In short
- Decide what must stay readable: slides, code, product screens or the speaker's hands.
- Ask presenters for slides and demo steps in advance, and test the screen feed.
- Plan a clean copy of the screen signal, not only a camera pointed at the wall.
- Agree what is recorded, who approves it and where it will be watched.
A technical talk works on video only if the viewer can read what the speaker is pointing at. Plan the screen, the sound and the speaker’s hands first. Then the camera work follows.
What must stay readable?
Ask each presenter one question: if a viewer sees only 10 seconds of this talk, what must they be able to read? The answer might be a slide, a line of code, a product screen, a chart or a physical object.
Write the answer next to the session in your brief. It tells us what to protect when the room, the lighting or the screen makes a choice difficult. The event video brief builder can hold that list.
Camera at the wall, or a clean copy of the screen?
The screen is where most technical talks live. There are two ways to capture it:
| Method | What it gives | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Camera on the projected screen | Shows the room as the audience saw it | Glare, blur and flicker, text can be hard to read |
| Clean copy of the screen signal | Sharp slides and demos, no glare | Needs a feed from the presenter’s laptop and a venue that allows it |
| Both, mixed with the speaker camera | The speaker and the content together | More crew and setup |
Ask the venue or audio-visual (AV) team whether a screen feed can be shared with us and who will connect it. A rehearsal helps find problems early. Our multi-camera event recording service describes how several sources are combined. Whether it works depends on the venue, and we confirm it once we know your date.
What should presenters do beforehand?
Presenters influence the recording more than anyone. A short note from you can help:
- Send the slides early, and say which version is final.
- Use larger text and strong contrast on slides and code.
- Describe what is on the screen in words, such as “this chart shows…”, so the audio carries the meaning too.
- Say which demos are live and which are pre-recorded, and list the steps.
- Repeat audience questions into the microphone before answering.
How do we handle demonstrations?
For a live demo, we need two views: the screen the viewer must read, and the person doing the demo. If a physical product is shown, add a close camera on the object. The seminar and workshop recording service covers sessions where teaching is the main output.
Plan for a failed demo. We keep recording, because how the speaker recovers is part of the record. After the event, you decide whether that section is cut.
If the talk uses technical terms or product names, send the correct spellings with the slides so captions and on-screen titles are right.
Sound matters as much as the picture
A viewer who cannot hear the speaker leaves quickly. Ask for a clean feed from the venue mixer or a lapel microphone on the speaker. Our audio brief builder helps you ask the right questions.
If viewers speak other languages, ask about captions and subtitles early. Automatic captions need checking and usually correction.
What we confirm for your event
- Whether a clean screen feed can be taken, and who connects it.
- How code or small text is shown.
- What happens to a demo that fails.
- Whether each talk is delivered as its own file.
Send us the session list when you are ready. See also our conference and convention videography and corporate event videography pages.
If you can share the session list and tell us which talks include demos, we can suggest how to cover them and what is possible for your date. Send the date and venue and we will check.
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