Presenter Manual
Version 5.5
HTML Version
Updated 03/19/2008
InstantPresenter is a web based audio and video conferencing solution providing its customers with state of the art presentation technologies such as PowerPoint support, live presentation recording and archiving, live audience polling, screen and application sharing, attendance tracking and monitoring and more. InstantPresenter manages to provide all of this in an easy to use interface and affordable service plans.
InstantPresenter has the following simple components, each of which will be discussed in this manual:
Account Manager - Where the presenter creates a presentation, uploads slides, chooses the format for the presentation and initiates sessions. The user can also change their billing information and view previous presentation activities from our Account Manager.
Presenter Control - Presenter Control is the tool a presenter uses to run all aspects of their online presentation. From here the presenter can interact with the audience, control the slides being viewed, talk to the audience via optional web cam and/or microphone. Presenter Control also controls the polling, screen sharing and video conferencing features of InstantPresenter .
The Account Manager is the hub of all the activity to your account. To use this service, login to your account and you will be taken directly to your Account Manager. The following features are all offered as part of the Account Manager.
To conduct a presentation with PowerPoint slides, a PowerPoint presentation must first be uploaded to your account. However, a PowerPoint presentation is not required and you may conduct a presentation session with simply Video, Audio and/or Screen Sharing.
If a presentation has been modified and you would like to update it, the whole PowerPoint slide presentation will need to be re-uploaded.
The title, topic or password of a presentation can be modified at any time.
Note: If a password has been added, it will then be necessary for the attendees to enter this password to attend the meeting. If the password has been removed, it will no longer be used to log into the presentation.
To preview your presentation and view the slides, click on 'preview slides'. The slide preview will allow you to view each slide in your presentation to guarantee you have all the slides you need before the presentation starts. Click on 'next slide' or 'previous slide' to view each slide. If after previewing your slides, you'd like to modify the presentation, look at Updating a Presentation for more detail on updating your presentation.
By sending out an email invitation, you are scheduling a meeting with your attendees. A meeting can be set for any time as there are no limits or time constraints as to when a meeting can be scheduled.
Email invitations can be sent at any time. The invitation will consist of the topic of the meeting, the time, the link for the participants to attend, password (if necessary) and any other information from the host.
A meeting doesn't have to be scheduled. After a meeting has been purchased, it can take place at any time.
If a meeting hasn't been purchased and you don't have a monthly subscription, please see the Purchasing a Session section.
If a meeting has been purchased or you have a monthly subscription, you are ready to present at any time.
The URL for the audience is listed for each presentation under 'Audience URL'. Share the URL with your audience using any tool you'd like (ie. An instant message or phone call) or send an invitation email (view Scheduling a Meeting/Email Invitations for directions).
If you have created any presentation recordings, they will be available in the “Manage Recordings” section of the Account Manager. In this section, all of the recordings you’ve done will be listed. Each recording has the following options:
Edit Recording Info – Allows you to change the title, topic, and password of that specific recording. There is also the option of having the recording require a login, which will prompt the viewer for their name and email before they can view the recording. This option is useful for tracking who views your recordings.
Delete Recording – This will permanently delete the recording. Once the recording has been deleted, it cannot be restored. Use this option very carefully.
Play Recording – This will open a window and play your recording.
Audience URL – This is the web address that you can send to people via e-mail or post on another website. When a user goes to this address, a window will open with your presentation.
The Profile section of the Account Manager helps you keep your account information up to date. You can edit your Contact Information and your Billing Information by clicking on the Modify link.
You can also upload your picture from here. The picture you upload will be used in presentations where you do not use a webcam.
Please be sure to keep your information updated at all times.
An additional feature of
InstantPresenter
is the Content Library. If you are currently subscribed to the Content Library feature, you will notice a Manage Content button within the Account Manager.
Your Content Library allows you to store presentation files that you can use from any session that you are doing. Feel free to upload PPT, SWF, JPG and Video files that you find that you're using in most of your sessions.
Upload to Content Library – Allows you to upload additional content from your local drive. Click ‘Upload to Content Library”. Browse through your directory to find the location of the PowerPoint slides in your directory and then Submit.
Preview – Once the file has been uploaded, you may click Preview to review the slides.
Delete – This will permanently delete the file.
An additional feature of InstantPresenter is the Registration Tool. If you are currently subscribed to the Registration tool feature, you will notice a Manage Registration button within the Account Manager.
