

Ask HN: What can I use to make presentations that don't suck? - SandB0x

I have to give a presentation as part of my Master's project soon, and we have to produce slides. I've never given a full on presentation. What can I use that isn't Powerpoint to produce simple, clear slides?<p>Currently looking at LaTeX + beamer, or simply drawing things nicely on my white board, photographing, cleaning up and adding a bit of text. Any other ideas or suggestions?
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JayNeely
<http://prezi.com/> 's front page has taken a turn for the worse, but they
create some visually interesting presentations.

If you have to use slides specifically, take a look at Garr Reynold's
(PresentationZen.com guy) sample slides...

<http://www.garrreynolds.com/Presentation/sample1.html>

...and presentation tips:

<http://www.garrreynolds.com/Presentation/index.html>

Finally, <http://slideology.com> is also a good resource; checkout the most-
read articles list in the sidebar.

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SandB0x
Prezi is certainly a refreshing take on things. Unfortunately it seems we do
have to create slides, but I'll keep it in mind for next time. Thanks for the
rest of the links too.

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Auzy
Powerpoint is simply a tool. If you have poor presentation skills, any
software will create crappy slides.

Yes using different tools may help make it easier, but similar to an artists
work, the ultimate quality of the piece will lie with the artist. Yes using
different tools may produce slightly better results, but the designer is the
biggest contributing factor.

Powerpoint is powerful enough to do anything you need, so I don't see why you
shouldn't consider it. Thinking differently for the sake of doing so doesn't
make sense!

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amirkhella
Using graphics/images from iStockPhoto and similar sites helps convey the
point. An important rule to remember: your audience will either be reading
your slides, or hearing what you say. So make sure they compliment each other.

Guy Kawasaki has some helpful advice on how to use text in presentations:
<http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html>

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nailer
There was a presentation tool used at PyCon during one of the lightening talks
that used an interesting 'zoom and rotate' concept.

Any HN folk know what this is?

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SandB0x
Could it be Prezi (on JayNeeley's post)?

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swolchok
I am a die-hard Linux fan. However, I recently discovered that the latest
Powerpoint is head and shoulders above Beamer and OpenOffice (try SmartArt,
for example), so I use the school's Windows machines just to work on my
presentation.

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stevelosh
If you like Markdown you could give slidedown a try. You write your slides in
Markdown and then render them to HTML: <http://github.com/nakajima/slidedown>

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bhousel
check out <http://280slides.com/>

