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Projectors with a MBP

D

drdeputy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 17, 2009
11
0
I do PowerPoints for a conference once yearly. Until now, I've used a Windows laptop to control the various PP's that the speakers hand me, often at the last moment. There's an easy way to blank the screen in Win computers so that the audience doesn't see you setting things up, manipulating things or otherwise looking foolish until you are ready to begin the next slideshow presentation. Typically it's the [Fn F4] combo that alternates between laptop, screen or both on a PC. I find NO easy way to do that with my Mac. I used it for the first time at this year's conference and it was a near disaster. I'm aware of the screen mirroring on/off option, but that's not really ideal either.

Is there a simple hardware toggle that will blank the projected screen image while you do setup work on your laptop? Sadly, while designing Powerpoints or Keynotes is great, my MacBookPro doesn't appear to be too friendly when it gets to the nuts and bolts of actually running the presentation.

TIA
 
wow that "b" and "w" thing is cool.
going to try in powerpoint and keynote.

your mbp is perfect for presentations, if you have the remote.
 
gauchogolfer said:
The Apple remote that may or may not have come with your MBP, depending when you purchased it. They are about $19 at the Apple Store, IIRC.

Edit: here's a link: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA128G/B?fnode=MTY1NDA2OA&mco=MjE0NzU3MQ
Click to expand...

Thanks.....one did not come with my MBP, but I seem to recall having gotten what looks like the same thing with an iPod accessory (Apple branded). I do give the speaker a USB-dongle type presenter so they can control their own show as far as advancing the slides. I don't know if this remote does something different than that or not....
 
You should check out the new feature on keynote. If i remember rite, you can use an iphone or ipod to change slides as well as have a preview of the next slide on your ipod/phone so you can have smoother transitions.
 
I use iPhone remotes that require wifi for keynote. They only work if the wifi connection is rockstar. (they really need bluetooth.)

Either way, the white apple remote is great and totally reliable. I use the one that came with my wife's iMac 3 years ago. lol. (I run a UMBP)

I'm in education and give 3-4 int'l presentations a year (aside from 20 a week in my lessons). I'll never go back to PP. (I have '07)

Learn to prep, it doesn't look unprofessional to simply plug in at a conference when the time is right. That's what everybody does. We all share rooms.
 
benlangdon said:
wow that "b" and "w" thing is cool.
going to try in powerpoint and keynote.

your mbp is perfect for presentations, if you have the remote.
Click to expand...

The B and W do work well to blank the screen, but they don't give you control back on the laptop, so only part of what I needed.
 
ndstrenge said:
I use iPhone remotes that require wifi for keynote. They only work if the wifi connection is rockstar. (they really need bluetooth.)

Either way, the white apple remote is great and totally reliable. I use the one that came with my wife's iMac 3 years ago. lol. (I run a UMBP)

I'm in education and give 3-4 int'l presentations a year (aside from 20 a week in my lessons). I'll never go back to PP. (I have '07)

Learn to prep, it doesn't look unprofessional to simply plug in at a conference when the time is right. That's what everybody does. We all share rooms.
Click to expand...

Just to start things off, plugging in the projector might be ok, but I'd be doing that between every speaker and re-detecting displays, etc. That's the part that would be clumsy and unprofessional (to me, anyway).

I'm working my way through the Allan White tutorial right now and it may give me what I need. As I mentioned early, for some speakers, I don't get their presentation until minutes before they are 'live' and the vast majority are PowerPoints, some of which don't port perfectly to Keynote (or at all) with embedded video and other little curveballs, so I have to deal with that 'on the fly'. It gets very hectic quickly, so the more things I can have smoothed out in advance, the better off I am. It's not like I have one presentation in the can and just need to show it....it's quite a bit more 'live' than that!

Thanks to everyone for the information.....

Forrest
 
Solved, basically.....

I'd consider the situation solved.

Using the tutorial and an additional monitor, I can deal with the dual monitor concept, with the projector being the additional monitor. You can have any screen you want, either just blank and black or your organization's logo for example that would show whenever you aren't actually doing your presentation. It works with either PP or Keynote which is important because most of the presentations were created on a Windows-installed version of PP, some of which are compatible with neither Keynote nor even the Office for Mac version.

I'll not hesitate to take my Mac to next year's conference and will be more prepared and more resolved that I can make everything work well AND look prefessional.

Thanks again.....
 
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