Global Commodity Market Analysis
Presentation
Global Commodity Market Analysis
Presentation
CONTENTS
1.0 Presentation Overview
2.0 Assignment Outline
3.0 Creating Slides from Paper
4.0 Adding Narration to Slides
5.0 Converting Slides to Video
1.0 PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
The Presentation assignment is the fourth assignment. The goal of the Presentation assignment is to convey as clearly and completely as possible the process and conclusions of your global commodity market analysis. The Presentation assignment must be:
A digital (i.e., recorded) video presentation with 15 to 17 visual aids,
As close to 10 minutes in length as possible, and
In a YouTube-ready (e.g., .MP4 or .MOV) file format.
Students should note that their individual instructor may amend some the assignment requirements and, if so, those expectations (e.g., expressed in the course syllabus) obviously take precedence over the expectation described in this text.
2.0 ASSIGNMENT OUTLINE
For this presentation, you must have 15 to 17 visual aids (i.e., figures and tables). The recommended outline for the presentation is:
Slide 1: A title page adapted as needed for the alternate dimensions of the slide versus the paper.
Slide 2: A figure showing how the global commodity looks.
Slide 3: A figure showing the typical primary producers.
Slide 4: A figure showing the marketing chain.
Slide 5: A figure showing the major global production areas.
Slide 6: A figure showing how a typical unit of exchange looks.
Slide 7: A figure showing the market's current equilibrium price and quantity.
Slide 8: A figure showing graphical effects of shift factor 1.
Slide 9: A figure showing graphical effects of shift factor 2.
Slide 10: A figure showing graphical effects of shift factor 3.
Slide 11: A figure showing graphical effects of shift factor 4.
Slide 12: A figure showing graphical effects of shift factor 5.
Slide 13: A figure showing graphical effects of shift factor 6.
Slide 14: A table summarizing the six shift factors and showing the joints effects.
Slide 15: A figure showing the joint effects graphically.
Slide 16: Reference to your paper and acknowledgements.
Remember, images used for artistic purposes (e.g., on your title page of your paper or presentation) are typically formatted differently than figures used in the main body of your paper.
3.0 CREATING SLIDES FROM PAPER
Microsoft PowerPoint is one of the easiest and most popular ways to create an an effective oral presentation for asynchronous delivery (e.g., a pre-recorded presentation). Most readers of this text will already have some familiarity with PowerPoint. If not, please check with your instructor for general information about using this software.
If available through your university (e.g., https://download.uky.edu/), download and install the latest version of PowerPoint.
Using the methods described here, your presentation will be a stand-alone video file that can be emailed to others or uploaded to a video sharing site (e.g., YouTube). Like most tasks, there are many different ways to create a pre-recorded presentation that work equally well or even better than the approach described here. Students are encouraged but not required to experiment with other technologies to create high-quality technical presentation (e.g., using "green screen" techniques).
The following suggestions assume a 10 minute pre-recorded presentation with 15 to 17 slides created using Microsoft PowerPoint (i.e., about 35 to 40 seconds per slide on average). Other software and tools exist for creating more sophisticated pre-recorded presentations. The aim here is to describe a how to design a presentation using a typical format that can be created by a technological novice easily using widely available tools (i.e., Microsoft PowerPoint).
The most popular recording dimension currently is 16:9 aspect ratio. You should start by checking and changing if necessary the dimensions of your slides. To do this in PowerPoint (2013 or later), select "Design" from the top menu and the select "Slide Size" and then choose "Widescreen (16:9)". If you prefer a different aspect ratio (e.g., 4:3) you can select it in the same way.
When preparing your slides, remember to provide clear attribution for all work that is not your own. For example, if you use an image that you didn't create, you must identify clearly the image's source (e.g., the URL and /or author of the image). Your attribution should be clear, but you also want it to be unobtrusive and consistent (e.g., from one citation to the next).
The expectation is that you will use the figures from your paper. Those figures should already have attribution information in the notes underneath or associated with each image. For your presentation, you may remove each visual aid's reference (i.e., "Figure 1" or "Table 1"). Just be consistent. If you remove the reference on one figure or table, do it for all of the figures and tables. You may similarly remove the figure or table's title and/or description if you wish. Again, if you do this, just be consistent.
