Google Slides for Presentations

Are you a presentation warrior?  Noone will ever be able to convince you to use something other than PowerPoint or Keynote.

I know, I have been there in my career.  Maybe even more than the average warrior because I created on average about two new presentations a week for about 5 years straight. My corporate friends were creating one or two every 6 months and tweaking them every once in awhile. They would never give up their PowerPoint.

What if you are not a regular user of PowerPoint/Keynote and need the occasional presentation for work or hobby? I say, try out Google Slides.

Its interface is very similar to what you would find with any other presentation software.  There are a number of templates available, and if you are hardcore user, you can build a presentation from scratch and customize it as much as you want.

You can import all kinds of free templates from websites like Slides Carnival or Free Google Slides Templates if there aren't enough in the default collection for you.

You have most of the same options that are available in other presentation software, and you have a great deal of flexibility in formatting. Because I am not a "master" at the craft as I once was, I don't need all of the bells and whistles I once thought I needed.

The big question that most everyone would ask- "Can I use the presentation without an internet connection?"

The answer- YES!

If you are using a Chrome Browser and you have set-up your Google Drive to "Sync Google Docs, Sheets, Slides & Drawings files to this computer so that you can edit offline."- You can do it.

I rarely work on any Google app without being on WiFi, but the option is there if you need it.  You can also export any Slides presentation to other formats that are compatible with other systems [.pptx, .pdf or (.jpg, .png or .svg) for single slides].  I have yet to find myself in a bind when presenting somewhere with a Chromebook created presentation.

There is also a great option of publishing to the webs for others to see the slideshow- either as a file or an embedded web presentation...(this was easier than anything I have tried with PowerPoint).



So, if you need something easy to use, that costs nothing extra, and does most everything other software does, give Slides a try.