One of my favorite ways that I have started using InkSeine of late is for informal presentations. I often discuss my research projects or ideas with relatively small groups of people. Almost every meeting room at Microsoft has a projector, so of course it is popular to project PowerPoint slides. But in a small group setting, I usually don't want to take the time to make a polished PowerPoint presentation. However, my time is only one dimension of concern.

Polished marketing-type presentations are unhealthy for nascent ideas.

For the audience, everything just looks too slick and finalized. But a handwritten presentation immediately communicates that the ideas, like the ink strokes on the page, are subject to change, and that feedback is being sought. A handwritten presentation also invites the right level of discourse and elicits helpful suggestions for things to try. That's what I want in this type of meeting.

For the author, PowerPoint's detailed formatting decisions, and the temptation to type in a lot of text and bullet points, mires you in details at the expense of the main creative ideas. But I can whip out a slide, such as the one pictured below, very quickly. Then I move on to the next point that I want to strike, before I lose track of the big picture.

Since my presenation is a drawing surface, I can add sketches and annotations, or jot down comments that people make during the actual presentation. Or I can start a new page and list everyone's suggestions when I ask people what things I should try next.

The one gotcha for me about making presentations with InkSeine is that I need to create my note in landscape format, because most projectors can't handle portrait screen format. Yet I love to use my tablet in portrait orientation while inking. InkSeine currently lacks a command to reformat a page between screen orientations.

But I'm highly motivated to remedy this limitation, because presenting with ink is both fun and productive.  [:-)]

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