Notes don't show on personal screen during presentations!

[thomaswar]

Hi there,

I have a big problem. I prepared some lectures on OpenOffice impress with some notes about what I say. During presentations, these don't show for the audience, which is normal, but they don't show on my screen neither... I cannot do my lectures without notes so I'm desperate for help.

Does anyone know how I can fix this?

Thanks in advance,

Thomas

[RoryOF]

You have to fiddle with the screen settings under /Slide Show /Slide Show settings until you get it right. I always advise presenters to set their laptop up at home, using any monitor as a pseudo projector on the external video connection - I always use the VGA connector - I cannot answer for the HDMI connector and wouldn't be surprised if that proved troublesome.

You probably need to work in .odt format and will have to use OpenOffice Impress; this almost certainly means you will need to use your laptop, not a preinstalled unit running Powerpoint where you bring your presentation on a USB key. On my presentation laptop the presentation is set to run on Display 2, which means the notes show on the laptop screen, Display 1 (noted as primary). It is possible, particularly if you have a hi-res laptop, that you may have to tweak the laptop screen to a lower resolution (1024x768 should be safe) before the notes will show - I had this happen once, but as I use linux (Xubuntu) my experience is not strictly comparable with yours.

[thomaswar]

Hi RoryOf!

Thank you for you reply and your help. I haven't been able to figure it out yet. There is no screen setting tab in Open Office and I couldn't find any notes options elsewhere neither.

I give the presentation from my laptop through a VGA connector on a projector. The format seems to be .odp is that a problem? I don't think the screen resolution is the problem neither because all the images from my presentation show up entirely.

Would you (or anyone) know what I should do step by step? I'm really desperate at this point...

Thanks in advance!

[RoryOF]

There is not a "screen setting" tab. It is a entry on the Slide Show menu in OpenOffice. The second item on the Slide Show menu is Slide Show Settings, and Multiple display settings is the last entry on the window that will open. Multiple displays will not be active until you have a second screen plugged on to your laptop. From memory, this should be done before powering on your computer and the external screen/projector should also be powered on so laptop sees it on boot. Then you right click on the desktop and adjust the settings so your desktop extends across both screens - you'll have to fiddle with this to get it to your liking. I always advise noting each set of settings carefully as you work your way through this - do it at home using any monitor as a pseudo projector. When you have the optimum set of settings, write them on a sticky label and stick them on your laptop.

Then start up OpenOffice and change the settings on Multiple displays, trying out on a short slideshow each time. The Presenter Console (Notes display) will not show until you have an external monitor or projector connected. I cannot emphasise that you must do this at leisure, say at home; certainly not in front of an audience.