Google Presentations launched to much fanfare, balloons, clowns, parades and confetti accompanied the strong boast by Google that it would be a direct competitor to Microsoft Powerpoint. In my opinion it is far from the dynamic, multimedia tool Powerpoint can be, but it does have its advantages.
What it Is Good For
Google Presentations is a great tool if you often find yourself without a laptop or desktop that is permanently yours or assigned to you. If you are a student, temporary worker, traveler, a carnie, itinerant fruit picker, Bedouin herdsman, professional paraglider etc.. you can use Google Presentations best features and create and store your presentations online. All you need is an internet connection to create, store and later retrieve your work.
Google Presentations, like many of the new online presentation software tools, is also good for people who need to collaborate on the design and development of their presentations. Google Presentations serves as a share-drive, where people can edit each other’s work and versions can be controlled, allowing as many cooks as necessary to try to spoil the stew!
Use Google Presentation if it is not convenient to be locked down to using any one computer all of the time. Also, Use Google Presentations if you need to collaborate in the development of your presentations with a virtual team.
How to Access It
Google Presentations is free and easy to access. All you need is access to the internet and to create a Google Docs account.
- Go Here and create a Google account.
OR
Power Moves
Google Presentations lets you do all of the basic presentation editing stuff, like add images and video, just be sure not to add that one you took in Vegas at Madame Tussauds… you know the one. It is a pretty simplistic development tool and you are not going to be able to create fancy animations or transitions with it. However, there are some cool features you should take a look at using. For example:
- Sharing Your Presentation - You can get the instructions here for posting and sharing your presentations so that anyone you choose, with internet access, can edit and manipulate the presentation. A great virtual office feature.
- Publish Your Presentation - Google Presentations makes it simple to publish your presentation so anyone can access it on the internet. You are given a URL that you can then distribute to those who you want to check out your presentation. For instructions Go Here .
- Embed Your Presentation on a Blog or Website - Google makes it very simple to embed your presentation on your site or blog. Go Here for instructions.
You can be a presentation star by taking advantage of Google Presentations ability to share, publish and embed your presentations.
Four Quick Things to Remember about Google Presentations
1.Use Google Presentation if it is not convenient to be locked down to using any one computer all of the time.
2.Use Google Presentations if you need to collaborate in the development of your presentations with a virtual team.
3.Follow the Getting Started Guide that walks you through the entire set-up.
4.You can be a presentation star by taking advantage of Google Presentations ability to share, publish and embed your presentations, which is far better than handing out a stack of color copies at your meeting!