You can broadcast a slide show with PowerPoint?

You can broadcast a slide show with PowerPoint?

So my helpdesk guy told me about this one today. It's pretty cool. First off, you will need a Windows Live ID for this to work. Make a Powerpoint 2010 slideshow, then click on the Slide Show tab and then on the "Broadcast Slide Show" button. Click the "Start Broadcast" button. Now, log in with you Windows Live ID.

Powerpoint will give you a link to share with as many people you want. When they open the link, the browser window will show the presentation interface with the text "Waiting for broadcast to begin".

Back on the source machine, click the "Start Slide Show" button. The interface will start your show in fullscreen mode, but you can get back to windowed mode by pressing your escape key. Computers receiving the broadcast will see everything live as you move between the slides. Clicking "End Broadcast" shuts the whole thing down.

There's only one thing I think is missing, and that's some ability for the presenter to see who is connected and ready for the broadcast to begin. There's no integrated way to ensure that your targets are ready to begin.