SENIA Unplugged 2024 Recording Guidelines

Overview

Thank you for your interest in presenting at the SENIA Unplugged 2024 conference. It is individuals like you that help SENIA share and fulfill its mission and vision.

Please look at each section below. Start with the important dates and then go from there.

1. Important Dates 2. Recording Guidelines 3. Upload Your Presentation 4. Discussion Questions and Handouts 5. Promote Your Presentation Support

Important Dates

By June 10th:

Submit the Speaker Agreement within 7 days of acceptance. You can find this in your acceptance letter.

From June – August:

Develop your speaker profile on Whova with your bio and headshot. Your personalized link will be sent to you via email.
Start preparing your presentation! Feel free to use our template, or use your own. Please do not include a title slide, as we will create these for all presentations.
- The template may be downloaded and imported to whatever presentation software you are using.
Begin promoting your session on social media. Your personalized graphics will be sent to you via email. See the “Promoting your Presentation” section above for important details.

By August 18th:

Create and upload a one-minute introduction video.
- This is your chance to hype up participants and encourage them to attend your session as they determine their conference agenda!
- Please do not include the date and time of your session as listed on Whova; the virtual conference content is actually available for 6 months.

By October 21st:

Record your full workshop presentation. It will then be reviewed by our SENIA Liason. This should be your final draft, ready to be shown at the conference kick-off weekend!

By November 4th:

Provide a slide deck or handouts as well as 2-4 discussion questions around your presentation for participants.

From October – November:

Ahead of the conference, log into Whova and double-check that all bio information, session details, and presentation materials are accurate and ready to go.
Continue promoting your session on social media with your personalized graphics. See the “Promoting your Presentation” section above for important details.

November 22nd – 24th:

Be online during the conference kick-off weekend November 22-24, ready to share in a wonderful co-learning experience!

Presentation Recording

To ensure a fantastic experience for presenters and attendees, please review the guidelines below. We all want to ensure a high-quality audio and video experience is ready to go for the conference.

SENIA reviews all videos and may suggest improvements as needed.

Stage One: Review Your Setup

Slides

The quality of your slides has an impact on how your audience responds. A presentation rich in graphics with limited text is a best practice we all strive to achieve.

We highly recommend this Ted Talk, “Death by Powerpoint. It’s 20 minutes well-spent.

While PowerPoint, KeyNote, and GoogleSlides all work, consider using Canva.com and their beautiful set of templates. It is the easiest and “best est” option available right now. Well worth learning.

And… we even have a free, short course to help you setup up a Canva Teacher Pro account. Find it here on SeniaAcademy.

Audio

Audio quality is usually more important than any visuals or video that accompanies your presentation. People can deal with bad video, but bad audio really detracts from any presentation.

Best option: A clip-on microphone makes you sound and look good. Here is a sample clip-on microphone from Amazon.
Second best option is: Use a common headphone/microphone combination such as Apple Earbuds. While the sound quality is acceptable, the headphones detract from the overall look.

We advise against using the built-in microphone that comes with your computer. The audio is not up to SENIA presentation standards.

Video

Your video should have two important aspects: A video of you speaking and your notes/presentation. Putting the two together is usually not too difficult.

Please take a moment to w atch one of our past speakers as she demonstrates the power of good sound quality, lighting, and slide placement.

It is assumed that your PC/Mac has a built-in camera. Let us know if this is not the case.

Video Recording Tips

Recording yourself along with a series of slides is a common way to prepare and distribute a presentation for all to enjoy. Check out this example.

There are a variety of software packages to make this possible:

Canva: A personal favorite in the teaching and SENIA world. Builds awesome slides and does video recording.
Zoom requires a paid account to exceed 40 mins.
Screencastify: Another strong screencasting software. Requires a paid account to exceed five mins.

If you need any help or advice regarding screencasting, please contact us: support@seniainternational.org

Lighting

Strong lighting lets the audience see the best version of you and creates a professional atmosphere.

