Almost nothing (Day 152/365)

It’s New Year’s Eve, so I’ve done very little today. I did concoct a mini-Keynote presentation, a single black slide that when clicked will open the actual First Look lyrics presentation.

I did this because I hate seeing the inner workings of PowerPoint projected onto the screen before a presentation. Or afterwards, for that matter. Begin and end the show with a curtain, ne-c’est pas?

For those of you to whom this might be a revelation, it’s easy enough: just put a blank, black slide at the beginning and end of your show. Most of the time I would just have the title slide up there when the audience arrives, but the lyrics presentation is tied to the iTunes playlist of the the music itself, so I had to add a pre-show presentation that does nothing but open the real presentation when the time comes.

The blank at the end gives you a slide to go to after your last slide so that you don’t unceremoniously dump your audience back into your computer. Nobody wants to see your inner workings. If you have another presentation to follow, for heaven’s sake plan ahead and link from your last slide to the next show. Don’t throw us back to PowerPoint and make us watch you fumble to find the other file, then start up the presentation. That is how amateurs do it.

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