We’ve all been frustrated by technology that gets slower, less reliable and less useful over time. But Google Apps is different. It actually gets better week after week, without patches or updates to manage. People can absorb this stream of innovation without being distracted from their workflow.
Earlier this month, Google Docs received a number of updates and new features to help improve user experience. Now Google has focused its attention on Presentations and introduced a new feature called Discussions for easy collaboration with others, and more than 50 new features.
Drawing on canvas
Whether you’re trying to impress your boss with an end-of-quarter presentation or your colleagues with an animated book report, the new version of Google presentations can help. With the new features of Google presentations, you can draw organizational charts, flowcharts or design diagrams, and you can see updates in realtime as you edit presentations with other people. Also, you can enhance your presentation with new ways to transition between slides, you can turn shapes within your presentation into hyperlinks to other slides, presentations, or external webpages.
At this time, it's only possible to create new presentations in the new version of Google presentations. Older presentations will remain in the old format for the time being, but Google works to create the possibility of upgrading them to the new format. You can copy old presentations into the new version by using the import slides feature or by copying and pasting slides using the web clipboard. When copying or importing slides from an older presentation, you’ll be creating a new Google presentation at a unique URL. You’ll need to re-share the new presentation with any previous collaborators.
Google is gradually rolling out the new presentations. To get an early start, you can click on the gear icon in your document list, and select Document settings. Then, from the editing tab, check the box to „Create new presentations using the latest version of the presentation editor”. The new version of Google presentations takes advantage of the most up-to-date technology, such as HTML5. For this reason, new Google presentations are only supported in modern browsers.
A collaborative approach
Presentations are made to be shared. And the best presentations are made together, collaborating with others to build a compelling story that captivates your audience. The new version of Google Presentations makes it easier to collaborate with team members or clients. Now you’re able to leave a comment on a shape or an entire slide to add more context to the discussion. Additionally, you can notify collaborators that their comments have been addressed and reduce the clutter on your screen. Collaborators will also receive email notifications that they’ve been added to a discussion, making it impossible for anyone to miss out on the conversation.
A professional way to promote your business on LinkedIn
Now, you can use Google Presentations for a professional way to introduce yourself, your work or your business on LinkedIn. So, you can add a presentation to your LinkedIn profile to showcase a recent talk or presentation, display a visual portfolio of your professional accomplishments, or introduce yourself to recruiters and professional contacts viewing your profile. And it’s easy to get started. Use Google’s free online application to create your presentation, then post it to your profile for others to view.
A few things to remember:
- See updates in realtime as you edit presentations with other people.
- Draw organizational charts, flowcharts, design diagrams and much more right within Google presentations.
- Enhance your presentation with new ways to transition between slides.
- Turn shapes within your presentation into hyperlinks to other slides, presentations, or external webpages.
- Collaborate with other people by adding comments to shapes, text or slides.
Sources: Google Official Blog, Google Enterprise, LinkedIn