Present in a room

How presenting works

In Pactto you present a board. Each item in the board becomes a slide, in the board's order, and you move through them one at a time while the item fills the screen. To have everyone in the room see your slides, you also turn on Spotlight, so they follow your view.

Who can present: the room owner and people with Can edit access. Anyone in the room can follow a presentation.

Step 1: Add your assets

Bring the files you want to show into the room:

• Click Add asset in the toolbar (keyboard shortcut 1) to upload images, videos or PDFs, or to import from a connected source.
• Drag files from your computer and drop them on the canvas, or directly onto a board.
• Paste content onto the canvas.
• Create content in the room: Doc (D), Table (Y) or Sticky note (N) from the toolbar.

See Add assets to a room for every option.

Step 2: Put them in a board

A board is a named container on the canvas, and it is your deck. Create one in either of these ways:

1. Click Board in the toolbar (shortcut B) and drag on the canvas to draw it, then drag your assets into it.
2. Or select two or more assets and choose Convert to Board (in the toolbar above the selection, or by right-clicking).

The order of the board's items is the order of the slides. For a predictable order, pick Vertical, Horizontal or Grid in the board's layout menu and drag items to reorder them (see Arrange items inside a board). See Create a board and add items to it for details.

These items become slides: images, videos, audio files, PDFs, links, Pactto Docs, tables, screen shares and boards placed inside the board (a board inside a board is one slide). Sticky notes, text, drawings, shapes, arrows and comments are not slides. Items inside a group in the board each count as a slide.

Step 3: Click the play button

1. Click the board's name (above its top left corner) to select the board.
2. In the bar next to the name, click the play button, Enter presentation mode. It sits right after the Enter focus mode button.
3. The first slide opens full screen. At the bottom you see a Previous slide arrow, a Show slides pill with a counter (for example "1 of 5") and a Next slide arrow.

The play button only appears when the board has at least two slide items, the board is expanded (not collapsed), and you have edit access.

Step 4: Let the room see it (Spotlight)

Presentation mode on its own only changes your screen. To bring everyone along:

1. Click Spotlight me in the header, next to the camera and microphone buttons, or press X. You can do this before or after you click play.
2. Confirm with Become spotlight.
3. Everyone else is asked Follow {your name}'s view?. People who click Follow see the slide you are on, and their screen changes when you change slides.

The Spotlight button only appears when at least one other person is in the room. See Spotlight your view.

Move between slides

• Click Next slide or Previous slide (the arrows at the bottom), or press the Right and Left arrow keys.
• Click Show slides to open a strip of thumbnails, then click any thumbnail to jump to that slide. Click Hide slides to close the strip.
• The arrows are disabled on the first and last slide; the deck does not loop.
• On a video slide, use the video controls to play it. If you are spotlighted, play, pause and seeking are shared with your followers (see Play videos together).

Stop presenting

• Press Escape, or click Exit focus mode at the top left, next to the slide title.
• Both take you straight back to the canvas. If you are spotlighted, your followers also return to the canvas.
• To stop leading the room, click the Spotlight button again (Stop spotlighting me, or X), or click Stop in the Spotlight bar at the bottom of the screen.

What viewers see

• Followers see the current slide full screen and a bar at the bottom: Following {name}'s view with a Stop following button. They do not see the slide strip or the arrows.
• People who chose Stay where I am keep their own view and see Follow {name}'s view with a Follow button, so they can join later.
• While you present a slide, the Spotlight bar is hidden on your screen so it does not cover the slide.
• Other people's cursors are hidden over the slides.

If something goes wrong

• No play button: select the board itself (click its name), make sure it has two or more slide items, expand it if it is collapsed, and check you have Can edit access.
• People do not see my slides: presentation mode does not start Spotlight. Click Spotlight me and ask people to click Follow.
• Presentation closed by itself: it ends if you focus an item outside the board, if the board is deleted, or if it no longer has slide items.

Good to know

• On a phone there is no Escape key: use the exit button on the slide title in the header. On a phone screen the slide controls move up so the chat and assistant buttons do not cover them.
• Spotlight is not available on phones, so start Spotlight from a computer if you want the room to follow you.
• Slides cannot be reordered from the slide strip. Reorder items in the board instead.
• Videos in the deck start downloading in the background while you present, for you and your followers, so they are ready when you reach them.
• To show your screen instead of a board, see Share your screen.