Emaze: A New Alternative to PowerPoint & Prezi

Emaze is a new online technology which allows you to create presentations. It is simple to use and it will surely enhance the looks of your presentation dramatically. This is how the site works:

Sign Up
Choose a template
Add a ready-made slide
Type your content, add images and videos
You're ready
Share it with the world

Before getting into details, let me share what I feel is the real benefit of using Emaze. It allows you to make visually good looking presentations quickly. You choose a template and then you add ready-made slides. You have a slide to add quote, one with a timeline, one with a chart, one with a SmartArt kind of image, one with a table and so on.

Some templates of Emaze are like MS PowerPoint and some are like Prezi. When you work on Emaze, your deck sits in the cloud. You can access it from anywhere and on any device.

Watch this short 2 minute video for a crux of what the site does:




Templates
There are 32 templates as of now. The site tries to address all kinds of presenters. From managers to school teachers. From students to professionals. Here are a few samples:

While some templates are simple, some have lots of transitions and some are too much 3D. It totally depends on your situation and need. That should drive your choice of templates. If you keep your mouse over a template, you can get to see a preview of the template.

Slide Layouts
Once you have chosen your template, you can now start adding slides. Again we have a huge choice here. To try this out, I chose the Market Analysis template, since this is more in line with my needs as a manager. There are 22 different types of slides layouts within this template. Here are a few samples:

Once you choose a slide layout, you can start typing out your content in place of the existing content. You can also add a new text box or image (just like you do in PowerPoint). We can also delete existing text/image from the slide layout. The layout can be totally customized.


Pricing
The basic version is free, so you can try it out and see for yourself. The  PRO option is available for $4.90 per month. Click here to know more. Please note: If you sign up for free, your presentation will be public and anyone can see it. Most of the best features are generally reserved for the paid users :)

Caveat (a word of caution)
While Emaze will surely help you make visually good looking presentations faster, it is no substitute for proper presentation planning (hard work). A presentation is successful because of its content. Emaze or PowerPoint is just a tool. The tool will only make your life easier.

Another caveat is to not to get too carried away after looking at all these jazzy templates. Choose the one which meets your needs. The simpler the better. Do not try to impress your audience with your design. Try to get your message to your audience in the least possible time with the least possible noise.

Who is Emaze for?
Emaze is for busy people who need a deck fast. It is for people who do not have mastery over PowerPoint or similar such software. Sign up for free and check it out. It will save a lot of your time.


Watch some presentations created by others using Emaze.
Click here to visit the site.




Disclaimer: I do not get any commission when you sign up on Emaze. However, they did advertise on my blog for sometime.

Diagrammer: The Diagram Store

Diagrammer is an online store where you can buy diagrams for your next presentation. It is the istockphoto and fotolia of diagrams. You go to fotolia to buy photos, you can visit diagrammer to buy diagrams. To me this comes as a bit of a surprise. This is something innovative. But will people actually pay for diagrams?

What kind of diagrams are we talking here?
While browsing diagrammer I realised it is like MS Powerpoint's SmartArt. SmartArt is a collection of ready made diagrams. Diagrams in which you can insert your own text. While there are only 100 odd types of SmartArts, diagrammer has more than 4000 diagrams.

There are essentially five types of diagrams in diagrammer; Flow, Join, Network, Segment and Stack. These are supposed to denote five different types of relationships.

Within each of these categories there are sub-categories. For example, under Flow you have Linear, Loop, Merge/Divide and Parallel. If you want to show five ideas merging you can choose one of the various diagrams under merge.

The diagrams are both 2D and 3D type. All diagrams are editable. You can change its colour and move it around. The diagram is like any other shape in PowerPoint. You can resize and edit it. Each diagram only costs $0.99.

SmartArt versus Diagrammer
I was curious to check out how good these diagrams are. So I compared similar diagrams from these two resources.

The images are good in both but Diagrammer images are slightly more polished. However there is one drawback with diagrammer. All the diagrammer images have blue colour as their theme. If you want the diagram in any other colour, you will have to manually change it. SmartArt in MS PowerPoint 2010 allows instant colour choices (under SmartArt styles tab on the top). Hence changing colour schemes is faster in SmartArt than in Diagrammer. This manual change will consume time for complex diagrams. 

How will you search for the right diagram?
Well these is no search box on the site. You need to know what diagram will suit you and find it out from the five main categories. The search will be fast only when you know what you are looking for. If you aren't sure which diagram will suit you, you probably don't clearly know what you are presenting.

Some samples
Here are a few sample diagrams I downloaded. Take a look. While most diagrams are ok ok, some are really new and different.

Do you really need diagrammer?
If you are an advanced user of PowerPoint, you can always create diagrams yourself. However, most of these diagrams are complex and it will not be easy to create on your own (unless you have the time and skill). Should you then go ahead and buy diagrams online?

The question you actually need to ask yourself is: Do you use such diagrams in your presentation? If yes, how often? and how are you managing these diagrams today?

