Great Webcast(Qwikcast) Presentations

Great Webcast(QwikCast) Presentations

Anita Dincesen, M.Ed. 9/1/2009

So, you’re going to be a presenter using QwikCast (webcasting) to connect with your audience. Congratulations! But where do you start? How do you prepare? Here are a few tips to help you to create a webcast a.k.a. QwikCast, as the technology delivery method for your training or meeting event. Great Webcast(QwikCast) Presentations

1. Preparing for your webcast (QwikCast) or webcast appearance. The best preparation for appearing on a webcast is simply to know your material and be yourself. EOD staff is there to make you look as professional as possible. Together the result will be a professional webcast.

2. Not your typical presentation. Keep in mind that a webcast is more like a television broadcast than a traditional lecture- with your presentation materials displayed as the other part of the TV show. You may be videotaped in a studio or at your desk without an audience in front of you. EOD staff can help cue you where to look and how best to best address your audience.

3. Have a plan and write out your teaching objectives. It is essential that you have a firm grasp of what you intend to convey to the audience. If you have clearly defined goals, you are likely to be very successful.

4. Plan to present your content in Chapters or sections to build a Table of Contents. Our webcasting software, Qwikcast, allows you to build in sections to your presentation that show up as a Table of Contents to the viewer. This allows the viewer to skip ahead or back in your presentation. You want to be sure that you plan ahead to say what section the viewer is watching when you are videotaped. After you are recorded, your PowerPoint slides will sync up with the video and the sections in the Table of Contents.

5. Introduce yourself. We do not have an introduction specifically written for your web presentation. Please introduce yourself, and any other speakers, at the beginning of your presentation.

6. Explain your presentation. After the introductions, tell the audience what you are going to present and what you hope to teach them. Remind them that they are participating or viewing a webcast. Be clear on how they can contact you or another SME if they have questions after viewing your webcast. You can include email links and related documents that show up along with the Table of Contents.

7. Follow the structure of your written materials. Do not read verbatim your PowerPoint slide or document. Use the general structure of your outline to present your materials but be conversational, offering anecdotes. If you need to deviate from your materials, tell the viewers why.

Powerful Presentations 2 Adapted from Minnesota Continuing Legal Education materials Presented by Education and Organizational Development – SCAO- 2009 Great Webcast(QwikCast) Presentations

8. Give practical suggestions. Your audience wants you to provide practical suggestions and tips. They want answers to problems and information they can immediately apply to their work.

9. Use examples. Examples are wonderful teaching tools. Whether it is “real life” or hypothetical, we strongly encourage their use. Examples bring materials to life, and help illustrate key teaching points.

10. Timing Watching a long webcast can become tedious. In addition to planning your Table of Contents, try to make your segments clear and concise so that the viewer can start and stop at will.

11. Practice your presentation. It will help your timing. You will also get new ideas from your presentation. If yours is a panel discussion, determine the length of time you wish to spend on each point or question under discussion with the other presenters.

12. Questions from viewers. Participants will have the capability of asking questions by emailing questions to you. We ask that you provide a brief reminder on the e-mail address and or phone number to call the SME after the presentation.

Tips for PowerPoint Presentations

1. Easily read. Remember the main goal of the graphic aid is to assist in learning. Therefore, it must be relatively easy to see, read, and comprehend. Err on the side of caution by using more slides with less information per slide (in a large typeface) to ensure that viewers will be able to easily read your PowerPoint.

2. Table of Contents and Chapter pages. If you plan to use the Table of Contents, you will need to create Chapters or a ‘landing’ slide for each of your Chapters. These landing slides should include the Chapter title and, if possible, a graphic icon, to represent the chapter.  When the viewer selects the Chapter from the Table of Contents, this will be the first slide the viewer sees as the video starts.

3. Guidelines regarding text. Powerful Presentations 3 Adapted from Minnesota Continuing Legal Education materials Presented by Education and Organizational Development – SCAO- 2009 Great Webcast(QwikCast) Presentations

Text must be large and easy to read. As a general rule, less is better.  Use no more than 20 characters per line.  Use no more than 6 lines per screen.  Font size should be at least 30/34 pts.  Bold, black typeface with no serifs tends to work best.

4. Maximize the color contrast between text and background Do not use reverse-out fonts or characters. Do not use curly, overly artistic style fonts or all cap fonts because they are difficult to read.

5. Do not use timed animation. Please be aware that any timed animation in your PowerPoint will be stripped out when it is converted to be to webcast application. Animations that you advance are OK. Imbedded video and audio need to be in the Flash format. EOD can work with you if you need video / audio in your webcast.

Appearance tips

Avoid color extremes.  Do not wear a white or black shirt or blouse.  Avoid dark navy or dark green (looks like black) and ivory or light cream (looks like white).  Blues, greens, or beiges work best.  Bright colors, such as reds and oranges, can work in smaller amounts such as in a tie.

Avoid small, intense patterns such as herringbones, hounds tooth checks, or small stripes. Larger patterns are fine.

Avoid shiny jewelry, such as pins, big, shiny tie clasps, etc. They will reflect studio lights and distract viewer attention from you and what you are saying.

For women – avoid delicate blouses and dresses. It is difficult to properly attach the microphone to a delicate blouse or dress. Also, please avoid noisy bracelets, which can create unwanted background noise.

Powerful Presentations 4 Adapted from Minnesota Continuing Legal Education materials Presented by Education and Organizational Development – SCAO- 2009