- Interview
- Medical writing
- Call for proposals
- Fitness writing
- Listicle
- Travel writing
- Public service announcement
- Poetry
- Review
- Checklist
But first, some background. In June of this year, I made a webinar for the North Carolina chapter of the Fulbright Association. I serve on the board of the chapter and also as the chapter’s webmaster. Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while already know how impactful I’ve found my involvement with the Fulbright Program. For those who are new to my blog, you can read a two-part blog post about my Fulbright experience as well as a blog I wrote containing information about an article I published in Fulbright Chronicles. I also published a brief story about my Fulbright experience on the Fulbright Association’s website.
The webinar I made focused on the experience of publishing in Fulbright Chronicles. In the webinar, I provided an overview of the journal, outlined the submission guidelines, reflected on my experience publishing with the journal, and called on other Fulbrighters to publish articles with the journal as a way to #StandForFulbright. For those who aren’t aware, the Fulbright Program currently faces extreme challenges, including the resignation of members of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and proposed steep cuts to the program’s funding. Fulbrighters are doing all they can to advocate for the continuation of the Fulbright Program, and publishing in Fulbright Chronicles is a great way for Fulbrighters to lend their voices to this advocacy effort.
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Screenshot from the webinar "Publishing in Fulbright Chronicles." (Personal
collection/Karen P. Peirce) |
Without further ado, here are the steps to follow!
1. Open PowerPoint and choose a design for your slides.2. Fill the slides with the visual information you want to share. Keep in mind the following tips:
- Use images to capture your viewers’ attention.
- Use as few words as possible on the slides. Slides are meant to supplement, not replace, your narration, so as much as possible, include only a few keywords on each slide.
3. Write your narration. I did this using the notes portion of the PowerPoint slides I made, but you can write out your script in a separate document if you prefer. If you use a separate document, be sure to indicate in your script which portion of the script corresponds to which slide.
4. Next, record your slide show. In my webinar, I chose to only record only audio narration to accompany the slides, not video, but you can do both. The recording will capture your narration as well as all your slide advancements and animations. Detailed directions are available at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/record-a-slide-show-with-narration-and-slide-timings-0b9502c6-5f6c-40ae-b1e7-e47d8741161c. Here are a few helpful tips to remember while recording:
- You can pause your recording, so if you need a break, that’s fine. You can pause and then re-start after you take a drink of water or the like.
- You can re-record slides, so if you make a mistake, or if your phone rings in the middle of recording, or something similar, you can have a do-over.
5. Next, save your recording in video form. While you can keep your recording in PowerPoint and either play it for your audience live in person or share the PowerPoint file with members of your audience, saving it in video form can be handy. This way, your viewers do not have to have access to PowerPoint to view the show, and it can be streamed on demand online. Detailed directions for saving a PowerPoint show as a video are available at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/turn-your-presentation-into-a-video-c140551f-cb37-4818-b5d4-3e30815c3e83. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Depending on the length of your show, converting the file to a video can take a while. Be sure to plan ahead and give yourself enough time if you’re working to a deadline.
- I chose to save my file as an MP4, but you can choose WMV format instead. Both are commonly used.
6. Create a YouTube channel. Because I already have a Google account and YouTube is owned by Google, I chose YouTube as my video hosting service. You could choose another. If you do choose YouTube and you don’t already have a Google account, you’ll need to start there. Here are the steps to follow to create a Google account: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/161805. Once you’ve made a Google account, or if you already have a Google account, you can proceed to creating a YouTube channel. Directions are at https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1646861. Here are a few tips for creating your channel:
- Decide whether you want a personal channel or a business channel. A personal channel is only accessible by one person, whereas a business channel can be managed or owned by more than one person.
- You’ll be asked to create both a channel name and a YouTube handle. If you later want to change the handle, this is possible.
7. Upload your video to your YouTube channel. This is the final step! Uploading your video to a video hosting service like YouTube means your video can be streamed over the internet on demand. Directions for uploading your video to YouTube can be found at https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/57407. Here are a few tips:
- Don’t forget to publish your video after uploading it.
- There are limits to the file size and length of your videos on YouTube. See details at https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/71673.
That’s it! If you’ve followed these steps, you’ve created a pre-recorded webinar in PowerPoint that you’ve uploaded to YouTube. Your last step is to share it with your audience. Here you can see the webinar I made: https://youtu.be/tbnYUBx7Ozc. I hope you enjoy it!