pptPlex – Prezi like add-on for PowerPoint 2010

pptPlex is a Prezi like add-on for PowerPoint 2010, which is a research prototype developed as an exploration of an alternative method of presenting Microsoft Office PowerPoint slides.

“pptPlex is a Microsoft Office Labs experiment that uses Plex technology to give you the power to zoom in and out of slide sections and move directly between slides that are not sequential in your presentation. This plug-in allows you to arrange slides on a canvas then zoom between the slides during the presentation. You can move around the canvas and show groups of slides, individual slides, or even zoom in to show a particular section of a slide. You can use pptPlex can help you organize and present information in a non-linear fashion.”

pptPlex installation

Download the pptPlex MSI installer from the Microsoft Download Center and double click it. The installation wizard will guide you through a simple two step setup process.

First you need to check the checkbox that you would like to participate in Microsoft Office Labs Usage Metrics & Auto Update. Simply hit the next button after this.

Second you need to read the end-user license agreement carefully, accept the terms of it (if you clearly understood the agreement). Hit the install button to install the pptPlex add-on for PowerPoint 2010. You have to provide the permission in the User Account Control dialog.

After these two steps is pptPlex installed on your Windows 7 or Windows 8 RC powered laptop. Let’s see how the pptPlex add-on for PowerPoint 2010 actually works (in daily use).

 

Using pptPlex for PowerPoint 2010

When you open PowerPoint 2010 after the successful installation of the pptPlex add-on, you will directly notice the pptPlex tab in the ribbon. Within this pptPlex tab you can see three groups, each with a specific set of  commands.

Start pptPlex

• From overview
• From first slide
• From current slide

There are three options to start a presentation (instead of hitting the F5 button). You can choose from which slide you want to start the presentation and start zooming.

pptPlex Content

In the pptPlex content group you can add or change various items and settings in the PowerPoint presentation.

• Canvas background
• Add live content
• Advanced options

You can add a canvas background from a predefined set or create your own canvas to structure your pptPlex PowerPoint slide deck. By default pptPlex provides 11 canvas backgrounds or you can create a simple or advanced canvas yourself. An example canvas is shown in the picture above and could be seen as the table of contents of the presentation.

The screenshot furthermore shows an overview of the advanced pptPlex options. You can change the slide transitions, set section settings or configure the presentation flow.

Office Labs Prototype

• Give feedback
• Tell a friend
• Learn more

The final group of the pptPlex tab consists of three menu items. When you hit the provide feedback command a new e-mail will automatically appear in which you can write down comments on the use.

You can also hit the tell a friend item in the pptPlex tab, which will load the following e-mail. The only thing you have to do is add a friend’s e-mail address.

“I’ve been trying a PowerPoint add-in that provides a novel way of making presentations. It’s a prototype developed by Office Labs in partnership with the PowerPoint team.  Their goal is to get lots of feedback to test the concept.  I thought you might be interested in trying it too.  You can install it from here.”

Finally you can learn more about pptPlex and its use, by reading more of the online resources available.

Despite active pptPlex development has stopped it still is a cool add-in for PowerPoint that provides Plex technology to give 'different' presentations that amaze people.Click To Tweet

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up

pptPlex really integrates in PowerPoint 2010, just like the Microsoft Mathematics 4 add-in for Word and OneNote, and brings Prezi-like functionality to PowerPoint 2010.

This COM Add-in changes the way of presenting, especially when it is combined with a thorough investigation of Good PowerPoint Design for Business Presenters created by Alexander Osterwalder, the writer of the Business Model Generation Handbook.

“Although Microsoft Office Labs is not actively developing or supporting this project any further, based on popular demand we’re keeping the download available for anyone who might have missed it.”

Despite the active development has stopped it still is a cool add-in for PowerPoint that provides technology to give “different” presentations that amaze people.

Enjoy presenting and pptPlex-ing ! 🙂