Multimedia presentations are defined as the integration, control, and manipulation of text, art and graphics, photography, animation, audio, and video for presentations. This paper provides an overview of multimedia presentations, and examines how multimedia is being implemented through the Multimedia Design Center (MDC) at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona (Cal Poly). The overview of multimedia presentations looks at the advantages of media for learning effectiveness, retention rate, interest and motivation, speaker image and confidence level, information, and preparation; the various levels of multimedia presentations such as static, animated, and interactive; hardware and software requirements; and the explosive growth of the multimedia marketplace and profiles of primary types of media and its users. The examination of the MDC provides a discussion on the return to centralization for sharing expensive equipment; the development of the MDC and its sister labs, the Multimedia Learning Lab and the Syntonic Lab; financing and staffing issues; and multimedia courses offered at Cal Poly. Nine illustrations emphasize the text. (DGM)