It has been more than a year since being able to mirror the screens of an iPad to a TV or projector. Since then, we have made countless presentations about bContext to investors, clients and partners directly from an iPad. We thought it would be interesting for others to hear what we’ve learned in the process. In this post we will cover some of the options to hook-up an iPad to a TV or projector, and some pros and cons of each.

Lets start with a little bit of background. Streaming video was first introduced as a built in feature in the iPad 2. Soon after, Apple enabled wireless streaming (they called it Airplay) on iPads allowing the screen of an iPad to be mirrored to a TV through Apple TV. Since then, presenting from iPads has dramatically changed – the possibilities more dynamic and engaging, and better equipped to capture the attention of an audience. Presenting from an iPad allows a level of interaction with the material which was not possible before. Through the iPad’s touch screen, presenters can add points of reference, by highlighting or drawing directly on the screen, thereby guiding and focusing attention to the key elements. It’s even possible to record the presenter’s voice as they explain each slide. Following the presentation, it’s now possible to cut and edit it – sending the most important parts to all participants.

With more than 10 million iPads shipped to businesses in 2012, don’t be surprised if the next time you are in a meeting the presenter controls the presentation from an iPad.

Well, enough with the background. Let’s discuss some of the options for presenting from your iPad. Please listen to the voice-slide below to hear about some of the more standard ways to connect an iPad to a TV or projector – from how to hook it up via HDMI cables or to use Airplay with different settings.