“Presentation” is a method of conveying information to many people at the same time. With advances in technology, the methods used to present a Business Presentation to groups of people have also been changing.

Here’s a rundown of how presentation technology has changed with the passage of time.

Evolution of Business Presentation Technology

From Visually.

Early 19th Century

In the early 19th century, blackboards received wide-scale adaptation for educational purposes. Schools weren’t the only institutions using these blackboards. Businesses started using them to share information as well.

Mid-late 19th Century 

With the adaptation of the lightbulb in the mid-late 19th century came an invention known as the Magic Lantern. This gadget used a candle and then later a bulb to project slides on a wall. They became a popular tool to attract attention and share information.

Early 20th Century

In the early 20th century, the use of visuals such as charts and graphs started to become increasingly popular among large businesses. Charts and graphs have their roots in the 18th century and may have been used even earlier than that.

Mid 20th Century 

Kodachrome 35mm slide film became a huge success. It was introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935 and became quite successful. Thanks to Kodachrome and the slide film, overhead projectors started to become popular for business presentation in the 1960s and became widely used by the 1980s.

The number of overhead projectors sold in the US grew from 50K in 1975 to more than 120K in 1985. This is also the time when whiteboards began to replace blackboards.

The Year 1987

1987 marks the year when PowerPoint 1.0 was released for the Mac. It was created by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin at a software company named Forethought, Inc. This company was acquired by Microsoft 3 months after the appearance of PowerPoint and was Microsoft’s first significant acquisition.

With the increase of computers in the US, the business presentation became popular and began to replace overhead transparencies. By the year 2001, PowerPoint had captured almost 95% of the entire presentation graphics market.

Turn of The Millennium 

With the increased adoption of the internet and digital technology, digital presentations started to become more than just digital counterparts of projection slides. Tools such as YouTube, Slideshare, Prezi, and SlideRocket changed how people viewed presentations.

From The Year 2010 To Present Time

Mobile devices became a more and more popular medium to engage customers and share information. Due to their wide adaptation, mobile devices could be used to share presentations effectively. They could also be taken to different places and be connected to color projectors as needed.

It is said that now about 1 in 10 presentations are viewed on a mobile device. The most common presentation type being the Business Presentation.