PowerTalk automatically speaks the text in presentations while you operate PowerPoint as usual. It uses computer speech that comes with Windows XP and is available for other versions. Helps presenters who have difficulty speaking, or audiences that contain people with visual impairments. Is a useful tool for testing presentation accessibility when using a traditional screen reader. Adds instant narration to presentations without the need to record speech.

PowerTalk provides flexibility in speaking text. Text shown on the slide. Please operate the mouse button or space bar to continue: Custom animation effects are supported by: waiting for them to play before speaking. For full details of PowerTalk’s features please see the installed ReadMe File or the web site (see the resources slide).

PowerTalk is an example of The OATS project provides flexible and low-cost Assistive Technology tools. It brings users, support staff, clinicians, developers and volunteers together in an open community with a common aim. It makes high quality Open Source Software easy to find and use. Software is released under an Open Source license, meaning that it is low cost and complete technical details are available to all. Thus changes can be made easily to provide new features or fix bugs, and there is no danger of ‘vendor lock-in’.

PowerTalk can be altered to meet your needs: PowerTalk performs well but there always scope for further development. As it is Open Source software improvements can be made by anyone. You are free to make changes or get someone else to do so, but are required to release all derivative works under the same license conditions. This means PowerTalk and others can also benefit from changes. Technically PowerTalk is a Python program that uses COM automation to control PowerPoint and SAPI. Python is a popular Open Source programming language. COM automation is a Microsoft technology that provides component-based development and allows the control of one program from another program.

PowerTalk and OATS Resources PowerTalk’s web site is The OATS Project home page will be announced soon. Keep an eye on for details. Python can be found at Python’s excellent COM support was created by Mark Hammond Mark also provided invaluable help to resolve PowerPoint’s COM event idiosyncrasies. The installer was created using the unmatched Inno Setup program (

Copyright Copyright 2002,3,4,5 Stephen Lee This file is part of PowerTalk. PowerTalk is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. PowerTalk is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with PowerTalk; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA USA See