Common questions for sharing a presentation in a teaching venue
When sharing your presentation in a lecture theatre or teaching venue on campus, here are some tips based on what we have seen people are trying to do.
If you want to show PowerPoint slides on the main projector screen but still want to have the opportunity to keep open Zoom, Teams, or other chat tools, etc so that you can engage with any remote/online students, there are essentially two ways of doing this:
1. Mirror/Duplicate
You can mirroring or 'duplicating' the screen so that what shows on the lectern monitor is exactly what shows on the projector. This is the default setting in teaching venues on campus.
1.1. Know your shortcuts - Windows + Tab
In this case, if you are in PowerPoint, it will take over the whole screen of course, but you can, from time to time, switch back and forth to the Teams/Zoom/Padlet, etc, window by pressing Windows+Tab which will let you hop in to any running application, and back again by repeating that key press.
This will enable you to see all your open applications.
2. Extending Desktop
By using 'extended desktop' which treats the projector as a second monitor and lets you drag things between the lectern monitor and the projector. However, we do note that for many people , dragging windows over to the projector is a real pain (literally, in the neck!) as well as messy in terms of keeping track of the mouse/cursor.
If you want to show the PowerPoint slideshow on the main projector screen but have other stuff on the lectern monitor, there is an easier way of doing this!! Read on to find out how.
2.1. Extend the screen
On the Novell Application launcher window in the lecture theatre, you will see an Extend Display option:
Click to select the Extend Desktop option.
2.2. Open Powerpoint
Open up PowerPoint as normal, but before you present the slideshow look at the options for Slideshow along the menu/ribbon.
You will see one option labelled 'Monitor' and if you already have the Extend Desktop option running, this will give you a drop-down menu with two monitors, the 'primary monitor' being that of the lectern PC and the other one (varies in terms of what it is called, but usually has a 'monitor 2' or similar label) which corresponds to the Projector.
If you select this second monitor, when you start the slideshow, the full slides will only show up on the Projector screen. You will still have all the windows you want available to you on the lectern monitor.
2.3. Presenter View (optional)
Remember too that you can use PowerPoint Presenter View (i.e. show the current slide, any notes/script you have and the next slide that's coming up) turned on or off.
Select the little tick-box option to enable it
If you have Presenter View on and it suddenly takes over the whole of the lectern monitor, don't panic! Look at the top right hand corner of the screen and you will see the usual little window icons and you can click on those to change from full screen to a resizable window, which you can make whatever size you want by clicking and dragging the corners or sides of the window.
The lectern PC will then show your slides and notes.
This will allow you to have Presenter View in a little window on its own, on the lectern monitor, and have other tools you are using in their windows there too with the main slideshow showing on the Projector to the students in the room.
This sounds complicated but actually is quite easy if you just try it out in one of the venues.
Sharing other applications
If you want to have other software showing on the projector screen and find dragging windows across the 'extended desktop' to be messy, then remember that Windows has some built in shortcuts to do this.
Windows + >
If you press the Windows key plus the right/left arrow buttons, whichever application you are currently using will have it's window move over from one side of the monitor to the other and by repeated key pressses move over to the projector screen.
Windows + Arrow Keys
Once on the projector display, you can press Windows+ up arrow to make the window 'maximised' (full-screen), and Windows+ down arrow to shrink back into its window. Again, this sounds more complicated than it (honestly!) is. It just means that you don't need to drag stuff around and crane your neck etc.
Watch a video
Want a more advanced guide? See https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-split-screen-on-windows?r=USIR=T)
Further Troubleshooting
Ensure the application is open before you share in MS Teams/Zoom.
If you are sharing or recording the presentation, then remember in whichever tool you are using (Zoom or Teams) to chose the right 'share' amongst the options that might appear.
If you want to share a PowerPoint slideshow, make sure that you have it already 'presenting' (ie with the full slide showing), and share that full slide slideshow screen that corresponds to the projector display, within your remote presentation application (e.g in Zoom or Teams).
One mistake people make is to share the PowerPoint window (the one that has all the editing functions, the slides down the left and a slide in the middle). If you do that then students will only see that window even if you then click on start slideshow/present. Also, any recording you make will only capture your voice, and the application slide screen.
To resolve:
You need to have started the slideshow (i.e. View slideshow) first before sharing, to avoid this problem.
Want to share a video?
If you have video or a file with audio that you want to share to remote/online students or capture in the recording, say from a YouTube video, then each of the conferencing tools (Zoom/Teams) requires you to choose 'share system audio' (or ‘share sound’, or similar wording) for this to work.
