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Presentation Resources

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A narrated presentation is for a specific audience to which you would ideally present in

person or online in real time, but for practical reasons, you need to record for later

viewing.

While Microsoft PowerPoint is considered the default presentation tool for presentations,

you may consider using other presentation platforms or tools. Just be sure the tool

supports prerecorded narration.

Preparing for Your Presentation

As with any project, it is good to begin by creating an outline. This will help you determine

how many slides you will need to develop and how much information you will need to

present on each slide. It should also help determine a logical order in which to present

material.

Be sure to dedicate enough time to the narrated presentation to get the timing for

transitions right, and ensure that the sound is clear and the narration is at the right

volume.

Creating Slides

Course Resource

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A good

recorded

presentation

shares most of

the same traits

as a good live

presentation.

Your

presentation

should not be

an academic

paper cut into

text-filled

slides. You are

giving a talk to

an audience, so

the narrative

should provide

most of your

ideas and

argumentation.

Be sure the

themes either

flow or

transition appropriately from slide to slide.

Here are some recommendations:

Keep slides uncluttered by using brief bullet points—only a few key words each.

An easy way to make your presentation look more appealing is to use one of the

designs provided within PowerPoint.

Adding images and/or clip art is another good way to add visual interest to your

presentation, but don’t overuse slide transitions or animations, as these can be

distracting.

When you are citing sources of information on a slide, use a small font size so the

citations don’t detract from the primary points.

Be sure to proofread carefully: Any errors on a slide will be particularly noticeable

because of the relatively small number of words.

When you record audio for each slide, a loudspeaker icon will appear in the middle

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of the slide. You can drag this icon to a better position (often the bottom right

corner of the slide) so it doesn’t interfere with the text.

Writing the Script

The script for your presentation can be a complete word-for-word documentation of what

you intend to say as each slide is displayed, or it can be a much briefer set of notes to use

as a reminder while you are recording to ensure that you cover all the points. The latter

approach is preferable, because this makes it less likely that you will sound rushed or

overly scripted when speaking. Keep in mind that if you were making the presentation in

person, you would not want to be reading your comments; instead, you would want to

make eye contact with the audience.

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Here are some additional recommendations for your script:

Try to keep the amount of narration to less than two minutes per slide. If you need

to say more than that, create another slide so the audience doesn’t get bored.

Make sure the script and what appears on the slide are closely related so the

audience can easily follow what you have to say.

Don’t simply read the material on the slide—add value by providing additional

information.

Recording the Narration

At this point, you have created and saved slides as a PowerPoint presentation, and you

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have the script ready. Now it’s time to record the audio.

Here are a few general recommendations before you record:

If you are using a computer to record, use a headset/microphone combination rather

than using the computer’s built-in speakers and microphone for better audio quality.

It isn’t necessary to spend a lot on a headset/mic (typically $20 or less), and you will

be rewarded with better sound quality and less background noise.

Make sure the headset/mic is installed and working. There are simple programs on

both Macs and PCs that allow you to test whether recording is occurring and

whether the sound quality is acceptable.

Choose a quiet location to record so that background noise is minimal.

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When you begin recording, speak clearly and conversationally without rushing.

Remember that it’s easy to redo the audio for a slide. If you’re not happy with the

way it sounds, you can do it again.

Once you have completed and narrated the presentation, it is a good idea to email

the file to another computer. If you are able to watch and listen to the slide show

successfully on the second computer, you will know that the audio files have been

successfully embedded in the presentation.

For Technical Support

Below are

specific

recording

instructions for

some common

tools for

presentations:

Record a Slide

Show With

Narration and

Slide Timings in

PowerPoint

(https://support.office.com/en-us/article/record-a-slide-show-with-narration-and-

slide-timings-0b9502c6-5f6c-40ae-b1e7-e47d8741161c)

Getting Started With Microsoft Sway (https://support.office.com/en-

us/article/getting-started-with-sway-2076c468-63f4-4a89-ae5f-424796714a8a)

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/record-a-slide-show-with-narration-and-slide-timings-0b9502c6-5f6c-40ae-b1e7-e47d8741161c

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/getting-started-with-sway-2076c468-63f4-4a89-ae5f-424796714a8a

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If you have technical difficulties with using PowerPoint, contact the UMGC 360 Help

Desk, available 24/7 http://support.umgc.edu Phone: 1-888-360-UMUC (8682).

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