Features
Presentations
Write sermon slides and speaker notes in Crater. The congregation sees the slides and the preacher sees the notes on a stage monitor.
On this page
The Presentations tab is for sermon slides and other decks you write yourself. Each slide can carry speaker notes that appear only on a stage monitor, so the preacher can see their notes and what’s coming next while the congregation sees the slides.
Creating a presentation#
- Open the Presentations tab and click +.
- Give it a name, for example the sermon title, and click Create.
- The editor opens with one blank slide. Fill it in (see below) and add more slides.
- Click Save.
The presentation editor#
Open it for an existing deck by right-clicking the deck and choosing Edit Presentation.
At the top:
- Title. The deck’s name. It can’t be empty.
- Theme. Which presentation theme the deck uses. Leave it on Default presentation theme to follow the default.
On the left, the slide list. Each row shows the slide’s title and a dot if it has speaker notes. The buttons above the list add, duplicate, move up, move down and delete slides. A new slide copies the design of the one you’re on.
On the right, the selected slide’s fields. Which fields appear depends on the slide’s design:
| Field | Shown on |
|---|---|
| Slide title | The heading on the slide |
| Subtitle | A series name, date or Bible reference |
| Picture | A picture chosen from your Media library |
| Slide body | The main text |
| Left column / Right column | Two-column designs |
| Speaker notes | The stage monitor only. The congregation never sees these. |
Click Save to keep your changes. If the deck is already live, the screen updates the next time you send it live.
Slide designs#
Each slide can use a different design from the deck’s theme. Pick one from the row of thumbnails under Design in the editor. The built-in presentation themes include:
- Title slide for the opening slide
- Section divider between the points of a sermon
- Title + content (the default)
- Two columns for comparisons
- Quote for a verse or quotation
- Picture for a full image
- Blank
If you switch to a theme that doesn’t have a slide’s design, that slide falls back to the theme’s default design until you pick another.
Showing a presentation#
| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| Click a deck | Loads it into Preview, one slide per card |
| Double-click, or Enter | Sends it live |
| Right-click > Push to Live | Sends it live |
| Right-click > Add to Schedule, or Ctrl + T | Adds it to the schedule |
Step through the slides in the Live panel as usual. Speaker notes for the current slide show on any output set to Stage mode, along with the next slide and a clock.
Managing decks#
Right-click a deck (or use the gear menu) to Edit Presentation, Duplicate it, or Delete it. The gear menu also sorts decks by Most Recent or by Name.
To edit a deck that’s already in your schedule, edit it from the Presentations tab.
Presentation themes#
Crater comes with three presentation themes: Stage Bold, Clean Light and Midnight Focus. To make your own, or change which designs a theme offers, see Designing Themes.
The theme a slide uses is chosen in this order:
- The theme picked in the presentation editor.
- The presentation theme set for that screen (see Themes).
- The default presentation theme.