this new presentation tool, Prezi. It is starting to get a lot of buzz in the Web world. How cool is this? Try it out. Watch the 3 minute tutorial video to get an idea of how to use it. It takes some time to get used to a new way to create presentations, but wow.
Wikis
Try creating a presentation in a wiki! The librarians have used this format many times. It works great! A wiki is a website that others can edit. You can post short presentations, documents, links, basic text, pictures, and more. At your conference or meeting, hand out (or email) the participants the wiki URL. They will be able to see all of the information you covered, plus read any documents for further information.
Here is a wiki presentation we gave at the ICSI conference May 2009.
This Thing will introduce you to some tools to help add a bit more visual interest to your presentations. We will also explore how to share presentations with colleagues.
Creating Presentations (not in PowerPoint)
The following tools will allow you to create a presentation in an open source, freely available program from any computer. They allow you to share your presentations with colleagues and even embed the presentation in your blog!
Note: As with most of the 'Things', you may need to create several usernames/passwords. We suggest a small address book to write them down. Do NOT use your banking password, '12345', or 'password' as your passwords. The librarians have used these sites often with no security issues.
Note: This Thing is extensive. You may not have time to explore everything in detail. Please spend half of the time (1/2 hour) reading and exploring links, and the other half (1/2 hour) working on the assignments and blogging about what you have learned.
Google Docs
What CAN'T Google do? Seriously. If you can think of something Google can't do, please leave a comment in this post. Anyway, you may use Google in a variety of ways: Google Reader, iGoogle, gmail, etc. Try creating a presentation in Google Docs (go to Google and click on 'more' at the top of the page, then click on 'documents')! There are less features in Google Docs than in PowerPoint, but the beauty of Google Docs is that you are not tied to PowerPoint. If you are collaborating on a presentation, storing it in Google Docs (or a similar format) is the way to go. (The link above is a parody of Google - it really can't do that....yet)
ZohoShow
Click on the link above and then try ZohoShow. ZohoShow looks very similar to Google Docs. There are a few more features in Zoho. It's fun and easy to create a presentation. As with Google Docs, you can create a nice, clean presentation that you can share with colleagues.
280 Slides
This is a new-comer. Create very clean, nice-looking presentations. Any zooming, flying words and dizzying fade-ins? No. Do you need all of those sound effects and zipping/zooming? No. Share your presentations from 280 Slides. You can send them to colleagues as a PowerPoint file in an email (280 Slides does this all for you behind the scenes) or you can send your presentation to SlideShare (we'll cover SlideShare later) or you can get the html code and paste it in your blog!
Prezi
**Awesomeness Alert** Check out this new presentation tool, Prezi. It is starting to get a lot of buzz in the Web world. How cool is this? Try it out. Watch the 3 minute tutorial video to get an idea of how to use it. It takes some time to get used to a new way to create presentations, but wow.
Wikis
Try creating a presentation in a wiki! The librarians have used this format many times. It works great! A wiki is a website that others can edit. You can post short presentations, documents, links, basic text, pictures, and more. At your conference or meeting, hand out (or email) the participants the wiki URL. They will be able to see all of the information you covered, plus read any documents for further information.
Here is a wiki presentation we gave at the ICSI conference May 2009.
Options for creating a wiki include:
Google Sites
Wetpaint
Zoho Wiki
Wikispaces
For more information on wikis, please look at Thing 6 - Wikis.
Sharing your presentations
The above tools allow you to easily share your presentations with colleagues. Explore the "Share" feature of each tool. Some allow you to post to your blog, others will email your presentation to friends, still others allow you to invite people to see your presentation.
SlideShare
SlideShare is a tool that allows you to load your presentation on the site for others to see. Look at the quick tour of SlideShare to get an idea of what it can do. Conferences will often put the presentations on SlideShare for you to check out after the conference is over.
Other PowerPoint Sharing Tools
SlideBoom
MyPlick
AuthorStream
Images (or jazzing up the presentation)
Images help to keep the audience awake. Less text, more images.
No cost, copyright-free images are hard to come by. Most images out on the Web are copyrighted. Check for a license link. Most sites will spell out the license agreement in simple, non-legal language.
Fun do-it-yourself images
Spell with Flickr - You can't do this for an entire presentation, but using it for one word is fun and interesting. Go to Spell with Flickr and type in a word. You can then click on each letter to change it. Scroll down on Spell with Flickr to copy the html code and paste it into your "Edit HTML" tab in your blog post.
ImageChef - Make silly little graphics with ImageChef. The librarians have an inexpensive membership to this site, so we can put fun images into 8 Things. Without a membership, your picture will look like this one with the imagechef logo on it.
Wordle - This creates awesome word designs. I created this image with Wordle.
