A How-To for Conference Videos

There are many options for recording and stream video from conferences, e.g., for keynotes. In this brief note, we document one particular option that only requires a web server and relatively cheap or free software. The description assumes MacOSX, but the basic steps are similar for Windows.

1. Record the lecture using a digital camcorder. If possible, connect the house audio to the camcorder microphone or line input.
2. Upload the content from the camera into your computer, using Apple iMovie.
3. Create an MPEG-4 movie file via Export. Short clips of less than about 10 minutes (100 MB) can be uploaded to YouTube, but Vimeo allows larger videos.
4. Convert the video to Flash (FLV) format using the iSkysoft video converter ($35 license fee).
5. Upload .flv file to web site. The file is likely to be very large (2 GB for a high-quality version).
6. Use Flowplayer as the Flash video player and embed the video into the web site.

A low-bandwidth alternative is the use of narrated PowerPoint.