Serious Magic's to launch "PowerPoint Killer" Ovation software

The presentation software, Microsoft’s PowerPoint is about to get a face-lift. At last week’s DV Expo West in the Los Angeles Convention Center, Serious Magic showed us their upcoming Ovation software which they claim will solve all of PowerPoint’s shortcomings. Not only will Ovation change any static PowerPoint presentation into a colorful and swirling 3D one, but it also has many features that help the speaker stay on course.

Michelle Gallina, Director of Marketing for Serious Magic, showed us a normal PowerPoint presentation. It was what you would expect from PowerPoint, with two-dimensional graphics and a plain white background. She then dragged the file into Ovation and the program automatically added beveling to the text and a colorful animated background. In our demonstration, the non-moving clouds of the original presentation had changed into fluffy, blue, moving coulds. Animated lighting effects, similar to what many video editing packages can do, can also be added.

As many speakers will attest to, better graphics does not automatically make a presentation better. Ovation helps the speaker budget their time by displaying time bars along the top of the speaker’s computer screen. One bar shows the current time used by the speaker, while the other shows where the speaker should be. The speaker can easily speed up or slow down to "catch up" to the bar.

Many speakers are afraid of forgetting their speeches, but Ovation will display a teleprompter on the left side of the speaker’s computer screen. This automatically scrolls up and can contain the entire speech word for word. To help the speaker make a smooth transition to upcoming slides, Ovation can give a next slide preview on the speaker’s computer screen.

Gallina told us that Ovation should ship in mid to late December for $100. Serious Magic is offering a free downloadable trial on their website.