Cool, huh? Slap this puppy into your PowerPoint and you'll be the coolest kid in town. Now here's the bad part - you need a screen capture tool to get the image OUT of Wordle (I used Snagit). Read on.
Screen shots 2.0
As librarians, we often need to show our patrons how to do something online using a screen shot or a series of screens. This wasn't the easiest thing to do in the past. Here are a few suggestions if you need to show someone what you are talking about!
Snagit - This product costs about $50 per year. $50 well spent if you need to "grab" a lot of screen shots or pictures from the web and save them as useable files. Be careful about copyright. You really can't just grab anything you want. Beyond the "grabbing" piece, you can also add text, arrows, and small graphics to the images you "snag". The librarians use it to create short tutorials like this one on how to set up a Google Reader RSS. The technology blog, LifeHacker, polled it's readers to find out which screen capture tool they like best. Snagit won, but the others are good too (and cheaper).
Jing - This is the free version of SnagIt, produced by the same company. It is free, but you have to download the Jing software. It's not quite as user friendly as SnagIt and has a few less features, but it is a nice tool. The video tutorials are a great help. If you are working on a computer in the HealthPartners network, try downloading it to your computer (shhh...don't tell IS&T we suggested that) or email IS&T and see if they will download Jing for you. Jing allows you to capture screens and create a 5 minute video of your screen captures with audio.
ScreenJelly - Sometimes you don't need a PowerPoint, but just need to show someone a quick "how-to" online. This free site records your voice and screen activity and makes it into a little video that you can share with your friends. The only caveat is that you have a short time limit - 3 minutes. It works great and there is no software or anything to load. You do need to have a microphone, but they are very inexpensive. The library has a set of headphones with a microphone if you would like to try it out there.
General Images
Images are usually copyrighted. Be careful to read any license agreements before grabbing an image off the Internet. Here are a few options for no charge, copyright-free images.
Start with this list to find copyright-free images. Not all images from all of these sites are free. Most, however, are in the public domain.
Morguefile - type in a term and see if there are any photos you can use! No copyright issues, but read the Morguefile license before you start. The search feature allows you to filter your results.
Flickr
Flickr is fun. You can download your personal pictures into Flickr and share with your family and friends. Flickr also has a "Commons" which contains images in the public domain. Most of these images are downloaded into Flickr by the Library of Congress and other libraries or museums. I got the image at the top of this Thing from Flickr.
Flickr has an editing tool called Picnik. It allows you to do some fun things to your photos. Here's a photo I edited in Flickr Picnik. (Hint: those are not real butterflies)
Medical Images
Note: You MUST be in the HealthPartners computer network to access the following images. The library subscribes to these databases and the license agreement allows for non-commercial use of the images within these resources.
MD Consult
A portal for physicians and healthcare providers. Type in a search term to browse the images. MD Consult provides e-books, full-text journals, drug information, guidelines, and patient education.
eMedicine
Type in your search term and click on the button for "images". The library subscribes to eMedicine and has access to the images found in this resource.
Nursing Consult
This resource is new for 2010! Similar to MD Consult, but with a nursing focus.
Real-Time Presentations (webinars)
You may have "attended" a webinar. Most large webinars use an expensive subscription-based product. Here are a few other online options to try out. These are available on the web without software downloads or purchasing a license. These options would probably work best with a small audience. If you have a presentation with a few colleagues at different locations, these tools could be of help to you!
Present.io - watch the introduction video on Present.io. You can "drop" slides, video and documents into your presentation.
AuthorStream - watch the introduction video on this page. Share your PowerPoint presentation with colleagues and use your phone to conference call and talk about the presentation real-time.
Books!
Stop by the library and check out the book, Slide:ology. I know, I know, old school. Hey - we are librarians - we still LOVE books!
There are lots of good books out there to help you with spiffing up the PowerPoint.
Assignment
1. Read this article on next-generation presentation tools.
2. Create a short presentation (a few slides - it doesn't have to make any sense) in a tool mentioned above; Google Docs, Zoho Show, 280 Slides, Prezi or find another one online. If you completed Thing 7, Collaborative Tools, then try something other than Google Docs or Zoho.
3. SHARE your presentation with another class participant. Get the link to the presentation and post it in their comments section on their blog. It's OK if it doesn't make sense or you think it's silly. The idea here is to share your presentation with others.
4. Add an image or presentation to your blog.
5. Optional: Come to the library and check out Snagit or use our microphone (for ScreenJelly or Jing). Contact us and we'll set you up! If you have a microphone - try these tools out!
Address the following questions in your blog
Think about the presentations you need to give for work, school, or community organizations. What new tools have you learned about that might help you create more dynamic presentations?
Of the tools you explored in depth or tried out, which seem the most promising to you? What features do you like or dislike about some of these tools?
Why did you choose this Thing?
Record the amount of time you spent on this Thing.
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