Google updates Slides with Q&A feature for real-time audience feedback, presenting from iOS, and a laser pointer option
not at them—with Slides Q&A Sneha Bokil / Fone Arena : Google Slides updated with Q&A, laser pointer and more Collen Kriel / SiliconANGLE : Google Slides gets Q&A feature, laser pointer tool and Hangouts presentation option for iOS Karissa Bell / Mashable : Google adds Q&A and laser pointer features to Slides apps Google Apps update alerts : Accept questions from your audience when presenting in Google Slides Phil Oakley / Android Police : Google Launches Slides Q&A, Making Questions And Answers Interactive Abner Li / 9to5Mac : Google Slides receives big update w/ audience Q&A feature, new iOS presentation options, more Dan Thorp-Lancaster / Android Central : Google Slides' new Q&A feature helps presenters engage with their audience Jillian D'Onfro / Business Insider : A 17-year-old beat out 10,000 other people to win a Google contest … Blair Hanley Frank / PCWorld : Google Slides makes it easier to talk back to presenters Mary Jo Madda / EdSurge : Survey Says: Google Releases New Slides ‘Q&A’ Polling Feature, Laser Point, and Updates to Classroom Nate Swanner / The Next Web : Google Slides now has real-time Q&A feature and a digital laser pointer Barb Darrow / Fortune : Google Seeks to Make Slideshows Less Crushingly Dull Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch : Google launches Slides Q&A to help presenters connect with their audiences Nathan Ingraham / Engadget : Google Slides has a new audience participation Q&A feature Tweets: Google Science Fair / @googlescifair : Here's a first look at how @shreebose used the new Slides Q&A feature to inspire students to ask #howcanwe http://twitter.com/... Google Docs / @googledocs : #Maythe4thBeWithYou while you're presenting. Introducing Slides Q&A, a laser pointer & more: http://docs.googleblog.com/... http://amp.twimg.com/... Richard Byrne / @rmbyrne : Google Slides now has a Q&A function for audience participation http://docs.googleblog.com/... via @googledocs
Context & Ripple Effects
Slides has spent the past year turning the phone into the presentation console: first streaming decks to TVs via Chromecast and AirPlay in mid-2015, then presenting straight into Hangouts video calls from Android. Today's update completes that arc on two fronts — an audience-facing Q&A feed for real-time questions, and native presenting from iOS, closing the gap for iPhone and iPad users who previously had to borrow another device.
First-order effects
- Presenters running sessions through Slides can now collect and surface audience questions live instead of fielding raised hands, while iPhone and iPad owners can drive the deck themselves rather than switching platforms.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft's PowerPoint and Apple's Keynote face pressure to match built-in audience interaction, since Slides is bundling what often required third-party polling tools; meanwhile dedicated presentation clickers and laser pointers lose ground to the phone already in the presenter's hand.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, presentation software competes on live-session interactivity rather than slide authoring — a direction Google doubled down on with the automated closed-captions feature added to Slides in 2018 and the Slides API opened to third-party integrations later that same year.
The trend: Office productivity suites are shifting from static document editing toward interactive, device-agnostic live sessions, with the presenter's phone replacing both the laptop tether and the clicker.