Choosing the Right Tools

PowerPoint

With the PowerPoint desktop app and browser app, you have a lot of options to choose from making this an excellent choice. Some features that make this a good choice include:

• Presenter Coach
  An AI feature that can help you rehearse your presentation by highlighting pace, wordiness, complexity, informal speech, and more.

• Support
  There is large amount of help content found on the internet.

• Free
  All Seneca students have access to Microsoft PowerPoint 365 for free.

• Common Tool
  It is a fairly standard presentation tool, so you will be adding common skills to your resume.

Canva

Canva can be used for creating many different multimedia projects, including presentations. Some features that make this a good choice include:

• Templates
  Canva is known for a large collection of templates to use, including mobile, game, video, and traditional presentations. The templates make it easy to create gorgeous presentations with little design knowledge.

• Browser-based
  Canva "presents" right from within the browser, making this a good option if you are not sure about what kind of computer will be in the room.

• Canva Live
  You can present right in Canva, have your audience follow along with the presentation, and submit questions live.

Google Slides

Google Slides is one of the most popular presentation tools available and there are many reasons that make this a good choice. Some of those features include:

• Browser-based
  Slides allows you to present with downloading any additional software reducing the number of technical issues you may encounter.

• Themes
  Slides makes it easy to find free, attractive, and easy to use themes and templates to make your presentation look good with little design knowledge.

As a presenter, you choose a virtual presenting tool that allows you to conduct a successful presentation, but as a student you may not always have a choice in what you use.  Whether you know which platform you will be using or if you get to choose, consider these features and whether or not the software you use includes them:

• Ability to upload and share documents

• Screen sharing

• A chat feature or another way to communicate and answer audience questions

• Live polls and surveys

• A way to record the presentation and access the video

• Registration forms

• Analytics

• Accessibility on mobile devices

• Closed captioning

Mentimeter

Mentimeter is a tool that can help you ask your audience a variety of questions like true or false, open-ended, word clouds, and more. 

• Professional
  Mentimeter has a clean and professional look that is great for those looking to add a layer of sophistication, while still collecting audience responses.

• Accessible
  Accessibility is an important part of presentations and Mentimeter is one of the most accessible audience engagement tools available.

• One-Stop
  You can present entirely from Mentimeter because you can create (and even import) slides without interaction, which helps reduce the number of tools you are using.

• Free
  Free for Seneca students. When prompted to log in, select the SSO option and use your Seneca credentials.

Kahoot

Kahoot is another popular choice for audience engagement. Here are some reasons you may want to choose Kahoot:

• Fun & Engaging With some fun music, great animations and a competition-based atmosphere, these make Kahoot a really fun option.

Online Whiteboards

Digital whiteboards are a great option to solicit feedback for online presentations. Audiences can often anonymously add content to them and brainstorm together.

There are browser-based websites such as:

• Miro

• Google JamBoard

But many video conferencing software like Zoom and Microsoft Teams have built-in whiteboard features.

Built-In Tools

Many of the video conferencing tools and presentation tools listed above have built-in methods to engage your audience. For example, Canva's Live option, Zoom's poll tool, and more. If you know which software you will be presenting with, do a little research ahead of time to see what you can do to add some engagement.