There’s no doubt that PowerPoint has transformed presentations.
But it is limited in addressing one of the big problems: brain cut-off.

Now, though, a new tool has been created that takes PowerPoint interaction to a new level. Harbinger’s Presentation software allows presenters to tap directly into the opinions of their audiences.

They have two products – YawnBuster and Raptivity Presenter that both help to get the audience involved.

For example, ‘Show of Hands’ allows the audience to vote for a choice, rather as in Who wants to be a millionaire?. The results are displayed on screen. This is much more compelling, engaging – and dramatic – than simply asking for a show of hands. Everyone is part of the discussion, which has gone from the abstract to the concrete in a moment. And because it’s hands-on, everyone is involved. The wandering attention has been brought back into focus.

Another example is ‘Brainstorm’, which allows the audience to discuss and debate their needs. As a result, the presenter can immediately see what the customers are most concerned about. She can then skip slides that are irrelevant and spend more time on those that will be of greater interest.

Yet another function is ‘Prioritization’, which again hurls the audience into the heart of the presentation by allowing people to put points in the order of importance to them – not in the order the presenter thinks is right.

Interactive comparison charts allow even quite complex findings to be displayed graphically and with immediate impact.

One area where even good presentations can fall down is the effective closure. During presentations, it’s important that action items are clearly captured and summarised – and even more so for interactive ones. It would be a shame if all that interaction was lost.

Here again, Harbinger can help. Its ‘Key Take Away’ function lets the presenter capture the action items and questions on each slide and summarise them at the end – all within the presentation. Nothing needs to get lost, and nothing has to depend on fallible human memory.

There’s a whole lot more functionality to Raptivity Presenter, and if you present regularly it would be well worth your while to check it out thoroughly. It also offers a number of exciting new ways to display things, such as guided tours and ‘Flip book’ interactivity.

The whole point, though, is that the audience is drawn into the presentation in a way rarely if ever done before. The audience is participating: guiding the presenter and helping her to make the presentation more relevant, less cluttered and much more to the point.

And that has to be good news for everyone.

For more information presentation.harbingergroup.com

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