Get Started with Adobe Presenter 6 when using PowerPoint
Adobe Presenter 6 is an add-in product for Microsoft PowerPoint. It allows you to convert your PowerPoint presentations into web ready Flash format movies for inclusion on your website, or as stand-alone, CD-based presentations.
Adobe Presenter can be purchased through the PSU Computer Store.
You can also listen and view a published presenation on Adobe Presenter: What is and Why would I use it?
Before You Begin
Before you begin working with Presenter, you need to have a completed PowerPoint presentation with a script written in the notes section. This PowerPoint presentation needs to be saved in 97-2003 format. If your PowerPoint has animations, they should carry over and be present in your Presenter final production. If you included audio, the audio may not carry over. We recommend that you re-record any audio in Presenter to be sure that you will not have audio problems.
To get a better understanding of Adobe Presenter, we will look at and discuss the features and functions available from the Adobe Presenter ribbon.
Below is the Adobe Presenter ribbon that you will see once you have Adobe Presenter installed. It will either appear as a seperate tab or it maybe listed under the Add-Ins tab. If you do not see this tab, you should reinstall Adobe Presenter.
Preferences Button
We need to set our Presenter preferences. These preferences will control all of your Adobe Presenter productions. In PowerPoint, from the Adobe Presenter tab, click the Preferences button.
Presenters Tab
The first tab is where you provide information about the presenters. The presenter's photo and information can appear along with the presentation. You can create multiple presenters, so long as each has a unique presenter name. John Smith and John T. Smith, even though they may be the same person are considered two different presenters in Adobe Presenter.
To add a new presenter, click the “Add” button. The presenter information dialog box will appear. You can supply as much or as little information as you choose. Even if you enter information here, you can elect to not make it public in different presentations (covered in the theme editor section). If you choose to use a photo or department/college logo, you can browse to those file locations and include them. When Adobe Presenter creates the movie, the images will be embedded into the movie.
If you have multiple presenters, you can edit their data by clicking the “Edit” button and updating or changing the information. To delete a presenter, select them and click the “Delete” button.
Quality Tab
The Quality tab allows you to select the image and audio quality that you want to use for the presentation. Remember that the higher the quality you select, the larger the file size and the longer the download time.
By default, Adobe Presenter will stream your presentation. This means that the presentation will begin to download, but will not begin to play until approximately 60% has been downloaded. If you know that your intended audience will be connecting via modem or other slow connection, you can select the check box at the bottom to force Adobe Presenter to wait until the entire file is downloaded before playing.
Servers Tab
At this time, there is no provision for posting your Presenter movies to the Adobe Connect server. We are recommending that your presentations be created and then made accessible through your personal or departmental web space.
Audio Source Tab
The Audio Source tab is for selecting your audio source. The default selection is a microphone (which is what we’ll use to add audio to your presentation), but you can choose to use a line in connection if you are importing audio from a CD or other source that is external to your computer. We recommend that you leave the option box checked for checking your microphone level. Further, we recommend that if you will be doing your own recording, a good-quality headset will allow you to get good audio capture.
When you have set your preferences, click Close.
Presenter allows you to customize the look of your presentation. The theme editor allows you to do that easily and quickly. The theme editor is dynamic, so as you change things, your changes will appear live in the preview window. In PowerPoint, from the Adobe Presenter tab, click the Theme button.
Theme Name
You can select from any number of pre-designed themes to apply to your presentation. You can also customize a theme and then save it for later use.
To edit an existing theme:
- Select a theme from the list in the “Theme name” box
- Click “Change Theme Colors…”, and edit any of the colors that you like
- When finished editing, click the OK button
- To save the new theme, click “Save as…” and enter a new theme name into the text box
- Your new theme will now be saved and available for use with other presentations
To change the names of the tabs or any other text labels:
- Click the “Text labels…” button
- For example, if you wanted to change the title of the “Notes” pane to “Slide Text”, you would find the button/label for “Notes tab text” and enter “Slide Text” into the Custom text column
- Click the OK button when you are finished
General Options
Still in the Theme Editor dialog box, the general options allow you to select what and how panes will appear in the final presentation. There are 4 basic panes: outline, thumbnail, notes and search.
