Category : Customization tips, Excel your presentation skills, Flash, Presentations, Raptivity, presenting No comments yet

Merging with the Interactivity Building Tool – Raptivity

By Poonam Agarwal on May 10th, 2012

It is been an exciting journey for us at Raptivity Presenter. All throughout this journey, we aimed to help presenters put together enriching and engaging presentations and save their energy and time. Makeover tips of presentations enhanced creating better PPTs’. Raptivity Presenter provided various interactions through it’s’ add-ins which you couldn’t ignore and thus pleased your audience by tackling the need for interactivity.

Now, Raptivity Presenter is all set to embark on another awesome phase. We are pleased to announce that Raptivity Presenter is being merged with Raptivity – our leading, award-winning interactivity building product. It is going to be a bigger entity and play an enormous role in your presentations in the near future.

It goes without saying that you all have been a valued customer and admirer of Raptivity Presenter.  We wanted you to be the first to know about this change. Raptivity is being used by thousands of customers in more than 55 countries. We take great pride in its reputation as the leading interactivity builder, and we look forward to bringing you on board as one of the many satisfied Raptivity customers.

RP-merging-Raptivity

The decision to merge Raptivity Presenter into Raptivity was driven by thorough analysis of customer needs and feedback. We made this decision in order to provide you with the most comprehensive set of features and a wide selection of interactivities. In addition to the Raptivity Presenter interactivities, the combined product would also include a pre-built library of 170+ learning interactivity templates. This will enable you to design interactive content for various applications, such as business presentations, training courses, eLearning content, and many more.

How does this affect users of Raptivity Presenter?

-          Raptivity Presenter product will be discontinued from July 31st, 2012.

-          The users have the option to upgrade to Raptivity.

-          Raptivity Presenter support will only be available for your inquiries until July 31st, 2012.

Top 5 benefits you get by upgrading to Raptivity:

  1. Take advantage of a wider selection of interactivities in the Raptivity library such as, games, simulations, 3D and more.
  2. Additional features like SCORM compatibility, media toolbox, blank template.
  3. Support for mobile devices with HTML5 publish feature.
  4. The upgrade will give you some additional Raptivity interactions for FREE (savings of up to $3,300).
  5. Associate with a market-leading product in interactivity and enjoy great support and resources available to all Raptivity users.

Reckon you upgrade to Raptivity as soon as possible to avail these benefits. Find more information about how you can transit to Raptivity at http://www.raptivity-presenter.com/. If you have any individual queries, please write to us at info@raptivity.com and we will be happy to answer.

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Category : Business Visuals, Customization tips, Excel your presentation skills, Flash, Mind Map, PowerPoint, PowerPoint tips, Presentating, Presentations, Selective Displays, Slide Jazz-Ups, Webinar, graphs, presenting No comments yet

Makeover Presentation Workshop Highlights

By Poonam Agarwal on December 23rd, 2011

You might have come across so many workshops in your day to day routine. Rarely, you find something interesting that catches your eye. The reasons may be many but the key to any kind of workshop, training course or presentation being engaging is having a good presentation in place. You can master the art of making good and sensible presentations although they always lack the interactive streak. We found that the need of learning the art of interactive and engaging presentations could be addressed by a workshop.

Hence, the Webinar “Presentation Makeover With Raptivity Presenter” presented by Jamaica and Lana was organized by Raptivity Presenter on Dec 08th, 2011. Plenty of tricks and interesting tips were shared as well as demonstrated. The webinar attracted a good number of industry professionals which made the ‘question hour’ session very interactive.

Here is a recap of the webinar for those who missed it. The host started off with introducing Raptivity Presenter and how its approach makes presentations a class apart. The Figure 1 given below brings out the essence of Raptivity Presenter.

Figure 1 Raptivity Presenter Approach

With an intelligent repertoire of interactions which embed seamlessly in presentations, the Raptivity Presenter Approach is pretty simple and straight forward. You are given a collection of interactions to select that are customized and published for use.  Thereafter, some random presentation slides were picked up and transformed into interactivity ridden slides that were graphic rich and engaging for the audience. To showcase the example, have a look at Figure 2, 3, 4 & 5 listed below which clearly reflect the change in the slide.

