Synchronised Slides! Should they be automatic? Are they a thing of the past?

I recently stumbled back across a LinkedIn conversation I was part of titled ‘is there a future for synchronised slides?’ The conversation prompted me to have another think about the Connect product, how the slides are displayed, used, how the slides are captured and what experience this gives the viewer, as well as the operator facilitating the video and slide webcast.

While those who took part in the conversation agreed that slide integration and synchronisation was vital to the impact of the webcast, no one mentioned how the slides are captured, instead the thread of comments concentrated on how the slides were presented to the viewer. Nonetheless, how slides are captured is important to product owners and managers and there are a number of points worth thinking about:-

• Slides can provide index points in the video/presentation, so for on-demand content they represent a reference point
• Using images to represent slides saves on bandwidth
• Slide text can be used for SEO
• Slides can in some cases be more interesting than the speaker (can they also be more informative?)

A professional speaker can rely heavily on their presentation, so the slides are often as important to the storytelling as the narrator. In fact the slides sometimes increase the impact of what the presenter is saying to the audience. If this is the case, presentations need to be timed perfectly to increase the live engagement both at the venue and on the webcast. Presenting the slides clearly next to the speaker is important and has to engage the viewer and give them a unique user experience. This is evident with in the webinar market, where the slides are equal to the video, and this also rings true within the education or CPD field, as the slides hold the intelligence.

At Public-i we have known this for some time and believe the Connect player handles the points above very well. The slides act as an index point through the timeline, they can be shown full screen and are displayed clearly next to the video. However, what we have discovered is that sometimes the presentations aren’t being shown because the slides aren’t available pre-live webcast to load into the content creation software (Webcaster).

So we have come up with an automatic function that enables the slides to be sent to the viewer automatically as the speaker moves them on. This is a unique and very powerful feature of our Studio product. Essentially, the presentation device within the room is connected to the webcasting hardware. From there Webcaster picks up the input and converts the content into images and, once the live meeting is taking place, each time the slide changes Webcaster notices and sends an updated image, generating a time stamp for the on-demand version.

If you would like to know more about how we can implement this for you, please get in touch.  You can call 01273 821 282 or email info@public-i.info.