Why you need keyboard shortcuts to master ProPresenter

Click here to learn more about the ProPresenter 6 Keyboard Skin.

Join the conversation; leave a comment below the video, or hit me up on Twitter (@PaulAlanClif)

The story
If you’ve Googled any question about ProPresenter, it’s likely that one of my tutorial videos has come up in the search. I started making tutorials for churches in February of 2011, but it wasn’t until June of the next year that people started noticing. That’s when I went from teaching about video production, in general, to how to use ProPresenter in specific.

Since then, I’ve done over 200 tutorials (216 at last count) on ProPresenter and am always looking for ways to help you get more out of this incredible program. That’s why I’ve decided to create this keyboard skin.

[tweet “If you want to master ProPresenter, there’s one thing that people often forget: keyboard shortcuts. Here’s why you need them: “]

Why crowd funding?
I need your help for this to work. I’m sure that you know people who would be interested in a keyboard skin that I don’t know. So, first and foremost, share this campaign with them.

Secondly, for this to work, I need to get together an order that is larger than anything I’ve ever put together before. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but just that I need your help to make it a reality.

The design is done and the shortcuts have been tested in ProPresenter 6.
I’ve been talking with a contact at the factory and have a quote to make them.
Because of the economics of scale, I can’t just order one for me. I need to order 1000-2000. That’s where you come in.

Results
If you join me in this, you’ll be making it possible for me to get a keyboard skin to not only you, but other churches who haven’t yet heard about this product.

Once they’re printed and delivered, I’ll mail yours out to your church or organization.
You’ll be able to save time each week and start to memorize the keyboard short cuts you use most often.
You might be able to cut off enough prep time that those last moments of a push to get your presentations done in time, become a thing of the past.

Risks & Challenges
This isn’t without risk, though. I’m not making each of these skins by hand, in my office. This requires the help of a factory. This is something new, though. I’ve never made a keyboard skin before. I’ve never contracted with a factory to take an idea and make it a reality. Sure, I’ve self-published books I’ve had printed. I’ve designed t-shirts which could be printed in small batches. This requires a larger order, though.

There’s a couple of reasons why these are just challenges to be overcome, not roadblocks.

I have a community of subscribers on YouTube that I can tap into to help this become a success.
I have a group on Facebook devoted to ProPresenter who said, one after another, “Yes, that’s a great idea,” or “I’d buy a couple” or “Shut up and take my money.”
You’re here and I believe you will push this over the top.
I have seen enough support for this that I’ll refuse to quit until it’s a success.
“How can I help if I use a different keyboard or am on Windows?”
If this isn’t exactly right for you, here are some ways you can help anyway:

Pray. I believe it changes things and can help difficult things become a reality.
Share this campaign with others. Just because it’s not right for you, that doesn’t mean it’s not right for them.
Check back often. If we reach the goal for the first skin, we can make others.
Give me feedback. If you catch a typo or see a mistake, let me know.
Keep in mind that if this campaign gets fully funded, I’ll make other skins and maybe even a dedicated keyboard (probably starting with Windows, since there’s no single PC manufacturer).

Stretch goals
Whichever is more popular first:

Apple Magic Keyboard with numeric keyboard skin
Windows keyboard or keyboard skin
Thanks for your time; together we can do this and help churches who use ProPresenter to use it better and, more importantly, reach more people.

Join the conversation; leave a comment below the video, or hit me up on Twitter (@PaulAlanClif)

If you’d like to chip in a few bucks, anything you do is appreciated. Just click this link to donate.

About this show:

This show is all about Renewed Vision’s ProPresenter software.

If you use ProPresenter to advance your church’s mission, this show is for you.

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Transcript:Mastering ProPresenter with Keyboard shortcuts

If you want to master ProPresenter or any other program for that matter, the easiest way to do so is with keyboard shortcuts.

Think about it. The mouse is actually really inefficient. First, you have to move your hand from the keyboard and find the mouse. Then you have to find the pointer on the screen, which can sometimes, itself be difficult, and finally, you need to move it to where you want to activate the icon, menu item, or whatever.

Touch screens are much faster because you can move your hand directly to part of the screen you want to activate, but because of the way the UI works, certain features will still be hidden behind “hamburger menus” or on other screens you need to swipe to.

The oldest, and fastest, way of interacting with a computer is the keyboard. It’s still the best, though, and here’s why.

All the keys are always in the same spot.

I learned to type in 1991 and I don’t even have to look at them. I just put my fingers on the home keys and translate my thoughts into words.

While I could click on File and then Save in the menu, I know that command S on a Mac or control S on a PC or linux box does the same thing…and those keys are always in the same place.

There’s a problem though. While there are system-level keyboard shortcuts, like control or command S (for save), command x (for cut), command c (for copy), and command u for (underline), etc, if you want to master a specific piece of software, you need to memorize the commands that work for that software.

So, while command I (italics) works just about everywhere, short cuts like command L do different things in different software. In Chrome, it means “open new location” and in Pages for Mac, it means lock selected objects. As a result, you need to not only know what it is, but what it does, depending on the software you’re using.

There is a solution, though.

If you need a specific piece of software to do a specific thing, just buy the keyboard skin.

Until now, they’ve been available for software like Photoshop and Final Cut Pro, but not for ProPresenter.

That’s why I’m pleased to announce the ProPresenter 6 keyboard skin.

It’s designed to make shortcuts easy to find and even easier to execute.

Imagine that you get to church, ready to create the presentation for the week. You open up ProPresenter, create a new presentation, search in the library for the songs you need, open up Bibles to add scripture, cycle through the backgrounds you have, to find the right one for the week, add cues, open up the audio bin, turn on the output, add a countdown, and open up scheduler so you know that church will start on time.

The power of keyboard shortcuts is that you can do all of that, or at least switch between those tasks, without searching for where they are in a menu or submenu.

What’s more, it will save you time, time that you can spend with your family or time that will help you to get done before church starts…not after.

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