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> Presentations from computers still look lame. The audience usually sees the presenter's desktop while they futz with the computer, then enter PowerPoint. 1.

> Presentations from computers still look lame. The audience usually sees the presenter's desktop while they futz with the computer, then enter PowerPoint. 1. Unplug VGA/HDMI cable 2. Do all of the futzing 3. Plug VGA/HDMI cable This is a solved technical problem. That people can't be bothered is the real problem.

kevhito 10y ago
Alternative if you present regularly: 1. Enable "extended destkop", rather than "mirror desktop". 2. Select an appropriate wallpaper, or just black.
- digi_owl 10y ago
  Best i can tell, presenters use mirror so that they can see their own slides on the screen while talking. Frankly i think a seldom talked about Android feature may be a better solution. https://developer.android.com/about/versions/android-4.2.html#SecondaryDisplays https://developer.android.com/about/versions/android-4.2.htm...
  - anc84 10y ago
    Any presentation tool worth using has a presenter mode where on your primary display you see things like the current slide, your notes, a timer, the upcoming slide, etc.
  - semi-extrinsic 10y ago
    I think PowerPoint already does this; Keynote's had it for ages, and I've done it on Linux with Beamer a few years back. You have presenter's notes with a small slide preview on the screen in front of you, actual slides on the big screen. These days I run my presentations in reveal.js (HTML5), so the output is trivially cross-platform and videos, 3D content etc. always work flawlessly. This also has speaker notes, implemented as two browser windows (one for each screen) with linked controls.
zackbloom 10y ago
You have to consider how the computer reconfigures itself every time you add or remove a display device.
TeMPOraL 10y ago
Except half of the time your OS does weird-ass things in step 3, displays the wrong part of the screen, wrong resolution, crashes the app, etc. It's better now than it used to be, but then again a lot of presenters don't use bleeding-edge hardware with most recent & fully updated OS.

kevhito 10y ago

Alternative if you present regularly: 1. Enable "extended destkop", rather than "mirror desktop". 2. Select an appropriate wallpaper, or just black.

digi_owl 10y ago
Best i can tell, presenters use mirror so that they can see their own slides on the screen while talking. Frankly i think a seldom talked about Android feature may be a better solution. https://developer.android.com/about/versions/android-4.2.html#SecondaryDisplays https://developer.android.com/about/versions/android-4.2.htm...
- anc84 10y ago
  Any presentation tool worth using has a presenter mode where on your primary display you see things like the current slide, your notes, a timer, the upcoming slide, etc.
- semi-extrinsic 10y ago
  I think PowerPoint already does this; Keynote's had it for ages, and I've done it on Linux with Beamer a few years back. You have presenter's notes with a small slide preview on the screen in front of you, actual slides on the big screen. These days I run my presentations in reveal.js (HTML5), so the output is trivially cross-platform and videos, 3D content etc. always work flawlessly. This also has speaker notes, implemented as two browser windows (one for each screen) with linked controls.

zackbloom 10y ago

You have to consider how the computer reconfigures itself every time you add or remove a display device.

TeMPOraL 10y ago

Except half of the time your OS does weird-ass things in step 3, displays the wrong part of the screen, wrong resolution, crashes the app, etc. It's better now than it used to be, but then again a lot of presenters don't use bleeding-edge hardware with most recent & fully updated OS.