There are several ways that presentations can be given in virtual worlds like Second Life and Opensim.  But the route from (e.g.) PowerPoint through to a shared display in-world and in a compatible way through a web browser for people not i-world is still clunky.  A much improved, easier to use and simpler workflow is required.  A way also to allow web browsing, gallery style display and slide show style presentation in a web browser should be linked to the same media.

For current methods used see FAQ on Presentation methods in Second Life

The initial stage of the project should lead to a familiarity with all these methods, and a pros/cons and issues analysis. Note time labs for real time screen presentation methods, and look for ways that lags can be reduced.

A potential solution is as follows:

1. Document the recommended procedure to output JPG or PNG format images for a complete presentation from PowerPoint and OpenOffice.
2. For registered users for a web site, provide PHP script to allow upload of images to a nominated new named directory for a presentation [advanced: consider easy multiple image upload, or ability to upload a whole directory all contents, and/or drag/drop onto a browser window].
3. Provide PHP code to allow the presenter to select the "directory" (i.e. presentation) to present from.  It should not be necessary to name the slide, or know their file names, but order may be assumed from the alphabetical order of the slides themselves.
4. Provide PHP code to allow the presenter to select a "Title" slide, a blank slide or to show the next slide in the presentation and go back over the slides, or select a numbered slide in the contents [advanced: see all slide thumbnails and select specific ones to show too].
5. Provide PHP code which all viewers would use to see the current slide on show.

Notes and Resources

Sample scripts that might be useful (some in PERL, some in PHP and some in Javascript) are available at http://openvce.net/services/webcast/

The solution should only use PHP on the server side.  Javascript cannot be used on the client side, as it does not work (yet) in the target virtual worlds of Second Life and Opensim.

The solution should be able to be used in Joomla or Drupal, preferably working in both.

Potential solutions should be experimented with and described.  All code used must be free of restrictions and licencable under the Lesser GPL or Creative Commons full open use licences.