Event Registrations allow you to track who you've invited to attend one of your webinars, who's registered, and it allows you to collect any type of information you want them to provide. Manage your registrations by looking at future events, or past events.
View Upcoming Events – Displays upcoming events
View Past Events – Displays past events
When a you are subscribed to the Registration Manager, you will get additional options for your meeting invitations. Simply follow the on screen instructions to create a custom registration form, and collect pre-event information from your invited attendees.
InstantPresenter now allows you to integrate with PayPal for your online events -- and charge your attendees an event registration fee.
This add-on feature builds upon the Registration Tools Service and requires your audience to register and pay to attend your event.
When creating Invitations, during Step 2, you will have the option to collect Payments.
PayPal Email – Enter your PayPal merchant account email
Sales Item Name – This is the Item Name you would like to use when charging your customers via PayPal
Regular Price – This is the normal price your customers will pay to register for this event
Discount Code – This is the code your customers will need to enter to gain access to the Discounted Price
Discount Price – This is the discounted price your customers will pay to register for this event if they enter the correct Discount Code
Email Notification – Check this box if you would like to be notified via email every time someone registers for this event
Registered Attendees Reminder – Check these boxes if you would like to automatically remind your attendees, via email, of this upcoming event.
If you have not subscribed to a monthly plan, then a session must be purchased before a PowerPoint presentation can be conducted. In the Account Manager, your screen will look like this:
If you have purchased a monthly subscription plan, your Account Manager screen will look similar to this:
If your have purchased a monthly subscription plan, then your plan name will be displayed in the “Monthly Plan(s)” Section, and all you have to do is click the green “Start Session” button. The Presentation Control Application will launch and you will be able to present immediately.
Once a session has been created, it can be started at any time. If there was a scheduled meeting time, start your session 15 minutes before the time scheduled to allow for your audience to log in. To enter your session, simply click on the green button that says "Enter Session." Once this is done, a window will open in your web browser and the Presenter Control Application will start.
The following section discusses how to conduct a successful online presentation using the Presenter Control Application.
The Presenter Control is the core application of InstantPresenter , which allows you to deliver an effective online presentation, offering numerous features and ease-of-use.
Application Menu Bar – Menu at the top of the application which gives access to the majority of features and configuration options available.
In an online presentation, there are three types of users.
The Speaker – The Speaker is the person currently doing the talking
by broadcasting video and audio through the Presenter Broadcast Module. The Speaker is the person who normally starts the meeting through the Account Manager, and is the only person who can change the tabs in the Presentation Content Module. The Speaker also holds the role of Presenter, however there can be Co-Presenters, who help the Speaker with the flow of the meeting. The role of Speaker can be assigned to anyone who is a Presenter, although there can only be one Speaker at a time.
Presenters – This role is similar to the Speaker, however, a Presenter cannot change the tabs in the Presentation Control Module. A presenter may broadcast using the Presenter Broadcast module. There can be many Co-Presenters, each of which have control of the Text Chat, Audio Chat, Attendance settings and the content within the current tab of the Presentation Control Module.
Participants – These users are the audience and they have very limited
control over the presentation. They can interact with Presenters using the
Text Chat, Video Conference, vote on Polls and other interactive
features. If a Presenter chooses, they can allow Participants to broadcast audio and video as well.
The “Settings” button is used throughout the Presenter Control application
to control various functions of the application. Whenever you see it, it
means that there are settings or options for that module. Simply click on
it and you will see a menu unfold. That menu will contain the options for
that specific module, giving you access to more control and features.
The Menu Bar at the top of the Presenter Control Application gives access to the majority of settings and options available. The menus items on the left of the Menu Bar match a lot of the settings available in each individual module's Settings Button, but the Menu Bar offers a direct place to access all those settings.
The Lock Icon indicates whether this session is locked or unlocked. When it is locked, no more attendees are allowed into the session. When unlocked, attendees can enter the session.
The Audience URL displays the web address that you can give to your audience members so that they can log in to the web conference.
The green light at the end is the Connection Quality indicator. It will change colors based on the quality of your internet connection.
Clicking on the Connection Quality Indicator will display the following information:
- Latency: This is the delay between you and the conference server.
- If its < 100ms then you're experiencing the conference in near real-time.
- If its 100ms - 500ms you're experiencing about a half a second delay.
- If its 500ms - 1s then you're experiencing about a second delay.
