Microsoft Releases Office for iPad

News flash! Microsoft released Office for iPad this week, which includes PowerPoint, Word, and Excel. It’s free to view documents, but if you want to create or edit, you’ll need an Office 365 subscription.

From what we’ve seen so far, PowerPoint maintains formatting and animations across the board — great news for those of you who want to present on-the-go with your iOS device. We’re still giving the app a thorough review and will be posting more details shortly, so check back soon!

Be Equipped with This Equipment…

You never want to be unprepared when presenting. This time, I am not referring to not knowing the contents of your presentation or not knowing your audience. These are the essential items you should have with you when traveling to do a presentation.

1. A backup of your presentation. So many presenters will say they don’t need a copy because it’s on their laptop and they checked it before they left the office. Or, it’s on a CD that happened to get crushed in transit. Always have at least two versions – one on the laptop, one on a flash drive or on an online storage site, such as Dropbox.
2. An extra power cord. This one actually happened to me. I went to plug in my laptop and the cord was not supplying power for some reason. “It happens…” I was told by the manufacturer. After time, the power cord can become ineffective. So, as I watched the battery drain, I rushed to get through my presentation. Now there is always an extra in my bag.
3. A long VGA cable. At least 12 feet in length, if not longer. This way, you can set up your laptop where you want it rather than being restricted by the 3-foot cord the conference center provides for you. Whether you want the laptop up on a table in front or on a podium, etc., this cord will come in handy.
4. A wireless mouse / remote. This will help with slide transitions and ease of walking through the presentation. You won’t have to keep walking back and forth to the laptop (especially if you don’t have your longer VGA cord).
5. A USB-powered speaker. If you have audio in your presentation, this is essential. Imagine a room of 50 people trying to hear audio from your laptop’s tiny sound system… it’s not going to happen. With a small but powerful USB speaker, you can plug it right into the side of your laptop, you don’t have to worry about a power source, and the audience will be able to hear what you have prepared.

This is a good starting point so you don’t get caught unprepared. I am sure everyone has their own list (or at least they should). Leave me a comment and let me know what you always have in your travel bag.

Considering a Tablet?

I came across this commercial the other day, and I thought you all might enjoy it.

We recently switched to using the Microsoft Surface Pro in our office, and we are really impressed. It’s a great hybrid of a computer and a tablet. Tablets running iOS or Android seem more like toys if you try to get them to handle anything more than watching movies, surfing the Web, checking email, or playing games. The Surface Pro is powerful and easily able to handle robust applications, making it a good choice for business productivity.

Here are three of the coolest features:

1. Size. It’s compact and portable. We really don’t miss carrying around a heavy, cumbersome laptop.
2. USB port. Most other tablets don’t have a USB port – with the iPad, a special adapter is needed to connect most peripherals. The Surface Pro’s onboard USB port means we can plug in a flash drive, a wireless mouse, or even a USB hub with multiple connections.
3. Runs all applications. Since it runs Windows 8, we can use the full version of the Office suite in addition to apps built for tablets.

PowerPoint is still the tool of choice for designing presentations, and tablets running Windows 8 are the only ones that can handle creating, editing, and displaying presentations with the same power as a regular computer. That means we can continue to develop amazing presentations while taking advantage of the portability of a tablet and the richness of a PC.

Have you considered switching to a tablet?