Finally, an iPad antidote for PowerPoint
If you're suffering from PowerPoint malaise, good news: Slide Bureau is the PowerPoint antidote you've been looking for.
Slide Bureau is a presentation app for the iPad, but don't expect it to be a PowerPoint clone. To get started, you build your presentation by adding a slide at a time from the app's library of slide templates -- there are slides that focus on geography, presenting numbers, graphs, photography and more. You can easily edit aspects of the slides -- usually just text like titles, subtitles and bullets -- and then share your creation when you are done. It's straightforward, and you can master the app in minutes, but the results are gorgeous -- generally prettier than anything you can easily do in PowerPoint.
Sharing your deck is perhaps the coolest part. For example, you can publish a PDF version of your presentation to Dropbox, or share a "live" link to your deck via Facebook, Twitter or email. Recipients can use your link to flip through your presentation at their leisure.
Or really take control: On the iPad, you can switch to Remote Control Mode and control the presentation yourself. I've already used this feature to conduct a long-distance presentation via teleconference, talking though the slides over the phone and using the remote control feature to ensure that everyone sees the right slides at the right time.
In broad strokes, Slide Bureau is a winner. But it's the attention to detail that really makes this app shine. It's designed by two former user experience designers from Microsoft (MSFT), and it's clear that they've tried to make Slide Bureau a beautiful app. Your slides dynamically adjust to the aspect ratio of whatever screen they're being viewed on, so you can trust that both 4:3 and widescreen monitors will deliver a satisfying experience.
Most slides also have limited customization. Not only does this mean it's easier to master the app, but it also means you can't ruin a presentation with your terrible design sense or colorblind color sensibilities. A few slides let you add your own images and video, but, otherwise, trust the template and just modify the text. One slide even shows the potential for live data. You can add a slide that displays a Google map of a specific location, and it's not a static image -- you can pan and zoom around the scene.
Out of the box today, Slide Bureau comes with about 150 slide templates, many of which are fairly generic, but some have been custom-built with specific professionals in mind (like real estate and education). The developers plan to continue churning out new slide templates, and in fact there's even an easy way within the app to request a specific kind of template to suit your needs. The company claims it will create new slides from customer feedback at no additional charge. Slide Bureau is currently free to the first 10,000 customers, so don't miss your chance to try out this compelling PowerPoint alternative.
