I make presentations as a subject matter expert in the area of banking regulatory remediation. In most cases training is required for the people attending in order to bring all to the same level. Adobe presenter enables incorporation of quiz material into the presentation. This promotes better understanding of the material.
Pros
Incorporates static files
Intuitive interface
Ability to add quiz
Eliminates need for flash programming
Cons
E learning news server could be more intuitive
Numerical indicator for updates is confusing
Organization of updates could be better organized
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe Presenter interface and its complete integration with Powerpoint eliminates the need for additional training or knowledge of Flash programming.While this saves time for the more sophisticated presenter it is less useful for day to day status presentations. There is no substitute for knowing your audience
VU
Verified User
Consultant in Information Technology (Banking company, 10,001+ employees)
We author content for our online courses. Presenter gives the opportunity for me to make my content come to life in a relatively easy fashion. I take the content from courses I have been teaching for years and then turn it into online courses using the Adobe Presenter software. I have older, stagnant material that I have transformed using Presenter.
Pros
The drag and drop method of Adobe Presenter makes the software really easy to learn and use. It allows me to create presentations that are much more powerful and creative.
I LOVE the YouTube help videos. I feel like there is a help video on every topic I have ever wanted to know more about. I have almost grown to be an expert based on the help videos posted. They are easy to access and user-friendly.
I use the scenario templates. Because I teach programming courses, students can go different ways based on the knowledge that they already have of the content in the courses. The built in scenario templats allow me to create dynamic courses that are different for every learner that uses the course I am teaching them.
Cons
Sometimes I feel like Presenter feels too much like Power Point. This may make some users not want to use the software.
I have a hard time when saving presentations and then pulling them up in other locations- it often takes longer than I want to wait, but I am a millennial (I think?).
Likelihood to Recommend
I love using Presenter to turn old, boring, and stagnant material into interactive course material. The software is useful for educators looking to author online courses or to author courses with an online portion. If you need a software that will enable you to take content you already have and then to make it more dynamic, offer students options of which way to go with their learning, then this is the software for you. The tools are similar to the office suite, so there isn't a steep learning curve.
Our organization generally uses this tool when what we're trying to create is the asynchronous, online version of someone getting up in front of a large group and making a presentation (rather than trying to do real "training"). As such, we've used it to announce new product features or give general overviews of new products (to be viewed as "pre-work" for an upcoming training session), do short overview demos of new systems (more of a "here's what it can do" than "here's how to do it," although it could be used for micro-learning, if the tasks are very short and simple), and to convey some basic on-boarding info, such as general benefits and compensation info. The vast majority of the Adobe Presenter users in our U.S. organization are in one of our learning and development departments, although, occasionally, it's been used by a few people in other departments (although I can't say exactly which, off-hand).
Pros
This tool is great for allowing anyone already familiar with PowerPoint to convey reasonably simple and short content asynchronously. It's quick and easy to learn how to use it and even allows for some basic types of quiz questions.
You can publish it to your company's Adobe server (if you have one) or as a SCORM package to upload to a traditional LMS.
It gives you the choice of recording audio within its own PowerPoint ribbon (not my method of choice) or to import and sync audio created outside of Presenter (which I prefer, because it's easier to edit and maintain.)
I also love that it comes with Adobe Presenter Video Express, which can be used within the Presenter ribbon or as a stand-alone application. It's a very easy way to create short system demos with narration, and allows for zooming and panning, as well as allowing you to intersperse, or even simultaneously show, webcam video.
Cons
I don't know if this qualifies as a "con," per se, but it's important not to try and use this as a full-fledged e-learning authoring tool, as the opportunities it affords for effective practice and feedback is minimal. It's a well-named product, since "Presenter" really is best used for "presentations," rather than bona fide training.
There's no real "programming" ability (like being able to use custom actions and variables).
I also wish that, when syncing animations to audio narration, if you make a mistake mid-way through a slide, you could re-do just from where you made the mistake on forward, rather than having to resync the whole slide.
