Rather than leave your TV on standby with a blank and boring screen when you’re not presenting, you can use the Airtame Cloud apps to display custom content and jazz up your workplace or school. You can customize Airtame’s Homescreen through Airtame Cloud, our device management tool you can access from your web browser.

We designed Airtame Cloud to make an IT admin’s job as easy as possible. One way is by giving them the option to assign user roles on Airtame Cloud to people in your organization.

That means an IT admin can safely assign your company’s marketing manager, for example, the role of “user.” This role gives them access to our Homescreen apps with no risk of the device settings being tinkered with. Assigning user roles opens up a whole world of signage possibilities with little effort.

To give you and your colleagues some inspiration, we want to show you just a few reasons why your organization needs to start using Homescreen apps.

Keep track of different time zones

Our World Clock app is our most simple app integration, which makes it an excellent app to start with if you’re new to custom digital signage. The idea is simple: display up to three clocks from different time zones on your screen.

When you have team members who work in a different timezone, keeping multiple clocks presented helps bring them a little bit closer, because it helps you envision their daily routine. In our case, it helps our Copenhagen team remember when the North America team is waking up, so we know when we can count on them to help with customer support.

Sync with your team

If you’re unfamiliar with Trello, it is a fresh way of organizing your projects with highly visual boards lined up in columns. For a  boost of efficiency, use the Trello app on Airtame’s Homescreen to display your Trello boards on a shared TV screen for everyone on your team to see.

Trello’s column design makes it easy to track your project’s progress at a glance. Not only is it nice to look at, but it also saves you the time spent trudging through spreadsheets. Let’s face it, spreadsheets are useful for tracking project results, but not very inspirational to look at.

Displaying a Trello board on a shared screen seems like a small thing, but keeping your team up to date with the latest activities on a project is a powerful way to stay aligned, especially for cross-team projects.

If the “Done” column on the Trello board looks a bit empty, it could help light a fire under your team to buckle down and get to work. And when everyone sees the “Done” column full, you can celebrate your hard work together.

Read more on how to use Trello.

Create an inspiring environment

We think workplace environment has a significant impact on productivity. People want to feel inspired when they come to work and if their office is drab, then they won’t feel energized to do great work.

Placing art on the walls creates a feeling in the room that was not there before. It’s the reason why even a doctor’s office is filled with calming pictures. With the Unsplash app on Airtame’s Homescreen, you can choose from a growing collection of stunning photography. It helps set the mood in your office so that your TV screens reflect your company’s values.

At Airtame, we have a screen by the coffee machine with a collection of coffee photography. It helps create a relaxed environment so that people can enjoy a quick break with their coffee before powering up for the next meeting.

With the Unsplash app integrated into Airtame’s Homescreen, just type in a keyword into the search function and choose from Unsplash’s many photo collections. You can even choose how often the images rotate through, from every 5 seconds to every 10 minutes.

Share team news

Our most used app is Google Slides. It’s simply the easiest way to display information in a fast, yet eye-catching way. At Airtame, we use Google Slides on the TV by our entrance in a handful of different ways.

When we have new team members, for instance, we use Google Slides to introduce them to the rest of the company with a quick picture and some fun facts about them. Other times, we share some group pictures from a photoshoot for our website, which makes for a nice conversation starter for people walking by.

The true beauty of this use case is that anyone can create a Google Slides slideshow. If you’ve already made a slideshow, it’s simply a matter of logging in with your Google account and selecting your presentation. It’s easy enough that you can change it up as often as you want.

Check out this article for more tips on spicing up your Google presentations.

What’s coming up next?

Airtame is a living product, which means we’re updating what you and your team can do with it all the time. This extends to Homescreen. In addition to the apps listed in this post, we have more amazing apps soon to be released in beta for you to try out.

The apps we have up our sleeve include Homescreen Preview, a meeting room app that would let you see whether the room is free or booked. We will also add a OneDrive integration, similar to our current Dropbox app, and a Power BI integration, which lets you display top-notch business reports and dashboards.

