Re: nonlinear presentation software

["Barnett, Eva" <Eva -dot- Barnett -at- aketontechnologies -dot- com>]

Thanks for the responses about my search for nonlinear presentation software.

Sean Brierly suggested that perhaps "a presenter should be capable of leading the audience and not the other way around" and then wondered "what the material is that it cannot be presented in a structured way." John Posada politely suggested that I work on the content and organization of the presentation, and not worry about the tools so much, and Mike Bradley gave some concrete suggestions about how to use PowerPoint to achieve the result I'm after. (I'm on digest, so I may have missed something, too.)

I'd like to give a little more info about my situation, in the hopes that you all might provide some further advice, if not about software, then about how to present my lack of findings to my boss. 

Background: our parent company just hired a new President for my company, in the hopes that he'll be able to get sales up and make us profitable. When this new President started talking about hiring some new marketing people, I asked if I could take a crack at some of the new marketing work. (Right now, my job is about half admin work and half technical writing -- I'm trying to prove my worth as a marcom writer in the hopes of eventually phasing out the admin stuff, which isn't my favorite.) 

So, he agreed, but when we met to talk about what I would be doing, instead of talking generally about any new responsibilities, he gave me the task of finding this nonlinear presentation software. At the time, I suggested that I could achieve what he was looking for with the software I already have, but he said, no, he wanted software specifically designed to create type of presentation. He had been discussing it with his marketing friend, and talked about it as if this type of presentation was really common, and that finding said software should be a cinch. Since he _is_ the President, I said OK and set about trying to find his software.

While I was a little dissappointed that the task he gave me wasn't as substantive as I had hoped, I really want to do a good job with it, in the hopes that if I do well with the small things, he'll trust me with more important tasks. Since it doesn't look like I'll find an out-of-the-box package that will (as John put it) do my planning for me, I'm trying to figure out an alternative way to give him what he wants. I'm planning to do up a few sample presentations with the tools on hand and see if maybe that will work. But, since he has already said that he doesn't want to do it that way, I'm hoping one of you might have another idea, either about how to find this software he's after, or about an alternative I can present.

I would really appreciate any thoughts, tips, or advice. Please cc me on any responses, as I'm on digest.

Thanks,

Eva
eva -dot- barnett -at- aketontechnologies -dot- com


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