Teaching medical students, faculty, and staff about software they can run on their personal digital assistants (PDAs) can be tricky. Get more than two people in the class and the gather-around-the-PDA method just does not work. Enter Presenter-to-Go: a hardware and software kit that perfects PDA presentations.
Presenter-to-Go offers two important services. First, it allows any program running on a PDA to be projected to a screen. Want to give an ePocrates class to twenty-five medical students? Use Presenter-to-Go's Mirror function and a projector to display it on a screen. Second, Presenter-to-Go can project PowerPoint presentations. No more lugging around that laptop! The presentation slides do not have to come from PowerPoint. They can be imported from Word, Excel, even Web pages. Basically, anything that can be printed can become a slide.
Presenter-to-Go is perfect for anyone who has tried to use the Palm Operation System Emulator (POSE) and failed or had difficulty with it. Although POSE is free, it is extremely difficult to use. The dollars spent on Presenter-to-Go are well worth the time, energy, and aspirin you will save. Another option for teaching PDA software would be to use a document camera display device. The drawback is that these devices are much more expensive than Presenter-to-Go, and the screen display is not as sharp and clear.
The Presenter-to-Go hardware plugs into the expansion slot of a PDA, be it a Springboard, SD, Compact Flash, or, by the time this review is published, Sony Memory Stick. A small cable runs from the PDA to the projector or monitor. It works with any standard VGA input HD15 connector. Presenter-to-Go even comes with a tiny remote control that works with a PDA's infrared port. No more walking back to the laptop and bending over to advance that next slide.
The software is loaded to a PDA using the normal synchronize/installation method. Two pieces of software are installed: the Presenter, which runs the presentation slides, and the Mirror, which displays the PDA's screen via the projector.
While nearly perfect, Presenter-to-Go does have a few drawbacks. First, the Presenter software on the PDA allows slides to be rearranged and deleted but not to be modified. Also, transitions (wipes, fades, etc.) and audio are not supported in the Presenter software. The Mirror software limits exactly what can be shown on the projected screen to what is displaying on the PDA screen. It does not display stylus strokes in the writing area or use of any of the buttons. If these aspects of the PDA are critical to instruction, like in a basic “What Is a PDA?” class, a document camera device may be more appropriate.
Presenter-to-Go is an extremely effective presentation tool to teach a large number of people about a PDA application or piece of software. It is also a wonderfully light and slick way to give a presentation. The ease of use and powerful presentation options make Presenter-to-Go well worth the price.