Speaker guide

Your virtual session.

A quick guide to setting up your live or pre-recorded session for success.

Preparation

These apply to every session:

Be prepared: run through your slides and presentation before the day. Whether you're recording with an agency, at home alone, or live on the day, always come prepared.
Test your slides, videos and demos in a streaming format beforehand.
Keep slides clean and easy to read. A virtual event screen is much smaller than a physical event screen, so bear this in mind when putting your slides together.
Speak audibly, slowly and clearly, keeping a steady pace.

Please join your call 20 minutes before going live.
A producer will greet you and guide you through the process of going live.
You will be told when you are live to the audience.
Moderators: please connect with your panellists about the content before the live broadcast.

If you just need to record yourself talking (no screens etc.), any device with a camera and microphone will do. Modern smartphones have excellent cameras.
To record a presentation or your screen, find a tool that works well on your device. Riverside and Loom can both record you picture-in-picture over your slides.
Please send the production team an MOV or MP4 file. These are large, so use a transfer service such as WeTransfer or Dropbox.

Make sure the camera is 16:9 (landscape).
Avoid bright light behind you.
Mount the camera so the picture is steady.
Choose a soft-furnished room with no background noise and few objects in shot.
Be as close to the microphone as possible.
Leave a few seconds of silence at the beginning and end of a recording for editing and transitions.
Use an ethernet cable if you can – it's more stable than Wi-Fi.
Disconnect from any VPN and close other programs before joining the call.
Public Wi-Fi or a busy shared network may cause connection problems.