Fifty years ago we brought Mad Men to the top of their game with fuse-lit pyrotechnic bar charts so big they required their own carrying case. This was the front lines of innovation at the time, but as a family-owned business that expects to live on for generations, the world didn’t stop at fireworks.

We were one of the first presentation agencies to blaze trails on laptops and today we’re an industry leader of iPad presentations. As new technologies emerge we’ll be at the front-lines there as well, insofar as these technologies make sense for the businesses that use them.

So what kind of technologies could affect the future of presentations? Here are five innovations that could change the future of our industry:

Presentation Technology #1. Motion Gesture Technology – Kinect

Microsoft aims to bring motion gestures into every aspect of our lives, but in a world so motivated by tactile feedback, it’s hard to envision that we’ll see Kinect-type technology replacing much of what we do. There are some industries that could see dramatic change with motion gestures and presentations is one of them. Goodbye dead batteries and half-functioning clickers. Hello switching slides with the swipe of your hand.

Presentation Technology #2: The Anywhere (and Anything) Screen – Microsoft LightSpace Technology

Presentation Technology #3: New Concepts of Presentation Management

Marketers in the industry would have us believe that the future of presentation management lives in the cloud, but until the Internet is ubiquitous and fail-proof, this browser-based presentation approach is far from perfect. Expect to lose those long cable transfers and super-sized emails, but don’t rest in the cloud because the real future is much more versatile than that.

Presentation Technology #4: Li-Fi and Other Forms of Data Transfer & Interaction

Researchers have been increasingly keen on a new form of data transfer called Li-fi. Li-fi uses a flickering light to transfer bits of data with a few attractive benefits. Harald Haas from the University of Edinburgh, UK says of the technology:

“There are around 14 billion light bulbs worldwide, they just need to be replaced with LED ones that transmit data. We reckon VLC is a factor of ten cheaper than Wi-Fi.” Because it uses light rather than radio-frequency signals, VLC could be used safely in aircraft, integrated into medical devices and hospitals where Wi-Fi is banned, or even underwater, where Wi-Fi doesn’t work at all.

Perhaps this is the answer to our cloud-based presentation problem, but this kind of ubiquitous data transfer technology coupled with the mobile explosion could also give rise to more than a few forms of interaction. Live-polling, more engagement and audience feedback. This could give rise to an entirely new dimension in the world of presentations.

Presentation Technology #5: Feedback and Metrics

As more of what we do becomes wired to data streams, presenters will have access to unimaginable sets of data. Our clients who use CustomShow can already see data points like how long recipients are spending with each slide, but this is just the beginning. As presentation-related data becomes ubiquitous, the ones who can make meaning of it will change the industry.

Conclusion

Back in the days of pyrotechnic bar charts none of this was possible, but as cars learn to drive themselves the industry is fast-evolving. Here at Sales Graphics technology may be our platform, but stories and design are our language. That, we’re sure, will always be the same.

1. CustomShow by Sales Graphics

Flash-like animations and the power to scale across organizations is CustomShow’s bread and butter, but the engine behind this presentation software also powers meetings, on or offline presentations, and the ability to update any number of iPads from one command center.

Bottom Line: CustomShow is one of the few powerful, secure, and simple solutions for business specific iPad presentations.*

2. Idea Flight by Conde Nast

Idea Flight lets one iPad wielding pilot control the screen of everyone else’s iPad so they can see one presentation directly on their personal device. The process is quick and convenient, but remember, as of now anything that can’t be translated into a PDF won’t work with Idea Flight.

Bottom Line: Idea Flight is an inexpensive way to quickly take advantage of iPad adoption in the conference room.

3. Presentation Clock by Shawn Welch

This simple, single purpose app is a master of the timed universe. The large number display shows not only the amount of time left, but also lets speakers (or their timekeepers) offer warning through colored numerals.

Bottom Line: Presentation Clock reminds us time is precious so we can use it effectively.

4. Keynote by Apple

Keynote is one of the most widely recognized iPad presentation apps out there. Its power is in its design and cross platform capabilities, but as we’ve written before, it’s not necessarily the most business friendly app out there. For example, syncing video or other multimedia is quite tedious.

Bottom Line: Keynote’s low barrier to entry makes it the perfect solution for some, but at the end of the day it’s designed for the solitary consumer as opposed to big business.

5. Omnigraph Sketcher

This statistics app is one of the most powerful tools out there for turning hard data into easy to understand graphs right from your iPad. The developers here are so serious about graphs they dedicate plenty of focus on not only making the lines look smooth between data points, but also supporting logarithmic scales on either or both axes.

Bottom Line: Need to add a last minute slide with the latest numbers? Omnigraph Sketcher is perfect for stats and graphs on the go.

*Full disclosure: We develop CustomShow but we’d like to think 50 years focusing on enterprise strength presentations has taught us something.

The new browser-based interface for CustomShow Web meetings

Here’s what makes our Web meetings exciting:

HD video: CustomShow now lets you present full-screen video to your audience over the Web.

Full-screen transitions between slides: Existing Web meeting software translates your PowerPoint slides into a low-quality experience that stutters and stalls. CustomShow Web meetings offer a high-quality experience that looks every bit as great as being in the same room.

Mixing slides from different presentations: CustomShow makes it easy to pull slides from multiple places into a single Web meeting. No more switching between applications or launching files while your audience watches.

Preview of the next slide: It’s easy to forget what’s coming next in the heat of the moment. CustomShow displays the next slide before your audience sees it, so you never have to wonder.

Single app: Part of what makes existing Web meeting software so frustrating is that it’s a separate application. CustomShow is your presentation software, and now it’s also your Web meeting software. There’s no difference, there’s nothing else to launch, and it works smoothly.

Less expensive than the competition: We’ve priced our Web meetings significantly below existing Web meeting products.

We’ll be posting more info soon, and please feel free to contact us immediately for more info.

Thank you to the Fitting Group, who is featuring our CustomShow presentation software in Challenger Brand News this week. We are indeed going up against Goliath in the form of Microsoft PowerPoint. The good news is that no one loves PowerPoint, everyone simply tolerates it.

As mentioned in the article, we’ve been able to convince major brands to switch to CustomShow. Our customers include “DIRECTV, CNN, Bravo, The New Yorker, A&E, ELLE, The Wall Street Journal and Dior. And that’s just the short list.”

Here’s what Challenger Brand News has to say about CustomShow:

Beyond being dazzling, CustomShow sports a number of boons. On the one hand, it allows control over the information being presented in a way that ensures that the company’s brand guidelines are consistent. But on the other, it allows quick and easy customization of presentations to permit flexibility.

More than anything, CustomShow is a presentation program for a world with a short attention span and high visual expectations.

And they don’t even mention our new Web meeting capability, which plays high-definition video smoothly. You can find the entire Challenger Brand article here.