You take the podium in front of the crowded hall. You manage to make a witty quip or two. Maybe it won't go so bad. Then up comes the slide and you point using your laser pointer. The dot quivers piteously, amplifying every shake of your nervous hands. You notice, and immediately the shaking becomes worse. You hear a giggle from the audience. The sweat begins.
How many times has this happened to you? Laser pointers indicate to the audience exactly how nervous you are. If the screen is far away, even the normal tremble of your heartbeat is amplified into a cowardly tremble on screen.
The Cool Hand pointer uses bobble technology, mounting the weighted tip (as the head) on a universal joint in the pointer. In addition, when you depress the button to generate a dot, a tiny gyroscope in the bobblehead spins into action, minimizing the tendence for random bobbles. The result: an eerily still dot, moving only as the speaker desires.-- bungston, Dec 06 2003 Bobble Hydra http://www.halfbake...idea/bobble_20hydraOk, ok, only marginally related. [bungston, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] What we have hyeah, is a failyuh to calmly indicate...
You've certainly hit on an emerging problem in our technological society. It's only going to get worse as Powerpoint infiltrates our lives even further. But I think the bobble thing isn't gonna do it, bung. Might actually amplify the shaking.
You might have to go with a body mounted Steadicam sort of counter-weighted frame which holds the pointer.-- waugsqueke, Dec 07 2003 I think it goes way back to social dominance and control theory; I freak out when I have to give public speeches, because I'm placed in a situation where I'm expected to be in control of the scene, and control is not something I've ever been accustomed to.
If one were to study it, I'd say that taller, bigger people have a leg up in giving speeches.-- RayfordSteele, Dec 07 2003 An alternative way to get rid of the dreaded pointer wobblies would be to incorporate the pointer into the projector, and then remote control it via a handheld bluetoothed joystick. Or offer it as a stand-alone remote controlled pointer unit which could be clipped or duct-taped onto the projector.-- phlogiston, Dec 07 2003 [Phlogs] - something along this line was my backup plan. There are devices a surgeon can use when her holds a flickering UV strobe which is detected by the operating room light, which then homes in on the strobe. A UV laser pointer could be used with the detection device looking for the UV dot and providing the visible dot. And allowing for a little tremor.-- bungston, Dec 07 2003 If you've got the shakes, you could always try not drinking so much...-- DrCurry, Dec 07 2003 //I'd say that taller, bigger people have a leg up in giving speeches// [RS] Not in my experience. I am crowd fodder. I think it's something to do with all those people imagining me naked....errr no...wait.-- silverstormer, Dec 07 2003 I've never used a laser pointer, but you just confirmed my life-long fears so [+], but I'm a guy who has to have somebody else talk for me over a phone, so it sounds like I have a lot of fears anyways.-- dickity, Dec 07 2003 Pondering further - one could house the laser in the center of a ring of ball bearings, which is turn mounts to the inside of the pen cylinder via 4 springs. On activation, the laser itself spins inside its ring, thus becoming the gyroscope. Given how small lasers are now, this could be accomplised with only a small increase in size.-- bungston, Dec 07 2003 random, halfbakery