Using PowerPoint for Digital Signage

With digital signage, ultimately, content defines the end result of your efforts at gaining customer attention and effectively communicating key sales and marketing goals. But remember in the end what you are actually creating is a digital signage presentation. So, what’s the case for using PowerPoint for digital signage? In this article we’ll explore the case and present the benefits, point-by-point, of using PowerPoint for digital signage in your business.

PowerPoint TV Player

We will also introduce PowerPlayer, a low-cost Windows 10 PC stick that displays PowerPoint presentations on any standard TV. It’s a complete digital signage solution that includes cloud-based content management.

The Case for Using PowerPoint for Digital Signage

Why not look at PowerPoint®, one of the premier tools for creating high impact multimedia presentations? PowerPoint offers flexible drag-and-drop screen layout, broad multimedia content support, a wide range of free (or very low-cost) digital signage design templates and ease of use.

Here is a small list of features that make the case for creating digital signage using PowerPoint:

• Flexible screen layout options
• Wide range of free and low-cost digital signage design templates
• Supports ordered, multi-page signage presentations
  • Control how long each “page” is displayed
  • Support for a wide range of page transition effects (fade, swipe, etc.)
• Offers a wide range of font choices and color palette selection
• Support for high definition videos, graphic images and audio
• Wide selection of display object animation effects
• Embedded excel charts and tables
• Supports landscape and portrait orientations

And again, let’s not forget the most important feature, ease of use, which is a key requirement for small business.

PowerPoint is also a software tool that most business people already own and know how to use. Converting PowerPoint for digital signage is fairly simple: setup the slides to display for a specified time (say, 10 seconds each) and select kiosk mode to run the PowerPoint full-screen in a continuous loop. Now your PowerPoint is ready for standalone TV display.

PowerPoint Digital Signage Presentations

PowerPoint provides everything needed to create cutting-edge multimedia digital signage. You can create a signage presentation that displays a compelling mix of high definition video, pictures, a wide range of colors, text fonts, animation and page transition effects. PowerPoint makes it easy for non-technical users to create digital menu boards, interactive kiosks, lobby and retail displays.

Here’s an example of a digital signage presentation used in a hotel lobby. It was created using only PowerPoint:

PowerPoint as a Multimedia Container

PowerPoint does not preclude using professional content creation tools like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to design exacting (down to the pixel) digital signage presentations. Simply import Photoshop or Illustrator page content into your PowerPoint presentation. If you want to create a cutting-edge video advert you can use editing tools like Adobe Premier, as PowerPoint supports the import and playback of standard h.264 MP4 video files in presentations.

In this way PowerPoint becomes a multimedia container and media player. Mix and match the imported “pages” along with your standard PowerPoint page content to create a seamless digital signage presentation with very cool page transition effects.

PowerPoint Licensing Cost

It’s clear that PowerPoint provides a compelling, easy to use tool for creating multimedia digital signage presentations. So far, so good.

But what about operating cost? Won’t you have to purchase a PowerPoint license for each TV point? This sounds expensive. And there is a simple answer: use the free Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer. The Viewer can display PowerPoint presentations on your TV without the need for a PowerPoint software license.

PowerPoint TV Display Hardware Requirements

Some of you are thinking: don’t you need a Windows PC to display PowerPoint on a TV? Yes you do, but there is a new generation Windows PC that is ideal for digital signage display: the PC stick. A PC stick–also known as an Intel compute stick–is a small (pocket-sized) Windows-based device that plugs into your TV’s HDMI port, and (with the right software) is capable of displaying PowerPoint presentations.

Along with their small size comes a low price. You can purchase a variety of compatible PC or compute sticks between $100 to $149 from stores and online retailers. These PC and compute sticks include a Windows license, a flash hard drive, USB ports and WiFi Internet capability.