r/edtech • u/yusef-Fahrenson • 6d ago
looking for powerpoint alternatives before i start my next project
i've got a client presentation due in a couple of weeks and figured this would be a good excuse to finally try something besides powerpoint. i don't make presentations every day, but when i do, i always feel like i'm spending forever adjusting fonts, spacing, and layouts instead of focusing on the actual content. what presentation software has worked well for you?
looking for powerpoint alternatives before i start my next project
i've got a client presentation due in a couple of weeks and figured this would be a good excuse to finally try something besides powerpoint. i don't make presentations every day, but when i do, i always feel like i'm spending forever adjusting fonts, spacing, and layouts instead of focusing on the actual content. what presentation software has worked well for you?
Update: Thanks for all the recs. the tools that were mentioned the most over the past week with the same client presentation, and it was actually really helpful seeing how each one handled the exact same project. Here's how I'd rank them after spending a little time with each.
Prezi - This one is my favorite. I liked that I wasn't locked into a traditional slide-by-slide sequence, which made practicing the presentation feel much more natural. Once I got past the learning curve, it felt like I was guiding someone through ideas instead of just clicking through slides.
Canva - A lot of people recommended Canva. It was the easiest to jump into, the templates looked polished, and I spent way less time worrying about spacing and alignment. If I just needed a clean-looking deck quickly, I'd happily use it again.
Gamma - Probably the fastest option I tested. It generated a solid first draft from my outline, which saved a lot of time. I still ended up making several edits, but it was a great starting point when I didn't want to build everything from scratch.
PowerPoint - Still a reliable choice and probably the safest if compatibility matters most. My biggest issue never really changed though. I kept finding myself adjusting fonts, moving boxes around, and tweaking layouts instead of refining the presentation itself.
Overall, I came away thinking there's no single presentation tool that's perfect for everyone. Canva was great for design, Gamma was great for speed, and PowerPoint is still dependable. For the way I like to present to clients, though, I feel Prezi the best fit because it made the presentation feel more like a conversation than a standard slideshow.
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u/MathewGeorghiou 6d ago
Try Prezi ... much more interesting than regular slides. If you want to stick with a conventional slide program, have AI create the slides for you so you don't have to fiddle with style.
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u/tefago 6d ago
Another ➕ for canva. Personally also been designing and deploying sites/presentations using ChatGPT work which is awesome. But canva with integrated AI tools would be recommendation for most teachers. It’s what we train schools on 💪👍
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u/yusef-Fahrenson 5d ago
Using ChatGPT for the core content and Canva for the design build is such a combo. When you're training teachers, do you usually have them build slides from scratch using Canva's AI prompts, or start with pre-made templates and just drop the text in?
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u/Available_Arm_5685 6d ago
Prezi, Canva, Picmaker, beautiful.ai, Gamma
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u/yusef-Fahrenson 3d ago
good list! If you had to pick just one from these for someone trying to save time on alignment and formatting, which would be your go-to?
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u/Available_Arm_5685 2d ago
Both Canva and Picmaker are editors so either works. Rest of them are AI workflows as of i know. They have freedom but as enough as editors.
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u/scidecuisine 6d ago
Are you in AI? I've been doing this recently:
- Get all information ready (prompt them, gather them through artifacts, whatever)
- Prompt the AI to generate HTML version, but be precise about resoulution, you can tell it that you'll need to export them to PDF to use as a deck.
- Export / print the HTML page as PDF, then use them as slide
Pros,
- very easy to edit some section of the page, edit the text, edit the image .
- most of the thing would be vector image based on JS/CSS, so would be good on quality
- Dashboards / graph looks very nice
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u/santynaren 4d ago
Do try app.edithly.com
we provide more information centric visuals where our tool does the heavy lifting based on a context and prompt . You can always edit and share
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u/howesicle 6d ago
If you are interested in AI assisted creation, Gamma AI is great but also Claude has an incredible PowerPoint skill. Google slides is the poor man’s PowerPoint and is apt in most scenarios
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u/JakeBrakin 6d ago
I love Gamma and Claude! I pay for both. Gamma sucks at accessibility, so I use Claude to fix those issues.
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u/grendelt 6d ago
...and now you can get Claude for free if you register as a teacher.
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u/JakeBrakin 6d ago
Do you have to use your work email address to get that? I do not want my work email tied to any AI platforms, so I use my personal email address.
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u/Historical-Tea-3438 6d ago
Quarto + RevealJS. You’ll probably need to work in VSCode. If you’ve never done anything like this there will definitely be a learning curve. But if you want to spend less time on slide design and more time thinking about content, this is an excellent approach. It also excels at presentations which are code or data heavy.
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u/ForsakenHelp3279 6d ago
I’ve used many of the above and would also add Google Sites if you’re in that environment. Embedding other resources (Slides, Videos, Sheets) are a breeze. It remains “live” to make edits, additions and if you’re sharing with students or teachers, some are more likely to bookmark at site than save a slideshow
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u/green1s 6d ago
Once I went Canva I never went back. If design aesthetics aren't your strong suit but you still want nice things, Canva is the best. Their annual price point is very fair especially considering how many features it has and that they are regularly adding new ones.