Cross-platform PowerPoint
If there's one thing that's certain about presenting, it's that we can expect the unexpected. This is especially true when presenting our slide deck on someone else's equipment. There's the potential for breakdown and all sorts of mishaps. One such risk that we face is the host computer not using the same version of PowerPoint (assuming, of course, that you're using PowerPoint). I see this with my day job. I'm on a Mac and the computers where I work are running Windows.
Cross-platform compatible PowerPoint slide decks may not seem important to a lot of Windows users, but in this day and age, you can't assume the host is using the same OS as you. Fortunately, both the Windows and Mac versions of PowerPoint open and save PowerPoint documents. Unfortunately, Microsoft can't get its own development shops on the same page. Some features don't translate from the Windows version to the Mac version and some features from the Mac version don't translate over to the Windows version. In addition, some features just behave differently. This is exasperated when a someone brings a slide deck and the computer just won't play it for any reason.
There are fairly simple steps that can be taken to be sure you are prepared for whichever technical environment you face when you show up to delivery your presentation.
Save Your Deck As A PDF
One simple thing you can do is save your slide deck as a PDF. This would free you from any PowerPoint-specific constraints you encounter. If the host computer is running Windows, you need it to have Adobe's reader. If it's a Mac, you're good to go, reader or no. With a PDF, you can still step through your slides as you would normally be able to, but any multimedia, transitions, and slide builds will be lost.
Be Mindful Of Media Types
One cross-platform issue I tend to run into is using media types that are not well supported on the other platform. For example, using Windows Media (video or audio) will likely cause problems on the Mac. Using QuickTime or MPEG-4 media will likely cause problems on Windows. Using TIFFs on either platform will without a doubt (with one exception) cause problems for the other platform. In some situations, using PNGs can throw PowerPoint off, though, when you consider Microsoft's sordid history with PNG, it shouldn't be much of a surprise.
So, what does this all mean we should do?
Target the lowest common denominator. Until Microsoft gets it cross-platform media house in order, stick with the older and better supported formats. For video, that means MPEG-1. For audio, MP3 or WAV (fair warning: WAV files are uncompressed and will be huge). For images, stick with GIFs, JPEGs, BMPs, and PNGs. Each has its own limitations. GIFs are limited in color depth. JPEGs are lossy and can be fuzzy and/or grainy. BMPs are uncompressed and thus will greatly increase your file size. PNGs need to be tested if you're able to. If you add PNGs to your slide deck while in Windows, there's no fear that they'll work just fine on the Mac. The Mac had excellent PNG support since at least as far back as the very first release of OS X.
When Full Bleed, Put It In the Background
For the vast majority of visuals, they're more effective when you go full bleed. You accomplish this by making the image cover the entire slide, all the way to the edges. Unfortunately, going between operating system within PowerPoint can lead to some funky image shifting and resizing. The best way to prevent this is to make your full bleed image a background for that individual slide. It is when doing this that you can rest assured that that TIFF you're using will work across platforms. My suspicion is that when PowerPoint makes an image a slide background, it converts the image to another bitmapped format.
Go Easy On the Special Effects
This is true even between different versions of PowerPoint on the same operating system (e.g. 2003 & 2007). If you're using transitions or slide build effects, stick to the ones that will work across the most common versions of PowerPoint. If your version of PowerPoint supports it (2004 will do this), run the compatibility checker to catch any issues.
SlideRocket (or similar)
Services like SlideRocket allow you to host and deliver presentations remotely. All you need is an Internet connection and the Adobe AIR engine. I'll be looking into this service in greater detail and will be following up with a review in the next few weeks.
This is a fairly quick list of steps you can take to reduce the chance things will go awry when using someone else's equipment to display your slide deck. Thus, it may not be the most comprehensive. If you have any tricks or issues to watch out for, please share them in the comments!
