Microsoft today announced that PowerPoint"s Presenter Coach feature is now available on all platforms where PowerPoint is available, after debuting on the web version almost two years ago. Presenter Coach is pretty much what it sounds like, a tool that helps users prepare for presentations. It can detect things like a monotone voice, repeated "um" sounds, or if the presenter is speaking too quickly, and it lets them know in real time so they can improve on those aspects.
In addition to the wider availability, Presenter Coach is getting a series of upgrades, too. In addition to the speech-related suggestions, it will now also be able to give recommendations about body language. This is mostly geared towards virtual presentations, since you"ll need to be in front of the webcam for it to see you in the first place, and it can tell you if your audience has a clear view of you, if you"re too far from the camera, or if you"re not facing it.
But there are also more features focused on the actual speech in a presentation, such as new suggestions regarding repetitive language. If you use the same word multiple times, Presenter Coach will compile those repeated words in a summary at the end, and list alternative words that can be used in their place.
Finally, it will also be able to warn you about potentially incorrect pronunciations of words, which could be especially helpful for non-native speakers. As you present, if you say a word incorrectly, Presenter Coach will pop up to let you know, and you can also listen to the correct pronunciation directly from the suggestions, then practice it by itself. At first, these will be based on "General American English" pronunciation, and you can turn these suggestions off if you don"t agree with them.
These features are available in preview right now, and only on PowerPoint on the web, but they should eventually make their way to all platforms. As usual, Microsoft says it doesn"t save any audio or video from rehearsals with Presenter Coach, for those worried about the privacy implications of the feature.