How to customize your Homescreen

You can find all our apps and integrations in the Homescreen tab on Airtame Cloud. Simply follow the instructions to sync the apps with your accounts.

Have a cool app or integration idea that you want to see on your Homescreens? Let us know! Fill out our survey on Homescreen usage.

Take our Homescreen apps for a spin! Sign up for Airtame Cloud and start spicing up your screens

The post 4 ways to spice up your screens with Airtame Cloud apps appeared first on Airtame.

So, how do you actually make the most of Google Slides and get your presentation looking top notch?

Well today we’ve reached out to our friends over at 24Slides for some Google Slides tips. As leading experts in custom presentation design, they know a thing (or ten) about how to make any slideshow more impactful, and your audience hooked.

So, here are ten quick Google Slides tips from 24Slides that will help make presentation wow your audience.

More of a Microsoft fan? Check out our pro-PowerPoint tips, or get some general presentation pointers here.

1) Insert images directly from Google Images

Google Image Search has billions of images indexed. When you use Google Slides, you don’t need to download images and then upload them again to your slide. Nope, you don’t even need to leave your browser tab to look for suitable images for your presentation.

All you have to do is click on Insert > Image. Then select ‘Search the web’ from the dropdown list. The side panel ‘Search for Google Images’ will appear on the right side of your screen (see screenshot below):

Simply type in the keyword(s) for your image and the results will appear below the search box. The last step would be for you to click on the photo(s) you want to use in your slide. And that’s it! The entire process will only take you anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes!

2) Themes for Google Slides

You can do this by clicking on any slide thumbnail on the left side panel. You’ll then see these options in the menu bar:

Click on Theme to access the Themes side panel. You will see something like this on your screen:

Note that there’s no preview button. You simply need to click on the Theme you like and the changes will be applied in real time. Also, if you want to import a theme from an existing presentation, you can click on the yellow Import Theme button. Play around with the different theme options until you find one that works best for your presentation!

3) Mask your images into different fun shapes

Your photos need not be in the usual rectangular or square shape all the time. With Google Slides, you can change your image into various shapes, arrows, callouts, or equations. Here’s how:

• Click on the image you want to mask to access the hidden photo masking options. For this example, I used this image I found on Google Images.

• Click on Mask image (it’s the small triangular button beside the Crop icon)

• Select the shape, arrow, callout or equation you want to reshape your image to. As you can see below, there are a lot of different shapes you can choose from:

• For this example, I chose the lightning shape. By clicking on the lightning shape, I effectively transformed my boring, rectangular photo into this fun and exciting shape!

Feel free to experiment and explore the many different options. Remember, you can always undo your changes on Google Slides.

4) Insert different types of Google Slides diagrams

To insert a diagram on your slides, click on Insert > Diagram. The Diagrams side panel will appear on the right side of your screen. As you can see below, you can choose from 6 different types of diagrams: Grid, Hierarchy, Timeline, Process, Relationship and Cycle diagrams.

For this example, I clicked on the box for Timeline diagram. In the screenshot below, you’ll notice that I was able to customize my Timeline diagram. I changed the number of timeline dates from 4 to 6; I was also able to change the timeline’s color to green.

Play around with the different options until you find the perfect diagram(s) for your presentation.

5) Got links?

With Google Slides, you’re not limited to adding just links to websites, you can also link to images, your files on Google Drive, and even to other slides in your presentation!

Here’s what you need to do:

• Click on the text you want to add the hyperlink to. Then either hit CTRL+K or right-click on your mouse and look for the Link option.

• To add a web link, type in or paste the web address. Then hit the Apply button.

• To link to slides in the same presentation, select from available slides like you see below:

• For even more link options, click on Find More and the Explore side panel will appear on your screen. You can then type your query in the Title box and Google will then search for relevant websites, images, and even your files saved on Google Drive.

