How to Choose The Best Presentation Software For Events

Live events can be stressful: because you only have one chance to get an event right, there’s often more pressure. Often the visual component of an event will be extensively planned out, then changed at the last minute, and it still has to work once the show starts.

Because so much is riding on getting it right, event professionals need presentation software they can rely on. They need the best presentation software, designed for events, that does the job well.

In this article, we’ll show you the top features and attributes you should look for when choosing presentation software for events. But first, let’s look at what makes live events different from other presentation scenarios.

What Makes Live Events Different?

Live events carry unique pressures compared to other presentation environments. As a result, the factors going into an event professional’s decision on which presentation software to use are different than, say, the conference room or classroom (or even to some degree the worship service).

These are a few of the factors that make live events a different beast.

No Re-dos or Mulligans

Most live events happen once, and if you screw it up, it can be hard to recover from the moment being lost. Testing, dry runs, and rehearsals help, but when the show starts you need to bring your A-game.

In other words: if your presentation fails or glitches or otherwise doesn’t deliver, there’s no going back.

If the media file in your presentation doesn’t load properly during a classroom lecture or weekly team meeting, it may be a little embarrassing, but life will go on. It’s different for live events though: if the visuals for your next concert set fizzle out or the scoreboard doesn’t display properly at the next home game, it can have a major impact on your contract with the client.

Greater Technical Needs

Many live events push their presentations and visuals to the max, as clients always want a little more than last time.

Presentation software geared for the office (like PowerPoint) may work fine in the office, but lack the technical features that live events teams need.

Greater Need for Resilience and Flexibility

Many live events, including anything that goes on tour or has multiple showings or instances, happen more than once in multiple locations. This is very different from a presentation in a board room.

For this reason, it’s not enough for presentation apps to work well in one location under ideal settings. AV pros need presentation tools that are both flexible and resilient, that work in a wide range of settings, and don’t have to be fiddled with until the work.

Road teams have enough to worry about just getting equipment set up and torn down. They don’t need to worry that their presentation or production software won’t be able to handle some eccentricity about a given venue. They need stuff to just work.

At this point it’s worth mentioning that ProPresenter supports redundant playback machines connected over a network. You can unplug the power cable to one machine, and the audience won’t notice any visual disruption as the secondary machine takes over.

How to Choose the Best Presentation Software for Events: What to Look For

Because the challenges are different for events than for other presentation scenarios, you want to make sure you’re using the right metrics for the presentation software you’ll rely on.

Make sure that any solution you consider can accomplish all of the following things for you.

Send Content to Multiple Destinations

You’ll need a presentation tool that can power content to multiple destinations and outputs. Sending presentations over hardware outputs as well as software, such as SDI and NDI, as well as the ability to linear/alpha key your content if you’re using lower thirds.

The ability to power multiple types of content simultaneously can also be quite useful, for instance Welcome screens in the foyer, and main screens in the auditorium.

Whatever you need here, ProPresenter can handle it. ProPresenter’s unique layer-based approach makes it easy to customize which content layers get sent where, and you’ll never encounter any limits to the number of feeds or outputs ProPresenter can handle. The only limit is the hardware you’re using.

Pro-Grade Slide Editor

No matter how complex or how straightforward your event, if you’ll be building and editing slide presentations, you want them to be professional. To get there, you’ll likely need great graphic design work (or professional-grade templates). But you’ll also need a pro-grade advanced slide editor, one that lets you do anything and everything you need thanks to advanced customization options, all in an interface that’s simple to learn.

In the midst of looking for other advanced features and integrations, don’t forget to evaluate a presentation tool’s slide editing capabilities within its core desktop app. Because while you’ll certainly need more than just a good slide editor, you do still need this crucial function to operate well and allow you to create dynamic, engaging presentations.

Lots of Control

When using presentation software for live events, you need software with robust and flexible controls that allow you to run presentations from anywhere—not just the computer powering the show.

Look for presentation software that includes remote control apps for iOS and Android, allowing you to control interactive presentations from anywhere in the venue, such as from the stage during setup. Integration with an Elgator Stream Deck running Bitfocus Companion or a native Stream Deck plugin like ProPresenter offers, is increasingly becoming a must-have, as events are increasingly using it as a control surface.

Support for Professional Formats, Protocols, and File Types

Higher-end productions might still have the client giving you a PowerPoint with a bunch of slides, but you’re also likely to encounter high-quality video formats like ProRes, or atypical image resolutions customized to fit an LED wall.

You want a presentation solution that can handle all the creative formats that clients hand you, and you know it can perform in the moment.

With ProPresenter, you’ll get robust support for all types of files, connections, and formats — including SDI with internal and external keying, NDI, Syphon, HDMI, DisplayPort, and more. And with ProPresenter, you’ll also have the ability to pull in content from cameras and virtual inputs to route elsewhere.

Support for Macros & Scheduled Triggers

You want a tool that makes your life easier, and makes you look good to clients. Simple things like scheduling announcement slides to trigger when doors open, or to keep rolling through when the operator’s getting lunch.

Programmable macros make your life easier for custom actions, where you want to trigger media, audio, formatting changes, and the video switcher all with a single click. Macros are an easy way to increase your level of professionalism in a way that clients can notice, without adding extra work to your crew.

In ProPresenter, you can simplify your show setups by creating macros that can toggle between stage screen layouts with only a click. You can even program those macros into automations triggered by scheduled calendar events.

Powerful AV Playback Features

Look for a presentation solution that includes powerful AV playback features in addition to the rest of its presentation functions. You want to be able to play the speaker’s PowerPoint, video, and splash screens all from a single software, with smooth transitions and no dropped frames. In professional environments, you need a solution that can do it all, seamlessly, in one place, and in real time.

ProPresenter includes a top-tier AV playback engine, with support for multiple inputs and outputs, lower thirds, redundancy, macros and automations, and more. It also gives you the power to support crazy combinations of display types and resolutions, pushing content to whatever displays and locations you need.

ProPresenter: The Best Presentation Software for Events

ProPresenter is the best presentation software for events that you can find today. We have a rich history of building events-specific software, and it shows in every facet of ProPresenter 7.

Ready to see the results for yourself? Download a free trial today.