The B key while presenting: black out the screen, get attention

When you want people to listen to you instead of reading the slide behind you, the simplest fix is to turn the slide off for a moment. Both PowerPoint and Google Slides have a single key for this that most presenters never use, even though every slideshow player supports it. It works at any point in a presentation, with no menu clicking and no interruption to your talk.

A typical scenario

You're running a meeting and just walked through a chart with last quarter's numbers. Now you want to open up discussion — except the chart is still glowing on screen and half the room keeps reading the numbers instead of listening to you. Without the trick, you either leave the slide up and fight for attention, or awkwardly click through to a blank slide you had to prepare in advance. With the B key, the screen goes black in a second, attention automatically shifts to you, and once you're ready to continue, pressing any key picks up exactly where you left off.

How to do it

1. Start the presentation in slideshow mode (F5, or Shift + F5 to start from the current slide).
2. At any point during the slideshow, press B — the whole screen goes black (B for black). The audience sees an empty dark screen and naturally focuses on you.
3. If you want a white screen instead, for a "spotlight" effect, press W (white) instead.
4. Returning to the presentation is just as fast — press any key or click the mouse and the slide reappears exactly where you left it, nothing shifts or skips.
5. Out-of-order navigation works too: type the number of a specific slide and confirm with Enter — typing "12 Enter" jumps you straight to slide twelve without clicking through everything in between.

The best tools

• The built-in shortcut in both PowerPoint and Google Slides — works identically in both, nothing to install or configure.
• A presenter remote with a black-screen button — physical clickers (Logitech and similar) often map this feature to a button, so you don't have to reach for the keyboard.
• Presenter view — combined with the B key, you still see your notes and the timer on your own display while the audience sees black.

What you get out of it

• A stronger presentation: the audience's attention goes where you want it — on you, not the text behind you.
• Smoothness: the switch between "showing a slide" and "speaking without distraction" takes one second, with no awkward pause or menu hunting.
• Control over pacing: you can stop for discussion or questions anytime without a visual constantly "pushing" content you've already covered.
• A professional impression: the audience may never notice this detail, but they'll register that you're running the presentation confidently and without hesitation.

Pro tip

Jumping to a specific slide is just as useful in reverse — when someone in the audience asks about a slide you covered ages ago, type its number and hit Enter instead of hunting for it manually. Jot down slide numbers ahead of time for edge-case points that tend to come up in questions.