Let’s be honest. You can do a lot with PowerPoint. The popular Microsoft presentation software has been helping users design dynamic slide presentations for decades, and its slide decks now can incorporate features such as video, animations, infographics and so much more.
But just because a function is available on PowerPoint, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to use, and it doesn’t mean the average deck designer will end up with a professional-quality result. There’s a reason a phenomenon has been named, “death by PowerPoint.” Millions of PowerPoint presentations are created on a daily basis, and most of them are lackluster at best: dull, lifeless and a dime a dozen.
In fact, creating an engaging and memorable PowerPoint presentation can be a challenge that requires some technical ability. That’s why we’ve all seen so many Frankendecks, presentations added to and edited over the years until they become an overgrown and disorganized mess of a deck. It’s no wonder why even Microsoft power users are turning toward PowerPoint alternatives, like Beautiful.ai.
Beautiful.ai users can create the same slide decks they could design in PowerPoint, but they find the process easier and their results are of a higher caliber. Not only are the functions designed to be user-friendly, but the software takes the guesswork out of the design process. Instead of users spending hours agonizing over design details like margins, alignment and color schemes, they can let artificial intelligence take the reins and format their slides based on the professional principles of good design.
How can Beautiful.ai replicate PowerPoint functions, improving the presentation design process? Check out the following examples to see how designing slide decks with Beautiful.ai can be simpler and more effective than creating a PowerPoint presentation.
Building Tables in Presentations
Yes, you can add a table to a slide by creating it from within PowerPoint, but it’s no simple task. It starts out simple enough, choosing the number of rows and columns, then entering data. But who wants a basic cookie-cutter table that looks like all the others? To format the table’s design, you must navigate quite a few more PowerPoint controls, including the Table Tools/ Design tab and the Table Styles gallery.
Designing a professional-quality table in Beautiful.ai is simple thanks to your AI design assistant. Just choose the Table Smart Slide template and start entering your data. The platform’s AI will automatically adjust the format of your table to match the parameters you enter. Want to design elements like borders and colors? The controls are all right in front of you, and it only takes a couple of clicks to customize the table to perfection.
Adding Video to Slides
Video is an increasingly effective way to engage audiences, so it’s only natural that more users want to add interactive media to their presentations. PowerPoint allows users to insert their own video files into a slide deck, as well as add YouTube video… if you know how to do it. It’s simple enough to insert a video, but to avoid a Frankendeck, PowerPoint users must also know how to format it and adjust the playback settings – a process that takes several complex steps including options like “loop until stopped,” and “in sequence.” To insert a YouTube video, some PowerPoint users will even need to insert the full embed code from the website.
Inserting video into a slide presentation couldn’t be easier than it is with Beautiful.ai. Users need only to choose the Full Video Smart Slide template, and either add the file from their computer or paste the URL from YouTube or Vimeo. Not only will the platform automatically import the video file, but the AI designer will automatically format the video to fit the slide. Want to adjust the video’s settings, such as its start time and auto-play? The tools are all right there on the screen and can be customized with a couple of clicks of the mouse. Beautiful.ai users can even create text boxes to highlight important information and drag them wherever they want on their slides.
Adding Animations to Slides
Animations are a great way to keep an audience focused on a presentation while revealing story points at the desired pace. PowerPoint slides can be animated, but the process can be tedious, especially if you hope to animate the entire slide deck. The process is straightforward enough – just select the object to animate, access the animations menu and select the type of animation you want from a list – but each object has to be animated individually. Adjusting the timing of the animations can be a little trickier, as PowerPoint users must control settings for the animation’s duration, as well as its delay.
Animating entire presentations to engage audiences and capture their attention couldn’t be simpler than with Beautiful.ai. The PowerPoint-alternative presentation software offers sleek animations for every slide. Users can choose automatic animations and let the AI designer add interactive movement to every slide based on those all-important design principles, or they can easily adjust their own animation settings. Just access the “Animation” menu, and choose sequential, staggered or together animation. You also can adjust your speed with a click of the mouse, and adjusting the appearance of objects is a breeze from the same screen.
No matter what the function, It’s bound to be easier with the assistance of AI. It’s no wonder why Beautiful.ai users save so much time and effort while designing professional-level presentations. Not quite ready to commit? Try our new Add-In for PowerPoint and get all the great Beautiful.ai features in your existing Microsoft workflows.
