App Review: Presenter Pro — Learn to Sell It Like Steve Jobs
App Quick Stats
Presenter Pro is a learning resource for professionals and interns alike, coaching you in the ways of effective presenting.
There are three heroes of presenting for me: Merlin Mann, with his deliciously witty and yet precise style; Lawrence Lessig, who takes a high-speed, word-by-word approach; and of course, Steve Jobs, who is alternately expressive, passionate and evangelistic, all of which contributes to his famed reality distortion field.
While Rexi Media might not turn you into a Mann, Lessig or Jobs overnight, the company does specialize in enhancing your presentation skills. It organizes seminars across the U.S., designs bespoke presentation templates, and even has a virtual storefront in Second Life. Its app contains hundreds of tips, alongside an assortment of videos and even quizzes.
Before jumping into the review, it’s worth pointing out that, prior to going freelance as a journalist and creative consultant, one of my specialist areas was presentations — designing them, coaching colleagues, and even delivering them. Over the years, I’ve helped CEOs prepare for presentations, guiding them through the process and helping give their ideas structure. Plus, I’ve presented to some big companies, including 20th Century Fox, Taito, BBC and Marvel Comics.
With my previous experience in presentations, I was particularly keen to see if Rexi Media’s Presenter Pro would really distill all of the necessary strategies for effective presenting into a single iPhone app.
The app itself is split into four different sections: Home, Notes, Video and Checklist. Presenter Pro is, unlike many other e-learning iPhone apps, well-designed. It features large, clearly labeled buttons and is easy to navigate.
Learning At Home
The main hub of the app, Home, breaks down into different subject categories, such as Structure, Visuals and Gestures. Each section contains several paragraphs of text on a given topic; some even include video and audio, which enhances the learning experience.
The Home section guides you through constructing a presentation; from structuring your message to creating visuals all the way to the art of persuasion and projecting your voice. While some beginners may feel overwhelmed by the information overload, it’s important to note that these are all essential areas to cover.
Without proper guidance, though, I worry that certain techniques could go down like a party balloon that’s been dipped in lead, filled with pennies and dropped off the Eiffel Tower. And what’s more, these techniques could potentially be even more damaging to onlookers than the hypothetical effect of my extended simile.
For instance, there’s a section exploring the notion of incongruity — creating conflict or contradiction as a way of grabbing your audience’s attention. It seems like a risky technique, though, especially for beginners. There’s the possibility that it could irritate the audience, or worse, garner a feeling of doubt when you should be gaining the audience’s trust.
Watch And Learn
There are seven videos packaged with the app. It would be great to have more, though — even if it meant compromising on quality — as watching someone deliver information can be an incredibly effective approach for learning.
Each video is around a minute long. They explore salient techniques, such as building anticipation in your audience and using inquiry as a method for garnering interest in a given subject.
The videos don’t feature any instruction or tutorial; they’re simply fictional excerpts from larger presentations, making use of a certain technique. It would have been fun, and certainly more effective, to include a director’s commentary-style voiceover to enhance the learning experience.
It’s good to have these examples, though. However I worry that poor presenters, desperate to become more effective, will literally copy the lines from the video, rather than identifying the essence of the lesson and making use of it.
Summing Up
While there are a couple of questionable pieces of advice — not necessarily awful, just techniques that I wouldn’t advise a beginner makes use of — in general, the lessons are clear, concise and certainly appropriate for individuals looking to boost their presentation skills.
There are some cute extra features, too, like sending text to the Checklist section for future reference. Plus, the presentation tips are an unexpected, but certainly welcome feature, popping up at random intervals.
The iPhone is potentially a great medium for delivering rich learning experiences. While it’s not a replacement for the real thing, e-learning via the iPhone can reinforce real-world experiences. Paired with the opportunity to regularly test out your presentation skills regularly, Presenter Pro would prove to be an invaluable tool.
App Review: Presenter Pro — Learn to Sell It Like Steve Jobs
App Quick Stats
Presenter Pro is a learning resource for professionals and interns alike, coaching you in the ways of effective presenting.
There are three heroes of presenting for me: Merlin Mann, with his deliciously witty and yet precise style; Lawrence Lessig, who takes a high-speed, word-by-word approach; and of course, Steve Jobs, who is alternately expressive, passionate and evangelistic, all of which contributes to his famed reality distortion field.
While Rexi Media might not turn you into a Mann, Lessig or Jobs overnight, the company does specialize in enhancing your presentation skills. It organizes seminars across the U.S., designs bespoke presentation templates, and even has a virtual storefront in Second Life. Its app contains hundreds of tips, alongside an assortment of videos and even quizzes.
Before jumping into the review, it’s worth pointing out that, prior to going freelance as a journalist and creative consultant, one of my specialist areas was presentations — designing them, coaching colleagues, and even delivering them. Over the years, I’ve helped CEOs prepare for presentations, guiding them through the process and helping give their ideas structure. Plus, I’ve presented to some big companies, including 20th Century Fox, Taito, BBC and Marvel Comics.
