How many of us have suffered through a PowerPoint sales presentation? You bring in a laptop, boot it up, hook it up to a projector and load the application. Maybe 5 minutes later you dim the lights and everyone sits around a table checking their email with their smart phones while you present.

Boring. And not very effective.

If people aren't engaged with you, chances are they aren't that interested in having a meaningful conversation.

A sales tool necessity for any business.

Incredible presentations. Incredibly easy.

Keynote is the powerful presentation app you love from iWork, completely reworked for iPad and Multi-Touch. So you can do everything on iPad with a tap or drag of your finger — from creating your first slide to presenting your work.

Despite the availability of its own version of iWorks, Apple's new iPad remains an entertainment device, not an obvious business tool. Still, it has possibilities. For business applications, in the hands of talented developers, the iPad could turn into something useful, if not revolutionary.

Some of the initial hype over the iPad has died a bit and now it's time to dig in and start to analyze the real value this tool (and others like it) can bring to the small business table.

In addition to the practical content consumption functions and the obvious coolness factor of the iPad, sales folks and anyone who needs to present ideas to small groups should latch onto the iPad as a killer sales tool.

Incredible presentations. Incredibly easy.

Keynote is a powerful presentation software that comes with iWork for your desktop computer. Keynote is also an app that can be downloaded to your iPad. When used on the iPad it allows users to engage their audience with exciting featuers that take advantage of the Multi-Touch display. So now you can do everything on the iPad with a tap or drag of your finger — from creating your first slide to presenting your work.

 

1. Make sure the iPad is the right tool for the job

Make sure where, and what you’re presenting, is ideal for the iPad. Remember, you won’t be able to use a remote, or have any sort of presenters view. So, if you’re giving a talk in a small conference room where you’ll be sitting at a table with the iPad hooked up to the projector, that’s a perfect use of the tool. Giving a Steve Jobs-style presentation in front of 5,000 people and a large stage? Not so good. In a lecture-style room with a table in a convenient place to allow me to walk around and tap the screen, so I might use the iPad there.