Improving the Powerpoint Experience

A look at Popular Choice for PowerPoint presentations is of course PowerPoint. The reasons for this is ubiquitous: it can be found everywhere, it’s easy and fun to use, and when used well, it keeps the audience interested.

The problem with PowerPoint is it doesn’t always handles videos properly, technical difficulty, it is expensive, and it is limited handling of other file formats.

There are other alternatives to PowerPoint that are free, extremely easy to use, and supports several media formats such as PDF, websites and videos.

Software

To have a good power point presentation you must also take into consideration the software used. The following should be considered:

Types

• DLP (digital light processing), uses tiny mirrors (shown at right) to reflect light toward the screen. Commonly used in movie theaters. There is no bulb.

• LCD (liquid crystal display) is very similar to the technology found in most TVs.

Brightness

• Less than 2000 Lumens – home environment with minimal light interference

• Between 2000 and 3000 Lumens – classroom and conference rooms

• Above 3000 Lumens – churches and auditoriums

Throwing Distance

• Long Throw – in the center of the ceiling of a large room

• Short Throw – near to the wall, typically less than 8 feet

Things You Should Know...

Know your audience. Depending on who your target audience is you should design