With my previous experience in presentations, I was particularly keen to see if Rexi Media’s Presenter Pro would really distill all of the necessary strategies for effective presenting into a single iPhone app.
The app itself is split into four different sections: Home, Notes, Video and Checklist. Presenter Pro is, unlike many other e-learning iPhone apps, well-designed. It features large, clearly labeled buttons and is easy to navigate.
Learning At Home
The main hub of the app, Home, breaks down into different subject categories, such as Structure, Visuals and Gestures. Each section contains several paragraphs of text on a given topic; some even include video and audio, which enhances the learning experience.
The Home section guides you through constructing a presentation; from structuring your message to creating visuals all the way to the art of persuasion and projecting your voice. While some beginners may feel overwhelmed by the information overload, it’s important to note that these are all essential areas to cover.
Without proper guidance, though, I worry that certain techniques could go down like a party balloon that’s been dipped in lead, filled with pennies and dropped off the Eiffel Tower. And what’s more, these techniques could potentially be even more damaging to onlookers than the hypothetical effect of my extended simile.
For instance, there’s a section exploring the notion of incongruity — creating conflict or contradiction as a way of grabbing your audience’s attention. It seems like a risky technique, though, especially for beginners. There’s the possibility that it could irritate the audience, or worse, garner a feeling of doubt when you should be gaining the audience’s trust.
Watch And Learn
There are seven videos packaged with the app. It would be great to have more, though — even if it meant compromising on quality — as watching someone deliver information can be an incredibly effective approach for learning.
Each video is around a minute long. They explore salient techniques, such as building anticipation in your audience and using inquiry as a method for garnering interest in a given subject.
The videos don’t feature any instruction or tutorial; they’re simply fictional excerpts from larger presentations, making use of a certain technique. It would have been fun, and certainly more effective, to include a director’s commentary-style voiceover to enhance the learning experience.
It’s good to have these examples, though. However I worry that poor presenters, desperate to become more effective, will literally copy the lines from the video, rather than identifying the essence of the lesson and making use of it.
Summing Up
While there are a couple of questionable pieces of advice — not necessarily awful, just techniques that I wouldn’t advise a beginner makes use of — in general, the lessons are clear, concise and certainly appropriate for individuals looking to boost their presentation skills.
There are some cute extra features, too, like sending text to the Checklist section for future reference. Plus, the presentation tips are an unexpected, but certainly welcome feature, popping up at random intervals.
The iPhone is potentially a great medium for delivering rich learning experiences. While it’s not a replacement for the real thing, e-learning via the iPhone can reinforce real-world experiences. Paired with the opportunity to regularly test out your presentation skills regularly, Presenter Pro would prove to be an invaluable tool.
Pixelmator 1.4.1 brings noise filter, Pixelmator Learning with it
Filed under: Desktops, Software
Our friends over at Pixelmator have released a new update, and while it’s not quite as big as their point versions, it does add a few new features and a nice online guide to the program. The main new feature in-app is a noise filter that allows users to add random specks and pixels to an image, creating a little more realism and mess to whatever shapes they’re working on. But the bigger addition is out-of-app: they’ve created an online Learning database with tutorials, tips, and lessons on how to make the most of the image-editing app. There’s actually quite a bit of stuff there now, from text and video tutorials to even third-party tutorials submitted by users. If you are interested in learning more about how to use Pixelmator, definitely give it a look. They’ve also updated the user manual, too, so if you haven’t seen that in a while, that’s worth checking out as well.
There are also a few performance updates and bugfixes — here’s the list if you want to check it for something you’re interested in. I still don’t see my personal issue on there: it seems like whenever I switch between the Spaces on my Mac that hold iTunes and Pixelmator, the OS doesn’t want to stay put — it keeps jumping back to the iTunes Space while I’m trying to work on Pixelmator. Of course that might be an iTunes issue, but hopefully the Pixelmator team is looking into it.
Other than that, it’s still a great app for editing and resizing images, and at $59, is definitely cheaper and simpler than investing in a big Photoshop suite. The 1.4.1 update will show up automatically for current users, and the app can be downloaded as a free trial from their site.
TUAWPixelmator 1.4.1 brings noise filter, Pixelmator Learning with it originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Skill up on Adobe products with free video tutorials
Filed under: Software, Education
It’s no secret that the American economy is suffering, and many of us are experiencing the cold-water shock of abrupt career shifts and planned or unexpected part-timer-ification. Want to spark up your value to an employer, or gain some new skills to improve your freelance mojo? Adobe’s free video tutorials may be right up your alley.
The library of CS3-centric tutorials is extensive, and covers most of the content that was delivered on DVD with the products. The CS4 section is a little thinner, and most of the demos are performed with the Windows versions of the apps, but the videos are still valuable for new feature info. Adobe’s full training site covers paid and e-learning options for all the company’s technologies, and of course there are many respected third parties offering training on the CS4 suite.
