PowerPoint Presentations Get a Makeover: Serious Magic Introduces Ovation Software; Ovation™ Transforms Ordinary Microsoft® PowerPoint® Slides into Highly Polished Presentations with TV-Style Text and Motion

Business Wire, Dec 14, 2005

FOLSOM, Calif. -- PowerPoint presenters and their audiences are in for a surprise. Serious Magic, Inc. has introduced Ovation, companion software for Microsoft PowerPoint that lets users transform PowerPoint slides into highly-polished, professional presentations. The software adds visually-exciting, broadcast-quality graphical enhancements to PowerPoint slides and includes special features -- such as a teleprompter and timer -- to help presenters stay on-point and on-time.

"Our research shows that people around the globe deliver about 30 million PowerPoint presentations every day," said Mark Randall, president and Chief Magician of Serious Magic, a leading developer of next-generation video software and communication tools for business, consumer, educational and professional markets. "Our goal with Ovation is to make sure everyone involved in the presentation has a great experience, whether they're creating and delivering the presentation or watching it."

How it Works

Ovation lets users add professional polish to their presentations without having to learn complicated new software. It also reduces the number of hours users spend building an appealing PowerPoint presentation. Users still create presentations in PowerPoint as usual then they simply drop their PowerPoint file onto Ovation's desktop icon. Ovation's powerful, real-time 3D visualization engine then adds subtle motion backgrounds, high-resolution text, and dynamic TV-quality transitions to flat, low resolution PowerPoint slides, turning them into a sophisticated and enjoyable presentation.

Command Audience Attention with PowerLooks(TM)

Ovation goes far beyond static theme packs or plug-ins for PowerPoint, by offering PowerLooks, a large assortment of elegant visuals that can be applied to PowerPoint slides. PowerLooks come in a diversity of styles and color choices that users can then customize with their company logo, brand elements, or PowerPoint background. Additionally, presenters can add thought-provoking words or concepts as semi-transparent text to move subtly in a slide's background giving them their own distinctive look.

Ovation also brings professional features used by high-profile keynote speakers at major conferences to daily presentations. For instance, users can incorporate an animated Walk-In slide, which greets audiences with an eye-catching message as they enter the room; a stylish Title slide that sets the tone of their presentation; and a dramatic Closing Sequence to conclude their presentation in style. Ovation's invaluable Intermission Mode helps longer presentations stay on schedule by displaying a prominent digital countdown during breaks.

Ovation Helps Deliver a Flawless Message

Ovation not only lets users create vivid presentations, it also helps them deliver them better with an assortment of useful presentation tools. Ovation's PointPrompter(TM) eliminates the need to memorize presentations or refer to printed notes by giving presenters a TV newscaster-style teleprompter for their notes or script. While the audience watches the full-screen presentation on a video projector or monitor, the presenter can read from the scrolling teleprompter displayed on their laptop's screen.

Ovation also helps presenters keep track of time. Using the TimeKeeper(TM) feature, presenters can glance at their computer monitor to see a simple visual representation of the time elapsed or the time remaining for their presentation. When users have a specific amount of time for their presentation, the TimeKeeper will calculate the appropriate time allotment for each slide and let presenters know at a glance if they're in jeopardy of going into overtime.

The Go Deeper feature enables presenters to attach a hidden optional slide, graphic or picture to individual slides within a presentation so they can delve into a specific topic if an audience member asks questions not covered in the initial slide. Additionally, when audience questions are asked about a previous slide, Ovation allows presenters to access that slide in one click, completely eliminating the need to repeatedly hit the back button.

Availability

Ovation is now available at major retail stores, on-line resellers, and at www.seriousmagic.com for $99.95.

About Serious Magic

Serious Magic, Inc. was founded in early 2001 by a team of industry veterans to create the next generation of visual communication tools. Award-winning products include Visual Communicator 2, empowering non-technical users to create stunning videos and presentations that captivate audiences, deliver key points, and compel action; Vlog It!, the world's first video blogging program that creates dynamic video blogs in seconds to complement any text blog; ULTRA, a software breakthrough that transforms chroma keying into an incredibly easy and practical tool for all types of video producers; and DV Rack, the first PC-assisted, video production software designed to work with videographers while shooting to help improve video quality and prevent shooting disasters. The name Serious Magic was inspired by Arthur C. Clarke's observation: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." For more information, please visit www.seriousmagic.com.