- Anything over 1 second and your internet connection may be very slow, and you may experience delays in slide changes, listening to audio, video, etc.
- Up: Displays the amount of data you're currently uploading to the conferencing server.
- Down: Displays the amount of data you're currently downloading from the conferencing server.
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When entering the Presenter Control for a new session, you will be prompted to start the session now or later. Clicking “Yes” will start the session immediately. From this point on, attendees will be able to login to the presentation. This is the same as opening the doors to a virtual meeting room. Clicking “No” will let you enter the presentation before allowing attendees to join. Use this to prepare for the presentation before your attendees have logged in. |
Once you are ready to start the presentation, use the Presentation Control Module to Start your session. Simply click on the Start Session button, as shown below:
Once you start the session, the “Start Session” button will become the “End Session” button.
When you wish to end the session, simply click the “End Session” button.
The Session Settings button will bring up a screen with additional settings for this session.
Lock - Clicking the "Lock" button will lock your session, not allowing anyone else to log on. You can click the button again to Unlock the room.
Allow Overage - Clicking this button will increase the capacity of the room to 500 users, allowing you to host more people than your subscription plan supports. You will be billed on a per-minute basis for the additional users enterring the room. This is a quick and convenient way to increase the capacity of your presentation session without increasing the capacity of your plan.
Close - The "Close" button will hide the Session Settings Panel
The functionality available in the Presenter Broadcast Module varies depending on the plan selected when creating the presentation in the Account Manager. The differences are as follows:
Starting your session in OnPoint mode, the Presentater Broadcast Module will display a welcome message to your attendees, or it will display the picture that you have uploaded in the Account Manager --> My Profile section.
Starting your presentation session in OnVoice or OnVideo mode, the presenter is first prompted by a window labeled “Adobe Flash Player Settings” requesting access to your camera and microphone. You must click the Allow button in order to proceed with an OnVoice presentation.
To set up your Microphone for use within the Web Conference, you can use the Audio Wizard. To access this, please go to the top menu under Presentation --> Microphone Settings. When you click, the following panel will open:
To set up your Microphone, simply follow all instructions and click the "Next >>" button when you have completed each page.
On the last page of the Audio Wizard, make sure that your microphone sound level is set correctly by using the Adjust Volume slider to raise or lower the volume of the microphone. Optimally, when you speak into your microphone, it should go from green to yellow. If it's always fairly low in the green, increase the volume by moving the slider to the right. If it's usually in the red, decrease the volume by moving the slider to the left.
The Silence Cutoff slider is useful in noisy environments, where there is still noise when the Speaker is not talking. The slider can be adjusted based on the volume level when the Speaker isn't talking and this will mute the microphone after 2 seconds when the Speaker is not talking. When the Silence Cutoff threshold is activated, the volume level meter will fade out, indicating that the microphone was muted. When the Speaker talks again, the microphone is un-muted and the volume level meter should display in full color again.
Setting the Silence Cutoff to 0 will guarantee that the microphone is never muted due to silence spots in the conference.
Once you have set up your microphone and the presentation has begun, you are now free to speak into your microphone to communicate to your attendees. Your Presenter Broadcast Module should look like this in the OnVoice version, or you should see your webcam feed in the OnVideo version:
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If you have uploaded your picture through the Account Manager, you would see that picture appear here in the OnPoint and OnVoice version, but not in the OnVideo version, unless no one is broadcasting.
As an account holder, as soon as you start the session, you will be broadcasting your audio or video, depending on the version of the application you have licensed. When you are broadcasting, you will see a button that allows you to stop broadcasting at any time. You can click the "Stop Broadcasting" button at any time to stop your audio and video feed.
If you are not currently broadcasting, you will see a button that states "Start Broadcasting". Simply click the button to start broadcasting.
Any Presenter in the meeting room will have the ability to broadcast a feed, and you can have up to 6 people broadcasting a feed at the same time.
You can also click the "Allow Audience to Broadcast" checkbox to allow anyone from your audience to share their Webcam and Audio.
Note: In order to reduce bandwidth for your attendees, once you have more than 3 presenters broadcasting a feed at the same time, the system will reduce their frame rate in order to conserve bandwidth. This is normal, and it will ensure that your attendees are still able to see and hear everyone without overwhelming their internet connection.
Note: If your room is set to 200 seats or less, you may have up to 6 videos at the same time. If your room is set to more than 200 seats, you may only have up to 2 videos at the same time.