You should generally avoid text on your slides as much as possible and instead tell listeners orally what they need to know. Use a single image that fills all or a significant portion of the slide is often best. Sometimes you can use two or three images effectively if you need to highlight distinctions. Beyond this basic suggestion, you have great latitude to choose how their presentation slide will look.
4.0 ADDING NARRATION TO SLIDES
After you have your set of slides, you need to add an audio narration file to each slide. To do this, you will need a computer with an attached, built-in, or wireless microphone.
To record audio narration for a slide using PowerPoint (2016 or later) on a PC, first select the slide so that it appears on the main editing window.
Next, click on the "Record" tab at the top menu and click on the "Audio" button. A box will appear prompting you to "Name" the little audio file that you will record on this one slide. If this is your first slide, you might "Name" the narration "Title Page". When you are ready to start audio recording, click the round red button and recording will begin instantly as the timer counts the seconds. When you are finished narrating that slide, click the square red box to stop the recording. You can click the green triangle to listen to your recording.
If you are satisfied with your recording, click "OK". Otherwise, you can click "Cancel" and begin recording that slide again. You wlll repeat this process for each slide, adding a small audio recording to each slide. On each slide that has an audio file added you will see a little grey speaker icon. You will likely have to re-record each slide multiple times to get the wording and tone just right. Be mindful that the total narration time for all slides together should be as close to 10 minutes as possible. To determine the total length of the slide show, simply add the minutes and seconds for each slide. With the narration files added to each slide, you could start the presentation like you would normally (i.e., "Slide Show" button and then "From Beginning" button).
The above two paragraphs describe the simplest way to add an audio narration only to each slide. If you wish, more options and features are available to record your narrations if you instead click on the "Slide Show" tab at the top menu and then select the "Record" button. When you do this, it will open a recording studio layout with various options, including the option to use a "pointer" during your narration or use your computer's camera to show your face as you narrate.
Once you have all of your narrations complete, you can create a textbox with no borders that is the same color as your slide background and use that to cover the speaker icon. Or, alternatively, you can put the speaker icon on top of an image on your slide and then right-click on the image and select "Bring to Front" so that the speaker icon is hidden behind the image.
Here is a link with additional details, screenshots, and a short video showing how to record audio narrations on each slide:
The above link also has additional instructions on the left-hand menu showing, for instance, how to add "Notes" to each slide and use those as a teleprompter within the recording studio window.
5.0 CONVERTING SLIDES TO VIDEO
If you have followed the above instructions, you now have a self-advancing PowerPoint presentation (.ppt or .pptx). Without further change, this presentation can be useful if the folks that want to view your file have the PowerPoint software. And, another advantage of a PowerPoint file is that these files are easy to edit if needed, again, if you have the PowerPoint software.
However, PPT and PPTX files are fairly large and clumsy to share. For this reason, you should (and for this assignment, you must) convert your PowerPoint file to a processed video file (e.g., .mp4, .mov, .wav) that is both smaller and easier to share (e.g., using YouTube or Vimeo). The disadvantage of these compressed video files is that they cannot be opened or edited by PowerPoint.
To create a compressed video file from the narrated PowerPoint presentation, you need to open your PowerPoint file. Next, choose "File" from the top menu and then select "Export" (2013 and later versions). Next, choose "Create a Video". From the "Create a Video" page, select the "Presentation Quality" that you want. For most presentations, you can choose "Presentation Quality" (1920 x 1080) for 2013 and later versions.
If you want a smaller file size, choose "Internet Quality" (1280 x 720) or "Low Quality" (852 x 480) instead. In the next drop down box, choose "Use Recorded Timings and Narrations." If you do, you will not need to mess with the seconds spent on each slide (just leave that at 05.00). Finally, select "Create Video". When you do, a window will open for you to select where you want to save the converted file. The file type is .mp4 by default. This is the recommended file type.
Once the compressed video file for your PowerPoint presentation is complete, your video file should be ready to upload to a video sharing site (e.g., YouTube), send to a colleague via email, or share using a cloud service (e.g., Google Drive). Be sure to listen to your recorded video file in its entirety to confirm that the recording is complete and as you planned.