What can I do to improve the quality of the video captures?
Christopher Brooks, 20 Aug 1999
Last updated: 13 Oct 2005

Powerpoint tips

• As of 9/02, we are still using PowerPoint 97. Unfortunately, if you use PowerPoint 2000 or later to develop your presentation, then there is a chance that your animations may not work as you intend.
  If you would like to preview your talk on a PowerPoint 97, send email to infrax at gigascale org.
  The process of converting animated Powerpoint slides may result in different results. For example, slides that have separate text sections that are displayed as the presenter clicks the mouse are all combined into one .jpg file with all the animation completed.
  We are working on using a different encoding system that will permit us to use a more recent version of PowerPoint.
• Combining multiple talks into one long talk can help speed up sessions.
• Make your slides available to capture crew the week before the presentation. Interrupting the crew while they are capturing the talk before your talk is only going to cause problems.
• Once you submit your slides, don't submit updated versions, it makes it much more difficult to keep track of the proper version of the slides.
• Powerpoint slides that contain non-standard fonts may not display properly on the presentation machine. When in doubt, get your files onto the presentation machine well in advance of your talk and check for font problems.
• Transferring Powerpoint slides larger than a single floppy is tricky. Potential workarounds:
  • Emailing the presentation before the day of the talk
  • Use Winzip (http://www.winzip.com/) to created multiple floppy images.
  • Sometimes a single image on a slide will consume megabytes of space.
  • Usually the capture crew will have an IBM 600 zip drive available for use.
  • The capture crew also may have a Flash Memory Card available. Flash cards work best with Windows 2000, you may have problems with NT.

• The less you move around while speaking, the more we can zoom in. Sitting behind a desk can sometimes help.
• The lavolier microphone should be 8-12" below the chin.
• Use a pointer, stay away from the screen. The screen is very bright, so if both the speaker and the screen are in the image, then the speaker will not be well lit.