Presenting using iThoughts

 

iThoughts is a great tool for presenting your ideas to colleague. The following short videos demonstrate how you might create a presentation then play it back.

Mac

Windows

Things to know

  • The idea is that you configure the map as you want it presented (expanding/collapsing the branches etc) then select those topics you want to focus on - then save that snapshot as a slide.
  • The current zoom level and scroll position is NOT saved as part of the slide - this is set automatically when you run the presentation (the selected topics will be centered and zooming will follow the current zoom settings.)
  • The order of the slides can be changed in the slide picker window.
  • Presentations are stored inside the map itself - meaning you can only have one presentation per map.
  • PDF/PowerPoint slide notes can be created automatically - just tap on the Share toolbar button at the bottom of the slide picker window. NB: PDF is Mac only and PPTX is Windows only.
  • If you change the theme of the map then you may want to refresh the slide thumbnails - you can do this by clicking on the Refresh button at the bottom of the slide picker window.

 

Tips and Tricks

  • It's often a good idea to engage 'Focus' mode during a presentation. This will 'dim' any topics that are not selected - so removing any distractions from the current point but also keeping a sense of context. NB: You will need to ensure no topics are selected prior to enabling focus mode (otherwise the focus will not change along with the selection)
  • Auto Zoom is another nice option -  it will zoom in/out to fit the current selection automatically (although some can find this a little sea sick inducing :-)
  • Animation is good - but:
    • The expand/collapse status of the branches will be animated between slides. This looks good but again can distract from the presentation.
    • Sometimes it's better to have the whole map expanded then use focus mode at a fixed zoom level (removing all animations other than the panning effect.)
    • If you do plan to expand/collapse branches as part of the presentation then another approach is to make the map 'manually aligned' - this will mean that whilst the expand/collapse will be animated, the rest of the map will not be 're-jigged' as part of that process.
    • Animation can be disabled in the Settings/Preferences.
  • You can interact with the map during a presentation (edit a topic etc) - then hit 'next' and it will resume the presentation.
  • It will work with a remote 'bluetooth clicker'.