So, you're giving a talk, congratulations! Now though, you've found out it's a talk that you need or want to record. Here are some tips and tricks on how to record your talk from the comfort of your own home/office/somewhere-sort-of-quiet.
We're recommending recording with your usual videoconferencing software. We'll focus on Zoom here, but there are other options. This is nice because you can easily record your screen and yourself, and it's a system you're familiar with. If you love recording, and have other recording software or setup, that's great too. These are just some of the easiest ways to do recording that also produce high quality recordings. If you're on a Mac and have Keynote, that's another good option for recording, it's not just for creating slides!
Here's an example lightning talk from Jenny Bryan. She recorded this one using Keynote.
To record a talk you'll need setup for sound, video and some source of light. You'll also need some recording software.
It's good to have:
- A quiet space
- An external microphone
These are some things that we've found to work well. If you don't have these things though, it's ok, just use what you have.
- It's always best to use a microphone that's plugged in versus a bluetooth microphone.
- Our top recommendation is to use a lavalier microphone. It works well and is generally low cost. (Here's one you could order)
- This may seem obvious, but it can be tough to get situated right sometimes, point the microphone towards your mouth.
When checking your sound, the key is to listen to how the recording sounds. We recommend that before recording a whole video, do a test and then listen to the sound. Here are some things you can be listening for that affect how things will sound as a video.
- If you've plugged in a microphone to record, you may need to unplug to be able to listen to the sound.
- Sometimes the clothing or hair is scratching against the microphone, listen to see if you hear that, and adjust the microphone if needed.
- Make sure the volume of the recording isn't too quiet. If you have to really turn up your volume to hear it, it's probably too quiet.
- Sometimes there's some white noise in the background, that can sound even louder in a recording, so see if you can find the source of that noise and reduce it before recording.
Here's a sample of how your video should sound.
If you have an external camera that already works with how you do Zoom meetings, it's good to use that one. If you mainly use your computer's built-in camera, that works too!
If you are looking to use an external camera, your phone is a good choice. It's a better camera, and you usually have one handy.
Here's how to use your phone as a camera for Zoom meetings
It’s good to have the light come from behind your computer screen, so that your face is well-lit. So, you could put a lamp behind our computer or these are some lightning setups that are affordable that you can purchase. Here's an inexpensive ring light you could buy
Here's a good video on lighting and things to keep in mind.
Video about good lighting tips
When you're recording on a small screen in your home/office, it's easy to forget that this will be playing on a screen in a large room. You should still be thinking about [presentation slide best practices], in particular using a greater than 36 pt font size, using a high color contrast for fonts and background, and not having too many words on one slide. If you're live coding, zoom in a few times so the font is bigger.
We're going to talk about recording without editing. If you do want to record and edit, that's fine! We're just not going to go into that level of detail here.
We're recommending recording with your standard videoconferencing software, likely Zoom. You can share your screen and do your presentation, and also record yourself, so you're all set up in one go! Keynote also has an easy-to-record functionality built in, so if you're using Keynote for slides, or would like to, that a good recording option.
Recording tips:
- Look at the camera when you're recording. Get the camera eye level if you can.
- It's nice to see you full screen at the beginning and end of the presentation. So, you can say hi or do the intro before you share your screen, then at the end stop sharing your screen and say bye or wrap up.
- We recommend showing your face while you're presenting, but if you just want to do that at the beginning and end, that's ok.
- If you can, stand up when you give the talk, it just tends to make it more engaging.
- Getting started can be the toughest part. If you can practice that first 30 seconds, so you feel confident about it, the rest will then be easier.
- This isn't easy! You'll probably need to do a few takes and try a few things out. Give yourself time for that, so you can figure out what's going to work best for you.
You have your recording. Yay! Now you need to share it with whoever needs it for your talk.
You might want to do some light editing first, trimming off the beginning or end of the presentation. Here's how you can do that in Quicktime on a Mac and on Microsoft Photos on a PC.
Assuming you've done this in something like Zoom, you'll now just have one file to share, likely an .mp4. You can share this file with whoever needs it and you're set!
If you've recorded with something like Quicktime and recorded screen and yourself separately, depending on who you're working with, you'll probably need to edit those together. There's good resources online for how to do that.
Now you're done with your talk! When the day comes for its delivery, you have nothing to worry about, your recording is all ready to speak for you. So, relax and enjoy the event!