Oral presenters are invited to submit a pre-recorded video of your presentation to share on the conference app (think of this a practice session!).
This will allow attendees to access your presentation and watch it at a later date, if they are not able to see your presentation in-person at the event. This option is also available to federal employees who may not be able to attend in case of a federal shutdown. Attendees can interact with you through the conference app to ask questions or share comments.
Presentations must be submitted by November 22 to allow time for conference staff to process and post your video. Directions for submitting the pre-recorded presentation will be posted on this page by November 10.
Presentation Format
Presentations should be no longer than 15 minutes. We expect your video file to be 75-100 MB in size and to be submitted in a common video file format (such as .MP4).
Recording Your Presentation
You can pre-record your presentation using any meeting or presentation software. We will provide instructions below for using Zoom and Powerpoint as an example.
Instructions to Use Zoom / Powerpoint
- If you do not have a Zoom account, create one for free.
- The free account allows you unlimited time for one-on-one meetings and has a 40-minute limit for group meetings.
- You can initiate a meeting without any other participants and use Zoom’s presentation tools to record your presentation.
- Open your presentation in Powerpoint and click Play from Start or From Beginning to begin the slideshow.
- In Powerpoint, it might be easier for you to present without being in fullscreen mode. To adjust this setting: On the Slide Show tab, click Set Up Slide Show. Under Show type, pick click Browsed by an individual (window).
- Open Zoom and click New Meeting.
- Connect audio and video and check to make sure both are working.
- At the bottom of the Zoom window, click Share Screen.
- In the Share window, click the window with your powerpoint file that you wish to use in the recording.
- If your presentation includes sound, check the box for Share computer sound.
- If your presentation includes a video, check the box for Optimize Screen Sharing for Video Clip.
- Click Share. The window that is being shared/recorded will have a green outline.
- When you are ready to begin your presentation, click the three dots in the menu bar and select Record.
- When you are finished, click the three dots in menu bar and select stop recording.
- When you close the Zoom meeting, a folder will open with your MP4 video file. This is the file you will upload by November 22.
Recording Tips
- Watch your video! Make sure it starts and stops at the correct times, the video and sound quality are good, and the full presentation has been recorded correctly.
- The best slide size for your PowerPoint while giving a presentation on Zoom is 16:9 or a widescreen layout.
- Be sure to turn off phones and notifications that could cause distractions during recording.
- It is highly recommended that you practice using Zoom before recording so that you are comfortable with the controls before you record your presentation.
- Check audio and adjust your microphone volume if necessary.
- Check your video and adjust your lighting and webcam angle if necessary.