How can I show notes on my laptop in LibreOffice Impress?

This should work more or less out of the box:

  1. Make sure you have the presenter console extension installed:
    apt-get install libreoffice-presenter-console
  2. plug your external display or beamer to the laptop
  3. unset the display mirroring in the Ubuntu display settings
  4. in Impress, go to Slide Show/Slide Show Settings and choose the correct presentation display from the list.
  5. start the presentation (e.g. hit F5)

You should now see a different screen on your laptop and the external display or beamer. The laptop version should also show any slide notes you have (click on the notes button at the bottom).

laptop view of the presentation using the presenter console extension

Notes:

  • This is also valid for OpenOffice.org. In that case the package to install is openoffice.org-presenter-console.