Apple TV and Presentations

I have a Apple TV (believe its a ATV2), a late 2011 15" MacBook Pro, and a Epson Projector. About 6-10 times every spring, I do presentations at everywhere from school auditoriums, to university classrooms, to fire halls and courtrooms. With the purchase of the MacBook Pro, I know now that I can connect to the Apple TV and watch what is on my screen while on the internet.

Question one. If my Apple TV is not connected to the internet, will I still be able to connect to it with my MacBook Pro and broadcast what is on my screen.

Question two. If I can can connect to the Apple TV without the internet, can I connect the output to the Apple TV to the projector and project the McBook Pro screen that way?

Really need to know exactly what Apple TV you have in order to provide an answer. Is it a small black box, or a medium-sized gray box?

It's the 2nd gen ATV. Black box about 3x3x1

The last software update for second-gen Apple TVs is 6.2.1 if I'm not mistaken, and as to whether you can work this as you want to depends entirely on something I don't know -- whether your MacBook Pro (a 2011) can do AirPlay broadcasting of its screen. If it can, then yes you can send your screen (you don't need to be connected to the Internet, just a local Wi-Fi network) to the Apple TV and it will reproduce it through the projector.

If you can't, then you'll need a newer (third-gen or the new fourth-gen) Apple TV for that to work.

I think that Mac will support AirPlay directly. If it doesn't give AirParrot 2 a try. I've been using it too stream from my 2008 MacBook Pro which doesn't fully support AirPlay to a 3rd generation Apple TV. It has worked well though I have been using it mainly to stream audio. That same company has another program called Reflector, I think, which might also work. Both programs have demo versions.

You might also find this Apple article useful. It mentions peer to peer AirPlay but that seems to require a 3rd generation Apple TV.

Reflector (which I use a lot for presentations) does the opposite of what the OP wants. Reflector's purpose is to make the Mac into an AirPlay *receiver* (ie fake being an Apple TV) so that mobile devices (and, I suppose, other Macs) could send information to it, which is then projected on the connected projector.

Thanks for clearing that up. I had forgotten that about Reflector. AirParrot is definitely worth a look though.

AirPlay can also be done peer to peer between the Apple TV and another AirPlay device but if I understand correctly you need a newer version of Apple TV than the OP has.

Wow, lots of great information. I actually had used AirParrot to link my "other" laptop to the Apple TV . I looked at my MacBook and yes, it does airplay direct to the Apple TV. I was watching YouTube from my laptop on my HDTV through the Apple TV. The one thing I did not try and the reason for the post, is if I disconnect both from the wireless network (thinking gymnasium or conference room without wireless internet), will I still be able to see what is on my MacBook on the TV or in many cases a HDMI projector. Thanks.

That's what peer-to-peer AirPlay does. It's possible to connect the Apple TV to an AirPlay capable device without needing a wireless network

Apparently though you need at least a third generation Apple TV. This article, explains things in a bit more detail. It includes information on how to determine whether your Apple TV meets the criteria.

Just a little update here. I was able to connect the apple tv to my projector and after disconnecting it from my network, I was able to project my MacBook Pro through the projector. Thanks everyone for your help.