The BMRA instructor comes across as a compleat professional when s/he makes the slide show work smoothly and easily. This describes how to effective use the BMRA-supplied instructor CD to cement your image as a trained PowerPoint professional.
The big picture:
Put the CD in the CDROM drive on the computer, and,
Browse to find the files on the CD, then,
Launch the PowerPoint Presentation and,
Launch the FAR in Adobe.
Using My Computer to launch the programs directly
Use the Alt-Tab key to change between the PowerPoint show and the FAR.
Use the PowerPoint Navigation keys to move forward and back in the Presentation
Finally, what to do when you are stuck
Sounds simple, huh? Well is really is. The glitches usually come from a non-standard PC configuration. However, with the majority of agencies using Windows XP, you should find a ready-to-go PC at most, if not all, of your training sites.
The following walks you through each step in excruciating detail, with illustrations of screens you should see. If you already know how to do the above, you’re done! However, if you want more specifics, read on…
Seems pretty straight-forward. The only glitch could be if there’s no CD ROM drive or if he CD ROM drive won’t read your CD.
This is a fatal error and you will NOT be able to use the CD ROM for this class, unless the on-site techs to transfer the files on the BMRA Instructor CD to the instructor PC (thru a network connection, perhaps). However, expect this to be a non-problem in almost all situations.
a. First, press the Start button and choose Run from the main menu that appears:
The Run dialog box will appear:
b. Click the Browse button and a browser window will appear:
c. Check the Look in: box. If it doesn’t say My Computer,
then left-click on the My Computer icon in the left navigation panel.
d. You should see the My Computer in the big window. Look for the CD ROM drive (shown highlighted here):
e. In the Files of type box, you see the work Programs. Click on the blue down arrow at the end of that box:
and left-click once on the All Files line. You should see something like the picture above. Specifically, you should see the round CD ROM symbol and the name of the CD ROM disk you just inserted.
f. Double-click on the CD ROM drive line. You will see the contents of the CD you just inserted:
and you’ve now Browsed to Find the files. Congratulations!
This should be the easiest part. Double click the icon file named FAR.book including FAC 26&27.pdf. This will close the Browse window and put the filename in the Run box:
Left-click on the OK button to launch the file in Adobe Acrobat.
(NOTE: Every PC you use SHOULD have Adobe Acrobat reader installed on the PC. If not, contact the technical support person to get it installed on the Instructor PC. All BMRA PC’s have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed by default.)
As in Step 2 above, you are going to choose Start-Run from the main window.
You then press the Browse button again to get the File Browser window. What should happen is you’ll see the CD ROM window again.
However, there are no files shown on the CD. Don’t panic. Remember, you have to change the Files of type to All Programs before you can see the files.
Double-click on the PowerPoint Presentation.
Regardless of the CD, this should be a file that ends in .pps or .ppt. The .pps files automatically start the slide show full screen.
Note: If you have the default settings in Windows, you may not see the extensions. In that case, look for the icons above. The Adobe icon has the Red bar and the 3-lobe loops. The PowerPoint Show has the little blue up arrow with the movie screen above, on a page with the top right corner folded down.
Don’t be alarmed that you can’t see anything else but the full screen presentation ("Where did the FAR do?"). The next sections will show you how to go back and forth between your presentation and the FAR (or other programs).
A more direct way to launch the programs is to do the following:
a. Click the Start button at the bottom of your screen and then click My Computer
Both the FAR and the PowerPoint presentation are active on your instructor computer. You just need to know how to get back and forth.
This is where the Alt-Tab keys combination comes in.
If you’ve ever use the Back Channel button on a TV remote, then you’ll have an idea of how this will work. Remember if you are watching Channel 4 and then change to Channel 10, you can go right back to Channel 4 by pressing the Back Channel button. If you press it again, you’ll go back to Channel 10, and so on.
You use the PC Back Channel buttons by pressing and holding the Alt button, and then lightly pressing the Tab key to move to the other program.
A dialog box pops up with a line around the program that will be chosen when you release the Alt key. Each time you press the Tab key (while keeping the Alt key down at the same time), the box will move to a different icon (program). To go to the FAR for example, then press the Tab key until the box is around the Adobe icon and the caption below reads
Adobe Reader - [FAR.book including FAC 26....
and then release the Alt key.
(There’s probably a good pun about going too FAR, but I’ll let it go for now! J )
In summary, use the Alt-Tab function to move back and forth between the presentation and the FAR. When you are done with one, toggle to the other and then toggle back.
When the PowerPoint presentation starts, it will begin on Slide 1. Use the following keys (your choice) to move to the next slide or back to the previous slides:
|
Next Slide |
Previous Slide |
|
PgDn Key |
PgUp Key |
|
Down Arrow |
Up Arrow |
|
Right Arrow |
Left Arrow |
|
Space Bar |
Backspace Key |
NOTE: Choose the key you are most comfortable with and stick to it. Many presenters feel the PgUp (Page Up) and PgDn (Page Down) keys are the most intuitive.
If you start your presentation on the second day, you do not have to use the Next Slide keys to walk down 25 or 30 slides to this days starting place. Here’s a quick way to get there: Find the number of the slide you want to start with (the handout should be numbered). Type the number on the keyboard using the number keys above the keyboard and press the Enter or Return key. PowerPoint will jump directly to that slide.
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Always make sure you can contact your technical support person for the training site. Contact this person first since they are most likely able to respond the quickest.·
If you can’t get that person, contact the BMRA Technical Support person (you’ll be given the cell phone number of this person before the class).·
Closing and restarting the FAR document sometimes cures problems with the bookmarks.