Attendees can click on any Web links included in the presentation, following pages that interest them. The presenter can, at any time, bring attendees back into the presentation by moving to the next slide. The audience's browsers will then sync up with the main presentation. We found that this is a great way to give attendees a chance to explore the material while still letting the presenter ensure that all attendees move through the presentation together. PlaceWare presentations can be recorded for later playback by those who could not attend the meeting.
Slides can include interactive audience polls that update in real time.
We found that the polls are a nice way to get immediate audience feedback on a question or issue. PlaceWare also allows an audience member to change the color of his or her seat in the auditorium seating chart to reflect mood or satisfaction level with the presentation. For example, we changed the color of our seat to red to indicate that we were confused and didn't understand the material currently being presented. The criterion for this capability can be changed to reflect the content of the presentation, meaning that the color red could have indicated anger or satisfaction, rather than confusion. It's an interesting way of gauging the audience's interest level.