Presenter's Tools

Last week I posted about the cool timer's that are available online. There are also some other greate tools, for working in front of a group or class.

I have used ZoomIt for about a year now and it is a truly useful tool. On a Windows computer you can zoom in on a specific region, draw lines, rectangles, circles and even type text. Keyboard shortcuts allow you to change your pen color with: orange, red, blue green and yellow options. You can also color the screen to black or white for a sketch pad. There is a built in countdown timer that allows you to manage activities and whatever your are doing is gone with a quick click of the esc key on you keyboard.

Another feature I have found particularly useful is the fact that ZoomIt will run from a flash drive or with the latest release directly from the web. Meaning I don't have to download it or install it on a strange machine I may be using.

Now, you are probably asking: What about the MAC? Well, I used to tell people, "Sorry, you can use the control key and scroll up to zoom in, but no drawing or other cool features" Turns out that like so many other times in my life I was wrong. Omnidazzle on the Mac will give you a lot of useful features to present or instruct from a computer. It allows you to highlight areas, zoom in or create focus on you mouse. Additionally it has some features that make finding your cursor on a large screen easier.

Links:

ZoomIt: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897434.aspx

OmniDazzle: http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidazzle/

Amendments

I have amend one of my previous posts. In response to another blog I wrote that I get frustrated when people want step by step instructions for what is essentially an immersive process. One of the participants in a training I was doing, apparently actually read my blog and then said to me "Well, I know you don't like to do things step by step but I need some help" I got the impression that this participant was rather offended by my apparent lack of empathy.

I do have a lot of empathy, and I do recognize it is difficult for many people to just jump in and do. I recently had to build some Google Earth Tours which I had never done and so I went to one of my colleagues for some help. I guess where the challenge lies is not in giving people step by step instructions or showing them how to do it, but rather navigating the online environment is more like jazz that classical. Jazz is not only more flexible and spontaneous but has to be. I watch some people who want to memorize the steps to get the results, but that simply doesn't work. I wish that it did, but when people ask me: "How do I insert a picture" My answer is always and always has to be: "Well it depends"

So much of stuff about using computers is contextual. It is almost impossible to give out a step by step set of instructions and build deep understanding about how to really use a computer. It is the difference between a technical perfect classical performance and a truly inspiring Jazz improv