A number of readers have asked me to talk about iPad/iPhone apps for speakers, especially since I recommended giving that special speaker in your life an iPad as a present this holiday season.  So here goes – the iPad and its apps for speakers.

First let me say that I love the iPad for presenting.  Not every conference is ready for them – I just spoke at the PCMA conference in San Diego, and the organizers there wanted a DVD for my video clips (or embedded Power Point).  Because they were controlling the show, using their own computers, they didn’t want me just plugging in to their system.  So you won’t be able to use it everywhere.  But where you can, it’s great – light, fast, easy to use, and relatively crash-free.  I haven't myself tried to run an entire presentation off an iPhone or one of the others.  Have you?  I use video in my presentations, and I don't have enough room to store them on my iPhone, so I haven't gone that route.  But maybe you have and you've got good & bad stories to share. 

So how about those apps?  I’m an app junkie; I have over a hundred on my iPad, and I’m always swapping them out for shiny new ones when they come along.  But currently here’s what I’ve got in play.  Caveat:  Apps change daily.  This is not a list for all time or even an exhaustive one right now.  It’s just what is working for me right now. 

Pages, Keynote, Print Central

These are the basics from Apple.  Pages provides word processing for writing out notes, speeches, ideas, and so on.  Keynote allows you to create slides.  And Print Central lets you print stuff out that you can’t keep virtual. 

Office HD

This app is one of those combo apps that allows you to read or create a word processing file, or a slide deck, or a spreadsheet.  I like it because it is easy to use and saves you real estate on your iPad. 

Noteshelf

I love this note-taking app because you can hook it up to the projector and write in real time.  Voila – instant white board.  It’s great for capturing audience feedback, ideas, and so on in a way that’s visible to the entire audience (assuming you have those giant screens on either side of the stage). 

Goodreader

I looked long and hard for this app and tried a bunch of others before I settled on Goodreader.  Basically, it’s a way to store files on your iPad.  What’s the big deal?  You can easily store video, pdfs, slides, etc – and then play or view them with a click or two.  With the right adaptor, you’re set to play video clips with the least muss and fuss I’ve found so far.  And it’s real easy to move video files from computer to iPad with a drag and drop when your iPad is syncing. 

Evernote

I use Evernote on my computer, my iPhone, and my iPad.  It’s the single best note management system I’ve found.  You can take pictures, notes – information in any form – and store it for future use in a presentation or simply in your preparation for a presentation.  I use it to store ideas I run across – to ‘remember everything’ as the advert says. 

Dropbox

Great for moving large files around. And storing them in the cloud.  I’m sure this one is familiar to just about everyone. 

Presentation Clock

A giant timer, plain and simple.  Useful for making sure you don’t run over your time.

Prompster Pro

There are a number of teleprompter apps.  This is the one I’ve looked at most recently.  At $10, it’s a bit on the pricey side, but it seems to have all you need.

OK, so what apps do you love and find essential for public speaking?  The app world is constantly changing and new apps come out daily.  I don’t pretend to know all of them.  Please weigh in with your finds, and I’ll update this blog every now and then with new apps speakers can’t live without. 

And one final question.  Have you run a presentation off a smart phone?  If so, have you tried Apple's Remote app, and did it work for you? 

Comments

[Sean Evangelista]

Using Goodreader controlling slides with my iPhone keynote remote works OK. This spring we'll see 2 great additions for speakers. Cloud On and Podium Pro. Also MS Office for iPad.

[Nick Morgan]

Geetesh --

Thanks for the Apple TV 2 suggestion -- very creative and I'll try it!

Charles -- I've tried Remote Desktop and thought it was cool, but didn't end up using it regularly. Don't know Splashtop Presenter -- I'll check it out.

Many thanks to both!

[Charles Greene III]

Nick - Great list. Have you tried Splashtop Presenter or Remote Desktop? Dropbox, Evernote and Presentation Clocks are real-world standouts.

[Geetesh Bajaj]

Very informative list of apps, Nick -- you might want to add an Apple TV 2 (although that's not an app). It's small enough to carry around, and let's the presenter walk around the venue with the iPad in hand -- so that the iPad acts both as the presenting computer and the remote! Here's something I wrote about this topic: http://blog.indezine.com/2011/12/ipad-presenting-04-add-apple-tv.html

[Nick Morgan]

Hi, Michelle --

Thanks for the tip about Cloudon -- I'll take a look at it!

[Michelle Mazur]

Great app suggestions! Dropbox is awesome, I love having my presentations and documents available to me anywhere.

Cloudon is a new app that connects with your dropbox and it is like having MS Office on your iPad. It's great for when you need to edit a presentation on the fly.