Better audio editing capabilities within the product would make it feel less "necessary" to me to use an external audio editing product.
It's also not the cheapest of the tools that does this kind of thing. For example, SNAP, by Trivantis, does many of the same things at about a tenth the cost.
Likelihood to Recommend
As I mentioned earlier, it's best used for "presentations," rather than bona fide "training." That's why we tend to use it when the information is relatively simple and/or doesn't need to be fully internalized or mastered (which would require providing opportunities for practice and feedback and a more engaging, interactive learning experience). However, it can be used as part of a blended-learning solution, with some information provided via an Adobe Presenter module first, and then some kind of instructor-led session as a follow-up, which would include more role-specific info, as well as practice and feedback opportunities.
Also, as I mentioned earlier, Adobe Presenter Video Express is great for creating quick overview demos about a new system -- more of a "see what it can do" type thing than a "here's how you do it" thing (unless the "it" is very simple and the video is used more as a microlearning/performance support type of offering).
Adobe Presenter is an extraordinarily flexible and dynamic solution for creating learning output. At Ebix, Inc., we use it in two ways. One is as a hyper-rapid e-learning development solution for our internal audiences. In this capacity, the quality of output is excellent, though not at the level of, say Captivate or Storyline. It's advantage, however, is its speed. I developed a method for creating interactive on-demand e-learning training that goes from storyboard to final output in an unheard of 5-10 hour development turnaround. This creates obvious advantages, among them creating a multiplier effect that dramatically cut training costs while improving the efficiency of our training development resources.
The second use is external. We're able to create on-demand help that we can publish to HTML that has built-in Responsive Web Design capability. This means clients can view our training on any device of any size, anywhere they have an internet connection, and it looks great. Also, because it is originally built in PowerPoint (Presenter installs as an add-in), we can be more creative and engaging in our help content versus standard help modules.
Pros
Because it integrates with PowerPoint, it is possible to go from planning outline to storyboard to final output withing a single document and as part of a seamless and logical design process.
Its ability to create videos that capture screens along with web-cam recordings, then edit them within the solution means higher level training recordings can be created versus, say a recorded WebEx training session.
Presenter's ability to create quiz elements similar to Adobe Captivate, add interactions, and interface with Adobe's LMS means it is capable of functioning as a complete e-learning development environment. .
If up front cost is a consideration, Presenter wins hands down over many better known training development and e-learning solutions.
Cons
Among its strengths, Presenter is outstanding at demonstrating software. However, it has zero native simulation capability. For that, you also need Captivate. While it's designed to work with that solution, I've yet to find an efficient application in a real-world training environment.
Presenter is a deceptively unintuitive solution. If you know PowerPoint (and who doesn't?), it feels like home. However, it has nuances that aren't readily obvious. For example, it's video recording capability is both built into the PowerPoint add-in and is accessible as a standalone. How they behave is similar but not identical..
Support is surprisingly weak. The version I have is once removed from the latest. I recently discovered that it has a bug. I was surprised to learn that reporting it to Adobe is impossible since the web page where this occurs does not include Presenter as an option. Are they aware and was it corrected? I don’t know. Fortunately, it's not critical, but it does raise several concerns.
Training and on-demand help is also weak. While there are some standalone videos and other help resources on the internet, what’s freely available isn’t complete. As a result, ramp up took several months longer than it should have. Much of my learning was through experimentation and web searches. Those searches were at times frustrating since the community of users doesn't appear to be as great as other training development solutions. The best training I found was on Lynda.com. I highly recommend either Lynda or a similar site if you get Adobe Presenter.
Likelihood to Recommend
Its strength is its ability to develop on-demand content quickly. If good, fast and affordable are your main check boxes, this could be just what you need.
On the other hand, this is not your stop for "spit and polished" deliverables. Storyline and Captivate this is not. That said, Adobe Presenter is one of the most flexible, affordable and (once you understand it) easy to use solutions on the market, making it a 9.5 out of 10 when it comes to bang for the buck.