SlideShark Remote for iPad Presentations

Remote

A new update to the SlideShark app has recently been released. It can now be used as a remote control for your presentation. So if you’ve got an iPad and the iPhone, the two devices can work in harmony through SlideShark.

You just enable Bluetooth on both devices and then within SlideShark on each device, select remote and turn it on. The iPad will provide you with a pin code, so your iPhone (or iPod Touch) can sync up to it. It’s really easy to setup and start using.

Setup Remote

The iPad will display the presentation, and the iPhone allows you to advance the slides. So you can freely move around the room (within Bluetooth range, approx. 10 meters (30 feet)) when presenting and so aren’t tethered to your iPad. The situation I find works best is when I’m presenting to a group of people and I’ve my iPad hooked up to another display, such as a TV or projector. I then use my iPhone as my presentation remote.

The remote option allows you to move to the next or previous slide (as you’d expected). However, as you have a display on your iPhone, you can select the specific slide you’d like to move to as well. This means you don’t need to ‘click’ through the deck to get to the slide you are after – you can simply swipe up on your iPhone and choose the next slide you’d like to display. It’s a neat feature that I’ve not seen in other presentation remotes before, and given the fact that it’s a free app for your iPhone makes it all the better. (There’s a paid version – SlideShark Team Edition, that allows central management of presentations and feedback on what gets used – a dream for marketing and sales management.)

iPhone SlideShark ControlsView when selecting slide

Another thing to consider, as SlideShark is an app – there’s always room for updates (SlideShark has had numerous updates already). New features are always around the corner, whereas with a standard presentation remote – you’d need to buy the next model for any new functionality.

Speaking of updates, is there anything I’d like to see in future releases? Well with the remote in mind, an option to blank the slides to get the audience’s attention back would be nice. Also it would be cool to get a presenter view on the iPhone. One that you could read speaker notes from. I know the screen size isn’t ideal, but as long as you kept your notes brief instead of writing a complete script (which leads to disaster when presenting face to face anyway) it would be a very welcome update.

So overall I think adding a remote option is a great addition to the SlideShark app. I never leave home without my iPhone, so I’ll always have my presentation remote to hand, which was usually the main problem with other remotes in the first place!

Latest comments

Joby Blume on 9th October 2012 at 12:09 pm said

This nearly makes me want an iPod Touch. I don’t see any other way of achieving the same ability to skip slides when presenting but not stood at your PC.

I wonder if there’s an Android app that does the same (for PC). I’ll try and find one! PC + Android won’t be as light as iPad and iPod/iPhone though…

Marta on 1st January 2013 at 4:33 pm said

I just purchased an ipad 4 over the holidays and began to think about how I could maximize my itouch and ipad usage and limit the amount of gadgets in my briefcase. I asked Google if it were a way to use my touch as a remote and I was excited to see that it was. I just took the remote function for a test drive and it works perfectly from about 15-20 feet! This is more than enough range to accommodate my pacing about my classroom. This will truly be helpful for class lectures, conference presentations, and my dissertation defense this Spring! Thanks for the upgrade.

Karl Parry on 2nd January 2013 at 11:56 am said

Glad you found the information useful Marta. Good luck with the dissertation!

Dan on 17th January 2013 at 9:08 pm said

Are there any apps that have this same functionality (iPhone acts as remote for iPad to drive presentations) outside of SlideShark? With applications like QuickOffice that give you the functionality to manage presentations, and the concerns of pushing confidential business information to a server outside of the company firewall, though SlideShart’s functionality is appealing, it isn’t practical if your presentations are company confidential.

Joby Blume on 18th January 2013 at 10:04 am said

Keynote (and some other solutions) can do something similar, but only using a connection on a local Wi-Fi network, not using Bluetooth. Which makes it useless for some settings (e.g. if you are at a client’s building).

SlideShark does a better job than any alternatives of preserving animations. It’s actually evolved from a corporate solution (from Brainshark – they have a lot of large companies as clients), with robust privacy and data security. But of course that won’t allow some people to use it. We don’t know of anything better or even comparable on the market yet…

mmccrary on 19th September 2013 at 6:05 pm said

I’ve recently used the broadcast feature to broadcast to my PC while its connected to my projector, this is a really good option and does not require any specific distance from me to my PC. You will need to adjust to the 2 second delay but this really works great and is very easy. Just go to the broadcast button on the iPad slideshark app, invite via email add security code, open email on PC click on link and BAM walk anywhere you like…. no extra cables etc to purchase!!

Thomas on 28th September 2013 at 9:13 pm said

can i see my notes for the slides? That would be super cool!

Karl Parry on 1st October 2013 at 1:39 pm said

Hi Thomas, you can see your slide notes via your iPad (swipe up to bring up the menu, and open the notes section). However, you can’t read your notes on your iPhone while presenting through the iPad.

I agree, it would be cool – hopefully that’ll be coming a a future release!

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