What is Breeze Presenter

Each semester there is an increase in the number of PowerPoint presentations made available to students online (now mostly via USQStudyDesk). This trend has increased the number of problems reported to support areas regarding difficulties by students in accessing presentations that are large in size . Macromedia Breeze was purchased in order to address this issue.

Breeze is a plug-in for PowerPoint which is used to convert a PowerPoint presentation to web-based format using Flash. It then:

• compresses the file size of the presentation;
• also converts each slide to a separate Flash file making it extremely suitable for online delivery;
• uses streaming technology and
• is thus easier to download and can be used online or delivered on CD.

Breeze can also be used to add media such as audio, video or Flash animations to PowerPoint .

• Example 1: This example of a Breeze presentation with audio has been used to update staff from their desktop about changes to the USQStudyDesk.
  
• Example 2: The types of media elements that can be added to PowerPoint are shown in this example.

Once you have converted any PowerPoint presentation to Breeze, you can easily go back to the original PowerPoint presentation, edit the content and republish to Breeze.

Note that the Breeze plug-in can only be installed on a Windows computer or PC. Presentations can, however, be viewed in any Flash-enabled web browser (including a Mac).

Potential usage

Breeze can be used in teaching materials to

• provide more easily downloadable online PowerPoint presentations for students;
• personalise presentations with your own narration or
• add other media elements to presentations.

PowerPoint presentations with audio can also be a useful means of delivering training content to staff at their desktop e.g. use of technologies/procedures.