PowerPoint is one of the most widely used tools to design effective presentations that help communicate ideas and generate audience interest. However, these objectives are not always achieved.
Progress has been made in this technology at our University, thanks to iSlidesRC, a set of software components compiled as an add-in for PowerPoint, which allows the creation of interactive and editable slides during the projection of the presentation. The audience can also participate by editing the slides from their mobile devices.
This technological development was carried out by researchers and academics Dr. Mario López Villarroel, from the Department of Industrial Engineering of the School of Engineering, and Dr. Héctor Ponce Arias, from the Department of Accounting and Auditing of the School of Business Administration and Economics.
As Dr. Mario López points out, iSlidesRC “is a technological platform that simplifies creation of interactive presentations with strategic intent, which consists of several components”. He details that these are: iSlides, a PowerPoint add-in for the presenter to manage interactive slides; Participar,cl (iSlidesMobile), an app for mobile devices that allows the audience to edit slides in the projection; cloud services for data processing and communication between iSlidesRC components; and finally, the web site providing information, support, reporting, and other services.
Additionally, Dr. Héctor Ponce points out that the exhibitor can design and manage interactive events that allow attendees to participate, “answering questions or sending text messages to the interactive slides displayed in projection mode”. iSlidesRC also has a web service for data management in the cloud, which manages and aggregates the data generated during the time of the audience's intervention.
“This development brings innovation to PowerPoint presentations, providing functions that help strengthen communication and interaction with the audience, in addition to collecting and processing data associated with audience participation. Another benefit is that the presenter does not have to leave PowerPoint to include an interactive event, and its results are stored in the .pptx file,” emphasizes Dr. Héctor Ponce.
This USACH technology currently has a registered trademark, copyright and web domain in Chile, and two invention patents in the United States (iSlides and iSlidesMobile), a process supported by the Office of Technological Management of the Vice Rector's Office for Research, Innovation and Creation.
Learn more about the inventions developed at our University by accessing the website dgt.usach.cl.