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Tools for Sharing Your Presentations

By Scott Stadum, who most recently wrote Haiti: Technology in a Time of Crisis.


From Flickr user andyp uk I recently ran across a couple of interesting posts from Mashable.com while researching web-based presentation tools. I hadn't realized how many services were out there and whether your need is related to archiving, sharing or presenting and from free to enterprise, there are many sites to choose from.

Of the dozens of technologies highlighted in the two articles I wanted to summarize a few that stood out to me. (Click on any tool name in blue to learn more.)

Google Presentations
If you're a fan of Google Apps, you might already be familiar with Google Presentations. This service allows you to easily create presentations as well as import existing PowerPoint slides. Presenting live on the web is simple, it's easy to share and communicate with your audience and integrates well with the rest of Google Apps.

SlideShare
SlideShare is very popular – even the White House uses the service to host their presentations. While the service has some limitations, Techcrunch outlines some of the advantages: "Files can be tagged, and comments left by viewers. Each slide has its own permanent URL for reference."

280slides
280slides mirrors the Powerpoint format on its web-based platform while mimicking the style of Apple's Keynote. It's simple to use; you can import existing presentations, export created ones and publish to the web.

Prezi
Techcrunch sums of the services succinctly: "It’s an entirely Flash-based app that lets you break away from the slide-by-slide approach of most presentations. Instead, it allows you to create non-linear presentations where you can zoom in and out of a visual map containing words, links, images, videos, etc."

Brainshark
Brainshark is enterprise level web-based software that allows you to easily integrate multimedia, various document formats and PowerPoint slides into an accessible presentation. The service is easy to use as you can track and analyze viewership and it scales smoothly. [Full disclosure: Brainshark is a partner of Idealist.org.]

These are just a few of the services available for sharing and presenting material to your audience. It's worth experimenting with the ones that strike you. Beyond presenting, these services are a boon to transparency, building organizational memory and backing up your archives.