Laptops Desktops Monitors & LCDs Graphics Cards Handhelds Phones Software Networks Printers More »
search
AnchorDesk

David Coursey
Tech tools for creating killer presentations

David Coursey
Executive Editor, AnchorDesk
Wednesday, January 22, 2003
TalkBack!Add your opinion
One of the things that separate us serious road warriors from normal people, besides all our unused frequent-flyer miles, is the stand-up speech. If your company thinks enough of you to send you to Anchorage in December, it's probably because you know how to make a good presentation. (Try to forget that Alaska is as close to Siberia as North America gets.)

So today I have a few tools and tips for you mobile presenters.

I WANT TO START WITH a gadget that's the single best piece of presentation hardware I've seen in several years. You no doubt know about those handheld remote controls that allow you to control a PowerPoint presentation. Most of them aren't worth the space they take in your computer bag.

But recently, my friend Ernie Mariette, the technical God behind most of my onstage presentations and tech support guy for some of the industry's best-known speakers, found a gadget he liked enough to bring over to the house to show me. It's the RemotePoint Navigator wireless presentation control from Interlink Electronics

The key features: First, it's wireless and uses radio control with a unique code, which avoids interference from other units. You can use it anywhere within 50 feet of your PC and not worry about the line-of-sight issues that plague the infrared controls most people still use. Radio control is also a big plus if you're working on a brightly lit stage where you can't see the PC that's running the show; simply being freed from having to point the remote at the PC is important. How many times have we seen a speaker click and click away, trying to make the remote control start working again?

The Navigator has a single large button that can be rocked four ways. I've seen other remotes with lots of small buttons that, while they had more features, were also more prone to mistakes. The Navigator's one big button allows you to move forward, backward, and to darken the screen (think mute for PowerPoint) when you want the audience to pay attention to you instead of the slides, all from a single control.

That button also lets you control the Navigator's built-in laser pointer. For those who feel lost without such a pointer, the Navigator essentially gives you an extra hand--no more juggling the remote control with one hand and the laser pointer with the other.

The Navigator is also palm-sized and coated with a rubbery-feeling paint for better grip. The only change I would make in the excellent ergonomics is to make the device entirely black, losing the silver trim and button, so it would be less likely to "flash" the audience when moved around in stage lighting. Of course, that would make it less attractive in the box at retail, so this is one change I'm unlikely to get (and probably shouldn't).

See it yourself--hands-on demos of the latest in mobile tech:


 Clie cleans up on features

 MS Media Center goes mobile
 Microsoft plays Media2Go

 Intel's mobile Centrino chip
THERE ARE OTHER, more complex remote controls available. Ernie particularly likes a device called the GyroRemote from Gyration. For $179, it gives you cursor control and 100-foot range, but lacks the graceful simplicity of the Navigator. Gyration also includes software for screen markup with the GyroRemote, which is useful for experienced presenters.

But the GyroRemote only puts the Navigator's advantages in a better light. With the GyroRemote, you actually have to press a trigger plus several buttons to get some functions. If you use it enough, that's probably fine--but only if you really need the added functionality. By contrast, the Navigator is unobtrusive; its simplicity is a big plus.

I'd hoped to be able to recommend a presentation software package for PC people who find Microsoft PowerPoint to be more than they need. Once upon a time, there were several; apparently that's no longer the case. If you have a presentation package you like more than PowerPoint, let me know in TalkBack.

Then there's the question of how you transport your presentation, once it's created. If you don't use Microsoft software, you'll have to present from your own machine anyway. But at many events, organizers have a single machine from which they run all the presentations. That means you need to bring a copy of yours on a disk of some sort--ideally, both a CD-ROM and a floppy (assuming your magnum opus will fit on the latter). If ever there was an application for those USB silicon "hard drives" that are so widely advertised, this is it.

BUT THE SOFTWARE and hardware are secondary. The primary ingredient is the speaker--you.

The most common presentation mistakes are to simply read the PowerPoint slides or to let the slides become the focal point, rather than simply an illustration of the presentation. The speaker and his or her ideas should be what people remember, not the slides. (You can always turn the latter into handouts so people have a takeaway to refer to.) My feeling is that fewer slides are better. Video or audio can be good things, but animation for its own sake takes away from the speaker. Plus, the latter is usually handled so clumsily, it's not worth the bother.

Another tip: Beware of cluttered screens. Check in advance to see that the font you want to project will actually be legible in the back of the room. This varies with the size, resolution, and even brightness of the projector you're using so I can't offer a simple guideline, but use 30 points or better and you'll probably be fine. (Don't blame me if it isn't.) One nice thing about larger fonts: They reduce the tendency to make your slides do too much work by crowding them with content.

No matter how good your hardware, no matter how clever your patter, no presentation is worth the audience's time if you don't have something important to say and have the ability to present it in an engaging manner. While tools and tricks can help, this is really a software problem--on the computer that sits between your ears.

What do you think? What are your favorite tips and tricks for effective presentations? TalkBack to me! 

  Next Story 

Special sponsor stores

Virtualization

advertisement
Click Here