PowerPoint presentations seem to be the go-to avenue for creating presentations for a variety of purposes. Maybe you have a school project that requires a presentation. Perhaps you need to present to your local city council about adding a new stop-sign by your home. It could be that you are pitching a business idea to investors, clients or potential clients and you want to use a presentation as the medium to convey your plan to them.
However, 2017 called, and and it’s time for a presentation revolution. Portable Document Format (PDF) is not used as much for presentations, but it is the most universal file possible. Everything in a PDF is embedded into the file, so it can be viewed in the appearance across mobile devices, tablets, laptops and desktops as to have consistency. Here is a list of reasons why you should be using PDFs over PowerPoint for your presentations.
Creative Visual Appearance
While you can easily get a template for PowerPoint presentation anywhere, you often lack the ability to customize it to your liking. You’ve probably discovered that there is no perfect template that can fit your creative needs. Enter PDF. It is possible to edit PDFs in multiple applications that you cannot in PowerPoint, making your presentation unique like your ideas! This allows for an immense amount of creativity that can be added into your presentation that will likely catch the viewer’s’ attention and convince them to go along with your business plan. Don’t sacrifice your creative flair and your uniqueness for a basic presentation made in PowerPoint if you want to land the best business deals.
Accessibility Across All Devices
PowerPoint presentations are not compatible on all devices. If you use a unique font, an image, or styling format on your PowerPoint, it will likely not look the same on the viewer’s device as there can be an embedding issue. PDF on the other hand is accessible on every device, so using this file format is essentially risk-free. Whether the viewer has a Mac, Windows, Microsoft Office, Android, iPhone, etc., they will have no issue viewing your presentation. Using this universal file format will save you from fumbling an important presentation that you want to give out to your viewers.
Interactivity within the Presentation
PDFs are the more professional route to presentations as it provides the presenter with a medium to administer fully interactive experiences to the clients. Having buttons, videos and other interactive elements easily embedded in the file can make your presentation appear unique and competent, just like you! It is best to remember that your slideshow should represent your branding as well, and it’s not just a means to sell a product or service, but also a way to promote your brand as well.
While we are not advocating to ditch PowerPoint altogether, it would be wise of you to be aware of the benefits of the alternative. Ultimately, the uniqueness of both formats can coalesce to make a great presentation, and knowing the strengths and weaknesses of both can help you decide which format is best for you needs.
If you need some consultation to find the right format for you or need a professionally crafted presentation design, get in touch with us!