ARE WE AMAZED BY EMAZE?????????

Today's generation is visually stimulated - the youth and indeed its elders are always logged on, surfing the net connecting with social media, virtual world is king rather than face to face interaction.

As a result, to deliver your lessons, to market your product, to sell your idea ...... presentations have become an essential mode of engaging with the audience.  Visuality is essential in order to convey a message.

What of the weapon of choice?  What is the Modus Operandi? with the ever present thirst for presenting and visual aids you would think users would seek out new and advancing ways to deliver to their customers....... Not so!

Figures reveal that Microsft Powerpoint remains the market leader with over 93% of presentations being delivered using their software.  Why so?

Well, we are creatures of habit, we cling with white knuckles to our comfort zone, to what we know......and powerpoint is our default setting - however much has changed and so many more options are available to the user, we have already covered a few in earlier bloggs:

Lets add a new ingredient to the mix, today we will step into the world of Emaze......the CEO (Moti Nisani) boasts  " the market is thirsty for new ways to produce and give presentations, simply and fast.  People are tired of powerpoint and they are looking for a viable alternative.  The market potential is huge".  According to Nisani, about 500 million people worldwide create presentations each year and roughly 30 million new presentations are created every day..... what makes Emaze a contender, Nisani would suggest is its ease of use, that's what sets it aside from other market contenders.  The user needs no previous tech know how...... the complete novice can create professional presentations because all you need worry about it the content, Emaze takes care of the rest....." too good to be true I hear you ask,  well, lets review...  

The video clip promises much to the user...... here's what Epp Krusenvald, an online blogger has to say 

" Emaze is prefect software if you have a clear vision in your head and you just need a simple output for visualising the idea you have.  The program does pretty much everything for you - it has built in templates and every slide has particular things you can enter. If you like to have most of the presentation options done for you already this is the program for you!  What makes this program stand out amongst others however is the possibility to add 3D effects to your slides.  Also, it is compatible with all devices - you can edit the presentation on the go from your phone......... Emaze has so many options and functions you might easily get lost or you simply wont be able to get the best of this program.  At the same time however, it is surprising how limiting it can be - for example, the font on the chosen template is the one you will have, you can't change it.  Also the colour palette for fonts is not the widest.  You might also mind that the free account is absolutely public so it might be a good idea to share a less delicate presentation content when using a free account.  Overall, Emaze is a truly modern presentation software allowing you to edit your presentation from all devices,adding 3D effects and making your life easier with pre made templates.  Though it can be somewhat limiting, it is not meant for those who are looking for ultra complex DIY presentations.  Emaze is for the 'on the go' people who are looking for easy yet professional and beautiful visual solutions". 

Well that's Epp's view, however the proof is in the pudding as the saying goes so lets give this bad boy a go.  Is it really idiot proof, user friendly and super quick ..... lets see!  Below is my first attempt at throwing together an off the shelf Emaze presentation.

Emaze Presentation

In short, having read the reviews, looked at the software, tried it out myself I feel that I'm in a good position to pull together an honest no frills pros and cons list, so here it is:

Pros
* New and unique presentation styles
*Supports rich text editing
*Includes themes to choose from
*Automatic spell check
*Free for simple presentations
*You can embed presentations to a website or share via facebook or twitter
*Share your presentation with others via a unique link
*Supports voice commands, so you can start, stop and move through presentations with  nothing more than a microphone.
*Hyperlinks can be set up to link other slides or objects in the presentation.
*Very user friendly, practically idiot proof

Cons
*Doesn't work well on old PC's with low computing power
*Many of the features are only available if you upgrade
*All free presentations are made publicly available
*Doesn't save your work automatically
*Not everything on a slide is editable
Cant save the presentation for offline use
* Cant change the font type of text
*Lacking common presentation features
*Difficult to get the option to import slides offline to work correctly.
*Only Premium users can download presentations and play offline in HTMLS format.
*Only premium users can collaborate
*Slow website
*Only premium can make their presentations private
*No ability to edit offline.

Ignore the elephant in the room, that is that there are more negatives than positives, Eaze is truly a modern presentation software accessible to all, the novice and tech saavy geek alike.  Great for those who need to throw something together quickly.  As long as you have the subject content - emaze has the know how.  What are you waiting for .. prepare to be amazed.

TALKIES AND MOVING PICTURES WITH POWTOON

Imagine if good old Walt Disney had been able to harness the power of PowToon back in the day ..

