Microsoft is working on an upgrade for collaboration platform Teams that should help take some of the pain out of virtual presentations.
In a new entry (opens in new tab) to its product roadmap, the company revealed that Microsoft Teams users will soon benefit from the introduction of Cameo to PowerPoint Live, the service’s in-built presentation tool.
The new integration will enhance the existing offering by allowing presenters to integrate their webcam feed into their slide deck, hopefully resulting in a more polished and engaging presentation.
Cameo in PowerPoint Live
Since the start of the pandemic, Microsoft has been experimenting with various new ways to improve the virtual presentation experience, in a bid to help people make the most out of this now-widespread medium.
The objective was likely also to guard against competition from video conferencing rivals like Zoom, as well as the advances of specialist presentation platforms like Prezi.
The Cameo feature for PowerPoint Live was first announced by Microsoft back in September 2021, and later previewed for members of the Office Insider program earlier this year. Now, the company has revealed the feature is expected to go live for all users by the end of August.
As described in a Microsoft blog post (opens in new tab), Cameo “enables you to seamlessly embed live camera feeds into your slides as part of your presentation. You can use this feature to create a more immersive experience for your audience. It can also help you be more prepared for your live presentation.”
“Cameo gives you full control of live camera feeds in PowerPoint. Just like any other image, you can move, resize, crop, and apply transitions or styles to the camera feed.”
The arrival of Cameo for PowerPoint Live will build upon an existing foundation laid by various other presentation-focused upgrades for Microsoft Teams.
For example, Microsoft recently announced a new “collaborative annotation” feature designed to introduce a greater level of interactivity, and an update that arms presenters with more granular video controls.
Although virtual presentations will remain a chore for many, Microsoft will hope that these latest Teams additions will at least take some of the sting out of the task.
