Thursday, October 7

Why Not Widescreen?

Throughout this year we have been using a mixture of widescreen format (9x16) and standard format (4x3) for our client's video projection screens. We offer both to all of our clients which brings up the question "Why not go widescreen?"


From an audience member's standpoint, the widescreen is much more appealing to the eye. As a presenter, this format allows more room for graphics and photos making your presentation more appealing. (See our previous post on visual appeal ) The 16x9 format is an increasingly popular choice and is said to be the "format of the future."

In the past, some of our client's have encountered some difficulty formatting their power point slides to accommodate the difference.  In our business, this can be frustrating for meeting planners as they have little control over what a speaker may produce.  We find this aspect has been the number one draw back to moving forward with the different format.

Lets keep in mind that Power Point did not catch on as quickly as some might have expected.  For the longest time we had presenters bring us slides on carousels and overheard projector sheets.  You all remember those days, right?

Learning and teaching the new technology took some time and, as a production company, we had to be able to handle all requests. Times have changes and thankfully most presenters are accustomed to working in powerpoint. Being able to produce a presentation in the wide screen is not too difficult.


The only real change to make is in your Page Setup.  Simply change the size to the "on screen production (16X9)" setting.  If you're working with an older version of Powerpoint you can set 8 Inches for the Width, 4.5 Inches for the Height and the Orientation to landscape. This will produce the same result.


Some of the pictures in your presentation may stretch so be sure to proof and resize the images if you are changing the slides after completing your build. 
It's that simple, just a few setting changes and your off and running. We see this technology as another effective way to deliver the client's message to their audience.  Hopefully, this post has given you some confidence when looking into using the 16X9 format.

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