I promised more about Google Apps, but I’ve been sidetracked with other things. My solution: use Google Apps for the other things! Today I used Google Presentations as the slideshow component of a training session.

I created this slide show from scratch rather than importing a Powerpoint file.  I found that a few important features were lacking during the creation process. There is no “alignment” tool to keep various objects neat and tidy on each slide. There also does not appear to be a way to create or modify a template. You are stuck with Google templates for better or worse. I had a little trouble with fonts, but with a bit of toying with it I was able to square it around. This may have been a result of pasting text from various sources. Different applications deal with formatting in different ways so it might be nice if Google added a “paste plain text” function.

On the other hand, it is amazingly easy to share this presentation online. I’ve imported another slide show and made it viewable to anyone with an iwu.edu Google account.

It was easy to find, easy to load, and worked great in full-screen mode. I was a bit disappointed that there was no video upload tool – the “insert video” tool in Google Presentations only allows you to embed YouTube. If you want a video from another source, you have to use an old-fashioned hyperlink.

I like that this presentation is now available to me anywhere at any time, given a browser and Internet connection. I don’t need my files with me, nor do I need Microsoft Office.  I’ll be using it again for the next few presentations I give. I think it will suffice quite nicely.