User:Rosie Walker/Sparkol

Sparkol

''This article is about the company, Sparkol (The Inspiration Engine limited). For information about Sparkol products, see VideoScribe.''

Sparkol was founded in 2008, by Jon Air, driver of the Inspiration Engine. The company, based in Somerset, United Kingdom, developed presentation and video creation software using Adobe Flash, and utilised visual metaphors to engage an audience and empower the creator to deliver their message in a unique and compelling format. The software enabled users to showcase their presentation in the form of a story with the audience moving from slides as a journey. The concept was to offer a template design in order to move away from the current method of presentation delivery, PowerPoint, and utilise story to deliver a more effective message.

History
Founded in 2008, Sparkol was developed to challenge traditional presentation styles. The aim was to empower users to create engaging ways to communicate. Early formulations of the product featured slides being shown during a bicycle ride or during a city tour with slides appearing on billboards and buildings as the audience travelled around the city. The vision to empower and enable users to present their ideas more effectively, however the early Sparkol products were not well received and subscription figures remained low. Sparkol Presentations is still available to the users who purchased the software, but at present it is not being developed further. Initially, Sparkol offices resided in the small village of Winscombe, Somerset, UK, although in 2010 operations were moved to Long Barn, Tickenham or “The Sparkol Barn” a name given to the offices by the Sparkol team.

Products
Sparkol created 4 presentation products over a 4 year period. The fourth product, Sparkol VideoScribe, has been more successful gaining worldwide recognition and usage within a few months. Growth is approximately 200% per month and this is sustained and increasing. VideoScribe is a move away from speaker led presentations to videos usually deployed online - the philosophy of empowering users to communicate in engaging ways remains.