Laptop Projection System

Public Communications serves as a communications link between the city of Columbia’s municipal government and the citizens. The Public Communications Office coordinates several programs that are designed to link citizens with their city government.

Council Chambers Laptop Projection System

For city staff and citizens who wish to project images from a computer to the audience in the City Council Chambers and the City Channel audience, a permanent projection system had been installed. Keys for the cabinet are available through Information Services or the City Channel staff.

Power Point Presentations

Download the Power Point template to assist you in creating a presentation for the meeting. (Compressed/Zipped File) (246 kb)

Using The System

The city council projection system allows a computer signal to be projected on the large screen and through the TV monitors. During a televised meeting the TV staff will turn on all the necessary equipment. Presentations made in the council chambers during non-televised meetings will require users to get in touch with the Information Services office or the City Channel staff.
City staff and citizens are required to bring their own laptop to run their presentations. City staff who need a laptop should contact the information Services department.
If a citizen or a staff person would like to run through their presentation before a televised meeting, contact the City Channel staff.
Citizens who want to use the computer presentation system should be in the council chambers, with their laptop, between 6 and 6:30 p.m. and talk to the City Channel staff before hooking into the system. People who do not make arrangements before 6:30 p.m. on the day of the televised meeting will not be able to use the system.
Presenters can hook their laptops into the city’s system by either the staff table or the podium. The TV staff will have the SVGA cables attached to the boxes. Presenters should hook the cable into their laptop and then power up their machine.
Some laptops require the user to use one of the ‘F’ keys to send a monitor signal out from the laptop (usually ‘F3’). If no image appears through the projection system, this needs to be tried first. Hold down the ‘Fn’ key while hitting the ‘F3’ button. Usually, hitting the ‘F3’ button once will send the signal out of the laptop, hitting it a second time will send the signal out of the laptop and will show up on the laptop’s monitor at the same time.
To switch back and forth between the staff table input or the podium input, use the computer input selection button on the projector or on the remote control.
The remote control will be kept in the locked projector cabinet. It should be returned to the cabinet after use. The remote has a laser pointer and will enable the user to switch inputs or project a blank screen.
Limited city staff assistance will be available for presentation problems after 5 p.m. The television staff might be able to provide some assistance, but their first priority is to televise the meetings.
Presenters should have back up plans in case any technical difficulties with the laptop or the projection system arise that can not be fixed. The system is not guaranteed to work 100% of the time!

Designing A Presentation

Those presenting information are required to develop their own presentation and make sure it is functioning correctly on their laptop. During office hours, Information Services might be able to provide technical assistance in preparing presentations.
Presentations should be kept simple so the audience can easily read the information.
Presenters should be aware that city council meetings have a sign language interpreter in the lower right corner which takes up about an eighth of the screen. When designing a presentation, do not put valuable information in this corner.
A power point template can be e-mailed to presenters. It has a background image, sample font and layout instructions. Contact the City Channel staff for the template.