Broadcast Slide Show is a new capability in Microsoft Office 2010 that enables presenters to broadcast a slide show from Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 to remote viewers who watch in a Web browser. Broadcast Slide Show provides organizations with a low-infrastructure presentation broadcast capability that works through the Web.
The proliferation of high-bandwidth networks and growing ubiquity of wireless connectivity have brought significant changes in the way people communicate and collaborate. After its initial release, PowerPoint was used primarily as a tool for making presentations to an in-person, on-site audience. Over time, however, it has become more and more common for users to present a slide show over a Web or network connection to remote attendees or to mix remote and on-site attendees for the same presentation. Broadcast Slide Show now offers this capability to users through the public PowerPoint Broadcast Service, and to business customers with Microsoft Office Web Apps installed on Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products on-premises in their organizations.
Information provided in this article is intended for IT Pros planning to use Broadcast Slide Show in their organizations. New and updated content will be published on a regular basis. SharePoint 2010 Products in this article refers to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 unless otherwise noted.
In this article:
- Broadcast Slide Show Overview
- Understanding the presenter experience
- Understanding the attendee experience
- Broadcast Slide Show features
- Managing Broadcast Slide Show
- Broadcast Slide Show and Microsoft Live Meeting
- Summary
Broadcast Slide Show provides a low-infrastructure remote slide show capability through PowerPoint 2010.
Common broadcast scenarios include:
- Provide an impromptu, one-on-one broadcast
- Invite multiple viewers at remote locations to view a presentation at any time
- Present a slide show to both on-site and remote attendees at the same time in the context of a training session, meeting, or conference call
Broadcast Slide Show gives presenters a streamlined user experience that works through PowerPoint 2010 without any additional client software.
Within PowerPoint 2010, the presenter clicks the Slide Show tab, and selects Broadcast Slide Show. The presenter is then provided a list of broadcast services to choose from. This list may include internal and external providers, and can be centrally controlled by administrators. The presenter then clicks Start Broadcast and is provided with a URL that attendees can use to connect to the slide show through the Web.
The presenter can then send this URL to attendees in a number of ways, including an automatically generated e-mail message, or through instant messaging (IM). During the broadcast, the presenter can pause the slide show at any time, resend the Broadcast URL to any attendees, or switch to another application without interrupting the broadcast or showing their computer's desktop to attendees.
Understanding the attendee experience:
Broadcast Slide Show enables attendees to quickly connect to a slide show broadcast through the Web without requiring any additional client software installation.
Supported browsers include:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and 8
- Firefox 3.5
- Safari 4 on the Macintosh
When the presenter begins, attendees will then see the slide show presentation in their local browser in real-time, as it is presented. When the presenter ends the broadcast, all attendees will see a message telling them that the broadcast is over.
Broadcast Slide Show features
Attendees can see a near full-fidelity slide show synchronized with the presenter, including animations that play at the same time. While a Broadcast Slide Show can provide a near full-fidelity experience, the following limitations do apply:
- Audio Slide show audio will not be heard by attendees through PowerPoint. For remote presentations, users may elect to supplement slide show broadcasts with audio through a personal phone call or conference call.
- Video Attendees will only see the static poster frame of any video clips.
- Transitions Attendees will only see a fade-in transition between slides.
- Ink drawings and markup Presenters will not be able to add ink annotations or markup during the broadcast.
- ActiveX controls Attendees will see only a static image of the control and will not be able to interact with it.
- Hyperlinks to other presentations If the presenter clicks a hyperlink to another presentation, attendees will continue to see the most recent slide the presenter showed in the original presentation.
Broadcast Slide Show is designed to provide administrators a simple management experience without requiring extensive additional infrastructure. Broadcast Slide Show provides the following:
- Available Services: Administrators can choose between a locally-hosted broadcast service, the public PowerPoint Broadcast Service, or both. Up to 10 broadcast services can be used.
- Service List: A presenter who initiates a broadcast is given a list of broadcast services to choose from. This can be managed through Group Policy. For example, administrators can decide whether to include the public PowerPoint Broadcast Service in this list, a local server, or both.
- Permissions: Administrators can determine which users or groups have permission to broadcast slide shows or attend slide show broadcasts.
- Group Policy: Broadcast Slide Show can be managed using Group Policy and includes the ability to enable or disable the service, manage the service list, and customize the user experience.
Broadcast Slide Show and Microsoft Live Meeting
Broadcast Slide Show and Microsoft Live Meeting are complementary technologies, each providing a different level of functionality and end-user experience. Microsoft Live Meeting provides a hosted solution for broad communication and collaboration, including sharing applications, interactive collaboration, chat, and other collaboration features.
Broadcast Slide Show and Microsoft Live Meeting
Client Software
- Broadcast Slide Show - Included in Office PowerPoint 2010
- Microsoft Live Meeting - LiveMeeting client
- Broadcast Slide Show - Available with or without internally hosted server
- Microsoft Live Meeting - Internally hosted or through an externally hosted service
- Broadcast Slide Show - PowerPoint slide show only
- Microsoft Live Meeting - Any desktop application
- Broadcast Slide Show - Just-in-time shared slideshows
- Microsoft Live Meeting - Broad communication and collaboration capabilities
- Broadcast Slide Show - You want a low-infrastructure solution for impromptu slideshow broadcasts
- Microsoft Live Meeting - You want a complete Web conferencing solution with collaboration tools
Broadcast Slide Show gives organizations options to provide broadcast slideshow services to users either as an internally-hosted service or as a service accessed over the Internet. This flexibility helps organizations to provide a low-infrastructure slide show option that fits their business scenarios and requirements.