6) Make global changes by editing the slide master

If you’re only working with a few slides, then you may not have much need for a slide master. However, once you get to double figures (say from 10 slides onwards), then you’ll see just how much of a timesaver a slide master is. You don’t need to edit each individual slide, instead you can just go directly to the slide master and all slides in your presentation will automatically be updated.

To edit your slide master, simply go to Slide > Edit Master. This is how it looks like:

Click on the elements you want to change. For example, if you want all titles and subtitles to use Monserrat font, then you can change that here. There’s a lot of things you can do with the master slide. You can add your company logo in the footer section or the header, and it will automatically appear on all your slides.

The main thing to remember is if you want something to appear on all your slides, the best way to go about this is by editing the slide master itself.

7) How to embed YouTube videos in Google Slides

One of the best ways to make your presentation come alive is by adding videos to it. To do so, click on Insert > Video and you’ll see this on your screen:

As you can see, you can search YouTube videos directly from your slides (no need to open up another tab and type YouTube). You can also add a direct link (URL) to a video online, or you can search for videos stored in your Google Drive account.

To edit and format your video, click on the video itself so the Format options button will appear on the menu bar. Click on this button and the Format options side panel will appear on your screen.

Feel free to adjust the video playback options, size and position, and drop shadow settings.

8) How to do transitions on Google Slides

Google Slides transitions are easy to set. To add them, you’ll need to click on the slide thumbnails so you can see the hidden Transition button on the menu.

As you can see in the screenshot above, there aren’t a ton of options on Google Slides (unlike PowerPoint). It’s not necessarily a bad thing though. Most experts recommend keeping transitions to a minimum because it can distract the audience and can even cause motion sickness in some cases.

So, take your pick from the 7 transition options and focus on making your message heard loud and clear. For best results, I recommend you use the same transition effect throughout your presentation.

9) Accept questions from your audience

An interactive presentation is bound to get more attention than, say, a one-sided one. Since Google Slides is cloud-based, it’s easier to get your audience to interact and ask you questions in real time. Here’s how:

• Click on Present > Presenter View (Present with audience Q&A and view speaker notes).

• You’ll then see this pop-up on your screen. Click on Audience Tools then hit the Start new button at the bottom.

• Google Slides will now generate a link to your online presentation. Simply copy the link and send it to your audience.

• When people start sending you questions, they’ll appear in the box. You can then answer the questions one by one.

The really cool thing about this feature is you can use it whether you’re in the same room as your audience or they’re halfway across the globe!

10) Collaborate with teammates in real time

Google products stand out with their top-notch online collaboration features. Google Slides is no different. If you’re working with a team of designers and content makers, then the yellow Share button is your friend.

Once you click on Share, you’ll see this pop up on your screen:

You can either get a shareable link and send it to people via email or chat. Or you can type in people’s name and/or email addresses, then hit the blue Done button to send out your invite. Now, you’ll have an extra pair of eyes to look over your presentation and make sure it’s the best it can possibly be!

Bonus tip: use vector drawings

If you’re looking to wow with your presentation, you are probably using a lot of visuals. This means adding in a lot of JPEGs, videos perhaps even the occasional PDF. These files can be heavy, and quickly stack up, which runs the risk of your Google Slides presentation lagging and testing the patience of your audience.

But, there’s another way. If you have a designer at hand, open up Adobe Illustrator and give vector graphics a try. Creating something unique, custom and exporting as a PNG is likely to keep your slides looking stylish and functioning effectively.

Huge thanks to Guillaume Proux, co-founder of Oomnis Limited for the bonus pro tip!

Loving Google Slides Already?

Did we miss any pro-Google Slides tips? Let us know your favorite!

It’s really no wonder why Google Slides is touted as the best PowerPoint alternative by many experts in the presentation industry. It’s user-friendly, it’s highly customizable, it’s cloud-based, and it’s free.

On the other hand, if you’re pressed for time or simply want to focus on more important things, you can leave the design work to 24Slides. It costs as little as $7 per slide for a custom design and we can turnaround presentations in 24 hours.

