You can use Keynote. From the iWork suite instead of Microsoft Office. It's essentially the same thing. But in a world where any slideshow is called "a powerpoint", you look silly if you can't open pps/ppt files...
But hey! Keynote CAN open Powerpoint files! guess there's nothing wrong, then
A lot of TED presenters appear to be using Apple's Keynote software.
That being said, you can do great things with Powerpoint, Keynote, or even OpenOffice Impress. You just have to put in the time and effort.
When making slideshows, Keynote is incredible. I can't think of any reason to use PowerPoint anymore except to have 100% compatibility with others using it - and even PowerPoint doesn't manage that on a Mac.
Thank you!
The slides and animations are all done in Keynote. I recorded, filtered & edited the audio with Soundtrack Pro, and did the slideshow capture & final editing with ScreenFlow.
I have used iWeb and Keynote for something very similar. In Keynote you can create a self-running slideshow that can essentially be an "at your own pace" movie, or an interactive presentation with hyperlinks to smaller slideshows.
Honestly, for the price, I think Apple's iWork suite is amazingly useful and is very professional grade.
You don't have a draft, yet you care about layout? That is seriously wrong, a waste of time. You won't be able to focus on your stories when you worry about text boxes. But hey, I'm your friend, so check out these:
First one's free.