Remotely controlled presentation?

March 13, 2008 3:06 PM

I need to make an oral presentation with slides (preferably PowerPoint) to a small audience (about 15) in a room in a neighboring country. What is the best way to achieve this requiring minimum effort on their end?

I was thinking a speaker phone and some software that allows me to remotely control Powerpoint? I have no idea if such software exists but though it was likely. I will be presenting from a fast connection at a company office that is well-equipped. They have the usual gear for people giving presentations in person (projector, fast laptop running Windows) and their connection is usually fast but not always so (its a University).

posted by zaebiz to computers & internet (11 comments total)

When we do slides over teleconference (which is often), we typically just say "okay, next slide' or "... and on slide 3, you'll see that..." Granted, this is government contractor powerpoint, not super fancy Steve Jobs powerpoint, so YMMV.
posted by olinerd at 3:14 PM on March 13, 2008

Yes, I concur with olinerd, I would just email or ftp the slide presentation to the other end, then let them display it while you talk about slides.
posted by thomas144 at 3:21 PM on March 13, 2008

You need a solution that works with the setup at your audience's end; you don't want to have to teach them to do new tricks or waste half an hour troubleshooting at the beginning. If they don't have a fancy setup for remote presenters, go low-tech. I would modify olinerd's suggestion slightly: First, number each slide. Send them a copy of the presentation let them project it, and then you can say "on Slide 1 ... now on Slide 2 ..." (rather than "next slide.. next slide..") and avoid the potential embarrassment of getting out of sync with your slides.
Anything fancier will require asking your audience to set up new software on their computer, and run the risk of problems with network connections, firewalls and who knows what else.
posted by nowonmai at 3:28 PM on March 13, 2008

We do this all the time.

There are a lot of Web Conferencing services out there, that allow you to connect to each other's computers via the Web.

Basically if you are the Host you would set up a "meeting" using the software and then "invite" your audience via e-mail. The e-mail is actually written by the software and includes a link for them that allows them to download the necessary software for them to be able to hook-up to your computer.

Once your computers are hooked up, you can set up your system to either Share your desktop (i.e. they will see on their screen what is on your computer), or for them to Share their computer (i.e. you will see what is on their computer).

Here is a link to Adobe's software, which gives you a 15-day free trial.
Link!

But as I said, there are TONS of companies out there. Just Google Web Conferencing!

If you have any questions, feel free to MeFi mail me.
posted by bitteroldman at 3:32 PM on March 13, 2008

I recommend using a teleconferencing software solution like Live Meeting or WebEx. I had to give remote presentations all the time at my at my previous job and both solutions were easy to use and were a lot more professional than asking the client to flip slides on their end.

Basically, the software provides a URL that your attendees can visit to view whatever is on your desktop. You can give a presentation, demo software, or do whatever you want. I think there are audio conferencing options too but we usually just used a standard conference call line.

It looks like WebEx has a free demo promo right now if you don't have the budget to subscribe to anything. Good luck!
posted by chicken nuglet at 3:38 PM on March 13, 2008

Prerecord the whole deal as a screencast and send it to them (even in the mail on a disk). Deal with post-presentation questions via the phone. This minimizes the number of things that can get screwed up.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 4:19 PM on March 13, 2008

If they have a projector / laptop / internet setup on the other end already, then web conferencing is a great way to go.

Try GoToMeeting. I haven't used GoToMeeting personally (not to host, anyway - I've attended GoToMeeting presentations that worked just fine)... but WebEx is expensive and their customer service is a nightmare.
posted by eleyna at 4:31 PM on March 13, 2008

Google Docs has a presentation powerpoint format which can be shared and then presented so that the presenter has control over the slides. You can give the presentation over the speaker phone and change the slides on your computer which changes the slides on their monitors.

Slight catch is that they have to turn off their screen saver or it will eventually pop up during the presentation.
posted by collocation at 4:36 PM on March 13, 2008

If this is going to be an ongoing need, you may want to consider something like one of these Bomgar applicances. I've been considering something like this for our help desk support. However it can probably be used to do remote presentations as well.

I know I sit in on lots of Webex presentations... so that one certainly works!
posted by purenitrous at 5:01 PM on March 13, 2008

We use NetMeeting (built into XP but hidden) frequently for PowerPoint and videoconferencing between sites within our organization. It requires setup on the far end and enough knowledge on each side to make the connection (e.g., address of remote machine, how to get through a firewall if applicable). You are making a direct connection between the host machine and the remote machine sharing out the desktop of one machine with the other. There can be some lag, but it probably won't be a major issue unless you're using animation or video. LiveMeeting, mentioned above, is the Vista version. Both NetMeeting and LiveMeeting have a VOIP option, but I've never used that because we found audio to be a bit dodgy over our network. We just use a conference phone.

Feel free to memail if you think I can be of any help.
posted by weebil at 9:08 PM on March 13, 2008

Thanks all. Going to give Webex a go as it is browser based, then try Google Docs and if they both fails, use the manual method. Tried Webex just now and looks good but need to check firewall issues etc.
posted by zaebiz at 9:13 PM on March 13, 2008