By now you may have guessed that I have been using Apple computers for some time now. (More like 20+ Years). One of my favourite programs is Keynote. I really like it because I have found the Office version to be very clunky. Keynote is what happens when you give PowerPoint to an artist and say “Make this better”. In my mind, the Keynote app is vastly superior to Powerpoint.
Powerful Animations
I love Keynote app animations! They are smooth and can be very entertaining. I have often used Keynote to animate text when I was unable to get a traditional movie editing software to do exactly what I wanted. The Animation process is not difficult and you do not need to be an FX expert to use it. However, if you are an FX expert WOW some of the things you can do with this free software are amazing.
Like all situations sometimes a simple animation is better. I have seen some dreadful keynote presentations because someone had used too many animations per slide. I will talk about this in a later blog post.
Export to another file type
This is my favourite feature. Keynote does not assume that you want to actually run the presentation in Keynote. I am often exporting the presentation and all its animations into a .mov file or even just single images. This does not sound like much at the moment but when you need it is life-saving.
You can even export to be used on Powerpoint. However, I will warn you that it will change the animations and the fonts. The slide show will still be useable however for some people those changes are a deal-breaker (Always test BEFORE you go to do your presentation )
Bulletproof
Keynote NEVER breaks. This is not a joke. When I worked at Applecare in California and became the “Keynote product champ” it was the easiest job ever!! Why? Because Steve Jobs actually used this software every day. Can you imagine how many techs would drop everything to fix a problem with this software if Steve ran into a problem during a presentation? I will give you a hint “ALLL OF THEM”
So that aside Keynote never has problems. If it does the update comes out very very quickly. In 5 years of working phone support for this program, all the problems have been with the customer not knowing how to use the software and not a bug in the program.
Looping and Autostart
I have known more than one restaurant that uses Keynote to run their digital menus at the counter. One of the really nice features of Keynote is that if you have a presentation loaded it will auto-start like a screen saver. I often will have the system work on a loop.
Free with your Mac
The Keynote app is free. I’m not sure why people are not using this software. It is easier to learn than Powerpoint. IF you already have an Apple computer it is worth looking at this free app and giving it a try.
I will be posting more Keynote tips in the future.