Presenter-To-Go

When the Handspring Visor first hit the market with its innovative expansion slot, I must admit my simple mind saw little use for it beyond adding additional memory and software applications (not that this isn't a great, as adding memory really is what most users will take advantage of). So it has been with a keen interest that I have watched the flow of Springboard add-ons hit the market like the mp3 player, digital camera and cell phone, as with each one my initial reaction is "cool, I wonder what they will come out with next."

One of the newest Springboard modules (and one of the ones I was able to get my curious little hands on) is the Presenter-to-Go module from Margi Systems. The idea behind this module is to allow you to use your Visor to display PowerPoint presentations using a monitor or overhead projector. Since hardly a week goes by without my having to sit through a PowerPoint presentation of some sort, the concept seemed intriguing (although it struck me as a little gimmicky, so I was certainly somewhat less than sold on the $299 price tag).

In the Box

The Presenter-to-Go module comes with everything you will need to display your presentations, including a 12 inch adapter cable (which connects the device to the monitor or projector), A/C adapter, and a remote control that lets you control your presentation using the IR port of your Visor. I found the remote to be particularly useful not only because it frees you from having to stay in one spot, but also because at 12 inches, the adapter cable is way too short, pretty much requiring a user to sit right next to the monitor or projector.

The module requires a desktop component to synchronize presentations to the handheld that is included in the package on a CD-ROM. Once installed, it adds a button to your toolbar in PowerPoint that you simply click to create a version of your presentation for the Visor. Once a file has been created, you can schedule it to be transferred to the device using the desktop conduit. As a brief aside, while most of this discussion revolves around PowerPoint, it is also possible to create presentations or individual slides in applications like Excel or Word and use those as well. Rather than having a toolbar button, this is accomplished by printing the pages you want to a Presenter-to-Go file that can then be transferred using the desktop conduit as well.

Using the Module

Getting the actual module working took a little time, as it is not simply plug-and-play like most Visor modules. Upon inserting card into the back of my Visor, I was surprised to see absolutely nothing happen and for no icon to appear on my device. After repeating the process a few times (like that might help - I'm the kind of guy that presses the elevator button multiple times too, thinking it might come faster) I set off into the trusty manual to find that in order to get the module to work the first time on a device, it must all be connected and plugged in. Why this is, who knows, but sure enough, once I connected the adapter cable and power cord things worked normally.

The default presentation that comes with the module is quite good and is a great tutorial on how to use Presenter-to-Go. I spent some time going through this at the outset (of course not because I was being methodical about reading the instructions, but I was dying to see the module in action and this seemed like the quickest way) and found that after reading it, I pretty much knew all the ins and outs of managing presentations on my handheld.

My next step was to start transferring a few of the presentations I had on my computer to my Visor and put the module through its paces. The module itself comes with 2MB of memory that, according to the manual will store about 100 slides. However, when you first move presentations to the device, they are stored on the main Visor memory and you have to use a utility (that comes with the Presenter-to-Go) to move them to the module. For my purposes, having them use the Visor's memory was fine, but I suppose if you were low on memory or you figured you might have more than one person using the Presenter-to-Go module no different devices, storing presentations on the card itself might be useful. The one caveat is that, unlike other Springboard modules, to see things on the card, the power cord must be connected which is kind of a pain.

Managing Presentations on Your Device

Once you have the presentation on your device, managing and displaying it is pretty straightforward. If you have connected the module to a monitor or projector, tapping the first slide in the list sets things in motion. Using either the stylus or the up/down buttons on the Visor you can advance to the next slide or back up to the previous slide (as mentioned before, the remote control also allows you to do all this as well as long as you are within range (8 feet seemed to be about the limit for me) and that there is a clear path between the remote and the IR port on the Visor. You can also set up your presentation to automatically advance to the next slide after a certain amount of time has passed.

In terms of the quality of the display, I frankly couldn't really tell the difference between slides shown using Presenter-to-Go and those displayed directly in PowerPoint (the module support 1024x768 resolution and 8-bit color). Serious PowerPoint users might be disappointed by the lack of support for animation, but I can't say I missed it personally (or that I would miss it if other people didn't use it for that matter).

Once the presentations are on the Visor, you can manage your presentation by selecting which slides you want to appear (all are selected by default but you could choose not to show some if you wanted) and in which order they should be displayed (if different from the order they were in in the original PowerPoint file). You can also see notes that are attached to slides, although unfortunately, it is not possible to see the contents of the slides themselves on the devices.

When viewing a presentation, there is a bit of a lag between slides as the device prepares the next one in the queue. Realistically, this shouldn't be a problem since it only is a few seconds and you would spend much more than that talking through any one slide on your presentation. It only really came to my attention as I was playing with the remote control and showing a few colleagues how I could do PowerPoints on my Visor.

It is also possible to beam presentations using the IR port, but unless the recipient has the Presenter-to-Go software on their device they can't receive the file. This makes the whole beaming thing seem kind of pointless. What would be more useful is if I could beam the slides to another handheld and they could at least synchronize them to their desktop and view them there.

Conclusion

After toying with the Presenter-to-Go module, I have to admit it really grew on me. The price still seems a little steep for the average user but I could certainly see where people that travel a fair amount to make presentations or instructors that use PowerPoint a fair amount would warm to the idea of not having to tote a laptop around. In addition to being lighter, it also doesn't take forever to boot up and seems far less likely to crash mid-presentation than a laptop. It is also the kind of thing a department could have one or two of and let people sign them out only when they needed them rather than equip everyone with expensive laptops or having desktops installed everywhere there is a projector.