Cool Presentation Gear

As already noted in this book, what matters is what you're saying in your presentation. But there is a variety of hardware and software that can make giving the presentation easier, more convenient , or both.

Cool hardware

The first bit of hardware that should be on your list is a laser pointer . These handy items are perfect for drawing the audience's attention to a part of your slide, and are essential if you will be doing a demonstration on the computer as well as the slideshow. They are widely available for as little as $10. I think that the $100 lasers with a green beam are especially cool, but that's because I'm a presentation geek.

One of the drawbacks to doing presentations with a computer is that you are usually tied to the location of the computer. For some presenters, especially people who are more comfortable if they can move around as they speak, a remote control is the answer. These units consist of a handheld control and some kind of receiver that usually connects to your computer via the USB port. Some remote controls use infrared as the connection between the handheld unit and the receiver, and others use RF (Radio Frequency). Infrared remotes require a line of sight between you and the receiver, and the remote can control your computer from a distance of between 20 and 30 feet. RF controllers can work even if you can't see the computer (they can even work through walls), and have a slightly greater range, up to 40 feet.

There are many remote controls available, starting at about $50 and zooming up to as much as $120. The two remote controls most commonly used in the Mac market are both made by Keyspan (www.keyspan.com). The $40 infrared Digital Media Remote ( Figure 12.1 ) can control almost any application on the Mac, including Keynote, iTunes, the DVD player, PowerPoint, and many more. The Keyspan Presentation Remote ( Figure 12.2 ), an RF device that sells for $60, has a joystick-like touchpad that provides full mouse control, and includes a laser pointer.

Figure 12.1. The Keyspan Digital Media Remote lets you control Keynote, among many other programs.

Figure 12.2. Keyspan's Presentation Remote has a touchpad that allows mouse movement, and includes a laser pointer.

You might already have a remote control for your Mac in your pocket, without even knowing it. If you have a Sony Ericsson, Motorola, or Nokia cellular phone with Bluetooth capability, you can use it as a remote control for Keynote and many other programs on your Mac with the help of a terrific software package called Salling Clicker (see "Cool software," on the next page). Bluetooth connections are good for about 30 feet from your Macintosh, and they do not require line of sight.

If you need to transport your presentation between computers, you can burn it onto a CD, or you can use a USB flash drive . These units are about as long as your thumb, and plug into any USB port. They provide between 32MB and 1GB of storage, with no moving parts , and are powered by your computer. When you plug the flash drive into your computer, it shows up on the desktop, just as any other drive does. I put my presentation files on mine as a backup, so I know that even if my PowerBook dies, the show can go on with a borrowed computer. If you have an iPod shuffle, which is a USB flash drive, you can reserve some of its capacity for your files.

Cool software

There are a few software packages that can enhance the presentation process or work around some of Keynote's limitations:

• Salling Clicker , from Salling Software (www.salling.com), is a great program that allows you to use your Sony Ericsson, Motorola, or Nokia mobile phone with Bluetooth to remotely control a wide range of applications, including Keynote and PowerPoint. The program uses AppleScript to control programs, so the more scriptable an application is, the more that Salling Clicker can do with it ( Figure 12.3 ). The included scripts for Keynote let you play a presentation, go to the first, last, previous, or next slide; or toggle the screen to black.

  Figure 12.3. Salling Clicker lets you use your Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone as a remote control.

  

  
  

  The nice thing about using your cell phone as a remote control, of course, is that you don't have to carry around a separate remote control. You can even get a little laser pointer that snaps onto some Sony Ericsson phones. Talk about multitasking!

• KeyWebX (www.keywebx.com) doesn't help you give a presentation, but it can help you share the presentation with people who are unable to make it to your talk ( Figure 12.4 ). It is a small utility that takes PDF or QuickTime files generated by Keynote, then slices them into separate JPEG images and builds simple HTML pages that you can then use on the Web. A companion program, KeyShowX, allows you to control one or more Keynote presentations from remote computers over a network.

  Figure 12.4. You can turn your presentations into simple Web pages with KeyWebX.

  

  
  

• iPresent It lets you skip using Keynote altogether to give your presentation—if you have an iPod Photo and you don't mind a presentation that is only a series of still images without animations. iPresent It converts your Keynote presentation into JPEG files and sends them to iPhoto, which then syncs them to your iPod Photo. You hook your iPod Photo up to a television or a projector, and you can step through your slides. You can find iPresent It at www.zapptek.com.

Tip

• You'll find some other useful utilities for Keynote by going to VersionTracker (www. versiontracker .com) and doing a search for Keynote.