‘Performing’ Presentations: Trends in AV Technology
By Gary Bowerman
Interactive, Interactive, Interactive. If smartphones and iPads have taught us anything, it is that interacting with computer screens has changed forever. Touch-based interaction is overhauling the mouse-and-keyboard model, and we are now hurtling at high-speed towards a world of ‘multi-touch’ and ‘intuitive’ interfaces.
The evolution of information technology is now influencing conference, meeting and sales presentations. Audiences are entering an age where boring, bullet-pointed presentations will be consigned to history, as presenters increasingly use multi-touch screens to ‘perform’ rather than drearily ‘recite’ content.
Effective presentations are focused on clear communication, sparkling content and seamlessly delivering the right information to captivate an audience. New technologies enable presenters to visually manipulate content in a manner more attuned to the ‘active image’ world in which we live.
The trend for interactive presenting is often traced back to the 2006 TED conference, where Jeff Han – then a research scientist at NYU's Department of Computer Science – showcased intuitive ‘interface-free’ displays controlled by the speed and dexterity of his fingertips. During the speech (see it at www.ted.com) Han uses a prototype multi-point touch screen with a photo lightbox application to tilt, zoom and pan a Google Earth map. It turned him into an Internet celebrity, and sparked his business career.
“[Multi-touch] removes the restrictions of the laptop. There is no reason that we should be conforming to a visible device,” Han says. Instead, he uses phrases such as “intelligent anticipation”, “pressure sensitive” graphics and “multi-touch interaction”. Han later launched Perceptive Pixel, which produces the ‘interactive wall’ used by CNN presenters, and is now selling the Storyboard multi-touch presentation product.
New Zealand-based ICE AV is also bringing interactive presentation to the mainstream. Its technology was adopted by DJ Tom Trautsch who uses two transparent, edgeless HoloDesk touch screens for arranging and mixing on stage – enabling the audience to watch him working from all angles.
“This helps an audience really engage with a performer or presenter,” says Kevin Andreassend, Founder of ICE AV. The HoloDesk interactive screen was also incorporated into Britney Spears’s Till the World Ends video. “We are moving this technology towards presentations for the corporate environment,” says Andreassend. “So you’ll no longer need a laptop with a clicker for the screen, or be restricted by using a slide presentation. You will be able to manipulate content with multi touch and gesture technology.”
Silicon Valley-based PQ Labs is another leading provider of multi-touch technology. Its Multi-Touch G³ screen enables users to interact with 32 touch points using fingers and gestures. “This helps us to bring multi-user interactivity to presentations and events, and push ‘gesture-driven’ content to replace the mechanical click of a mouse,” says Charles Becker, Sales and Marketing Associate at PQ Labs.
The interactive Multi-Touch G³ interface means speakers can zoom, pan and spin information on the screen, and present it in either portrait or landscape, or a combination of both. “You can incorporate video and animation into the package and upload any content from your desktop,” says Becker.
“By using your imagination, you immerse your audience into your entire presentation.”
This blog has been commissioned by AmEx.
About Gary Bowerman: Oxford-born Gary Bowerman has travelled the world in search of a good story. After cutting his teeth in legal and tax publishing in London, Gary moved on to edit international business and travel titles before relocating to China in 2004. Resident in Shanghai, he has recently been a contributor to CNN Traveller, Business Traveler,CNBC Europe Business, New York Times, Travel & Leisure and South China Morning Post. Editor of the Singapore Highlights and Beijing Highlights guides, Gary is also one of the founders of Hong Kong and Shanghai-based media and marketing communications agency Scribes of the Orient.
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