What is kiosk mode in a presentation?

What self running actually means

A self running presentation removes the three things a presenter normally does: deciding when to move on, stopping at the end and answering questions. Timings replace the first, looping replaces the second, and the slides themselves have to replace the third. PowerPoint puts it under Set Up Slide Show, where Browsed at a kiosk loops the show full screen until someone presses Esc. Keynote calls the same idea a Self-Playing presentation, with options to play automatically when opened, loop the slideshow and restart after a set idle time.

Where it is used

Kiosk decks live wherever people pass by rather than sit down. A trade show stand runs a product loop to catch attention from the aisle. A clinic waiting room cycles opening hours and service reminders. A school foyer shows the week's events. A museum or visitor centre explains an exhibit on a touch screen, where the variant that advances only when a visitor taps a link is more common than a timed loop. In all of them the viewer arrives at a random slide, watches a few, and leaves. That is the opposite of a meeting, where the audience sees slide one first and stays to the end. A good kiosk deck is therefore less a presentation than a rotating poster, and the question to ask of each slide is whether a stranger who sees only that slide learns something useful.

Writing slides for an audience of passers by

Because nobody sees the deck from the start, every slide has to stand on its own. That means one idea per slide, a headline that states it, type large enough to read from several metres, and no slide that depends on the one before. Timing matters too: long enough to read the slide twice at a relaxed pace, short enough that someone waiting for the next one does not give up. A logo or a web address on every slide, not only the last, catches the person who arrived at slide four and left at slide six.

Common mistakes

Reusing the live presentation unchanged is the biggest, since its slides were written to be talked over. Timings that are all the same length is the next: a slide with a single number needs four seconds, a slide with a short list needs ten. Transitions that are slow or elaborate eat into reading time on every loop. Forgetting the power settings of the playback machine is the classic stand disaster, when the screen sleeps an hour after the doors open. And a loop with no clear first slide leaves viewers unsure whether they are watching the beginning or the end.

Kiosk mode against a video

Many teams skip kiosk mode entirely and export the deck as a video, then loop that on the screen's own media player. The result is harder to edit but easier to run, because any screen that plays a video file can show it without the presentation software installed. Video also allows narration and exact timing. The trade off is that a change to one price means exporting the whole file again. For a stand that runs for three days with fixed content, the video is usually the calmer choice. For a reception screen whose announcements change every week, a live kiosk file that someone can edit in a minute is easier to keep current, provided the playback machine is reliable and nobody walks off with the keyboard.

Where it shows up in the product

There is no kiosk or auto advance mode here. Present mode runs the deck full screen and waits for a person: arrows, Space or Page Down advance, Home and End jump to the first and last slide, F toggles full screen and Esc leaves. The share link opens the same viewer, read only, and also advances only when the viewer clicks or presses a key. For an unattended screen, the practical route is recording the deck in present mode, which saves a WebM video at 30 frames per second with optional camera and microphone, and looping that file on the screen's player. Recording needs a paid plan.

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