Conducting the Broadcast

Now that you've accessed your broadcast, audience members need to arrive as well. This is a simple process ”they just need to click the URL to the broadcast lobby page that you provided them in your broadcast invitation email.

A broadcast presentation won't look any different to you (the presenter) than if you were running a slide show on your computer. Just move through your presentation as you normally would, but remember to not go too quickly. It takes 10 “15 seconds for your clients to download each new page.

TIP

You might want to set up a nearby computer and log in as a participant so that you can see what your audience is actually seeing. Connect as your participants will connect ”either on a LAN or on the Internet. Based on tests, the time it takes for each slide to reach client systems varies from slow to really slow. Take your time and double-check to be sure that you aren't getting ahead of your audience.

To learn how to hold your audience's attention when you're not physically in front of them, see Chapter 29, "Presenting in a Variety of Settings," p. 673 .

What audiences see in a Web broadcast slide area (refer to Figure 18.7) is close to what they would see if they were actually looking at your screen in person. PowerPoint's pen and pointer features don't work over presentation broadcasts. However, if you want to use them, consider switching to an online meeting, which does support them. It's best to just go with a simple design and format when using presentation broadcasts. You can go back and forth through the slides in your presentation using your Page Up and Page Down (or Space and Backspace) keys as you normally would.

Can't connect to the broadcast ? See the " Troubleshooting " section near the end of the chapter.

Ending the Broadcast

When you've finished your broadcast, just press Esc to end it. (If any questions have been emailed during your presentation, you might want to answer them verbally before you wrap things up.) You'll be asked to confirm your decision to end the broadcast. Your audience will be sent back to the presentation lobby page, which will tell them that the presentation has ended.