Figure 2 Before the change

AND

Figure 3 After the change in Mind Map Interaction Model

Figure 4 After the change in Concentric Rings Interaction Model

The hands-on demo showed the audience how the utility of the innovative features can enrich the user experience. The examples showcased in the webinar revealed the secrets of how just within a few minutes any dull presentation can be transformed into an interactive one. This was followed up by an interactive Q&A session where numerous questions were answered. If you have missed it, don’t worry and just write to us at info@raptivity-presenter.com for the Webinar Presentation or you can watch the recording at Webinar.

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Category : Business Visuals, Customization tips, Excel your presentation skills, Flash, PowerPoint, PowerPoint tips, Presentations, Selective Displays, Slide Jazz-Ups, Story Builders, presenting No comments yet

Building a Story with Timeline Interaction

By Poonam Agarwal on December 1st, 2011

We all love stories in some format or the other. The story is more entertaining and grips your attention especially when it is narrated with the aid of images and characters. Something on the lines of comics which are very picturesque as well as engaging narrative. All the facets of a good story is also required in a presentation. It is very easy to explain a concept/subject or review key highlights of the business when all that is nicely packaged in a story format.

All this sounds very exciting but also difficult to put it in action! Isn’t it? The benefits are many to reap provided the end result is engaging and interactive for the audience. I have gone through this dilemma and believe me it is nerve wrecking to get something right at the first instance. Lots of time and effort is required to create a presentation which will be gripping and hold the audience attention for a longer span of time.

Presentations can be very interactive when they have interactions. Raptivity Presenter follows this golden rule very well in their interactions. The ‘Timeline’ interaction works wonders when you need to tell stories or explain any business concept/idea in the most entertaining fashion. Timeline interaction model is best used to present events of a given time period in an engaging audio-visual way.

This interaction can be understood when you see it in action in the following examples by just clicking on it.

Example 1: Timeline of a Web Design Firm

The Example 1 listed above presents a snapshot of all the events on the timeline using images. You could navigate through the events to get more information about them by clicking on the different timeline blocks as shown in the image below.

Timeline is also the smartest choice to present roadmaps, history, company achievements and other similar timeline based subjects. For instance, the Example 2 listed below showcases the Sales Department structure of XYZ Company.

Example 2: Sales Department of XYZ Company

Likewise, Example 3 listed below highlights the Marketing Activity of a firm over the four business quarters in a very interactive game like mode.

Example 3: Marketing Activity over 4 Quarters

Now, doesn’t that sound very simple and easy when all you have to do is use the Timeline interaction in your presentation and start building the story. The template is all set and easy to customize as per your requirement. Reckon you to try it yourself and get into the interactive story building format. To know more about Timeline interaction, visit the website: http://www.raptivity-presenter.com or write to info@raptivity-presenter.com.


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Category : Business Visuals, Charts and Graphs, Excel your presentation skills, PowerPoint, Presentations, Raptivity Presenter Quick-start guide, graphs No comments yet

Look-Up Table for Interactive Presentations

By Poonam Agarwal on September 8th, 2011

We have been receiving queries from people asking about the various presentation packs which contain meaningful and expressive interaction models. To get you started, here is a quick look-up table for selecting the right packs from Rapitivity Presenter for presenters, trainers or teachers. This look-up table will guide you to choose what suits you best.

Packs Purpose Use Case Sample
Essential           (7 IM’s) Share important factors and concepts, Simplify your complex ideas, Cut through the clutter. Conducting product training, featured demonstration of products / services, teaching complex processes / diagrams, highlight key concepts. Click
Organizer         (6 IM’s) Present business concepts, Demonstrate structures and relationships using diagrams. Event planning, structuring delivery process plans / processes, building new strategies. Click
Display Booster                  (7 IM’s) Energize your presentation, Generate curiosity among audience by displaying content selectively. Comprehensive analysis of markets/products, Q&A sessions, brainstorming on complex processes Click
Interactive Graphs              (11 IM’s) Present complex analytical information, Understand data quickly, Focus on the points. Demonstrating statistical information or number driven concepts, analyze trends in the market, highlighting key points for discussions. Click
Training Presentation    (7 IM’s) Stimulate audience thinking, Motivate audience to actively participate. Demonstration of complex processes, systems diagrams, flowcharts and training of products and services. Click
Business Presentation  (10 IM’s) Present complex information, Unfold information in the required sequence, Create long lasting impact on the audience. Detailed planned presentation, making major announcements, analyzing key issues and brainstorming activities. Click
Visual Presentation    (6 IM’s) Jazz up your presentations, Present content without losing its main essence. Demonstrating Product / Service brochures, organizational information, training of products / services. Click
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Category : Business Visuals, Customization tips, Excel your presentation skills, Flash, PowerPoint, PowerPoint tips, Presentating, Presentations, presenting No comments yet