- Outline Pane - provides the end user with a list of the slides in order as they appear in the presentation, along with their title and duration. The user can select any slide at any time from the outline to jump to that slide. This provides a non-linear option to the user.
- Thumbnail Pane - presents thumbnails of each of the slides. Like the outline pane, the user can jump to any other slide in the presentation.
- Notes Pane - allows you to include the speaker notes, or other notes, about each slide. Speaker notes from the original PowerPoint will automatically be included in the notes pane for each slide.
- Search Pane - allows the user to search the presentation for keywords or other information.
The Default Pane on Startup menu allows you to select which tab (Outline, Thumbs, Notes, or Search) will appear by default.
The Location of Layout menu allows you to place the panes, title, presenter information and bio/contact information on either the left or right side of the main presentation window.
The Default Mode on Startup menu allows you to select which mode you want to appear at startup. Default is the main presentation window and the panes displayed; Full screen is where only the main presentation window and a small control panel are visible.
Presenter Options
You can selectively choose what information about the presenter will appear in the final presentation. By un-checking each box, you can remove that piece of information from the slides. Changes made here will apply to all presenters in the presentation.
When you have set your preferences, click OK.
Presentation Button
These settings found under the Presentation Button will apply to this presentation only and will not affect any other Adobe Presenter presentations. The presentation settings box has three tabs: Settings, attachments and Flash files.
Settings Tab
The Settings tab is where you enter the title for this particular presentation. It can be the same as the title on the opening slide, or it can be any other descriptive name that you choose. The summary box allows you to describe what the content of the presentation is, and how it may be used.
The next series of checkboxes allow you to set presentation options. You can have the presentation auto play upon opening; have it include slide numbers in the outline view; have the movie pause after each animation; and have the presentation loop (best used for kiosk presentations or other unattended shows). The last option is this tab allows you to select the amount of time that a slide that does not contain audio will display before moving on. The default is 5 seconds. Slides with audio will display as long as the audio plays.
Attachments Tab
On the Attachments tab, you can attach files you want to include with the presentation. An attachment may be detailed speaker notes or other supplemental material. Another example would be an Excel spreadsheet that was used in the presentation so that participants have a copy from which to work.
Flash Files Tab
If you have included any Flash files in your presentation, you can select the Flash files tab to choose how you want Adobe Presenter to control them.
When you have set your preferences, click OK.
Slide Button
The Slide Properties dialog box allows you to adjust certain properties for each slide. For example, the presentation may have different presenters for different slides. By using the slide properties dialog box, you can select the particular presenter who is speaking in that slide.
When you open the slide properties dialog box, a thumbnail of each slide in the presentation appears. You will see the slide title, the navigation name (if any), how the slide advances, who the presenter is for that slide, where you go to from this slide and if there is any video associated with this slide.
To edit a slide, click the Edit… button in the lower left hand corner. The Edit Slide Properties dialog will appear.
The Slide Title will automatically be picked up from the PowerPoint slide. The Navigation name can be used to more clearly define the slide. For example, you may use the same title on multiple slides where you are displaying a series of bullets. Slide 2, 3 and 4 may all be titled Types, but you would want the navigation name to be different: perhaps Type1, Type2 and Type3.
If you are creating a non-linear presentation, you can specify which slide the user navigates to from this slide. Select the slide from the Goto Slide drop-down menu (this is where the navigation name can be very useful).
The Video box allows you to include “talking head” video. Perhaps you want to show a short video (10-30 seconds) to better illustrate the contents of the slide. You can include a short video which will appear in the header section (where the presenter information normally appears). The video will play on its own and then close.
From the Presenter drop-down, you can select which presenter is speaking on this slide, or you can eliminate the presenter all together from this slide. If you want to allow the user to advance to the next slide, check the “Advance by user” box in the lower left hand corner of the dialog box.
When you have set your preferences, click OK.