When presenting a PowerPoint presentation, make sure you use the mouse or PowerPoint’s virtual laser pointer to point out parts of your slide.
Do not use a traditional laser pointer to point at the projector screens, because the pointer won’t appear in lecture recordings, and for lecture theatres with dual screens, it will be hard for some of the students to see it.
Full details and screenshots are available on Microsoft’s Turn your mouse into a laser pointer page, but see below for a brief overview.
Accessibility considerations
The default colour for PowerPoint’s virtual laser pointer is red – but a red pointer is not easy for some colour blind students to distinguish.
Ideally before you present your PowerPoint, you should set the laser pointer colour to green:
- Click the Slide Show tab in your PowerPoint presentation, and click the Set Up Slide Show button (in the ‘Set Up’ group).
- In the pop-up Set Up Show window, in the ‘Show options‘ section, set ‘Laser pointer colour: Green’
- Click Ok.
Tip: If change your Set Up Slide Show options in your PowerPoint and save it ahead of time, then your laser pointer colour setting should be saved with the file.
Turning on PowerPoint’s virtual laser pointer
To turn your mouse into a virtual laser pointer:
- Start your your PowerPoint presentation as normal.
- Right-click on the slide with your mouse, and from the pop-up menu select ‘Pointer Options‘ > ‘Laser Pointer‘.
To change back from the virtual laser pointer to the normal mouse arrow, you can press the ‘Esc‘ key on the keyboard.