Advice for Recorded Presentations
Professionalism counts and is a criterion of my project grading. One major skill that the analyst programs at various bulge brackets teach is how to make good presentation material, from reports to slides to Excel spreadsheets. Personally, throughout my Ph.D. program and even now, I look for new ways to upskill myself, be it coding, writing online web apps, writing, and now even how to record podcasts!
These skills are not needed for surviving or even doing well in my courses, but knowing some Basic Video Editing may go a long way. For those of you who may think to found a start-up someday, there may be a time in the future where you need a broad set of skills to bootstrap yourself.
Here is some advice on how to record a video presentation. My goal with this document is to list out several methods that allow remote collaboration between group members while still maintaining a coherent structure. While all methods permit that to some extent, there are various levels of difficulty. I list out the level of fixed cost, from the perspective of a smart student who has been exposed to several tools before but has not delved deep into using more advanced features. I also assume you are towards the beginning of your professional career. None of these are required, and you may use other methods not listed here.
A recorded presentation covers more material than an in-class presentation. This is because a recorded presentation cannot dynamically adjust, slow down, or repeat any component of the presentation in response to audience feedback (typically blank faces, sleepy faces, or frowns). So, you can likely cover more material than you think you’re your team will speak pretty much non-stop. I will include some speaking tips for the video below, as well as some comments about the external validity of this presentation exercise.
No matter which option you go with, I suggest you write a script and circulate the allocation for different group members for revision and practice before recording.
Option #1. Powerpoint with Voiceover
Fixed Cost: Low
Long-Term Benefit: Medium
You may record a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation where you record a voiceover for each slide, and apply a slide timer in order to string the various clips together seamlessly. I highly recommend drafting a loose script, including transitions, so that the presentation does not appear choppy.
Option #2. Prezi
Fixed Cost: Medium
Long-Term Benefit: High
This is a very cool dynamic infographic-style presentation. I think this is the future of project presentations or pitches, particularly because it allows a more flexible presentation form based on the audience (although granted, to me the animations can get tiring). A proper subscription requires some expenses. As of March 28, 2020, the basic use case is $3/month, with a free 14-day trial. (If you time it well, you may get by without paying anything.)
However, if you are interested to try this style of presentation, you may also implement it for free in Powerpoint. Here’s a quick tutorial (the video ends with some marketing of this guy’s course. I don’t know him personally and this is not a recommendation.) How to Create a Prezi Style Presentation in Powerpoint.
Option #3. Film a presentation with a projector.
Fixed Cost: Low/Medium (depends on how much editing is done)
Long-Term Benefit: Low
This option is less flexible but is nonetheless acceptable. Remember to practice social distancing of at least 1 meter apart if the whole group is in one place. Or, you can string together different clips from different people as well.
You may want to use iMovie or some other video editing software to put the presentation together.
Additional Tips:
Slide Content
Unlike an in-person presentation where slides should complement and substitute the speaker. This principle may be why some of you may feel my slides do not capture all the information I deliver in class. It’s because the slides are not supposed to! If all that is presented in person is already o the slide, there is no need to listen to the presentation. If you want to create a slide deck for reference, then have a reference (“full”) version and one to present.
However, when recording a video, the audience’s attention becomes costlier (tougher) to maintain since there are more distractions. So, you may consider including slightly more detail than you would for an in-person presentation.
Graphics
I take intellectual property seriously. If you want to use pictures or charts that you did not create in the presentation, please include the source clearly on your material. If you want to look for free stock photos, you may go to unsplash.com or pexel.com.
External Validity
In statistics, external validity pertains to whether the finding you document or conclude in your sample can be applied broadly to different settings. For this document, external validity pertains to whether the skills you learn for this project can be used elsewhere. The answer, as it almost always is, is “it depends.”
The single most important factor for your presentation is for you to know who the audience is. This helps you understand what their expectations for your presentation. While the advice below can apply for a broad range of audiences, whether one presentation will be effective, or over-the-top or even corny, depends heavily on the audience.
Presentations in my class mean the audience are your peers and myself. This means we are somewhat interested in the topic (since you chose the class), but we are likely not as excited about your topic as you are, since you chose your topic and we didn’t choose it for you.
So, depending on the situation, there may be times that appealing to your audience means reducing your presentation down to its barebones with few technical or graphical chops.
Additional Potentially Useful Links:
· Tips for better Powerpoint styles.
· LinkedIn Learning for Powerpoint (free trial but needs subscription after)
· Lifehacker Guide for Video Editing
· Harvard Business Review: What It Takes To Give a Great Presentation
· 17 Example Presentation Videos
If you find any additional resources that you find useful, or if any of the links above are dead, please email me so I can update them!
