Technology Tips for PCAS/ACAS Conference Presentations

PCAS/ACAS can only supply a VCR/DVD player and monitor at its conferences, but fear not! There are several ways to play your Powerpoint presentation at PCAS/ACAS.

• Use your own laptop: Many of the monitors at the J.W. Marriott will accept VGA or HDMI monitor cables. These kinds of cables commonly connect computers to external monitors or connect a DVD/blu-ray player to a television set. If you bring a VGA cable with you to the conference, you will likely be able to plug your laptop directly into the monitor and run your presentation from your own computer. Verify the type of input on the equipment in the presentation room well before your presentation. The technology can sense when you're setting things up at the last minute and will find a way to frustrate you.

• Bring your own projector: Many colleges & universities have projectors for loan. These may be kept in the department, at IT, or elsewhere. Bringing your own projector is the surest way to know you'll have the technology you need. If you choose to bring a projector, why not offer to share? Visit the PCAS/ACAS Facebook page to communicate with other members and ask for or offer technology assistance.

• College IT Department: The IT Department of your college or university may be able to help you make a DVD from your presentation. Larger institutions may have a special office devoted to helping people use this technology. A DVD of your presentation will play just like a regular DVD, and you can set the presentation up so the player's remote advances the slides.

• DIY: You may prefer to transfer your own presentation to DVD. Unfortunately, this is not a straightforward process. There are three steps: save the presentation as a movie; author a DVD using special software; burn the disc. Unfortunately these three steps can lead you down many possible paths.

• PPT to Video: Fortunately, Powerpoint 2010 will save your presentation as a movie. Simply select "save as movie" from the file menu. If you do not have PowerPoint 2010, please email the member-at-large for technology, who may be able to help you with the conversion. There are also several applications that can convert PPT to video. Please see the tutorial links below.

  Author a DVD: Mac users can use iDVD to create a DVD from the PPT video. Windows DVD Maker is the equivalent tool in Windows. If you have an older version of Windows, there are several free applications. See this site for a list.

  Burn the DVD: Some of the applications above may require you to burn the DVD with a separate program. This page lists applications that burn/copy DVDs and CDs.