The time consuming pencil drawings and attention to detail would have been non existent!  Perhaps some things cannot be rushed..... however in today's fast moving world where the deadline is always yesterday and the customer is always right and wants more for less - Powtoon is on hand to help.  So what is this new form of presentation software that turns the novice into artist within minutes, well according to my on line guru, Wikipedia:

PowToon is a company which sells cloud- based software for creating animated presentations and animated explainer videos.


Founded in January 2012, the company released a beta version in August 2012 and has seen fast subscriber growth since.  In December 2012 PowToon secured $600, 000 investment from LA based Venture Capital firm Startup Minds.  In February 2013 PowToon introduced a free account option allowing users to create animated videos that can be exported to YouTube.  The free videos include the PowToon branding.

PowToon is Web-baed animation software that allows users to create animated presentations manipulating pre-created objects, imported images, provided music and user created voice-overs.  Powtoon uses an Apache Flex engine to generate an XML file that can be played in the PowToon online viewer, exported to YouTube or downloaded as as MP4 file.

So, thanks to Wikipedia, we now know what PowToon is...... but, how does it work?  As a starter for 10, users of PowToon, novices if you will, can customise a ready made online presentation (no copywrite issues here..).  Simply replace the texts and images with their own.  Timing, backgrounds and animations have already been made for you.  Thus in laymans terms, in under 5 minutes, which is how long it will take to throw a presentation together, you can boast your very own unique PowToon presentation, quick and easy and complete with animated cartoon characters - Dream Works... watch your back!! 



Now that youre already feeling epic! let's take it a step further.  Let us look at a quick You Tube video clip, a tutorial on "How To" create PowToon animated presentation.

Of course, rather than relying on an off the shelf presentation, you may also start from scratch, a blank canvas for your very own creation - a whitewashed sisteen chapel ceiling and you the Michaelangelo.

Now that we understand the What and How, lets review the who?  Who is the target audience,  This is what Ilya Spitalnik , the Co founder and CEO of PowToon would have us believe:

"As a marketing tool, a cartoon encourages you to lower your guard and stop asking grown up questions like, "Do I like this packaging"? "Am I familiar with this brand"? "Do I have any prior experience with this vendor"?.   This is where cartoons become such a powerful marketing tool.  You're speaking to the audience via a channel they're conditioned to associate with fun and childhood (most definately not business and sales - so their guard is down and they're massively more receptive)

The level of abstraction allows them to focus on the message rather than petty details, so that they can actually evaluate real benefit"

Spitalnik goes further and suggests that PowToon is not only a powerful marketing tool but also brag that the software suits the following platforms:

*Small and Medium Business Owners

*Corporate Executives and Managers

*Video Marketing enthusiasts

*Web Business Owners

*Internet Marketeers

*Church Leaders

*Professionals

*Consultants

*Bloggers

*Trainers

*Students

*You!

So lets put this to the test!  I have set my timer at 5 minutes, lets see what I, a complete newbee and novice can create using PowToon?

So there you have it, My meagre attempt at a PowTown Presentation.  In actual fact this presentation took 6 minutes 28 seconds to create.... longer than hoped but all things considered not bad at all - what a fabulous tool!  talking of fabulous, now would be a good time to grasp the nettle and review what I consider the pros and cons of this software:

PROS

*Lots of features

*Tons of Ready made Features

*User Friendly

*Allows you to share presentations with the public

*supports rich text editing

*Free basic funtions for ever

* 2 days free premium upgrade

*easy to master

*Categorized Music Tracks

*Records Voiceover

CONS

*All presetations have a small watermark in the bottom left

*Several options and features are only available if you upgrade

*Presentations aren't saved automatically(Grrrrrrr)

*Unable to save offline version of the presentation

*Interface can seem cluttered

*Viewing someone elses presentation takes a while to load

* To view, your device must support flash player

*High business account costs $197 a month 

Before I throw in my ten pence worth why not read what Stacy Fisher wrote about PowToon in her review in 2015:

"If you are looking for a quick way to find some nice presentation templates & a whole gallery of images that are instantly accessible for use on slides, Powtoon is a really nice choice - probably better than any other presentation maker.  Good for a school or similar whereas google slides fits not only this criteria but also for professional presentations that require a cleaner sharp look"

The Final word

I'm afraid I completely concurr with Fisher.  Methinks that PowToon has its place, but the professional business or marketing forum is not it, unless your target audience is pre puberty.