Check this store out and see whether you like it. Browse through the diagrams and use what suits your need. Don't buy what's there in SmartArt (remember, SmartArt is free!).

Final point: Do not use any diagram to jazz up your presentation. If diagrams help you communicate your point better, use them. Use them in place of long list of bullet points. But don't use them to make the slides look pretty. It will not help.

fotolia: excellent website for royalty-free images for presentations

We all use images in our presentations and most of us have our favourite sources as well. I have shared some links with you earlier. Websites where you can get good images for free.

The problem with these websites is that they are very few in number and have a limited collection. Some websites allow you to download for free (if you share their link) but the resolution is poor.

The solution to all of this is to buy professional images (like the one above). It is worth it. You get extremely high resolution images, plenty of options and they are also affordable.

There are presentations where stakes are high and we need to give our best. We need to have professional slides and we cannot make a compromise with low resolution images. That's the time when these paid websites come good. It's also a good option when you are short of time because these websites have millions of images and search time gets reduced.

If your stakes are low and you have a lot of time at hand, manage with 'free sites' but when you are making an investor presentation or a crucial sales presentation or any other important presentation I strongly recommend you to buy images from a good website.

One such website is fotolia. I came to know of it when I was asked to review the website for which I got a months' subscription free. The best part is, I got this free subscription just when I was starting to prepare for my first Ignite presentation. Ignite for me was a high stake situation and fotolia was just what I wanted.


At fotolia you can buy royalty free stock images which you can use in your presentations and websites. There are no restrictions on the use of images once you have bought them (except that you can't resell the image; check out their terms before you buy; they allow reselling if you pay more). You can use images without having to share any link (attribution).

The website has a large collection of images and I found it to be quite fantastic. The quality and type of images is excellent; thoroughly professional. There are those regular standard images which all stock images sites have but then are there are some gems; overall the collection is great. fotolia is a resource and what you will get out of it depends on how you use it. Your search keywords hold the key.

How to search fotolia?

You can search for images by typing in a 'keyword'. You can also choose to browse through the collection. When I was making my Ignite presentation, I used 8 images from fotolia. One such image was for the slide 'appeal to emotions'.

Sample Search

I wanted an image for my slide 'appeal to emotions'. I searched for the keyword 'baby' (because I feel a smiling baby appeals to our emotions). From the first list of around 50 images I chose an image which I liked.


Once you click on the image, you need to decide what resolution you want. I suggest you go for an image which is atleast 1 or 2 megapixel. The image I chose was 2000 pixels x 1334 pixels (2.7 MP). A large image is always a safer option. You can enlarge it and crop it. You can even stretch it to cover the entire slide without worrying about it getting blurred.

What else does fotolia have?

Other than regular photographs, it has illustrations, vectors and videos. Illustrations are images which are drawn and they are not real photographs (see the bird's image on the right). These are ideal for creating website icons. Vectors are images used by professional designers (Corel Draw and Adobe Illustrator compatible) and we will not worry about these. fotolia also has short videos which you can download and use in presentations. They cost a bit more though.

How much do the photographs cost?

This is the most crucial bit. You need to first buy credits by paying certain amount upfront. To buy an image you need to use these credits. The higher the resolution the more you have to pay. On an average a high resolution image will cost you $5 to $6. The lower resolution can come as cheap as $1.

I recommend you check out this website. When you have your next important presentation, buy credits, download high resolution images and make your presentation awesome.

Website Review: TemplatesWise.com

I am a believer that you should design your own template. It makes your presentation unique and shows an extra level of effort and commitment. I wrote a post very recently on how you can do that. However, when Eric Vadeboncoeur asked me to review his website www.TemplatesWise.com I gladly accepted.

Not everyone has an interest in designing and for these presenters there are wonderful resources on the web which offer pre-designed templates.

TemplatesWise.com is one such site. It has a very clutter free nice feel to the website and its easy to navigate as well. The website has a clear focus. It mainly offers free Powerpoint templates. The other things on offer are:
1. Music loops, and
2. Business card & website templates.

Music Loops
Music loops are tracks which are small in duration but can play continuously in your presentation in loops. These can be used for presentations and also for making videos. They are available for free on the website. You have the option of hearing them before download. The strange part however is that there are only 12 tracks available for download.

PowerPoint Templates
Templates can be browsed easily and in multiple ways like 'by category' and 'by popularity'. The available categories are:
(a) Abstract
(b) Business
(c) Finance
(d) General
(e) Nature, and
(f) Travel
In total the website has more than hundred templates. You should be able to find something worthwhile if you are looking for one here. By no means exhaustive, still it has a decent collection.There are some really good ones under 'Abstract'. I did download a few to see how they look and work. Here are some of the samples:

The templates get downloaded as .ppt along with the images (.jpeg). Most of the templates have not been made in master slide, which I found to be slightly weird. However for the users that should not be a concern.

If you wish to download templates from the web, do check out TemplatesWise.com