Ever watched a screen demo where everything is teeny tiny on a messy desktop — we can do better!
This video basically takes you through the how-to of making things bigger before presenting a demonstration in a zoom meeting or recorded video for unit material.
To conduct a screen demonstration, you typically need screen recording software and a presentation plan. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
- Select Screen Recording Software: Choose a screen recording tool that suits your needs. Some University of New England (UNE) options include EchoVideo, Zoom, for power users or perfectionists Camtasia (limited UNE licences — need to request), or even built-in options like QuickTime Player on Mac or Xbox Game Bar on Windows 10 and later.
- Prepare Your Content: Plan what you want to demonstrate on your screen. Organise your content into a logical sequence to guide your viewers through the process efficiently.
- Adjust Settings: Configure your screen recording software settings. Set the recording area to capture 1920 x 1080 pixels. Adjust audio settings to ensure clear recording of your voice and any system sounds. Adjust the size of your cursor to be large. Zoom an application’s size to maximise the use of the screen real estate.
- Practice: Before recording your actual demonstration, practice your presentation to ensure smooth delivery. Then reset everything back to how it would appear at the start of your demo so there is no residual information.
- Edit (if necessary): After recording, you may need to edit the video to remove any mistakes, pauses, or irrelevant content. Most screen recording software includes basic editing features for trimming and enhancing your video.
My laptop screen display resolution is 3200 x 2000. Is this OK, as it is not 1920 x 1080?
Hi Debbie, thanks for the question — Just front loading this answer in saying — disregard the rest of this answer if recording in a web browser, just follow the video with zooming in and full screening. Basically it doesn’t matter what resolution you record at if the operating system/application menus etc. are not being recorded.
The problem with recording the whole screen demonstrating software etc.at higher resolutions is that the video for our system echovideo will be maximum 1920 x 1080 pixels so it will be shrunk by roughly a third in this case. The operating system/application text will be small and hard to read unless you:
• Increase the system font size by a third (which may or may not work)
• Record a portion of the screen that is 1920×1080 pixels
• Change the screen resolution to 1920×1080 pixels and change it back when you are finished
• Record on a second display that is running 1920×1080 pixels.
Then you know what you see is what is being recorded.
The point of this post is to avoid those videos that have tiny text, tiny cursor thats can be really hard to follow and put people off. Personally I think the cursor/pointer being over-sized is the easiest way to follow a screen demonstration in a video format.