Sway by Microsoft: The Easy Breezy Way to Create an Interactive Presentation

Have you ever had to create a simple interactive presentation in a hurry and PowerPoint seems too daunting when you are in crunch mode? Give Microsoft Sway a try. In a few easy steps, you can create an online interactive presentation that you can make public, keep private, or share with people who are given a link. Best of all, Sway is free, and you can’t argue with free.

Sway and PowerPoint are both Microsoft products. While PowerPoint gives you full control of animation, sound, layout, design and branding, Sway is for you to whip up a presentation (even if you only have your cellphone or tablet available) when the ominous deadline is staring at you and you are willing to give up some design control.

Once you log in to Sway, creating a presentation takes just a few steps. First you select a theme, then a navigation style (horizontal or vertical, for now). After this, you just add heading, text, and insert photos or videos directly from OneDrive, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Internet, or upload from your computer. Here is a quick presentation I made in under 15 minutes. It doesn’t give you a lot of creative freedom, but it gets the work done.

Start using Sway here, or check out this official video by Microsoft on YouTube.

[This tip originally appeared on the Law Society of Saskatchewan Library’s Legal Sourcery Blog]