Instructions for Authors of CFW Plexus Voice-over Slide Presentations

Transcription

1 Instructions for Authors of CFW Plexus Voice-over Slide Presentations All voice-over slide presentation submissions to CFW Plexus must be noncommercial and nonpromotional. Suitable subject areas include food chemistry, nutrition, processing, regulatory, product development, quality assurance, analytical procedures, food safety, and other technical areas. Narration must be recorded in English. All presentations are subject to critical review for suitability of subject matter and appropriate format. There is no charge for publication. Note: Please provide a brief, one-paragraph abstract (maximum 200 words) summarizing your presentation to be used for indexing purposes. The following instructions are based on the use of PowerPoint to record your audio for online delivery. PowerPoint is used because it is readily available and easy to use. If you are more familiar with another method, you can record your presentation using that method provided you can get good quality sound. Please provide the recorded sound file as an mp3, wav, or wma file format. CFW Plexus voice-over slide presentations are online presentations on topics of interest to AACC International members, as well as others involved in cereal science. They can be captured as live presentations and encapsulate the information with the author s own narration. The following screen shot shows how the presentations will appear online to viewers. A sample presentation can be found at

2 Checklist 1) Check your system requirements. Hardware CPU: Pentium II or later (Pentium III recommended) Memory: 128 MB (256 MB or more recommended) Available disk space: MB per 20 minutes of audio presentation Multimedia: Sound card Recording Device: Microphone (for the best sound quality, use a USB microphone) Software Operating System: Microsoft Windows 98, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, or Windows 7 Microsoft PowerPoint: PowerPoint 2000, 2002 (PowerPoint XP), 2003, 2007, or ) Prepare your PowerPoint presentation. (See Quick Tips) 3) Record narration for your presentation and save. (See Instructions for Adding Voice Narration to PowerPoint Presentations) 4) Prepare a short bio (one paragraph, maximum 250 words) and include a digital photograph to accompany the final presentation. 5) Complete publication release form and any necessary permission forms. Note: AACC International must receive a completed Authorization to Publish (page 7) form prior to publication of an accepted voice-over slide presentation in CFW Plexus. 6) Submit voice-over slide presentation files and forms to CFW Plexus by uploading to the online drop box at To avoid confusion and delays in publication, submissions must include the corresponding author s address, the subject line CFW Plexus Slide Presentation, and a short message describing the presentation content. If necessary, please send a CD or USB drive containing the files to CFW Plexus, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121, U.S.A. Please note that CDs and USB drives will not be returned. Submission should include: Narrated PowerPoint file (mp3, wav, or wma) Short author bio Digital photo of author Completed publication release form Completed permission forms, if any Contacts For technical questions concerning voice-over slide presentation submission, contact Todd Quiram (tquiram@scisoc.org). For questions concerning the suitability of voice-over slide presentation subject matter, contact Jody Grider (jgrider@scisoc.org)

3 Quick Tips Getting Started Your slides should not be a script. Slides that keep the audience s attention generally display one or two bullet points or items. Bullet points with one- or two-word phrases can be used to establish your point. You can build your presentation from these visual cues. Make your slide headings specific and meaningful. These headings will be used for the presentation outline. A title slide template will be provided for your presentation. Include slides for your introduction and conclusion. These create a sense of structure and make listening easier. Avoid using slide transitions or animations. Your final presentation should be minutes. Making Slides Choosing fonts Use standard fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman and a font size that is large enough to be easily read. Use different font sizes for main and secondary points. Choosing colors Make sure the color contrast between your slide background and text makes your information stand out. If your slide background is dark, use a lighter font color or vice versa. Note: Red should not be used as a text color. Slides on your computer will look better than the final presentation delivered via the Internet. Do not use subtle color differences; they will not be as visible in the finished Internet production. Authorization to Reproduce Materials The author must obtain written permission to reproduce materials for any materials obtained from other sources to avoid violating any copyright or other personal or proprietary right of any person or entity. Note: Crediting the source of materials does not take the place of written permission. Completed Request to Reproduce Material forms (page 8) must be supplied by the author for any such materials. Adding Narration Eliminate outside noise and allow a window of time during which you will be not be interrupted. Check your sound quality before proceeding. Record the first slide, stop the presentation, and check to make sure that the sound quality is good. With each slide, pause a few seconds before you speak. This allows time for slide and narration to synchronize. Start with an overview of the slide and describe what your viewers are looking at, even if it is obvious and/or there is a list of bullet points. After your slide appears, pause two seconds before you start your narration. Pause two seconds after your narration is complete for that slide and then go on to the next slide. Don t read the presentation talk. Talking about the subject of your slide keeps your listeners interested. Plus, your viewers can read faster than you can speak, and you don t want them to get ahead of you and wait for you to catch up. Don t rush through your presentation; remember to pace yourself and speak at a conversational pace. As you deliver your presentation, keep in mind what the point of the slide is. Assume that your viewers are thinking about how this information is pertinent to them and how they can use it. This will help you keep your presentation relevant. Introduce your presentation. Suggestions include Thank you for your interest in I am presenting information on I would like to thank you for your interest in my presentation on This presentation will provide information on Thank you for joining me today as I present information on - 3 -

