Tips for Successful ITV Presentations

Background: The way the CIS projects presentations, such as PowerPoint shows, to the rest of the state is through a Videoconferencing System. If your presentation requires the use of a laptop computer, the system will convert the VGA signal from your laptop computer to a NTSC format that the Videoconferencing System can understand. During this conversion process of the signal from VGA to NTSC, there is a loss of picture quality. There is additional loss of picture quality when the Codec processes the signal in the Videoconferencing System. The Videoconferencing System has to compress the picture to send it down the digital phone line and then decompress the picture on the remote side.

You may be used to doing presentations with a projector that usually displays a diagonal 40" to 60" picture on the wall. When using the Video Conferencing system, the usual size of the monitor is 25" to 32" with the participants sitting 10 feet or more from the screen.

To get an idea of how your presentation will look on a videoconference monitor, take the VGA output from your laptop and run it through a VGA converter. Then view your presentation on a 25" television set and sit 10 feet away from the screen. If you cannot tell what is on the screen, neither will the people attending the videoconference.

1. When preparing your PowerPoint presentation, use a large font size between 28 and 36 points. Try to avoid screen shots of applications with small fonts. It is impossible to view the screen at remote sites if you are including a screen shot of an application with a 12-point font. If you have to do screen shots, save them in PowerPoint and we will e-mail them to the remote sites so that viewers can follow along.
2. Mandatory: Arrive one (1) hour before the presentation starts for testing and preparation.
3. For the presentation set your screen resolution as low as possible. The best resolution for the Videoconferencing System is 640 X 480. Remember - the bigger the better.
4. During your presentation limit yourself to a specific area in the room; try not to walk around the room. It is difficult to keep you in the picture if you are constantly moving back and forth. Hand and arm movement, however, is okay.
5. Remember not to point to the screen in the room. Use your mouse as a pointer.
6. Do not wear clothes with patterns. Wear solid colors or natural tones. Patterns make it difficult for the camera to focus causing a strobing effect on the remote side. Also wear something that can allow you to conceal a wireless lapel microphone.

If you have any questions concerning any of these suggestions, feel free to call CIS Customer Support at 425-803-9721.

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