Presenting and Participating at an Online Conference

PhonLunch | September 10, 2020

Authors:^[1]

• Reed Blaylock, reed.blaylock@gmail.com
• Sarah Harper, skharper@usc.edu
• Miran Oh, miranoh@usc.edu 

1. The online conference experience

1.1. Socializing

Be aware of all the different platforms conference organizers and attendees are using to facilitate socialization at your conference (Zoom, Dropbox, Gather, etc.)—in addition to the usual conference schedule and Twitter feeds—and keep checking back for updates.

• Attend/host virtual social gatherings whenever possible.
• Take advantage of all the different tools available for asking questions before and during presentations.
• Include your name and affiliation whenever you talk or type.

• Make sure your Zoom name has this (it’s often editable).
• Leave your name and affiliation on recorded presentation comments.

1.2. Asynchronous conference preparedness

At an online conference, you need to watch the asynchronous talks and posters ahead of time (when available), then bring questions or comments about them to the synchronous sessions.

• Check the conference program often to create a list of recordings to watch.
• Watch videos on 1.5x or 2x speed.

2. Getting technological

There are essentially two ways to present at an online conference: give a live presentation over Zoom (section 2.1), or upload a pre-recorded presentation (section 2.2). Your conference will tell you what presentation type to prepare for.

Reminder: Always practice any techniques or technology you plan to use during a live presentation in advance, and always watch your recorded presentations before uploading them to the conference repository!

2.1. Live presentations

2.1.1. Zoom basics

Advanced Zoom- How Screen share works when teaching online  #teachonline #teachwithzoom

This video includes (a) instruction on how to share PowerPoint slides and write on them during a presentation, (b) nuance on how to share videos through Zoom (including how to make sure sound playing on your computer is also shared—very important for phonetics/phonology talks!), and (c) how to let other people interact with your slides while sharing (i.e., draw on them) (less important for presentations but cool for teaching).

2.1.2. PowerPoint on Zoom

How to See Presentation Notes while presenting PowerPoint slides on Zoom 

This is for PowerPoint specifically. It demonstrates  two ways to use presenter view while doing a PowerPoint presentation over Zoom without a dual-monitor setup: One using a feature added in the latest version of PowerPoint that mimics a multiple monitor set-up while video sharing, and one using a Zoom feature allowing you to only share part of your screen.

Screen sharing a PowerPoint presentation – Zoom Help Center 

Zoom guide on sharing PowerPoint slides (covers methods using a dual monitor set-up, sharing your PowerPoint slides in a window, and sharing the slide show in full screen).

2.1.3. Keynote on Zoom

Screen Share A Keynote Presentation – Zoom Help Center

Zoom guide on sharing Keynote presentation (not as in depth as the PowerPoint guide, alas)

How to view your presenter notes while using Zoom in KEYNOTE with a single screen 

Video showing how to do “Presenter View” in both Keynote and PowerPoint. It covers some of the same content as the other PowerPoint sharing video, but if you want to see specifically how to set up the slide rehearsal in Keynote it may be helpful!

2.1.4. Google Slides on Zoom

How to Screen Share Google Slides in Zoom and Still See Your Presenter Notes

The same strategy shown in the above video could also be used for Google Slides. This video shows another strategy that could be used for Google Slides, taking advantage of the fact that presenter notes in Slides appear in a separate screen from the slides themselves.

2.1.5. The “Jean-Luc Doumont Strategy”

Have your camera video playing through QuickTime or other streaming software. Alternate between showing your face and your slides by putting one on top of the other in Zoom’s screen sharing window.

Mac: Quicktime or Photobooth (To switch between slides and video: Cmd, Tab.)

PC: VLC? (To switch between slides and video: Alt, Tab.)

2.2. Pre-recorded presentations

2.2.1. Record PowerPoint slides individually

Record a slide show with narration and slide timings

When you pre-record a presentation, you don’t have to record it all in one take. PowerPoint lets you narrate over slides individually, then export your narrated presentation as a video. If you ever want to make a change, it’s easy to update one slide’s narration without re-recording your whole video. (Warning: coordinating narration and audio(-visual) stimuli can be challenging.)

2.2.2. Record to cloud and edit the transcripts on Zoom

Record your presentation to the cloud on Zoom and generate auto-transcripts

This video illustrates what’s accessible when recording a zoom session to the cloud. With the cloud recording an auto-transcript file is generated in addition to video and audio files — this auto-transcript is not accessible if your recording is saved locally on the computer. If your conference requires a transcript of your recording, this is a good option! The cloud recording also gives a sharable link with synchronized video and the transcript.

How to utilize this: You can edit the transcript, trim the video, and use the auto-transcript as a caption.

2.3. General suggestions

Presenting

• Plan for and avoid disruptions during your presentation/recording! Make sure your windows are closed, your ringtone and alarms silenced, housemates asked to stay away and off of the internet, etc.

• For any presentation, make a script in advance and practice delivering it in a way that sounds natural.

• If you have multiple authors presenting the same presentation, practice slide transitions in advance (because only one person has control over the slides).
• Make sure your face is visible at least once during the presentation!

• Don’t let “perfect” get in the way of “good enough”: when recording a presentation, avoid the temptation to restart every time you cough, stumble over a word, accidentally skip a slide, etc.

Formatting slides or posters

• Take advantage of the online format to include links (e.g., to github, to personal website, relevant resources) or dynamic graphs and images (i.e., gifs) on your slides or poster.
• When adapting posters to an online format, consider adjusting font size.

Interacting with people “at” your talk/poster

• If your presentation was made available in advance, expect more thoughtful questions than usual (and fewer people dropping in to say “Cool poster, Bro!”).

• For many conferences, people can ask questions about your work using multiple different platforms or tools. Check anywhere people may be posting questions about your presentation often!
• Similarly, if you ask a question about someone else’s talk or poster, check back to see if they’ve answered it — you may end up with some interesting back-and-forth.

3.1. Other resources

Know a resource that could help people make better conference presentations? Email reed.blaylock@gmail.com, skharper@usc.edu, or miranoh@usc.edu with a description of the resource we could add (and preferably a video demonstrating its use).

OBS recording software, on the rise among online teachers and other people making videos.

Non-Zoom transcription options:

• PowerPoint captions (but they’re not great, and the user can’t turn them on/off)
• Concatenate your slide scripts into a transcript
• Online automatic transcription software (e.g., Otter, YouTube, Veed.io)

https://visme.co for long poster infographics