PowerPoint in the WorkCast Platform

Introduction

The WorkCast platform allows PowerPoint presentations to be presented in the format they were created in, including videos, animations and content builds.

Presentations are hosted on our cloud based infrastructure and then streamed out into our auditoriums.
You can upload a PowerPoint Presentation for your event to The WorkCast Platform.
Presentation slides should be added as .pptx format - the platform does not accept PDF files.

Creating Your Presentation

We recommend referring to the following guides while creating your presentation to provide the best experience for your audience:

Do NOT include Hyperlinks - For security reasons, the WorkCast Platform does not support hyperlinks to external websites. Listed URLs within PowerPoint slides are automatically converted into hyperlinks. Please ensure any hyperlinks are removed and converted to plain text before uploading your slides within the WorkCast Platform. Including hyperlinks within slides will cause your upload to fail.
- Further information on how to identify and remove referenced content can be found here.
Use colour well – a viewer's computer screen resolution, quality or colour settings may be different to yours; use clear colours for text and avoid any that could contrast, blend into backgrounds, clash or be restrictive for viewers.
Avoid small content – viewers are likely to be watching on laptops or mobile devices so avoid using small or difficult font sizes and images.
Choose your fonts – be sure any fonts you choose are easy to read and embed any custom fonts into your presentation. PowerPoint will otherwise fall back to the nearest font family and may effect your content layouts/positions (this option can be enabled within PowerPoint's save settings).
Use animations sparingly – include simple animations in your PowerPoint but don’t let them detract from your content or distract viewers.
Choose your slide aspect ratio – choose from either 16:9 (widescreen) or 4:3 for your slides (we recommend 16:9 to make the most of your content space).
No 'hidden slides' – make sure no 'hidden slides' are included within your presentation. These may cause your upload to fail or result in certain slides skipping while presenting.
File Size - The WorkCast Platform can accept all file sizes but you may experience issues uploading very large files if your network has upload limits. We would advice PowerPoint file sizes total no larger than 700MB.
Embed your content – don’t reference external content from the web; embed any videos, images, fonts, etc. Remember: External links and/or embedded content will prevent your slides from uploading.
Include videos – set any embedded videos to auto-play when the slide begins. If you wish for the video to repeat then be sure to set the video to loop within the settings.

Video

You can include videos in your PowerPoint deck, however, the following guidelines must be followed when doing so:

Videos should be .mp4 format and set to auto play within PowerPoint.
During the playback of your video you should not transition your slides as this will stop the video and move the presentation to a different slide.
Tip: You can use the Lock Slides function in the Media Hub to deactivates slide controls for presenters to avoid accidental slide transitions.
If your first slide contains a video then we highly recommend adding a static slide into your presentation before the slide containing the video. This will allow you to control the start of your video playback by simply transitioning to the second slide to trigger the video. The slide, for example, could display the title of your event or a 'welcome' image.
All video, content and images within the PowerPoint should be embedded; do not include externally referenced content as these will be identified as security risks and will prevent your content from being loaded.
- Further information on how to identify and remove referenced content can be found here.

Follow these guidelines when creating videos to include in presentations:

Video bitrate: no more than 750kbps
Format: mp4, h.264
Video frame rate: 25 (FPS)
Audio bitrate: no more than 128kbps
Audio profile: AAC
Audio Sample Rate: 44100/48000

Uploading and Adding to Events

Slides can be loaded through the following routes:

The Slides tab within your event setup.
The WorkCast Studio which is accessed by clicking the Present Now button in your session.
Once in the Studio, go to the Session Content pod to load your slides. You can then view and control your slides in the Media Hub pod.
The media tab at the top of the platform (Producer access only) .

Useful Content

[Webinar] - From Boring To Brilliant: How To Create Dynamic & Engaging PowerPoint Presentations:
http://www.workcast.com/register?cpak=9351426448208823

WorkCast Insite Media Guide:
http://insite.workcast.com/what-is-media