Key Elements in Online Presentation:
1. Distinguish between live presentation (synchronous) and archived presentation (asynchronous)
- In many presentations you will combine synchronous with asynchronous, as the results of your live presentation in person; slides, notes or a recording (audio/visual) will be distributed online. Intellectual property should be considered in all presentations, but if the presentation is to be stored online, it is vital. How do you want recordings of your presentation, or anything you present in digital form to be distributed? there are many ways; blog, YouTube, Slideshare, Twitter, podcast, Scribd to name but a few channels.
2. Combine your physical presence with the dynamism and velocity of the materials you present.
- Digital media relies on feedback and how it captures change using digital programming, and responding to inputs from users, either as physical interaction or coded commands. When using digital media for presentations you should consider yourself, your body and cognitive assets part of the programming environment. Share the space with the media. Act in it and present the material according to how you want it to change and develop.
3. Control and lack of control in the presentation should be considered consciously.
The famous example of a certain well known social media researcher who spoke at a large and prestigious gathering with a Twitter feed behind her. The presenter was unaware that unkind things were being posted on the Twitter feed as she spoke. Laughter and a distracted audience followed:
“The Twitter stream was initially upset that I was talking too fast. My first response to this was: OMG, seriously? That was it? Cuz that’s not how I read the situation on stage. So rather than getting through to me that I should slow down, I was hearing the audience as saying that I sucked. And responding the exact opposite way the audience wanted me to. This pushed the audience to actually start critiquing me in the way that I was imagining it was.”
This is the back-channel dictating how the ‘front-channel’ develops in a presentation. It is becoming increasingly common that a presentation will be online live, along with audience reactions and commentaries.You should be aware of how the back-channel is manifest during a presentation and make an effort to at least participate in it or be aware of how it is developing.
4. Context is important and you should always be aware of it.
- First and foremost context is determined by; “Who is the audience?” In good digital presentations the audience will be with the presenter in the space (as a result of perspective and temporal representation). Digital presentations, even in the archive, are more like a discussion (think of comments on a blog) and you have to be speaking the same language in order for a conversation take place. This is related to the issue of control, the personification of the Twitter stream mentioned above being a specific example. Context can be divided into fixed elements (e.g. the building or location of the presentation does not change during the presentation) and non-fixed (e.g. speaking for two hours to a group of 18 year old people on the subject of the Franco-Prussian War of 1871 will produced changes in the waking states of the audience as a presentation context).
5. Consider the space the presentation creates.
- A space is created when one makes a digital presentation . If it works well the space is occupied by the audience, the presenter and what is presented. Digital media has the potential to engulf people and provide a scene for actors and actions in a narrative.
- Sharing is central to digitally mediated presentations. We share online all the time; publishing on blogs, uploading documents to Scribd, a video to YouTube, photos to Flickr or Facebook. Audio can be shared on SoundCloud, AudioBoo or Ourmedia, Libsyn, Globat & Powweb. If you are presenting in a professional context you must obey copyright law. Open Source and Creative Commons are two important tools for stock content to use in your presentations. Creative Commons licenses provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators. Open Source content allows presenters to use music, images and films, along with editing software without the need of licensing.
Why Choose Prezi?
- You do not have to make individual slides.
- Rather than moving from one slide to another, it zooms in and out. This adds effects to your presentation and makes it more fun to watch.
- Registering for an account is easy. It only requires you to choose a type of license from a list of given options. Once you have chosen a suitable license and registered, you get a notification in your email. Then, you are ready to use Prezi.
- Prezi offers a number of packages. Among them is the free package called the public license which you can access online.
- It is ideal for anyone who wants to create a presentation without slides.
Why Prezi May Not be For All-
- Beginners may find Prezi difficult to use. So, it may not be a good idea to use Prezi for the first time if you have a presentation first thing in the morning. Prezi requires a lot of practice and control.
- Absence of individual slides may sometimes confuse the presenter while explaining points in bullets and numbers.
- The free public license Prezi only comes with 100MB of storage space. This may be a limiting factor to some of the presenters who plan on using a lot of pictures, animation or audio files in their presentation.
Transmedial Reality 