June , 2014
StoryDesk is a good presentation app for iPad. Its beautiful interface makes it fast and easy to create presentations that help you break down complex concepts into bite-sized, easily understood bits. In many ways, StoryDesk is a next generation alternative to PowerPoint and Prezi.
How StoryDesk Works
At it’s core, StoryDesk is a collection of interactive templates. These templates do all kinds of stuff – ranging from video playback, to file storage, to playful and engaging ways to make your existing content interactive. To begin, you first download StoryDesk from the Apple App Store. It’s a free app (at least the basic version is). Once you’ve registered, you can tap the + button to create a new presentation. From here, a few templates are automatically dropped in to the presentation. But the first thing you’ll notice is that the structure of the presentation looks nothing like a typical slide show. It’s nonlinear – meaning you can organize your slides in a grid. This is really interesting, as it lets the presenter create hierarchies of content. The important stuff can live at the top, while the finer points can be layered below. It’s very novel way to present – kudos to StoryDesk for coming up with this type of
navigation.
Creating Content
Adding content to the templates is as simple as tapping and holding on the templates. Here I can add photos or text or video (and more).
The files are imported from the cloud – either using one of the many storage services StoryDesk integrates with (Google, Dropbox, Box, and more). Files can also be uploaded to StoryDesk’s content management, found at StoryDesk.com.
StoryDesk’s Interactive Templates are phenomenal. I counted close to 50, and they’re all designed for touch-interactivity. My favorites were Robusto, Burns, and VideoStar. The templates make creating a beautiful presentation idiot proof. In the instances when I prefer to use content I already have (like a PowerPoint or a Keynote), I used the “Slider” template to drop in a PDF version of the slide. Super
easy.
Navigation
This is where StoryDesk differs dramatically from the typical slide show. Instead of only being able to flip left and right, StoryDesk enables nonlinear navigation. With a single swipe I can navigate to any screen I need to. This very much changes the flow of presentations. Instead of the content driving the conversation, the content can support the conversation. It reflects the changing nature of presentations, which are a lot more conversational and interactive than they used to be.
RoundtableTM
Roundtable is StoryDesk’s latest feature. It lets a presenter guide a group presentation from her device to up to 10,000 iPads. Seriously. I don’t know who presents to audiences of 10,000, but it’s nice to know you can. The audience can follow along and interact with the content, but only the presenter has the power to advance to the next screen.
Watch this video to learn more about StoryDesk
