Making a narrated slide presentation with a table of contents

A full motion video of a talk or demonstration can get quite large. A narrated slide presentation with a table of contents can often achieve similar results with much smaller files.

Here is my workflow for creating narrated slide presentations using PowerPoint, Audacity, Levelator and Camtasia:

  1. Create a project directory, and place all subsequent material in it.
  2. Create the slides. I use PowerPoint for the bulk of the slides because it is simple and can save each slide in an individual file with a single command. PpwerPoint 2010 is preferable because it does antialiasing when saving text, which looks better than early versions. Keep the slides the same size if possible. If not, keep the aspect ratios the same.
  3. Save the slides in individual files. If you are using Camtasia 7, save the slides in .png format unless they are essentially photos, in which case you might try .jpg. (Note that earlier versions of Camtasia have bugs that may prevent importing some .png files. If you get an error message on one of your slides, just re-save it in a different format)..
  4. Write a table of contents entry for each slide.
  5. Record the entire audio using Audacity. I find it helpful to actually go through the presentation as I record it. You may even want to stand up while speaking -- as if it were a talk before an audience. If you mess up during the recording of a slide, just note the time and re-record a correct version.
  6. Begin the recording with aeveral seconds of silence to be used in noise reduction.
  7. Using the notes you made while recording, edit out the false starts you made on any of the slides.
  8. Listen to the recording, noting the time of any "uh"s, loud breaths, repeated words, etc. that you want to cut out.
  9. Using those notes, go back and cut the extraneous sounds.
  10. [optional] reduce noise if necessary.
  11. [optional] increase the tempo of the recording for faster playback.
  12. Export the narration as a .wav file.
  13. Adjust the narration file levels using Levelator.
  14. Create a Camtasia project (in your project directory) and import the slides and the leveled audio.
  15. Place the audio on track 2 of the timeline.
  16. Add the slides to the timeline one at a time. Extend the length of each to the end of its spot in the audio narration.
  17. Add the table of contents marker for the subsequent slide at the end of each slide. Enter their names from your planning list. (Camtasia will automatically create the first entry with the default name "Introduction").
  18. Repeat this steps 13 and 14 until all the slides are on the timeline.
  19. Render the project, producing the final video.
  20. If you want an audio only version of the presentation, create an .mp3 file using Audacity. (Camtasia can also create an .mp3 file, but the Audacity file will sound better).
Note that I did not include writing a script with the exact words for each slide in the workflow. This is definitely a quick-and-dirty approach. A carefully worded script is a must for a truly professional presentation. It may even save you time when making informal presentations because you will not spend so much time editing the audio. You should hone your skills both ways.

The following are notes on recording rates and image sizes.

  1. Render the audio at 64kbps or higher if the option is available.
  2. Do not put transitions between slides -- they involve motion, adding to file size.
  3. Elect a custom video size. Make the table of contents window wide enough to accommodate the longest entry, and make the video the same size or aspect ratio as the original slides.
  4. If there are no transitions, file sizes are essentially the same regardless of screen size, frame rate or color depth.
  5. Capture and edit the audio at high resolution, say 32-bit floating point samples at 96000 Hz.
  6. Export the .wav file as 16-bit PCM at 44.1 kHz, because that is best quality Camtasia version 5 can import. Version 6 may be capable of higher quality.

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