Even better, we’re offering Airtame customers and readers a 20% discount off their first order. Simply visit 24slides.com and use the coupon code AIRTAME at checkout.

If you would like to know how to present from your mobile or computer devices to your TV screen or projector wirelessly, watch this short video:

The post 10 quick tips to spice up your Google Slides presentations appeared first on Airtame.

Let’s face it: It’s a daunting task. You have to be a great orator, prepare clear and convincing visual aids, all while keeping your audience engaged. Everything is stacked against you. A passable presentation is common-place, a truly great one is a rarity.

That’s why today we’ve reached out to our friends over at 24Slides for some much-needed presentation tips. As leading experts in custom presentation design, they know a thing (or ten) about how to make any slideshow more impactful, and your audience hooked.

If you want more info on how to make designs that stand out, check out our longform piece on the ins and outs of digital signage.

How to create better presentations

Luckily, whether you’re a presentation newbie or simply haven’t made a presentation in a long time, there are some basic rules you can follow to make sure your presentation slides come out as winners.

These are rules you can apply to any kind of presentation, regardless of the software you use. So whether your weapon of choice is PowerPoint, Google Slides or Keynote, read on for our 10 essential tips for formatting better presentations.  

1. How many slides should there be in a presentation?

By asking how many slides should there be in a presentation, you’re actually asking: How long should my presentation be? The answer to that is usually up to 20 minutes. I know it seems like no time at all, but research shows people just can’t pay attention longer than that.

And according to Guy Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule, 20 minutes translate roughly into 10 slides.

But how do you actually fit your presentation into 20 minutes? And how do we know it translates into 10 slides? Well, because there are certain rules for the amount of text you should have on each slide.

2. How much text should be on a slide?

According to the 1-6-6 Rule, your slide shouldn’t have more than 1 guiding idea, 6 bullet points, and six words per one bullet point. But that, of course, might not apply to all types of presentations, and would amount to 10 very text heavy slides.

So the general rule of thumb is to be sensible and don’t overburden your slides with text. Remember they’re only there as a visual aid.

3. Use visual storytelling

Now that you know how much information you need to cram into 10 slides, it’s time to start using that space wisely. And how do we do that? By implementing appropriate methods of visualizing all the data.

You do this by using charts, tables, organizational templates, and images in order to tell a story and showcase the data. Not only does this save up space, but it also resonates more with your audience, since we’re hardwired to absorb information visually.

4. Visualize your data

Presentation software these days offer a wide variety of easy-to-access visual aids perfect for beginners. For example, in PowerPoint you can simply click on Insert on the ribbon and you’ll find several options to display data right there.

Pie charts are great if you’re talking percentages. Just make sure not to have too many slices, as this can also feel like information overload. The wise thing to do is have up to 6 slices per pie chart. Vertical bar charts are great for showing quantity over time and should be limited to 8, while horizontal bar charts make for great quantitative comparison.

5. Choose a large font

One of the presentation formatting tips that is crucial to avoid embarrassment is to use no more than 2 complementary fonts through the entire presentation. Learn what San-Serif fonts are and opt for them.

But the most important advice on presentation formatting you take from this when it comes to fonts: Make your text HUGE. Don’t be afraid to do this. You’re not supposed to put too much text on a slide anyway, so it will all fit right in.

Remember that you’re presenting to an audience in a room, and there will be some people sitting way back.

6. Basic slide design rules

One of the most important tips for formatting better presentations is to stay away from basic software themes. Avoid them like the plague. Instead, opt for one of the many free presentation templates and themes available around the web. For example, we have a huge library of free PowerPoint templates you can access right here.

Also: Raw data is not the only thing needing visual aids. Believe it or not, emotional information is capable of taking up this form as well. So use images, and don’t be afraid to spread them across your entire slide. This gives the audience the time to rest, take the info in, and resonate with what you are saying.