Video Settings - This option will launch the Webcam Wizard. This new feature will walk you through selecting and making sure that you are ready to use the webcam attached to your computer.
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Connection Settings - InstantPresenter works best when optimized for your internet connection. Click on Connection Settings to tell InstantPresenter whether your connection to the internet via a dial-up modem or via broadband (DSL/Cable/T1). Video Size – Select the size of the video being
broadcasted to your audience: Sound Quality – Select the quality of the sound
being broadcast. The higher the quality, the more bandwidth is
required and may take away from the quality of the video: Simply select your connection type and additional options and click the Close button. InstantPresenter will then be optimized for your internet connection. |
Recording – Allows you to record the Audio, Video and Slides from your presentation. See the next section for a detailed description of how to record your presentation.
Lock Screen Display – This allows the presenter to synchronize everyone’s screen display to look like theirs. Without locking the screen display, every participant can resize the video window or chat and slides window as they wish. By locking the screen display, participants displays are configured like the presenter’s, and they cannot resize them until the presenter has Unlocked the screen display, from the same menu option.
Allow Audience to Broadcast Video or Voice - This setting will allow any participant to use the Broadcast Module to be able to broadcast their audio or video. Turning this feature on will give the participants a "Broadcast my Camera/Voice" button. Turning the feature off will shut off any broadcasting Participant's feed, and remove the button which allows them to broadcast. Note: This will allow any attendee in the room to broadcast video, so use with caution.
Enable Whiteboard Tools for Audience - This feature will allow all audience members to use the Whiteboard functionality, if it has been enabled by the presenters.
Send Invitation - Allows you to send an email invite during a session.
End Session - Allows you to End your session. This will disconnect everyone from the session. You may also enter an exit URL which will redirect all attendees to the entered URL once the session has ended.
If you have purchased a Recording Hosting Package, InstantPresenter allows you to record your presentation and have it available for playback at any time. Using InstantPresenter , you can record all aspects of your presentation.
To record, select Recording from the Presenter Broadcast Module Settings menu. You will then see the following screen:
Start Recording – Starts recording your presentation on the server. Once the presentation is being recorded, this button will say “Stop Recording.”
Stop Recording – Stops recording your presentation.
Once you've stopped the recording process, you can resume it. If you click Start Recording again, you will be prompted to Overwrite or Append.
If you choose Overwrite, this will delete the previous recording, and start a new one.
If you choose Append, this will add the new recording on the end of the previous recording. Once it is played back, the gap will be seamless to the viewer.
You can manage your recordings from the Account Manager, in the Manage Recordings section.
The Text Chat Module works like many popular instant messaging and chat
room types of software currently available on the internet. The module contains
an area that will present all messages sent by both the presenter and the
attendees. The area below that is where you type the message you wish to
send. Simply enter your message and click the Send button to the right and
all attendees will see it.
The “Send to” Option
Using the “Send to” Option, the presenter can direct where this
message will go. A presenter can select to send a private message to
another attendee, a message to all presenters, or a message to Everyone. If “Private
Chat for Participants” is enabled, audience members can do this as
well.
The Settings Button in the Online Chat Module gives you the following options:
Public Chat – By default, the Online Chat Module is setup for Public Chat mode. In Public Chat mode, anyone can view the messages sent. This allows for attendees to interact with each other as well as the presenter.
Private Chat – Private Chat mode blocks the attendees from chatting with each other. In Private Chat mode, messages sent by attendees will only be viewable to the presenter. Messages sent by the presenter will still be viewable by everyone.
Allow Private Chat Among Participants – This allows attendees to chat privately with other attendees.
Disable Chat – Block any user, presenter included, from sending a new message.
Clear Chat – Deletes all messages in the Online Chat Module.
Clear My Chat – Only clears your display, but does not affect anyone else's chat box.
Only Show Private Messages to Me – This option will only display messages sent directly to you, by selecting your name from the "Send to" pulldown menu. You will not see any other messages from your web conference if this option is selected.
Enable Sound Notification – This will make the system emit a small beep whenever a text message is received. This is ideal for Screen Sharing sessions, when the Presenter Control is out of view.
The Attendee List displays the current list of attendees. Your name will always be labeled as the Presenter and will be at the top of the list.
Clicking on one of the attendees will give you the following options:
Disconnect – This will remove the attendee from the presentation.
Clear Status – This will clear the current status of the attendee as set it back to “I’m Fine.”