4 Instructions for Adding Voice Narration to PowerPoint Presentations Preparation 1) Record your presentation in a quiet environment. Shut your door, turn off the ringer on your phone, and try to avoid interruptions. Ambient sounds are easily picked up by the microphone, including key clicks, paper rustling, and so forth. 2) A microphone is required for the recording. An external microphone works best. A headset microphone offers the most flexibility. TIP: During the recording process it is best that the head of the microphone is positioned below and a few inches away from your lips this will help mitigate sibilant and glottal hisses and pops in the recorded audio. 3) Check to see if your computer has an Audio In jack for a microphone. A microphone jack is a small circle that has a microphone icon next to it. It is commonly found on the front or back of your computer case. If your computer does not have an Audio In jack, use a headset that connects via USB port. TIP: On many desktop systems, these jacks are color coded: green is the speaker/headphone jack and pink is the microphone jack. Recording 1) Once your headset/microphone is plugged in, open your PowerPoint presentation. Open the Slide Show tab and select Record Narration. The following window will appear. 2) Select Set Microphone Level. Read the message displayed. If your microphone is working, you should get a sound level (green/yellow/red bar) appearing as you speak. If it does not, contact your IT support staff. A good, strong signal is necessary for a quality recording. Move the slider to set the sensitivity of the microphone. The bar should register all green with some yellow when the microphone is properly set. There should be no red in the bar. The figure below indicates that the microphone level is registering a good signal. When the correct setting is achieved, click OK

5 3) Once you have verified your recording level, select the Change Quality button, which will open the following window. Change the Attributes field to 12,000 khz, 16 Bit, Mono. Click OK. 4) You should now be back at the window shown below. Get Ready! When you are ready to start recording, click OK. Your first slide will appear. Pause a second and then begin the dialog pertaining to the first slide. Once you have finished narrating the first slide, pause for a second or two and then click your mouse to go on to the second slide. Pause for a second or two and then proceed with the dialog pertaining to the second slide. Continue this procedure, allowing 1 2 seconds before and after the dialog for any given slide before proceeding to the next slide. When you reach the end of your presentation, the PowerPoint program will ask if you want to save the timings. Select Yes. Tip: Do a quality check after recording the first few slides. To check the sound quality, stop your recording after the first slide(s), save the sound and slide timings, and play back your presentation

6 Do-overs If any mistakes occurred during the process and you want to re-record the dialog for a slide Select the slide you wish to re-record. Choose Record Narration from the Slide Show menu. Choose OK. Select Current Slide from the pop-up window. Begin your narration and hit the escape (Esc) key when finished. Select Save from the pop-up window. After you reach the last slide, you will see a prompt asking whether you would like to save the timings. If you are happy with the narration, click Yes. If not, click No. This will enable you to go back and rerecord the dialog for any slide(s) you would like to change, or you can start the entire process again from the beginning. More Helpful Hints As you record the narration, be sure to leave gaps of 1 2 seconds between each slide. PowerPoint records the narration for each slide as a separate sound file and then attaches the sound to the slide. Your narration will be truncated if you talk through the slide changes. Animation (such as bulleted lines of text appearing in succession) in a single slide should be treated as such. You should continue your narration through the animation until you are ready to pause and go on to the next slide. Any recorded narration will overwrite any other sounds you may have incorporated into the slides

7 Authorization to Publish Voice-over Slide Presentation on the AACCI Website Author Contact Information Name: Company/Institution: Address: City: State/Province: Zip/Postal Code: Country: Tel: Presentation Details Title of presentation: Name of author(s): By signing this agreement, I give permission to AACC International (AACCI) to publish my presentation on the AACCI website and to retain the same files for archive purposes on the AACCI website in perpetuity. I understand AACCI will promote this content for viewing by its membership and potential subscribers. I retain copyright of the presentation. If AACCI seeks future use of this material in a manner other than described, my permission will be requested. Please confirm your agreement by checking the statements below and sign and date the agreement. I hereby confirm that the presentation named above contains no previously published or other material that when published would violate any copyright or other personal or propriety right of any person or entity. And I acknowledge that AACCI is relying on this letter in publishing this presentation. I hereby confirm that I have received the necessary copyright permissions for the material included in my presentation. I hereby grant AACCI permission to include my presentation on the AACCI website as described above. Author s signature Date Return this form to Todd Quiram, tquiram@scisoc.org AACC International, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121, U.S.A. Tel: Fax:

8 Request to Reproduce Material on the AACCI Website From: To: I am preparing an online narrated presentation entitled. It will be published on the AACC International website by AACC International, St. Paul, MN. I request permission to include the material listed below. This request is for nonexclusive world rights for use in this presentation as described. The source will be duly credited. Description of material: Source of material: Please indicate your agreement by signing at the bottom of this form. In signing, you warrant that you are the sole owner of the rights granted and that your material does not infringe on the copyright or other rights of anyone. (If you do not control these rights, please let me know to whom I should apply.) I agree to this use under the above conditions. Signature of publisher/copyright holder Date Return this form to Todd Quiram, tquiram@scisoc.org AACC International, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121, U.S.A. Tel: Fax: