Cheap online presentations using PowerPoint
By Gillian Kerr, RealWorld Systems
The information in this article is current as of May 4, 2004.
In a recent project for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Anne Simard and I led a series of workshops on 'Results-Based Management' for settlement agencies across Canada. The objective was to develop logic models and an evaluation framework for national settlement services.
Only one person from each agency was invited to participate in the day-long
face-to-face workshops due to travel costs and the importance of having small
intense interactions. However, many additional settlement staff wanted to
be involved in the consultation. As an alternative to the face-to-face meetings,
we posted our presentation
and the handouts on the web, and offered people in the sector the opportunity
to comment via e-mail or phone conversations.
We were surprised at the interest. Many people downloaded and listened to the presentations, and even passed around the link to others. We heard that some agency staff listened to the presentation as a way to get an introduction to logic models, even if they weren't involved in settlement itself. It turned out to be an effective way of expanding the consultation process, and a great way to use online presentations.
There are two ways to make online presentations; live and canned. In a live
presentation, you can use a web conference tool like the ones
I describe here to present to a group of people who are watching presentation
materials that you are demonstrating on your computer or have posted onto
the web. People can ask questions and interact with each other during the
event. Another alternative is to record your presentation and post it on the
web; the canned presentation.
The advantage of having a canned presentation is that the content is available any time, and you don't have to deal with the considerable logistical challenges of getting everyone to solve their computer access problems and log in at the right time to join a live presentation. There are an astounding number of technical problems that come up when people are beginning to use web conferences, and while I use them frequently, I'm learning that it takes most people a few times before they are comfortable with the approach.
Canned presentations can also be combined with handouts, articles and other
learning materials, and can be followed up with teleconferences or interactive
discussion groups.
Last month, I made two additional online presentations for a group of researchers
who work in the area of early childhood development with the support of the
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
The topics are 'Making
effective presentations' and 'Managing complex research projects'. They
are posted publicly on our web site, and you can test them out to see whether
you like the technology.
All of the presentations were recorded in one sitting at my computer using a regular headset and Microsoft PowerPoint, plus one of the many PowerPoint plug-ins that are available. I intentionally didn't edit them after recording them, so you get all of the ums and ahs that you'd get in a live session; I wanted to show how this technology works in the real world.
Software for online presentations
There are many options for posting PowerPoint presentations online, and the options are getting simpler all the time. This is an inexpensive way to provide training or to communicate with a group over distance.
All of the options I describe work with Microsoft PowerPoint, and work mainly
with Windows. I'm sure there are other approaches, but they are harder to find.
- Presentation
Broadcast for PowerPoint. This free download from Microsoft is very
easy to use, though it is not as nice looking as Apreso, which is the plug-in
I chose. If you need to edit after you record your presentation, you can
export the content into Microsoft
Producer, which is another free download, but much more complicated
and difficult to use.
- Apreso offers a free
trial for 30 days and then costs $149 US for the audio version. I liked
it a lot, though it doesn't yet offer an ability to edit. They hope to revise
the software to allow editing in the next few months.
- PowerPoint
to Flash Conversion Tools - This article, by the master of consumer
testing, Robin Good, lists the top 20 software solutions from his perspective.
Advantages to Flash presentations include compatibility with a wide range
of browsers and operating systems, small file sizes, security and so on.
I haven't tested all of these tools myself.
The simpler services do not allow editing; you have to be relaxed about talking
to the slides, making occasional errors, and not worrying that it's supposed
to be perfect. It keeps the presentation informal. You should do a test run
first to get comfortable with the software and to make sure you can play it
back.
After you have created the audio/PowerPoint presentation, you have to post it on the web. If you need to play it to many people you probably will require some type of media hosting or streaming service. Most nonprofits will not require hosting for heavy traffic, but if they do they should look at services like Apreso Online (a companion service to Apreso) or media hosting. Audio presentations take up a lot of space and bandwidth on a web server; generally half a megabyte per minute of audio.
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Gillian Kerr, Ph.D., C.Psych.
RealWorld Systems
gkerr at realworldsystems.net
Read my weblog at http://blog.realworldsystems.net