Allow Sharing - This will allow the participant to share their Webcam and Audio, depending on the featureset purchased for your account.
Make Presenter – Promotes the attendee to presenter status. The attendee now has the ability to perform all of the functions that a normal presenter can.
Remove Presenter – Demotes the attendee to a regular attendee status.
Set As Current Speaker – Make the attendee become the active Speaker. His or her video and audio will be displayed in the Presenter Broadcast Module, and they will be seen and heard by the entire audience. There can only be one current Speaker in a conference at any given time.
When you click on the Settings Button in the Attendee List, you will get a menu with the following options:
Make Attendance Private – Hides the attendance list from the participants. They will not be able to see who else is logged on to the meeting.
Make Attendance Public – If you have made the list private, this option will make the list public, allowing the audience to see who's logged on.
Enable Log-In Sound Notification - This will make the system emit a small beep whenever a new attendee joins the session.
Send URL to the Audience – This option allows you to send a link to your audience, which will open a new browser window. Simply enter the web address in the “Web Page Address” field, and click the “Browse” button. Note: This feature will open a new window, possibly covering the existing meeting window. Its recommended that you use this at the end of your meeting, to send your audience to another destination page, such as a survey, purchase page, sign-up page, etc.
Audience Status - This sub-menu displays a summary of current attendees mood status and also allows you to reset their status. This feature is great for quickly gathering feedback from the audience without launching a Poll.
Refresh List - Refreshes attendees list. This option appears if the room has more than 100 attendees connected.
Your audience can use the attendee list to you know if they have a question or to indicate their state. The pull-down menu gives them the following options:
When they use these options, you will see an icon by the attendee's name. You should do your best to react accordingly.
The Presentation Content Module is the heart of the Presentation Control Application . This central module allows the presenter to display a PowerPoint presentation, share their own desktop or browser with the audience, poll the audience and initiate a video conference.
A useful feature of the Presentation Content Module is the ability to make it take up the full screen of your web conference, so that your audience members focus on your content. To make the Presentation Content Module go full screen, click on the "Maximize Viewing Area" button located at the top right corner of the Presentation Content Module.
As a Speaker, you can force the screen to be maximized for your audience by clicking the "Maximize" button, and then going to the Presentation Menu --> Lock Screen Display. This will set your audience's content area to occupy the entire screen.
The Presentation Content Module's 3 main functions are:
Each function is contanted in its own Tab accessible at the top of the module.
The slideshow controls are in the lower right hand corner of the slide. These controls are used to select your PowerPoint slides and progress through your presentation.
To move to the next slide or to go back one slide, use the arrows of the Slideshow Controls. Use the forward arrow to view the next slide. Use the back arrow to view the previous slide.
To use your keyboard to control slides, simply check the "Use Keyboard" checkbox and use your Page-Up and Page-Down keys on your keyboard. This can also be used with USB Presentation Controllers available from your local electronics store.
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A slide can be chosen from the presentation and shown to the audience without having to move the slides forward or backward.
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While on the Slides Tab, the Pointer Tool is available to point to items on your slides.
To activate it, simply click the "Options" Button, then "Show Pointer" option. A Red Arrow will appear with your name on it. Every Presenter can use the pointer function, and each pointer will represent the presenter's name. Now, simply click anywhere on the slide and the pointer will move to that place.
Once finished using the pointer tool, simply click the "Options" button, and uncheck the "Show Pointer" checkbox.
InstantPresenter allows you to upload additional content during your presentation. You may upload additional PowerPoint (PPT) presentations or JPG files, Flash Video (FLV) or Flash Animations (SWF) at any time while you're on the slides tab. To do so, click on the "Options" button at the lower right corner of the slide.
After clicking the button, the following menu will appear:
Clicking "Upload Content..." will bring up a dialog to allow you to upload additional content.
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Simply click the "Browse" button and select a file from your computer's hard drive. Once the upload is complete, your content will load inside the Slides Tab. Uploaded Content can be the following formats:
Note: Uploaded files will be deleted at the end of the session. If you constantly use this feature, you may wish to ask your sales representative about the "Content Library" feature. |
If the content that you upload is a Video file (AVI, MOV, MPG, FLV) you will see the slide Tab change into the following layout when the upload completes:
Here are a few guidelines to ensure the best viewing experience for your audience:
The system will attempt to convert any video file (AVI, MPG, MOV) to FLV format, but it may not be able to convert successfully depending on the codec that was used to save the video file. In this case, to convert file types manually, such as AVI, MPEG and MOV to FLV format, try this great free tool: RIVA FLV Encoder -- http://www.rivavx.com/?encoder
To upload SWF content, it is best that they adhere to several guidelines. Creating your SWF file based on these guidelines will ensure that it will look and play its best inside your web conference. To create dynamic, animated Flash Content for use in the Web Conferencing System, you will require the Flash Authoring Tool, and preferably some Flash Authoring experience, or a qualified Flash Developer.
