iWork '09: The Missing Manual

Setting Up the Presentation

First things first, you have to get both Keynote and your computer ready for the big show. The specific backstage preparations depend on exactly how and where you’ll display the slideshow. For most presentations, you’re the one in the spotlight, driving the slideshow as you speak in person to your audience—a class, a board of directors, or a room of fez-topped conventioneers, for example. Preparing and playing a live slideshow is where this chapter begins, but starting on Creating Self-Playing Slideshows, you’ll also learn how to set up your slideshow to play on autopilot or let your viewers navigate it themselves by clicking onscreen buttons. No matter which of these methods you use, however, your first stop should be Keynote’s display settings to choose your slideshow preferences and set up the presenter display.

Note

See Choosing a Presentation Style for details on configuring your slideshow to play in normal, self-playing, recorded, or hyperlinks-only mode.

Setting Slideshow Preferences

Some of Keynote’s preferences apply only when you play the slideshow, so be sure to review them before show time. Choose Keynote → Preferences, and click the Slideshow button (Figure 15-1). Keynote presents you with a hodgepodge menu consisting of options affecting a range of presentation aspects, from how and where your slides should be projected to when your pointer should be allowed onscreen. Figure 15-1 shows a reliable, standard selection for live presentations, and ...