Presentation Makeover – A Recap

By Poonam Agarwal on July 14th, 2011

Transformation of a simple slide into a colorful and vibrant interactive slide was very much apparent and quick in the webinar held last month. Yes, I am talking about the Webinar “Presentation Makeover With Raptivity Presenter” presented by Jamaica and Lana. Kudos to them for making it a success. Plenty of tricks and interesting tips were shared as well as demonstrated.

In case you missed the action, here is a recap of the webinar. The host started off with Raptivity Presenter in action a nd the approach which makes it stand apart even in a crowd. The Figure 1 given below brings out the essence of Raptivity Presenter.

Figure 1. Raptivity Presenter Approach

With an intelligent repertoire of interactions which embed seamlessly in presentations, the Raptivity Presenter Approach is pretty simple and straight forward. You are given a collection of interactions to Select that are Customized and Published for use.  Random presentation slides were picked up and transformed into interactivity ridden slides that were more appealing to the eye and decipherable compared to its old self. To showcase the example, have a look at Figure 2 & 3 listed below which clearly reflect the change in the slide.

Figure 2. Slide before the change

AND

Figure 3. Slide after the change

This customization undoubtedly took less than a minute to create a smart presentation makeover; which is all that matters to get the audience acknowledge your presentation. As presenters, we spend countless hours in the creation of the perfect presentation slides, the narration and every other detail that paves the way to being the Master of presentations. Yet, how many of us can confidently claim that our audience has enjoyed and grasped the content of the presentation? A quick look at your audience will give away the answer. You can overcome these challenges with Raptivity Presenter. You are definitely bound to find the answers. The webinar was for sure no let down and we all need makeovers at some point or the other. If you have missed it, don’t worry and just write to us at info@raptivity-presenter.com for the Webinar Presentation or you can watch the recording at Webinar.

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Category : Business Visuals, Excel your presentation skills, Post-it, PowerPoint, Presentating, Presentations, Stick-it Notes, presenting No comments yet

Present it with Post-it Notes

By Poonam Agarwal on June 27th, 2011

Every morning when I come to work, the best thing to greet me on the desktop screen is a piece of 3-inch square paper which is yellow in color and the message conveyed in it would make me either smile or frown for the rest of the morning. You have guessed it right. It is the playful and user friendly Post-it note.  I am sure of the fact that each one of us likes to use it when messages need to be passed on for immediate action by the receiver or appreciate someone or show gratitude and the list goes on and on.

Now they are replicated even in computers, mobiles to name a few. Why was there a need for the computerized version of such stationery when we have the Microsoft Office suite in every computer? Post-its no doubt have its following. In fact, all of us have a story to narrate on the use of Post-it note which takes you down the memory lane. I always wished to use Post-its in my presentations at work which would highlight key points, or build a story line if a couple of Post-its were placed together or draw miniature diagrams for better visual appeal. It seemed to be a long wait till I discovered Raptivity Presenter.

The Business Presentation Pack has an interaction model called Stick-It Note which serves as a unique way to display information in a short, snappy manner for presentations. This interaction model has a lot many features which could be best understood visually. The below Figure 1 is a working example of Stick –It Note interactivity.

Figure 1 Stick-it Note Interactivity

The above Figure is an interactive presentation on the Launch of a Lifestyle Magazine where the Post-it notes are used to add bullet points, notes and diagrams on individual post-its. They are also arranged in a sequence of importance. The key points on the post-its are highlighted which are embossed with different keywords such as ‘Urgent’, ‘To-Do’. The Note Pin on each post-it also conveys the items to be taken care for a successful launch of the magazine. This interaction model can be customized easily as per the user’s preference. I could not have asked for more.

Have you used post-it notes in your presentations? If not, then it’s time to use it and get your audience glued to them. Click here to try them out yourself with Raptivity Presenter’s Business Presentation Pack.

