Category Archives: PowerPoint

Recording when Using Presenter View in PowerPoint in Lecture Theatres

This is a follow up posting to the Using Presenter View in PowerPoint in Lecture Theatres posting made yesterday. This one explains how to ensure that when you are recording a lecture and you have Presenter View in PowerPoint switched on that you record the main screen version (where your actual presentation is being shown full screen) rather than the Presenter View on the presenter’s PC on the desk (which would include all the slide notes).

The trick is to start the Presentation Show in PowerPoint first, before you start the recording in Camtasia Relay. If the Show is running then Relay will allow you to choose which ‘screen’ you want to record, the Presenter View one (which you probably don’t want to record) or the main screen version that is being shown on the projected screen to the students (this being the one you probably do want to record). This video shows you how to do this and also explains a trick about switching between applications using Alt + Tab to bring Relay back to the front to start the recording after the PowerPoint Show has been started.

Using Presenter View in PowerPoint in Lecture Theatres

Some staff have reported issues displaying presentations properly in lecture theatres. Many of these issues are caused by the existence of something called ‘Presenter View’ in PowerPoint which essentially splits the regular one-screen desktop into two, one of which is shown to the presenter on the PC in front of you on the desk in the lecture theatre (with slide notes and a preview of the forthcoming slide), the other of which is shown to the students on the projected screen behind you. This has implications for things like browser windows opening (and displaying fine to you but not being seen by the students) and Camtasia Relay recording the presenter view rather than the full slides. This video will hopefully explain what’s going on. Sorry it’s not super high quality, it’s been done on a mobile phone and is subject to me putting my fingers over the microphone a bit halfway through. So it’s not going to win any Oscars for Film Production, but it might help you show web sites and record your presentation appropriately.