When you are presenting or teaching, it helps to know what your audience is thinking.  A little while back I gathered a little round-up of interactive presentation tools. This week, Google Slides announced a very handy new feature.

Slides Q & A allows presenters to accept questions and vote them up or down during a presentation without leaving the Presenter view. Google recently demoed this feature in this video featuring Google Science Fair winner Shree Bose fielding student questions.

I haven’t yet tried it in front of an audience, but here’s a video of my test run.

A few things I am thinking:

• I don’t believe the interaction has to be limited to questions.  I wonder if the Slides Q&A might be as effective for brainstorming, etc.
• It would be kinda wonderful for remote presentations and virtual conferences.

The Doc Editors Help Center offers a step-by-step guide to Slide Q &A for Computer, Android, and iPhone & iPad

And, there’s more.

Google also introduced a laser pointer for Slides on the web. Simply locate the laser pointer icon on the bottom toolbar, hover and toggle it on. It will turn from white to red and a red laser-like dot will follow your mouse on the screen