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Category : Business Visuals, Charts and Graphs, Customization tips, Excel your presentation skills, Flash, Piecharts, PowerPoint, PowerPoint tips, Presentating, Presentations, presenting No comments yet

MakeOver your Presentation

By Poonam Agarwal on June 16th, 2011

MakeOvers! It goes without saying that we all need to have one at some point or the other. What about presentations then? Do we need one makeover for our presentations as well? I would have one, provided it increases the audience participation with minimum efforts. We all need to make the right presentation in the right environment with the right software.

We all put in long hours and oodles of energy in creating the outstanding presentation to enrapture our audience when simply an interactivity tool can do the trick in minutes. Lana & Jamaica, two experts on Raptivity Presenter will be conducting a Webinar where they would discuss some interesting tips to makeover your normal presentation into an interactive and visually appealing one. These are just simple steps to follow that will add momentum to your work and make creation of an interactive presentation rapid and less cumbersome.

Just to give you an idea about the drastic change that a D-I-Y (Do-It-Yourself) rapid interactivity building tool can do to a simple slide is showcased below in Figure 1 and the transformed slide in Figure 2.

Figure 1. Slide without Interactivity

And

Figure 2. Slide with Interactivity

The transformation of a simple slide into a colorful and vibrant interactive slide is very much apparent from Figure 2 as shown above. Just as the saying goes “Happiness comes in small packages”, the same holds true for Raptivity Presenter. It is in short, the MakeOver tool for your Presentations.

There is so much to Raptivity Presenter that even the seasoned user would take a long-time to discover. The not so obvious options always take time to surface for any user and we would want all of you to get a hang of it as well get your queries answered. So, Join Lana & Jamaica on June 23rd, 2011 in the live webinar showcasing Raptivity Presenter. Reserve your free seat at the Webinar.

I am very sure that once you have a GO at these makeover tips, it will make all the difference in your presentation and work. Let me know, if you have any tips to share which enhances the use of Raptivity Presenter.

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Category : Business Visuals, Excel your presentation skills, Flash, Mind Map, PowerPoint, Presentations, Story Builders, presenting No comments yet

The Art of Visualization through Mind Map

By Poonam Agarwal on June 3rd, 2011

Visuals, images, art, Hmm! They appeal the eyes and catch your attention. Everyone uses these to engage the audience in a focused and fixed connection with the subject matter of discussion. Hope it was as simple as it sounds. Visuals are preferably and in most of the instances, it is perfunctory to use it in blogs, brochures, newsletters, websites, social media sites… and the list is endless. Precisely, the visuals capture the essence of the talk. And there aren’t two ways to go about it.

We could have lots of talks, discussions, etc but an image will beat that all. You are right, then what are we waiting for. Let’s start with the basic visualization of ideas that some of us may have heard of it but never got a chance to try it. Mind map is a landscape view of how our brain interconnects the web of ideas. Complex processes are best understood when they are elaborately explained with visuals. In fact, mind map is used as a tool by presenters, trainers, etc. for gearing up the creative thought processes of an individual/group as they bring about more ideas unlike the other modes in practice of triggering the creative thought process.

Mind Mapping - Source Google ImagesMind mapping is pretty similar to a road map as all of us need to follow a predestined path to achieve the goals/objectives at school, college, work, etc. The utility of a mind map are many provided it is integrated into practice. Specially, when presenters/trainers are introducing a subject to their audience, it ain’t simple enough to just draw a mind map and start lecturing on it as  the most wanted ingredient is missing in it. Well no guesses required, “interactivity” is most crucial to any presentation/session.

Presentation is a powerful tool to communicate with a large audience and interactivity adds to this quotient. Likewise, Mind map used in presentations would certainly bring out the desired output when they are embedded in interactivity. The Mind map interactivity offered by Raptivity Presenter is apparently the most visually appealing tool for stimulating the audience thought process. Rather than discussing this further, a real life working sample will paint the key features of Mind map interactivity in real time.

Figure 1 Mind Map

The above Figure 1 is an example of a Mind Map interactivity based on Endangered Species of Animals, Birds and Plants. The whole point of building such an interactivity is get the audience acquainted with not only the endangered species under three categories viz. animals, birds and plants but also they can get to know the names of these species.

Additional detailed information is given to the user when they click on the description icon which is white in color displayed in the above figure pointing to the plant species. The Figure 2 displayed below showcases the additional information on plant species which is embedded in the mind map.