If you contact Support, a sample file can be provided to help you get started creating your own dynamic SWF content. The sample file provided contains notes on how to best create compatible content. Here are the main guidelines:
By following these general guidelines and consulting with Support Technicians, you can create a highly dynamic, compelling and interactive live webcast.
The annotation tools can be used on a whiteboard slide or a PowerPoint slide. They are located to the right of the slide.
The whiteboard allows for the presenter or attendees to use the Annotation Tools on the current slide, or a blank slide.
To enable the whiteboard:
The
selector tool is used to select multiple shapes at once, by clicking
on the stage and then dragging over the shapes. If all the shapes selected
are of the same type the toolbar for that shape will be visible, so specific
shape properties such as fill, line etc can be edited at once. All these
shapes can be dragged at the same time and will be moved relatively using
this tool.
Note: This tool DOES NOT show a cursor for your audience. To use a pointer or a cursor, please see the "Using the Pointer Tool" section.
The text
tool allows textual annotation on the board; it features customizable text,
font color and font size. To use this tool select it and drag it on the stage,
this tool has a minimum size of 40 * 22. Because the text area is selectable
the method of dragging this tool is different to other tools, it has a custom
editor with a circle handle in the middle for dragging.
The stamp
tool has a selection of shapes that are useful in diagrams.
The freehand
tool enables any shape to be drawn, because of the nature of a freehand it
has no resizing capabilities, its editor draws a rectangle around the shape
to make it obvious when it’s selected.
The line
tool is an important tool; it is great for flow charts or some kind of visual
model for any represented schedule or flow diagram. It not only draws straight
lines but also has two arrow endings to choose from on either side. This
shape is completely resizable with customizable thickness and color.
A fundamental
shape for drawing, data visualization etc, its variables include fill color,
line color and line thickness and is completely resizable.
The oval
tool is another fundamental shape. It also includes fill color, line color
and line thickness as customizable properties.
A basic
shape with similar properties to rectangle and oval, fill color, line color
and line thickness however it also includes the type of triangle. It can
be an equilateral triangle or a right angled triangle.
The eraser is used to remove shapes drawn on the whiteboard. Simply select the eraser and click on the shape you want to remove.
Keys can be used to move shapes on the whiteboard, up, down, left and right can be used (together e.g. up and right) to move one shape or a selection of shapes. By using the shift key the shapes will move 10 pixels instead of 1 single pixel. To delete a shape you can also use the delete key to remove a shape or a selection of shapes.
Click on this button to clear the whiteboard of all the markings that have been made on it.
The whiteboard can remember all the markings for each slide you've made, so if you make some annotations on Slide 5, then go to Slide 6 and make some annotations, when you return to Slide 5, your annotations that you made earlier will still be there.
To enable the audience to use the whiteboard, click on the Presentation Menu -> 'Enable Whiteboard Tools for Audience'. When they have access to use the whiteboard, they can also add or remove a whiteboard slide at any time. Audience members can also clear the whiteboard.
To disable the audience use of the whiteboard, click on the Presentation
Menu -> 'Disable Whiteboard Tools for Audience'.
By disabling this feature, the audience won't have use of the whiteboard or annotation tools.
InstantPresenter 's Screen Sharing allows a presenter to display a real time view of their own screen to the attendees. This is ideal for demonstrations of software or websites.
To start screen sharing, simply click on the “Start Screen Sharing” button. The main Presenter Control window will resize and move to the left of the screen so that you can start displaying whatever application you wanted to share. In this mode, you still have access to the Text Chat, Attendance List, and Session Control buttons, while still being able to share applications on your screen.
When you are ready to stop screen sharing, simply bring up the Presenter Control window and click the “Stop Screen Sharing” button.
For Internet Explorer users on Windows systems, we provide the ActiveX Screen Sharing plugin to allow screen sharing to occur. The ActiveX Screen Sharing component can be installed during your presentation or prior to your presentation. To install during your presentation, simply click the "Install Plugin" button on the Screen Sharing Tab and follow the onscreen instructions. Otherwise It is available for install via the Account Manager.
