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ePodium Training: Getting Started

Facilities > Classrooms > ePodium Training: Getting Started

Opening the podium

There are two locks on the podium, one in the center, one at the right. To unlock them, turn the key counter-clockwise. Turning the key counter-clockwise unlocks it, turning it clockwise locks it.

Pull open the doors by gripping the metal edge at the right and pulling. There is a magnet on the left side of the podium; pulling open the door and folding it back against the left side keeps the door folded on the side of the podium.

Pull up the top part and fold it towards you as you lift it up and seat it back on the top of the podium.


The right way to fold the top.


Opening the top without folding can damage the podium

Pull the keyboard tray out towards you to use the keyboard and mouse; there is no latch to remove, you just have to flip the tray down towards you. You can adjust the keyboard tray up and down the tracks on each side by pressing the silver lever located on the top left of the tray. While pressing, adjust up and down. Release when satisfied with the position of the tray.

On the right side of the podium, there is a shelf that flips-up. Flip up the shelf until you hear it lock in place.

Inside the podium

On the left side you will see the flat-panel monitor which displays the computer. On the right, there is a touchpanel, which controls everything in the room, such as the projector, what source you want to display, lighting, and sound.

Below the touchpanel are three cables extending from inside the podium. These are for laptop connectivity. The 15pin cable enables your laptop to display, the 1/8" cable enables laptop sound to be heard from the room's speakers, and the ethernet cable allows your laptop to be connected to the internet.



In some rooms, there is a gyromouse, a wireless mouse for the computer that can be used on a surface like any mouse, or it can be used in the air; a slight wave of the wrist can move the cursor on the screen. In rooms with slide projectors, there will be wireless slide projector remotes. There will also be a leather pouch which contains a microphone and spare mic battery for the larger rooms.

In most rooms, there is a gooseneck camera located on the upper-right side of the touchpanel. Use this to project documents on the flip-up shelf located on the right side of the podium. Other rooms have a document camera installed on the flip-up shelf.

The other sources of projection are located below the keyboard tray. The standards are:
  • power outlet for plugging in your laptop/other power device
  • VCR
  • DVD player
  • PC or Mac
Some rooms might have extra equipment like a cassette player. For rooms with PCs where the zip drive is not located in the PC itself, an external zip drive can be found on the right side, just below/behind the keyboard tray.

Using the equipment

If the touch-panel screen is dark, touch to activate it. The image below will appear.



Touch the button labeled "Press to use ePodium". The touch-panel will display the Main Menu and the projector will automatically come on. You can turn it off at any time with the projector controls.

There is a control screen and a help screen for each piece of equipment in the podium. This training will take you through every page.

The projector

After pressing the 'press to use epodium' button to turn the projector on, you will know the projector has turned on successfully if you hear a click (if the classroom is not noisy) and there is only a small green light under the lens at the base of the projector (before you turn it on, that green light is on as well as a red light next to it; the red light turns off when you turn on the projector). A blue light will appear from the lens after a few seconds. A 30-second countdown will appear on the screen. IMPORTANT: You must wait for this countdown to end before doing anything else. If you select your source on the touchpanel before the countdown expires, the projector will not change to the source you wish to use.

If you exit the system (which turns off the projector) and touch the "press to use epodium" button immediately after exiting, the projector will not turn on. There is a cooling down period for the projector after shut down. When the projector is shut off, the green light under the lens turns off and the red light turns on. The projector is not ready to be turned on again until the green light turns on, next to the already illuminated red light. The cooling down period takes about 1-2 minutes.


The projector is ready to be turned on.


The projector is on; wait for countdown on screen to end before proceeding.


The projector cannot be turned on until the lights change to the first picture.

There is a control screen and a help screen for each piece of equipment in the podium. This training will take you through every page.

* If the VCR and DVD player were on before you touched the "press to use epodium button" they will turn off. You can just turn them on again by pressing the power button on the unit itself, the conventional way.
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