Program adds pizzazz to presentations
By MIKE BERMAN
Scripps Howard News Service
October 16, 2002

Boredom: What often occurs while sitting through a presentation as you view slide after slide, with little sign of relief.

So, what's the cure? Vox Proxy from Right Seat Software, a nifty little program that allows you to add animated characters and speech to those presentations, which makes them at least tolerable.

I found Vox Proxy extremely easy to use and had few problems synchronizing the characters' speech and movements with slides containing the usual charts, graphs and other data contained in most Power Point presentations. In fact, if you can point, type and click, you should have no problem spicing up your material.

Once installed, the program embeds itself into PowerPoint and appears in the program's main menu so it's always available. And, unlike most plug-ins, which have been known to be memory hogs and impede the performance of your software, you hardly notice it's there - until you need to use it.

The program provides 17 3-D characters that move and talk throughout your presentation, which can be used to help emphasize points and interact with the presenter and the audience. Additional characters can be downloaded from the company's Web site - www.voxproxy.com - or custom characters can be created through the company's design affiliates.

In addition to speech, these characters can be programmed to gesture, bring up your next file, become synchronized with your presentations, or change specific slides. You also can script them to respond to voice commands using a microphone or by clicking on commands in a drop-down menu.

The program also includes:

A script writer that allows you to develop your entire script using drop-down menus.

You can develop script macros that are not associated with any specific PowerPoint presentations, but can be inserted into them at the click or a mouse.

It comes with a free player program that can be included with every presentation you create, enabling clients to view your presentations without needing to purchase or install the complete program.

There's a speech pronunciation dictionary that allows you to set up a list of special words or phrases that may not be recognized or are mispronounced by the programs speech engine.

You can play audio or video files using Microsoft's Media Player, which enables you to add video or music that you would be unable to include using PowerPoint without the plug in.

You can also purchase Right Seat's CD Prep program ($29.95), which allows you to create CDs that will auto start on a client's computer, giving him instant access to your presentation. The program will check the computer for a copy of PowerPoint or will ask for permission to install and run the viewer on the client's computer, allowing clients to see your presentation.

Prices for Vox Proxy run from $69.95 for a single-use educational license to $1,700 for a 100-seat classroom license. Commercial pricing ranges from $99 to $1,270. For additional information, visit the company's Web site at www.voxproxy.com.

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