8400 as a presentation tool

thomod

I have a client that called to ask about my thoughts on getting 6 tablet pc's for a big pitch they have coming up and giving each person in the presentation their own screen (the key here is no wires at all). They are looking to do something "cool" and a little different from the typical powerpoint on a projector or big flat panel. So my first thought is to just have them do a little net-meeting so all the tablets would mimic the presenter's and that should work.

But then I thought that since they'd have to buy or rent the tablet pc's and they already have 5 of the 8400's and I could provide the 6th, could I write a little program and have a NI700 and a wap and then have all the panels track a "master" panel that would be controlled by the presenter? The presentation would be png's that they would create in another program and then import into TP4 and do simple page flips.

One issue I have is that those screens aren't very readable in a bright room, and they don't know what the room will look like. Any other thoughts as to this scenario?

DHawthorne

thomod wrote: »

I have a client that called to ask about my thoughts on getting 6 tablet pc's for a big pitch they have coming up and giving each person in the presentation their own screen (the key here is no wires at all). They are looking to do something "cool" and a little different from the typical powerpoint on a projector or big flat panel. So my first thought is to just have them do a little net-meeting so all the tablets would mimic the presenter's and that should work.

But then I thought that since they'd have to buy or rent the tablet pc's and they already have 5 of the 8400's and I could provide the 6th, could I write a little program and have a NI700 and a wap and then have all the panels track a "master" panel that would be controlled by the presenter? The presentation would be png's that they would create in another program and then import into TP4 and do simple page flips.

One issue I have is that those screens aren't very readable in a bright room, and they don't know what the room will look like. Any other thoughts as to this scenario?

I have never had a room so bright that an MVP was unviewable, and conference rooms tend towards dark anyway. It may, however, look a little washed out. I'd be more concerned about updating the display. Unless it's a wired panel with a video input, it will be sluggish, and it will be a bit behind the actual presentation. Depending on what you are displaying, that may be a deal breaker right there.

thomod

Good feedback, that was a question I also had - I've never done a system where panels track each other on page flips, they would need relatively basic (static) changes but they would all need to change at about the same time.
Thanks

Jimweir192

I think you're suggesting building the presentation as pages in TPD4, in which case with the panels all grouped in an array and the page flips sent from code then the changes will be pretty much instant on every panel

The alternative (without a wired video input) would be using multiple instances of Computer control, one for each panel to view a ppt on a pc, now that really would be sluggish!

I think it could be quite cool - at the end of the presentation you could even have each panel working seperately to give a self guided refresher of the important points...

John Gonzales

Jim's idea would work well. You could create the touchpanel array in code with all the touchpanels included for the output side and send_commands, but just use the presenter's touchpanel for the button events. That would give control to the one person. It would also be simple to set a lock/unlock button on the main presenter's touchpanel that would allow/disallow control by the other touchpanels. Again, just a flag in code as to which panel to accept the button_events from. During the presentation, the presenter locks everyone out and maintains control of the presentation, and afterwards unlock the panels so that each person can do their own review like Jim suggested.

--John

Colzie

To make it interactive during the presentation you could give them a "Back" button to look at previous slides (then a "Next" button to catch back up)...but prevent them from jumping ahead.

thomod

I did a mock-up today in one of their conference rooms with 4 - 8400's and compared them to a tabletKiosk 12" tablet and a couple of iphones. They loved the idea and the fit & finish of the AMX 8400's - it did look cool, kind of like the conference room on the show "24".

So I'm going to do a little testing with a few of their presentations scaled to 800x600 and then see how long the panels can go on one charge with the sleep time set to max. Trouble is I only have one kickstand, so I either buy a bunch of those pricey stands or come up with another way.

They really liked the idea of having the people being able to interact - I suggested that half-way through the presentation, pop up a map of the area where the building they want to build is in and then let them click on icons to overlay things like amenities, public transportation, restaurants, etc. and then the presenter could hit another button and everyone would be back again at the same screen and continue from there.

Thanks again for the ideas, I'm sure I'll be back for some programming tips and hints (or even how to begin...).
-Eric