If you haven’t heard of the Elgato Stream Deck already then be prepared to be amazed. The Stream Deck is a customisable control pad that was originally designed for streaming, however, is arguably even more important for Productivity. Instead of remembering endless keyboard shortcuts, have all of the ones you use often at your fingertips. Find yourself entering the same information or commands in a particular order, well set up so that one button does it all.

Pricing

Currently, there are 3 versions of the stream deck. The only difference between them is the number of keys that you have access to at once. The stream Decks range consists of the following:

• Stream Deck Mini ($99.99): comes with 6 customisable LCD buttons.
• Stream Deck ($149.99): comes with 15 customisable LCD buttons.
• Stream Deck XL ($ 249.99): comes with 32 customisable LCD buttons.

Furthermore, if you want to try out the concept, without buying the hardware, Elgado now has a Mobile Application that does the same functionality, however, after using both extensively, the experience of pressing a physical button over a touch screen is enormous.

Best Use Cases:

Here is a list of my favourites stream deck profiles for particular uses & applications

Video Calling

Since the Covid-19 Pandemic, the number of meeting that we are in has skyrocketed. As such, having an easy way to mute, turn your video on and off and so forth is a massive benefit. Some of the functions available are:

General

• Mute toggle
• Video toggle
• Screen sharing toggle
• Focus Zoom
• Mute all participants
• Leave meeting

Powerpoint Presenting

• Launch presentation
• previous slide
• Next slide

Emails

Every business and individual relies on email in one way or another. simplify your daily task by using the following keystrokes:

• Email Templates - create email templates and have them inserted with one button
• Email Signatures - Want to have your email signature on a particular? one button does it

The Worlds your Oyster

I've just touched the tip of an extremely large iceberg, but essentially, if you use an application, there is a good chance that you use the stream deck to streamline your workflow in some way.

So…..

Is this on your to-buy list? because if it isn’t it should be. Since I got my Stream Deck XL, there hasn't been a day where I haven't used it.

Comment below if you have any questions and to discuss.

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