If Spatial Notes Can Appear on Even G1 During Presentations, What Should They Display?

The exhibit at LODGE XR Talk Vol.30 finished successfully, and I received various kinds of feedback. On my local machine, I can now give a presentation with Markdown-based web slides while displaying arbitrary information on the Even G1 display. I thought all that remained was to display whatever content I liked.

But once I actually started displaying things, I realized that there seem to be many different types of information that could go there. This time, I will focus on what should be displayed.

It has become possible to display what I will call spatial notes on Even G1 even when using browser-based slide tools. You can probably get the overall picture from the earlier posts.

• The Even G1 and Marp Demo Exhibit at LODGE XR Talk Vol.30 Is Finished
• I Will Exhibit an Even G1 and Marp Integration Demo at LODGE XR Talk Vol.30

The question, however, is what to display. Until now, I would have been happy just to put notes in the air. But once it becomes possible to display various things, the question of what should actually appear there becomes more complicated. I will list a few ideas as they come to mind.

Display Style 1: As Slides, or Similar Information

One benefit of displaying spatial notes is that it lets you face forward and speak while looking at the audience. That also means, however, that you spend relatively less time looking at the slides.

Ideally, if you could keep talking without looking at the slides at all, you could give a presentation like Steve Jobs once did. In practice, though, speaking without seeing what slide is currently displayed feels unsettling even if you know what you are going to say.

So the first pattern is to keep information close to the current slide visible on the smart glasses at all times. At the exhibit venue, I also received comments asking whether images or slide thumbnails could be shown. I feel that these implementations will also be necessary.

Display Style 2: As Cue Cards

At large presentation venues, someone may hold up cue cards that say things like "10 minutes remaining," "5 minutes remaining," or "time is up." That is a very luxurious setup, but if spatial notes can be displayed, these cue cards could also be shown at arbitrary timing.

At the moment, because cue cards involve control over when they appear, I cannot simply write them in Markdown and would need to implement them. Still, this direction of use seems possible. In other words, something like this:

• "10 minutes remaining!"
• "5 minutes remaining!"
• "Time is up!"

Display Style 3: Help When You Panic

When you start giving a presentation, you can sometimes lose sight of what is around you. Some people may have had the experience of realizing they had suddenly reached the final slide. Not being aware of the surroundings also means not seeing the audience.

Some people may also have spoken all at once and ended up in a state almost like hyperventilation. With that in mind, it might be useful to insert spatial notes like these into arbitrary slides.

• "Try looking around the entire audience."
• "Look for someone who is listening seriously."
• "Take a deep breath and create a pause."

Display Style 4: Showing Supplemental Information

By supplemental information, I mean information that would feel unnecessary, deflating, or awkward if it were written on the slide itself. For example:

• "Say the joke about XX here."

You cannot write something like that on a slide, and you may want to decide based on the atmosphere whether to say it. But there are also things you do not want to regret failing to say afterward.

Another example would be:

• "There is a gift only for today's participants."

There are cases where it is better not to write that on a slide, such as when the gift is for people who exchange business cards afterward.

There are also surveys that should be written on slides and surveys that should not. This may depend on whether you want the slides to remain as an archive.

• "Who watched XX yesterday?"

For people who look at the slides later, that kind of question is probably not only irrelevant, but they also cannot see the result of the responses. So it probably does not need to remain on the slide.

In any case, writing information that you want to say but do not want to put on the slides seems like it could be quite useful.

There Are Likely Many Approaches to the Displayed Content

What to write, how to write it, and when to show it during the presentation: once I start thinking about those questions, the spatial notes feature is not just an implementation problem. From the perspective of humanware, it feels like there is still a lot to explore about presentation styles built on the assumption that spatial notes exist.