Just make sure that the image proves your point and directs the emotions of the audience where you want them.

7. Use tasteful animations

One of the most essential tips for better presentation formatting is definitely to go easy on the animations. Using too many quirky effects on your text and slides will absolutely make you look like a beginner.

We know animations are fun, but if you’re not presenting to your high school class your audience isn’t going to appreciate it. Stick with the basics like Wipe ‘Left-to-Right’ for bullet points and don’t have more than three different slide transition animations. Less is more.

8. Emote with color

You can’t really talk about basic presentation formatting tips without mentioning the importance of color. You don’t have to be an artist in order to understand how certain colors evoke certain feelings, and how you can absolutely use this to your advantage. For your text, use warm colors, as those bring more attention. For your background, you’ll want to contrast that with cooler shades.

9. Begin with emotion

While the 1-6-6 rule applies to most slides, make sure to apply the one-sentence rule to your beginning slide. Someone with six bullet points on their beginning slide will surely come off as an amateur.

A title slide should only contain the title of your presentation, and should otherwise consist of visual input. Including an image that takes up the majority of the slide space is a really common way of starting presentations, so you can’t go wrong with that. Just make sure to choose an image related to your subject that summarizes it perfectly.

Read more: 10 tips on How to start a presentation with impact

10. End with detail

One of the greatest tips for formatting a superior presentation is to ditch the Thank You slide. It was popular back in the day, but rules change. Instead, say thank you directly to your audience, and ask them if they have any questions.

Your last slide shouldn’t shy away from bullet-points. Summarize all your points in up to 6 lines so that the audience has the chance go over it during the discussion. Putting up a giant thank-you or simply an image won’t help that. And while a thank you slide won’t exactly make you look like an amateur (they’re pretty common), not using a thank you slide has a great chance of making you look like a pro.

Start presenting better

Now you know some essential tips for formatting better presentation. Before you stand in front of the audience, make sure to avoid the novice mistakes like too much text and animations. Use appropriate fonts and invest in the visual representation of data. And remember: Emotional input can be visual and is important. If you follow these tips, you can be sure you’ll come off as a presentation formatting whiz.

On the other hand, if you’re pressed for time or simply want to focus on more important things, you can leave the design work to us.

Even better, we’re offering Airtame customers and readers a 20% discount off their first order. Simply visit us at 24slides.com and use the coupon code AIRTAME.

If you would like to know how to present from your mobile or computer devices to your TV screen or projector wirelessly, watch this short video:

The post Make your mark: 10 essential presentation tips appeared first on Airtame.

Highlights:

• New apps: We’re introducing the first few apps. Cross-team collaboration with Trello, awe-inspiring photography from Unsplash for daily inspiration, integrated clocks for seamless teamwork, Google Slides to improve display of information, OneDrive and Dropbox for displaying image galleries, and Homescreen app, a sneak peek of our newly redesigned Homescreen.

• All in public beta: There’s no out-of-pocket expense with the launch of these apps. Homescreen is still in public beta, meaning you can try them out and take full advantage of their benefits.

• Your first step into digital signage: We’re working on more awesome things at the moment, all leading towards unlocking the power of digital signage. These apps are just the first baby beta steps, so stay tuned for more updates
• Download the new 3.2.3 firmware and get started!

Digital signage is popping up in more and more places, and with these four apps, you’ll be able to see the magic too. Digital signage means centrally controlled, customized content distribution to one or more screens. Turn blank screens into eye-catching, relevant content sharing surfaces right away. Start communication with customers, students, employees or visitors.

Sharing the right information at the right time can be a challenge – unless you have the right tools. With the right tools, you’ll be able to share calendars, notify staff about events, the lunch menu, upcoming visitors, birthdays or display mind-blowing photography to captivate passer-bys.

Schools, hospitals, banks, corporate offices and many more organizations are all looking for a simple and effective way to share information with their audiences. With a seamless experience, employee morale is boosted and productivity increases.