If you’ve got a favorite training resource, free or fee, let us know below.
TUAWSkill up on Adobe products with free video tutorials originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Weekly App Store Roundup: Nov. 22, 2008
Another fantabulous week at The Apple Blog draws to a close. In the week that was, we’ve investigated unlocking the iPhone 3G, elucidated upon the joys of Mobile Me and become a little exasperated by the approaching change of weather, as Blackberry’s new Storm arrives (it didn’t really blow us away). Plus, we’ve joined the masses on Twitter too.
In the meantime a torrent of nervous-looking new arrivals joined the App Store, so it’s time for me to line a few of them up and judge which are fit for action and which should be sent home on indefinite leave.
This week I’m looking at Wallpapers by Gelaskins, Star Trigon Lite and EuroTalk.
(more…)
Learning From Apple, Part 2: Resources & Free Online Seminars
In a previous article I described the abundant tutorials and tips Apple supplies online for their various software products. In this article I’ll examine two other ways Apple provides learning tools for their software.
Resources
Apple’s resources pages contain numerous links to information on a particular product. This can be information both inside and outside of Apple.
A typical resources page may list downloads available for the product, Apple support/discussion forums, third-party web sites, upcoming seminars, third-party books, links to PDF manuals, etc.
(more…)
Learning From Apple, Part 1: Tutorials & Tips
Whether you’re new to the Mac or have been using one for some time, there’s usually always something new you can learn about it to make your workflow, personal projects, or fun time a little easier or more enjoyable. To that end, Apple makes plenty of resources available on their web site.
In part 1 of this I’ll look at what Apple makes available in the form of product tutorials and tips. In part 2 I’ll look at Apple’s resource listings and free online seminars.
Tutorials
Apple has a wealth of tutorials to make use of. Each tutorial is typically anywhere from a couple minutes to five minutes in length (longer for Pro apps), and presented in easily manageable snippets.
First of all, you should check out Apple’s Find Out How page. By default you’ll be at the Mac Basics page; unless you’re a brand new Mac user this may of limited value. However, along the top you’ll see other categories that you can click on to see tutorials relating to Photos, Movies, the Web, etc. This page could be a “one-stop” site to find useful tutorials.
(more…)
Learning From Apple, Part 1: Tutorials & Tips
Whether you’re new to the Mac or have been using one for some time, there’s usually always something new you can learn about it to make your workflow, personal projects, or fun time a little easier or more enjoyable. To that end, Apple makes plenty of resources available on their web site.
In part 1 of this I’ll look at what Apple makes available in the form of product tutorials and tips. In part 2 I’ll look at Apple’s resource listings and free online seminars.
Tutorials
Apple has a wealth of tutorials to make use of. Each tutorial is typically anywhere from a couple minutes to five minutes in length (longer for Pro apps), and presented in easily manageable snippets.
First of all, you should check out Apple’s Find Out How page. By default you’ll be at the Mac Basics page; unless you’re a brand new Mac user this may of limited value. However, along the top you’ll see other categories that you can click on to see tutorials relating to Photos, Movies, the Web, etc. This page could be a “one-stop” site to find useful tutorials.
(more…)
Learning From Apple, Part 1: Tutorials & Tips
Whether you’re new to the Mac or have been using one for some time, there’s usually always something new you can learn about it to make your workflow, personal projects, or fun time a little easier or more enjoyable. To that end, Apple makes plenty of resources available on their web site.
In part 1 of this I’ll look at what Apple makes available in the form of product tutorials and tips. In part 2 I’ll look at Apple’s resource listings and free online seminars.
Tutorials
Apple has a wealth of tutorials to make use of. Each tutorial is typically anywhere from a couple minutes to five minutes in length (longer for Pro apps), and presented in easily manageable snippets.
First of all, you should check out Apple’s Find Out How page. By default you’ll be at the Mac Basics page; unless you’re a brand new Mac user this may of limited value. However, along the top you’ll see other categories that you can click on to see tutorials relating to Photos, Movies, the Web, etc. This page could be a “one-stop” site to find useful tutorials.
(more…)
Back to School: Papers updated for the new term
Filed under: Software
TUAW’s going Back to School! We’ll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings in September. Read on for a timely app update useful for students.
PDF management app Papers has been bumped to version 1.8.5, bringing what the developers claim are 100 improvements. Top on the list is a new sharing feature called Papers Archives, which lets you share a PDF file and its associated metadata with a colleague.
Papers isn’t for everyone. Instead, it’s specifically designed for students and academics, particularly those who deal with a lot of scientific periodicals in the course of their research. It lets you search them, sort them (manually or using Smart Folders), find them on any one of 14 different online repositories, rate them, browse your library in tabs, and much more.
Papers costs $42 for a single-user license, but students qualify for a 40 per cent discount.
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