sick of powerpoint?

by Layne Henn

Today, I found something that I think is going to be a big improvement to the world of presentations. It's called SlideRocket and it will be knocking powerpoint (and Keynote) way out of the ring. Google is going to wish they bought this company.

It's not out yet (I'm waiting for my opportunity to download the beta).

There is a 25 min. video here that you can watch (but who has 25 extra minutes in a day) so i'll give you the highlights.

1. Extremely simple interface. No funky toolbars to try to memorize. Tools and themes are all on the sidebars, ready for you to pluck into your presentation.

2. Content is available right in the program. You can upload your own content. Or, you can pull from flickr or other online sources, like stock photography sites, flash sites, youtube, even google docs. Basically any web 2.0 application.

3. It's web based, so data can be kept up to date by several people.

4. Did I mention that it's web based, so there will be a FREE version (yes, FREE). There will also be a pay version, but for a mere $9 a month, you can have collaborative presentations with multiple users.

5. At the end of the video, they talk about how they are working with Mimeo so you can submit your presentation for printing and binding into a book, then it will be sent to you in full color, very professional looking!!

I can think of many educational uses for this product. So many teachers are already using Powerpoint in there classrooms on a daily basis. Powerpoint presentations can be easily imported into SlideRocket. The fact that it is online and free alone makes it worth a look.