With our latest additions to the Airtame Cloud and firmware version 3.2.3, we’re pleased to now offer a smarter and more effective way of utilizing digital screens. Through Airtame’s Homescreen product, users will now be able to use Trello, Unsplash, World Clock, and Google Slides as the first few apps of many.

Our new apps

Trello

Trello is a web-based project management tool. It provides a platform for planning and organizing projects, and it’s a useful way to keep track of updates and ideas.

If you already use Trello in your workplace, you can now showcase the content on screens via Airtame. Set up sprint boards for your office space, shared to-do lists or weekly digests. You can choose what columns to show on each TV or let the board spread across multiple screens. It gives you a much better workflow, especially because you’re able to change the size of the text and how many details to show.

Unsplash

Unsplash provides beautiful, high quality, free images, and photos. Visual stimulation is proven to have significant, positive impact on your work environment, for increasing creativity, and serving as daily inspiration to both employees, clients, and visitors. In fact, in an office with art, employees worked approximately 15% faster than those in the lean office.

With our Unsplash app, you can set up amazing backgrounds for general inspiration, to celebrate, create good vibes or simply because it looks good. Set the mood with the right images and use your screens to the fullest when you’re not streaming to them.

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World Clock

Keeping track of time is essential for any organization, especially if you have colleagues or customers in different time zones. With our World Clock app, you can set up to 3 clocks to stay in tune with the time in the timezones of your teams and clients.

Google Slides

Google Slides lets you create and edit amazing online presentations, for free. It lets you work effortlessly with other people since more than one person can access the presentation at the same time and make changes. But there are several other ways to use Google Slides. Format a slide show to present an updated calendar, the agenda of today’s meeting or a rotation of fun pictures.

Digital signage with Google Slides offers a lot of benefits for your organization. Welcome your clients, share company calendars, set up dashboards or even use it for displaying the lunch menu. Slides are updated automatically when edits have been made.

Airtame’s Google Slides app within Homescreen makes picking and changing presentations easier than ever. You’ll be sure to find many exciting use cases that turn your screen into an easy digital signage solution.

Homescreen

The new Homescreen app lets you preview our completely redesigned Homescreen.

Not only does it have a sleek new look and feel, the Homescreen app also has new functionalities. Use the conveniently placed clock to keep track of time. Or sync your meeting room calendar so you know at a glance if the room has been booked or not.

Dropbox Gallery 

Dropbox is one of the most popular cloud storage services for business and personal use. It is a central place to store and share files with your teams. 

With Dropbox Gallery, select a whole gallery of images from a Dropbox folder, and make them stand out with our styling options.

OneDrive Gallery

OneDrive is another popular cloud storage service for business and personal use. As a part of Microsoft’s Office 365 suite, it is a favorite among enterprise-level companies.

With OneDrive Gallery, select any OneDrive folder to display a gallery of images. It’s that easy.

Free to use in public beta

Homescreen will continue to be in public beta and unpaid at the moment, giving you the opportunity to explore these apps in their raw form without having to pay a dime. Our goal is to unleash the magic that professional screens hold, and to help you get accustomed to the power of digital signage. Besides Trello, Unsplash, World Clock, Google Slides, Dropbox Gallery, OneDrive Gallery and Homescreen Preview, we also have Website and Image listed as apps. With them, you can showcase simple websites and custom background images. You might want to use it to show a static site, dashboard or wallpaper.

A step into the future

We recently won a substantial grant from the European Union, which will go towards developing an open integration platform for professional displays. That means we’ll be launching many more apps in the foreseeable future, so stay tuned for more product updates.

We also want to hear what apps you think we should build next. Find out more info right about the technical setup.

It could be a platform you’re already using at work that you want to see integrated to your screen automatically. Or it could be a “so-crazy-it-might-work” partnership that would change the way your workforce use and think about screens. Let us know here.

The post Start using screens better with the brand new Homescreen apps appeared first on Airtame.