Chris Lysy on Slideshare and Slidecasting

My name is Chris Lysy and I’m a Research Analyst at Westat.  I also blog about the use of new technology at FreshSpectrum.com (http://freshspectrum.com) and can be found on Twitter: @clysy.

In person there is nothing better than a live presentation, but the same does not always hold true on the web.  Countless webcasts end up being nothing more than a voice matched against power point slides with little or no audience participation and scheduling requirements.  In these types of situations it is often better to record and post, removing the scheduling barriers and opening up to a wider audience.

Rad Resource: One of the easiest places to upload and share slideshow presentations is Slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net).  Think of it like a youTube for Power Point presentations.  After you upload your slides you will get a direct link to send to your audience and can even embed the presentation in a blog post or on a website.  The service is funded by ad revenue and is 100% free for the user.

After uploading your slideshow presentation, consider making it a slidecast by adding an mp3 recording of your voice.  Slideshare gives you step by step directions on how to do this here: http://www.slideshare.net/faqs/slidecast

Rad Resources: In order to create a slidecast you’ll need to find an mp3 (podcast) hosting site and recording software.  There are a number of free podcast hosting sites that will do the trick, Podbean is one (http://www.podbean.com/) and you will find several others with a google search.  For recording software I recommend Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/), it’s download-able freeware and relatively easy to use.

Hot Tip: With a feature that allows you to slow down playback speed, Audacity is also a free option for interview transcription work.

This contribution is from the aea365 Daily Tips blog, by and for evaluators, from the American Evaluation Association. Please consider contributing – send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org.