I sent this idea in to microsoft, but no "thank you", no "yes sir" - nothing. A guy tries to help a big corporation be better and what thanks does he get? So: my traditional repository, the halfbakery.

The clock icon could be placed in powerpoint slides, or made part of the background. It would show the computer time. This would be good for people viewing the talk, and even better for the person delivering it, as he or she could keep track of the time while giving the talk. Currently, powerpoint eclipses the computer clock display while running, and one must keep track of time on one's watch like it was 1974.
-- bungston, Feb 02 2008

How to insert a Flash movie into Powerpoint http://www.ellenfin..._in_powerpoint.html
[Amos Kito, Feb 02 2008]

Some classy clocks in Flash http://www.clocklin...php?category=ANIMAL
[Amos Kito, Feb 02 2008, last modified Feb 03 2008]

Send idea to Apple - they make Keynote, which is far better than bloatware Powerpoint. I'm used to large corporations rejecting my ideas, especially the Arts council. I take it as a sort of inverted compliment.
-- xenzag, Feb 02 2008


Large companies usually react to unsolicited ideas very much like the average cat owner will react to a half-digested mouse on their pillow, for two reasons:
(a) most of the ideas are very bad, and digging through them and dealing politely with the users who submit them is a big time sink with no financial rewards;
(b) if someone tells you their bad idea, and you have something in the works that's even remotely similar (but that you're not telling the world about because it's not finished yet), they might later sue you, because they think that the big corporation stole their idea.

There are ways of opening up your R&D to outside comments and ideas early on, and many smaller, newer companies do that (wave of the future, absolutely) - but that works best when you're interacting with all your users ("have some free pizza. Now tell us what you think of our prototype"), not just with the few who style themselves inventors.

--

When I give a talk, I want people to keep track of one thing, and one thing only: the substance of the talk.

I don't want them to think about me, or the time on my computer, or how much time is left, or when lunch is. That's just a distraction, and including it in the slides would be counterproductive.

As the speaker, I want to track the time I have left - so many systems, including powerpoint, have some sort of a stopwatch feature. We've discussed that here before. But it usually isn't shown to the audience.
-- jutta, Feb 02 2008


Nah, that's not what [bungston]'s on about. The powerpoint rehearsal times your practice run and then displays it 'offline'. It can then play the slides according to this timing. I don't think it actually displays the time in any useful format when you perform the talk.

However, [jutta]'s got the right gist of things. The clock is not a good idea. It'll distract your audience, who should be concentrating on you. If they're looking for the time, then you've lost 'em.

Use a watch, like it was 1974.
-- Jinbish, Feb 02 2008


send you idea to free software and open source folks. this is better for everyone.
-- erlehmann, Feb 05 2008


You really don't want to show your audience a ticking clock... an audience of clockwatchers is very hard to engage. However, assuming that you do, it would be a complete doddle for MS to put in a little tickbox in the slideshow options: "Display system clock in slideshow mode". I'm surprised they haven't already, given how many useless features are already in it.
-- wagster, Feb 06 2008


I think the usefulness of a clock in a presentation is dependent on the content and the audience.

There are times when "holding the audience's attention" isn't an issue, and keeping track of the time is. I've been in situations where the content is critical to everyone present. It was important that everyone have time on their mind to keep their comments and questions relevant and get as much out of the meeting as possible, within a strict time restraint.

I've even been to presentations where the person talking pointed to the clock on the wall and asked everyone to help the meeting stay focused and get done by a certain time.

I can't see why this isn't already baked.
-- drememynd, Feb 06 2008


Fair enough. Bunned.
-- wagster, Feb 06 2008



random, halfbakery