The light turns off leaving you with a white screen glowing with images of a messy desktop. You nervously guide the mouse towards the file you so diligently worked on last night and double-click on a familiar little icon. As the presentation starts up, you look to the crowd and clench your fists tightly waiting for your speech to begin. The audience looks at you, and then fixates their eyes on the screen with a look indicating that something is wrong. You turn around and see the file you worked so hard on isn't loading. Some weird error you've never heard of shows up and you end up with a 3-hour delay.Often times we overlook the importance of technology in our presentations. We work so assiduously on our research, on citations, and of course, our public speaking skills that we often forget that without the technology we won’t be able to convey our message. So, without the computer, PowerPoint and all the cool gadgetry, no matter how good your public speaking skills are, it’s not going to make an impact on the audience.
To make sure you rock your presentation, you have to have the right tools in your repertoire. And, while everyone talks about LibreOffice Impress, Google Docs, and the dreaded MS Office, no one really mentions the mobile tools that help make the difference. So, to make sure you have all the power in your pocket, we've come up with a list of some of the best and handy presentation apps for Android.
PowerPoint OpenOffice Remote
This is a free remote control app for PowerPoint as well as OpenOffice. Once installed, you can use your Android smartphone as a remote control for your presentations. Equally functional with Linux, Mac, and Windows, PowerPoint OpenOffice Remote also lets you preview the presentation right from your phone. This means that all your slides (even if they contain audio and/or video) will be accessible from your Android device. Overall, even though the app serves as a perfect remote control device for your presentations, the lack of Bluetooth support in the free version does leave a lot to be desired. In that case, of course, you can always download the premium version, which isn't that expensive after all.
Presenter
Presenter is a platform-independent presentation controller for Android that lets you view and control MS Office and OpenOffice slides via Bluetooth. The app connects to the PC using a simple barcode thus making it one of the easiest apps to connect to the desktop. Other than that, the app also supports gestures and volume keys thus making it easier to switch between different slides.
Presentation Timer
If you have trouble keeping track of time while presenting, then this app is perfect for you. Once installed, you can use it as a timer for practicing your public speaking skills.
Remote for PowerPoint
Remote for PPT is quite undoubtedly, one of the best remote control apps for PowerPoint users. Though it works only with Windows, it comes with a lot of features that make it worth your money. Firstly, the app comes with a really easy setup: using either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Secondly, the app displays the slides on your phone thus making it simpler for you to browse through the rest of your presentation. Overall, this app is the perfect choice if you’re stuck with Windows for your presentation.
Quickoffice Pro
One of the best office apps for Android, Quickoffice Pro lets you create, edit, and share MS Office files on the go. With intuitive controls in QuickPoint, the popular application lets you create full-fledged presentations (along with charts, bullet lists etc.) while on the go. You can then share the presentation with your colleagues via Dropbox, email, Bluetooth, or SMS. With over 400 million users worldwide, and with a rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, Quickoffice is one of the best choices for creating and sharing presentations on the go. You can, if you want, use Quickoffice Pro alongside the aforementioned PPT OpenOffice Remote app to make your presentations completely mobile, that is, without even touching a desktop! Cool huh?
Written by: Abhishek, a regular TechSource contributor and a long-time FOSS advocate.
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