Real-life iPad: Presenting with an iPad, Keynote, and VGA connector

When I'm not having fun as a Mac consultant and TUAW editor, I teach community education classes at the Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, Colorado. Last night was the scheduled night for my blogging class, so I decided to see if I could teach the class from my iPad.

I had mixed results. Normally, I use my MacBook Air to show my Keynote presentation, then occasionally bring up a web browser to demonstrate some of the finer points of WordPress or some other blogging engine. To move the Keynote presentation to the iPad, I had to sync it over via iTunes. It would be nice to see a way to grab that presentation from Dropbox, where I store it, and just open it in Keynote, but that's not currently possible.

Last night (see photo at right), I plugged in the Apple Dock Connector to VGA adapter, plugged that into the PC projector in the room, turned on the iPad, and popped into Keynote. The moment I started up my presentation in slideshow mode, the Keynote slides appeared on the screen as they should have, and the text and graphics in the presentation looked great.
In slideshow mode, Keynote detects the presence of the VGA adapter, and places a small console in the middle of the iPad screen (see screenshot below). The console shows the current slide number (out of a total number), and each tap of the right arrow either moves to the next slide or reveals a new bullet. All of the transition and bullet effects that had been in my original Keynote presentation played flawlessly. There's a small icon that can be tapped to show a small "filmstrip" of your slides on the left side of the screen as well.

One feature that I thought was really cool was the virtual laser pointer. By tapping and holding on the console, a red dot appeared on the screen and could be moved around simply by dragging my finger around the console.

Now the bad point -- I could not use the iPad to project Safari on the screen. There was an instructor's PC running Windows XP that was also connected to the projector, so it was very easy for me to switch between iPad and PC. Of course, I had to rub my hands vigorously with antibacterial lotion after touching the PC, but it was adequate for the task of showing my students how to use blogging tools.

That's the one negative I see about the VGA Adapter -- it only works in apps that have been properly equipped through an API to drive the adapter. Video apps work, so you can display movies and TV shows, but you can't just show the iPad's home screen and icons, for example.

Before I do the next class, I'm planning on capturing a lot of the demonstrations that I do in video, so that I can show them on the iPad and not have to rely on that PC. As it was, I found the iPad to be an excellent speaker's console since I could have it flat on a table and simply tap the screen to move ahead in my talk. It opened my Keynote deck instantly, and during the entire 3 hour class, I think I only used about 25 percent of the battery charge (the iPad wasn't connected to a power source).

For the most part, using the iPad to give presentations is pure win. You just need to prepare for those apps that can't currently drive the VGA adapter.

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When I'm not having fun as a Mac consultant and TUAW editor, I teach community education classes at the Arapahoe Community College in...

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iPadForBusiness

If you search the App Store using keywords like "vga adapter" or just "vga" you will find several iPad apps that will output various content to the external display using this adapter. In addition, some of them (Infonet Presenter, Projector!, etc.) will have extra functionality to help during the presentation or even when preparing, like annotations, importing PDF files from email attachments or iTunes shared files, etc.

June 12 2010 at 11:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Zoosware

You can mirror your iPad using the VGA connector. All you need to do is to download the Cydia paid app called "Displayout".

I've used it and its worth the $1.99 price.

Wonderful software.

June 04 2010 at 12:25 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Dmitri Tcherevik

With MightyMeeting for iPad you can manage and project all your Keynote and PowerPoint presentations. Also take a look at iDemoWeb. It is an iPad app that mirrors Safari to VGA. You can demo your website or webapp directly from iPad. Enjoy.

May 30 2010 at 7:19 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

omar

I'm a professor also and have been contemplating getting an iPad for the same purpose, presenting in KeyNote.

It's pretty disappointing though that anything on the iPad can't just display through a VGA like a regular laptop. That would've been pure awesome.

Those limitations have been preventing me from getting it.

May 21 2010 at 7:02 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Appulous

Just tried out Expedition-The VGA out browser on my iPad. Works great, I'd recommend it to any one presenting that needs to show a web page during their presentation.

Developer is really responsive by email. Let me know that the lastest version is supporting authenticated web servers. And it's the lag time in display between the iPad and projector has been greatly reduced.

Found a video on Youtube of it in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUn4ryLUZFA

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/expedition-the-vga-out-web/id369305234?mt=8

May 13 2010 at 3:15 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jason

I'm a professor, and just tried it in my class, with no results: I need to be able to display pdfs, and though I can see them just fine (emailing them to myself and opening them in Mail), the lack of mirroring ability meant I couldn't get them onto the screen. (I use Latex for heavy duty mathematical typesetting and use Preview or AdobeAcrobat to slideshow the resulting pdfs: can I use Keynote to view pdfs? Is there a version of a pdf displayer that will activate the video out?) Would love to use my iPad instead of my macbook pro on the road...

April 13 2010 at 8:54 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

umijin

Thanks for showing us the possibilities and limitations of the iPad as presentation device. I also lecture with my MB Air, but with PowerPoint, because I'm not happy with editing in Keynote. It sounds like the iPad isn't really ready for prime time for this job. That's disappointing, but as one poster put it - Apple often forgets basic functionality in it's new devices.

April 10 2010 at 3:00 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

hiram.cuevas

Seems like a great deal of time was consumed trying to develop a work around. In any event, in its current format, the presenter is still tethered to the device-whether it is an iPad, netbook, or laptop. A simple solution is to use a wireless mouse so as a presenter, one can interact with the audience without being tied down to the device or podium. And yes, most of wireless mice have laser pointers in them as well. Ah, a shortcoming, no USB.

Unfortunately, there seems to be too many issues to overcome in order to deliver an effective presentation on the iPad. I'm certain that much of that will change in the next iteration but most instructors will not spend the time trying to make it work. Their time would be better spent refining their lesson in an effort to maximize learning.

April 10 2010 at 9:39 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Matt C

I rely on the slides themselves to prompt my presentation (I don't use notes). So not being able to view the slide in front of me on the iPad is a really big problem. As has been mentioned here, turning around to see what slide you're on is not exactly best practice when you're presenting.

Has nobody at Apple ever GIVEN a presentation? I'm afraid I can't remember what "Slide 10 of 15" is without more visual information.

This is a deal-breaker for me. I had hoped to be able to carry an iPad around campus rather than my MacBook. If Keynote can't do something as simple as mirroring, it's useless to me.

April 10 2010 at 8:54 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mr_Wright

Please keep us updated as to whether Apple will add mirroring for the iPad and iPhone via the VGA dock connector!

As a music teacher I would love to be able to present my apps onto an interactive whiteboard from either device.

April 10 2010 at 4:29 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply