As a recent, and reluctant, adopter of PowerPoint, I had found that one of the most annoying aspects of using the program to show slides was that I had to keep jumping back to the computer to push a button to advance to the next image. Earlier this summer I was giving a series of lectures in tandem with a colleague from another university, and he had brought with him a wireless remote contol for use with PowerPoint. I saw it, I used it, I was hooked.

There is no specialized software to install. All you have to do is plug a small receiver into a USB port on the computer and wait for the machine to register its presence, then start up PowerPoint. Using an equally compact handheld transmitter, you can move back and forth between slides, insert a black screen when you want to take a break, and exit the program when you are done. Since the transmission is radio, you do not have to maintain a direct sightline to the computer, which is great if you are in the habit, as I am, of walking around while lecturing.  The receiver also serves as an external flash drive. The version I have, the SmartDisk PowerPlay, has 64MB of memory, enough to hold a PowerPoint presentation, so that you do not have to burn it onto a disk or to lug around your laptop. Finally, the transmitter has a built-in laser pointer. The SmartDisk 64MB cost around $60 --  similar units are available from a number of manufacturers -- and if you are a moderate-to-serious PowerPoint user, you'll find that it is worth every cent.