See this past presenter’s nice lighting look

Lighting Tips

Use the 3-point lighting technique to maximize your lighting quality
Avoid having the light behind you (unless using 3-point lighting), such as a window or lamp. It will darken your appearance
Place light in front of you. Natural lighting from windows is best, but not always easy.
- Consider the purchase of a light ring. Especially great if you plan to do more video presentations or use Zoom during these COVID times.

Backdrop During Recording

What is behind you during your presentation will be noted by attendees. We are all a little curious about where people are presenting from.

Backdrop Tips

Present from your desk or office. Having a backdrop such as a plain wall, books, shelves, etc. is a nice feeling for the audience.
Want a custom background of your own? Build your own with Canva.
- Be sure to get a free Canva account for educators here.

Stage Two: Record Your Introduction

The idea in stage two is to give a short overview of your talk and excite the audience with your upcoming content. It also helps us test the tech (video, audio, etc.) of your presentation.

Record a short, about one-minute introduction.
Please include:
- Your Name
- Presentation topic
- Anything that will get people excited about your presentation
This will give us a chance to troubleshoot any audio or video issues and serve as a helpful marketing tool to promote your talk. A nice win, win.
See a sample here.

Always know that SENIA is here to help you during this process. Support@SeniaInternational.org

Uploading Your Introduction

If needed, export your presentation in the highest possible quality)
Name the file – [Your Name – Title of Presentation]
Upload the file. To do that, see the “Upload Your Presentation” tab at the top of this page.

Stage Three: Record Your Full Presentation

This will take place after you have completed the short introduction. All troubleshooting, video, and audio issues will be resolved at this point.

Required Step

Record your introduction in full-screen mode, then go to the “floating head” smaller version of you mode. Viewers really want to get to know you first before the presentation begins.
- Check out this example.

Export Your Presentation in High Quality

Please export your presentation at 1080P resolution. Your audience will appreciate this dedication to quality and the video and sound improvements that come with it. See this screenshot for help with iMovie exporting.

Uploading Your Full Presentation

Upload your final recordings (all parts) in the upload tab
- Name the file – [Your Name – Title of Presentation]

Intro Video

Upload your intro video using this Google form.

If Google does not really work in your country or you do not have a Google Account, please use the free service WeTransfer.com to send your video our way. Send all WeTransfer files to admin@seniainternational.org

Questions or need help? Contact our support team: support@seniainternational.org

Final Videos

Please upload your final video using this Google form.

If Google does not really work in your country or you do not have a Google Account, please use the free service WeTransfer.com to send your form our way. Send all WeTransfer files to admin@seniainternational.org

Questions or need help? Contact our support team: support@seniainternational.org

Double-Check

Please make sure you followed the recording guidelines. Here they are again for a final check.

Did you record your introduction in full-screen mode, then go to the “floating head” smaller version of you mode? Viewers really want to get to know you first before the presentation begins.
1. Check out this example.

Discussion Questions

Many schools have Watch Parties where attendees get together, watch the presentation and have a discussion session after.

Please add 2-3 discussion questions here.

Your Handouts

Unfortunately, Whova does not allow individual speakers to log in and uploads their handouts without a unique link that must be emailed to you. We agree this is frustrating.

An email is sent out a month or more prior to the conference with a unique link for uploading handouts to Whova. If you don’t see that email in your email box, we are happy to send it. Please contact us: support@seniainternational.org

Questions and Answers During the Presentation

Whova has a built-in application for attendees to ask questions. Presenters are asked to answer these questions at a later date (preferably within 24 hours of their speaking time).

For guidance, please see this Whova Guide. Scroll down to “Answering Q&A”

Promoting Your Presentation

SENIA loves to share fantastic information from presenters like you. To increase outreach, we are asking all presenters to promote their presentation through their own social media and other marketing channels.

A Few Weeks Before Your Presentation

Start to share your presentation topic, highlights, and conference badge.

Day of Your Workshop

Post comments and photos to SENIA’s Facebook, Instagram, or Linkedin, social media accounts. Be sure to use our hashtag, #SENIA2024.

Conference Badges

A personalized conference badge is emailed to you. If you have not received it, don’t hesitate to get in touch with support@seniainternational.org