Using the presenter view

PowerPoint has a very nice feature that allows you to see your presentation (and speaker notes) on your monitor while the audience only sees the slides.

To use this feature your computer has to connect to at least two monitors or a monitor and a projector.

Clicking the title above will take you to a Microsoft page to show you how to do this. Where I work, I must take my laptop to class since the computers in the classroom don't know that there is a projector in the room.

I connect my laptop to the VGA connector and a sound cable to the sound input and then I can use the presenter view.

Having the speaker notes available helps me since each slide has minimum text on it.

While using the presenter view you also have complete control of your computer so you can get to other files or programs without disrupting the show.

Notice that there is a timer to show you how long you have been talking and a clock that shows the current time.

You can adjuct the font size of the speaker notes by clicking the + or - icons to the right of the word Zoom.


It is worth the pain of lugging your notebook to enjoy this feature.  Also you know your notebook. You may be surprised if you try to show your presentation on unfamiliar hardware.

John