Technical

Use software and other tools appropriate to the task

Context

This presentation was the culminating piece of a project where I played the role of CEO of a fictional company delivering a persuasive brief to fictional stakeholders. In my proposal, I designed a learning space for a large exhibit hall at a health and fitness national convention. The purpose of the presentation was to persuade the convention committee to allow my fitness company to rent a large space at the convention to demonstrate my company’s flagship product, called the Calorie Management System.

Because I presented to a fictional audience, the presentation had to be self-contained, animated, and narrated, which posed a number of technical challenges. The solution to these challenges involved using several types of software during a fairly complex development process.

Linkage

This assignment demonstrated my ability to use several software tools, each targeted to solve specific technical problems. While building the presentation I used the following tools:

Challenges & Opportunities

In order to complete all the requirements for this final presentation, I had to learn to use two new software made by Ambrosia, Wire Tap Studio and Snapz Pro X.

Steps 1-2
Because Apple Keynote only allows the recording of a single audio track, I exported the presentation into Apple iMovie in order to lay down separate audio tracks. Using multiple audio tracks allowed me to narrate the movie as well as have music playing in the background of my introduction.

Steps 3-5
I used Wire Tap Studio to edit the music clip. I then imported the audio into Apple iMovie where I edited it further before finally exporting it back into Keynote.

Steps 6-7
Using a feature in Snapz Pro X that captures a selected area from a web browser, I captured a Flash animation and imported it into Keynote.

Step 8
Finally, I recorded my audio narration in Keynote from beginning to end, and simply decided to live with the minor mistakes I made while speaking.

Steps 9-10
To get the presentation into a manageable format required exporting it as a movie, Exporting into QuickTime and Flash both failed. Fortunately, I was able to use Snapz Pro X to capture the presentation as it played in Keynote via Snapz’s “View Recorded Slideshow” function. Finally, I rendered the movie to 50% of its size so that the text was still large enough to read.

Results

Through the complex process detailed above, I created a self-contained, self-narrating presentation with attractive visuals and compelling audio.

Personal & Professional Development

This was by far the most enjoyable project I completed in the EDTEC program, especially since it was about a topic in which I am still very interested.

Although I was already familiar with Keynote and iMovie, I enjoyed bridging them together by recording separate narration and background audio tracks in the final product. Keynote’s limitations turned out to be one of iMovie’s strengths. Because I recognized their complementary relationship, I was able to create a technical solution using common tools available in the Apple OS X platform.

This project helped me recognize my resourcefulness in finding easy-to-use tools as well as highlighted my creativity in inventing a technical solution to arrive at the end result.