When you start the Presenter Control Application and the plugin has been properly installed, you will see the following icon in your System Tray, in the lower right corner of your screen, next to the system clock: 
When Screen Sharing is started, the icon will change to this icon to indicate that it is sharing your screen: 
For Best Performance, we recommend the following:
The Screen Sharing Plug-in is an ActiveX control and can only be installed on Windows PCs running Internet Explorer 6.0 or newer. For other platforms, please read below.
For non-Internet Explorer users on Windows systems, we provide the Java Screen Sharing plugin to allow screen sharing to occur. The plugin is automatically installed the first time you use the service to conduct a presentation. You will see a security warning screen, to which you must grant access. You will see a Java icon in your System Tray when you have granted access to the plugin.
All of the other functionality of the Screen Sharing features will remain the same as above.
InstantPresenter gives presenters the ability to conduct a live poll once the presentation is underway. Simply navigate to the Polls tab in the Presentation Module.
On this screen you see a list of all of the poll questions that are stored in the system. When you click on a poll question, the Topic and Answers are displayed on the right side. This gives you the option of editing the poll, or conducting the poll.
Click on the “Add New Poll” button
to create a new Poll. This will create a new entry called “New Poll” in
the poll list. Now, simply edit the Topic and the Answers on the right,
and click “Save Changes.” To remove an answer, simply leave
the space blank.
Save Changes - Once you have entered the question and all
possible answers, simply click the Update button. The poll is now ready to
begin voting.
Poll Display Option – You can select how you want the results to be displayed to your audience. Your options are:
Removing Polls – Polls can be removed from the system using the “Manage Polls” feature in the Account Manager.
After the poll has been entered, click the Begin Voting button to allow for your
attendees to respond. As attendees respond you will see the breakdown of
the responses in real time.
The screen will change to show a real-time tally of the votes.
To
end voting, simply click the Close Voting button. The results
will be stored in the system database and can be viewed from the Account
Manager.
Before logging into a presentation, verify that your computer meets the requirements to fully participate in the meeting.
· Windows PC or Mac.
· Internet Explorer 4.0 or later (recommended), FireFox, Safari and other major browsers. Internet Explorer or a Java Enabled browser is required for Screen Sharing.
· At least 800x600 screen resolution
· Steady Internet connection, 56K or above - some features may require a broadband connection
· Computer Speakers for a presentation using the voice feature
· Microphone to participate in the presentation using the voice feature
· Screen Sharing Component required for Screen Sharing sessions
The video is slow / choppy / poor quality
This is usually because of some internet connection problem. For best experiences we recommend a broadband connection. If you are on dial-up here are some things you can try:
My audience can't hear me
Make sure that your speakers are plugged in, and the volume is set accordingly. Also ensure that no other programs might be using your sound card, such as Skype, or any other sound recording or playback program.
My webcam isn't working or showing up
Make sure that your webcam is properly connected and configured. You should have all of the current drivers for your webcam installed.
To make sure the webcam is selected as the video source, right click anywhere in the application, and select Settings. From the Settings menu click on the Webcam tab, and select your webcam from the pull-down menu.
Also make sure that any other application that could be using the webcam is closed.
I'm hearing an echo in the Video / Audio Conference
This is because your microphone is picking up
the sound from your speakers. To reduce the amount of echo, move the microphone
and speakers as far apart as possible, or use a headset.
A participant can't see my screen
Try restarting the screen sharing session, or closing the window and reconnecting to the service, or have them log out and log back into your session.
The screen sharing is too slow / blurry / poor quality
This is usually because of some internet connection problem, either on your side or on the audience members’ side. For best experiences we recommend a broadband connection.
Also make sure to set your screen resolution to a maximum of 1024x768.
My screen is too small on my participant's computer
This is because your screen resolution is much larger than theirs, and your screen has to be "squished" to fit on their screen. There are a few different options available:
- Best Option - Set your screen resolution to something lower than theirs, such as 800x600 or 1024x768.
- Have your audience click on the "Maximize Viewing Area" located in the upper right corner of the content area
Should you have additional questions, please email support us at support@instantpresenter.com or call us at 1-800-706-6762.
PowerPoint is a registered trademark of Microsoft, Inc.
Flash is a registered trademark of Adobe, Inc.