Figure 2 Description Icon

This interactivity is simply easy and rapid to build and thus can be used for any audience in a fraction of seconds. Mind mapping is complete when the problem you are working on is resolved and with Raptivity Presenter getting your audience engaged in brainstorming, problem solving, cross training activities is no longer an arduous task. So, what is holding you up! Click here quickly to acquaint yourself with Mind map on Raptivity Presenter’s Visual Presentation pack.

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Category : Charts and Graphs, Flash, Piecharts, PowerPoint, Presentations No comments yet

Build Interactive Piecharts for your Presentation

By Poonam Agarwal on May 5th, 2011

A mundane practice of using graphs in presentations has been the norm for most of us. The other day, a friend of mine was also whining about it. In fact, she was asking me for tips to improve her skills in graphical presentation. The first thing on my list was why not try the visually appealing concentric pie chart. It is timeless yet charming to its core. They represent sets of numbers as if they are whole pieces of a pie. Hmm sounds yummy, but not the right time to speak about them.

Getting back to the point, pie charts come in varied forms and simply professional when you need to show visual comparison of specific sets of data along with the rest of the chunk. A colorful interactive pie chart should have three key features viz.

1) On-hover Tooltip

The whole idea behind the use of pie chart is to display a lot of information in a visual design without words. Yet, some information is crucial to be excluded. The “On-hover tooltip” feature allows the presenter/audience to hover on each legend of the pie chart and get instant information about it as shown in the image below without cluttering the Pie chart.

Interactive Piechart

2) On-Click Detail

Interactive pie charts enhance the user experience with the option of displaying detailed explanation about each legend when required. It is available at just one click on the specific legend. The “On-Click detail” feature aids in retaining the visual appeal of the pie chart throughout the presentation. You could insert the information in the form of image / words or even a combination of both as can be seen in the image given below.

On-Click Detail

3) Highlight Slice of a Pie

A Pie chart will have many segments with each segment having a different color and size varying accordingly. When the presenter needs to explain each segment, interactive pie charts allow the presenter to introduce every segment of the pie by highlighting it in relation to the others. This adds to the experience of illustrating statistical/numerical data in the form of a Pie chart, where every slice of the pie is given equal and individual importance. The image below clearly represents this feature.

Slice of a Pie

All said and done, it is engaging to browse through an interactive pie chart. The question is whether it is simply easy to build one. Undoubtedly, it is taxing to create one using excel or any other tool and specifically including the key features mentioned above. I have had the opportunity to use the Interactive Graphs Pack from Raptivity Presenter which provides all these features without much fret. I reckon you to try it yourself. Click here to take the 7-day free trial and become rapidly interactive with pie charts to start with.

Also, if you come across something similar to this then do share it with me :-)

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Category : PowerPoint, Presentating, Presentations, presenting No comments yet

Tricks of Better Presentations

By Poonam Agarwal on April 20th, 2011

Creating, Formatting, Presenting and the list is eternal. You need to create presentations and then get the audience glued to your channel surfing tactics. Jokes apart, there are plenty of apps, blogs and gurus all trying to preach the art of better presentations.

Plenty of choice also numbs your senses. So, we listed key highlights from Stephanie Krieger’s ‘12 Tips for Creating Better Presentations‘. This article is also packed with essential tips which every presenter must be equipped with before creating a presentation. It also talks about the 3 key points about creating effective presentations viz.

1. Grab the viewer’s attention

Simply said, have the combination of visual appeal, smart text and snappy dialog. If required, you could also have short videos as long as they are apt for the slide.

2. Clearly communicate your information

There is a very fine line between basic slides and intelligent slides. Information overload on every slide puts the audience to an endurance test of reading between the lines. Avoiding such errors, makes communication crisp and precise.

3. Stay in control of your presentations

Avid presenters follow a simple rule of being in control of every slide. The number of slides, time spent on every slide, transition between the slides, sound effects, etc need to be well planned.

Above all, Raptivity Presenter as a PowerPoint® add-in contains everything you ever need to bring your slides alive with interactivity!  Click here to view few sample presentations with interactions and see how the above 3 tips are an inherent part of these PPTs. Why not try it yourself? Take the 7-day free trial and witness the making of eye-grabbing presentations.

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