Mac at Work

Chapter 14

Presentations

Because I’m a trial lawyer in my day job, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about and giving presentations over the years. There was a time when going to trial meant heading to the local copier to get blow-ups the size of coffee tables and loading up on felt-tip pens. Presentation software started as a new and liberating tool to avoid the super-sized copies and let people create interactive presentations. Sadly, presentation software has been abused to such an extent that audiences now groan when they walk in a room and see a projector.

In many ways, presentation software is the poster-child example of why the Mac is such a great fit for work. Macintosh hardware and software combine to let you make fantastic presentations that will turn your audience from a “death by PowerPoint” mentality to attentive listeners while you make your case.

Keynote versus PowerPoint

Keynote is the presentation component of Apple’s iWork office suite ($79; www.apple.com/iwork). In comparing iWork’s other components (Pages and Numbers) to Microsoft Office (Word and Excel), I’ve found an argument for all contenders. But this is not the case with Keynote. Keynote is so superior to PowerPoint that even if you have no intention of ever using Pages or Numbers, Keynote alone is worth iWork’s $79 price tag.

Although PowerPoint has made progress with recent releases, it still does not hold a candle to Keynote on the Mac. This is partly because of how well Keynote integrates with