I've been working with presentation software and AV tech at events for some years. Making the stuff on the screen look good and the switching between presentations seamless (PowerPoints, Prezi, PDF, Web based, etc.) has been a part of my job.

For this job nothing beats a good hardware setup with multiple computers and a true video switcher, but for lots of events this is a costly overkill. Therefore we've tried to make a software solution that emulates the hardware video switcher (and some more).

In SlideDog you can add common presentation formats to a playlist (no Keynote support yet and Windows only, sorry Mac people :-/), pre-load the files and achieve the same effect as you would with an expensive video switcher and multiple laptops. This makes it perfect for smaller events, such as a pitching contest with multiple presenters doing lightning talks, or for presenters who like to mix different file formats in their presentations (and keep the alt-tabbing to the minimum).

The most obvious drawbacks with our solution today is no Mac support (we've got a Mac beta, but it's pretty crappy) and the need to pre-load files again when doing last-minute changes (adding a file from a presenter that comes running with a USB).

The biggest advantage (over a hardware solution) is the price. Lately we've added features that also makes it suitable for audience engagement in classroom settings (polls, chat, live-sharing of slides).

What do you think?

Any feedback is appreciated.

http://slidedog.com