For students and professionals with a fear of public speaking, giving a class presentation can be scary. By learning how to create an automated presentation, it\u2019s possible to decrease the bulk of this anxiety. Here are my 5 favorite presentation tools for students and professionals: <\/p>\n
These are my favorite automated presentation tools for anxious students and professionals. Each option is intuitive, easy-to-learn, and can be used to create attractive and effective presentations.<\/p>\n
Before you even think about reaching for your wallet, be sure to read my review of each. The best option for you will depend on your own strengths and what kind of presentation you\u2019re creating.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s dive in.<\/p>\n
When I was in high school and college, I was one of up to 75% of students with a fear of public speaking. I probably spent more of my time coming up with tricks to avoid presenting<\/strong><\/a> than I did studying.<\/p>\n And what\u2019s the most stressful thing about speaking in front of the class?<\/p>\n For most of us, it\u2019s that feeling of being under the spotlight; the awareness that dozens of sets of eyes are fixated on us, spectating our every move. Worse yet, we don\u2019t know how to conceal our fear. How can we hide our shaking hands, trembling voice, sweaty forehead, or rapid breathing from our peers?<\/p>\n The answer should be obvious \u2013 We take the focus OFF of ourselves.<\/strong><\/p>\n Most students watching a presentation are bored and drifting off. They\u2019re tired of staring at us, and we don\u2019t want their eyes on us anyway! So why not give them something else to look at?<\/p>\n That\u2019s where automated presentation tools for students come in. <\/strong><\/p>\n These automated presentation tools not only help you to create beautiful and effective presentations \u2013 they also take away the pressure of public speaking. Rather than failing your presentation or totally choking in front of the class, just hit \u201cplay\u201d and walk away. Seriously, I wish these options existed when I was in school.<\/p>\n The best presentation tool for you will depend on your comfort level, budget, and presentation topic. I have demonstrations of each throughout the article.<\/p>\n Here are some reviews of my absolute favorites, with links to purchase provided where applicable.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with the absolute easiest option.<\/p>\n A pre-recorded \u201cTalking Head\u201d video is the most basic type of automated presentation that anyone can make. Better yet, most people today can produce this type of presentation at no cost. It probably won\u2019t be as high-quality as the other options on this list, but it can work in a pinch.<\/p>\n Basically, you\u2019re just going to record a video of yourself talking to the camera. Whatever script you\u2019d be reading in front of the class, read to the camera instead. With some practice, you could even shoot the whole video in one take to skip editing.<\/p>\n Since this can be done with a smartphone or webcam, most people won\u2019t actually need to purchase anything to do this. For a higher quality video (and better grade), you could always invest in a quality camera and editing software.<\/p>\n This next option is really just a new spin on a classic presentation tool.<\/p>\n Traditionally, most class presentations are done on Microsoft PowerPoint. While this is a premium presentation tool, fortunately, most students already have access to it. Let\u2019s use this to our advantage.<\/p>\n Normally, we\u2019d stand in front of the class and manually present each slide. Instead, we\u2019re going to pre-record videos of us presenting the material and drop one into the corner of each slide. “Talking head\u201d videos would work great here. Alternatively, we could just add the audio.<\/p>\n Once each slide is prepared and narrated, we can export a rendered version of the whole thing in video format.<\/p>\n This is a great option for anxious students. You can get your point across just as effectively as if you were actively presenting; with none of the risk of choking or panicking. Just make sure you practice a few times to minimize the risk of technical issues.<\/p>\n Depending on what you\u2019re presenting, screen recording tools may also be an option here.<\/p>\n This kind of software is pretty self-explanatory. Screen recording tools are used to record a specific area of your computer screen. This can be great for instruction-style videos about anything one might do on a computer. Many videogame streamers and tech-support gurus utilize this kind of presentation software.<\/p>\n Screen recording software often allows the user to record their face, so they can talk their audience through each step. Most people tend to put the recording of their face somewhere in the corner, similar to our previous presentation tool for students. Alternatively, you could overlay an audio recording alone.<\/p>\n This can be a great way to present or instruct certain topics, but it won\u2019t work for every subject. In general, techy instructional videos work great here.<\/p>\n Naturally, I’ve saved the best couple of options for last.<\/p>\n I wanted to cover the free presentation tools for students first, since I know money can be tight in high school and college. If you have a little bit of money to spend, however, these next few presentation tools are fantastic investments.<\/p>\n Toonly<\/strong><\/a> is a drag-and-drop creation software for animated video presentations. I already know what you’re thinking: “isn’t an animated video going to be hard to make?”<\/em><\/p>\n That’s the great thing about Toonly \u2013 you wind up with a beautiful presentation that looks <\/em>like it was hard to make. In reality, their drag-and-drop system is intuitive enough to learn in under an hour.<\/strong> (Seriously, I made this demo video in an hour and I skipped the tutorials).<\/p>\n Using Toonly, you can create different scenes using various pre-made landscapes, characters, and objects. You can customize these characters with a number of animations like “sitting,” “walking,” “waving,” and more. <\/p>\n Once you’ve created all your scenes, you can string them together into a complete animated video. From there, it’s easy to add text or music, or to record audio over the video. If you’ve edited videos before, Toonly will come with practically no learning curve at all.<\/p>\n This is a fantastic automated presentation tool for students because come presentation day, you can simply hit \u201cplay\u201d and walk away. Best of all, you\u2019ve got the most impressive video in the class.<\/p>\n If you liked Toonly, you\u2019ll love Doodly as well; they\u2019re actually made by the same company.<\/p>\n Doodly<\/strong><\/a> is a lot like Toonly in that it\u2019s used to create drag-and-drop style video presentations. However, with Doodly, the videos are sketch style with the images being drawn in front of your eyes. This creates a simple yet visually appealing way to grab the focus of your audience.<\/p>\n Given the simplistic style of these videos, the customization options are surprisingly deep. The advantage of Doodly over Toonly as an automated presentation software for students is the fact that, with Doodly, you don\u2019t have to focus on the background. Doodly really places an emphasis on the subject matter; perhaps making it a better option for class presentations.<\/p>\n Of course, like Toonly, Doodly allows the user to record audio over the video. This makes it a fantastic option for presenting any subject to the class without having to be actively speaking.<\/p>\n Both of these options work great as automated presentation software for students. The main differences come down to visual preference for the most part. I prefer Toonly for presentations when background\/environment are important, and Doodly for focusing on more specific subject matter. Ultimately, it may be worth owning both.<\/p>\n Regardless of what kind of automated presentation tools for students you decide to use, it\u2019s awesome that you decided to face your stage fright and present! You\u2019re far from alone when it comes to the fear of public speaking; it\u2019s often cited as a phobia more common than the fear of death itself!<\/p>\n\u201cTalking Head\u201d Pre-Recorded Videos<\/strong><\/h2>\n
“Talking Head” Video Demonstration:<\/h3>\n
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Classic PowerPoint Presentations with Added Audio\/Video<\/strong><\/h2>\n
PowerPoint Presentation (with A\/V) Demonstration:<\/h3>\n
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Screen Recording Tools (Like OBS)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) Demonstration:<\/h3>\n
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Toonly for Drag-and-Drop Animated Videos<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Toonly Presentation Demonstration:<\/h3>\n
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Doodly for Intuitive Sketch-Style Instructional Videos<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Doodly Presentation Demonstration:<\/h3>\n
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Additional Resources for Beating Presentation Anxiety<\/strong><\/h2>\n