SlideShark Remote for iPad Presentations

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.
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.)
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!





