Run a presentation on two monitors

PowerPoint allows you to display a presentation on two monitors (or a monitor and projector), so that you as the presenter can be viewing and managing the presentation on one monitor using the Presenter view, and the audience can be watching the presentation full screen on the slide show view.

The Presenter view includes:

• Slide thumbnails
• Displayed slide
• Start and End Show buttons
• Black screen button
• Preview of next text to appear
• Next and previous slide buttons
• Slide number (for example, Slide 5 of 27)
• Elapsed time since the start of the slide show
• Speaker notes

Using the Presenter view you can:

• Use thumbnails to select slides out of sequence
• Preview text in the Up Next section, so you can anticipate what will happen on your next click.
• Read speaker notes in large, clear type so that you can use the notes as a script for the presentation.
• Black out the screen during a presentation, and then resume the presentation where you left off.

To run a presentation on two monitors, you must have a computer that supports multiple monitors. Most laptops support multiple monitors using their internal display and an external display. You must be running Windows 2000 (Service Pack 3 or later) or Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. You must have two monitors, which can include a projector or a laptop's built-in display. Finally, you must configure your computer to use both displays. See Windows Help for detailed instructions on the process. A summary follows:

1. Open the Display application from Control Panel.
2. Click the Settings tab.
3. Select the monitor icon for the presenter's monitor (usually 1).
4. Select the Use this device as the primary monitor check box.

   If this check box is selected and unavailable, the monitor is already designated as the primary monitor. Only one monitor can be selected as the primary monitor at a time.

5. Select the monitor icon for the secondary (audience) monitor.

   

6. Select the Extend my Windows Desktop onto this monitor check box.
7. Click OK.

Notes

• While your computer may support multiple monitors, PowerPoint supports using only one or two monitors for a slide show.
• Turn off dual monitor support by selecting the second monitor and then clearing the Extend my Windows Desktop onto this monitor check box.

Once you have configured your computer to use two monitors, you can configure PowerPoint to use both monitors to present the show:

1. Choose Slide Show → Set Up Show.

   

2. In the Multiple Monitors section, select which monitor to Display slide show on and select whether you want to Show Presenter View.
3. Click OK.