Deliver a Successful Author PowerPoint Presentation via Skype by Donna Galanti

I was excited to conduct my first Skype visit in January. I had planned to do just a Q&A but thought it would be a good test to try a shortened version of my in-person PowerPoint presentation. It worked wonderfully and the students really enjoyed it. I’m sharing what I’ve learned from this fun process! 

How to Run a PowerPoint via Skype:

• My presentation has several animated GIFs (a huge hit!) and video so I wanted to ensure they worked. Testing it with the school beforehand confirmed that it did.
• Have your PowerPoint presentation open in edit mode and ready to go in slide show mode. Make sure all other programs are closed on your computer.
• Video call your contact in Skype (make sure the video icon at the bottom is on so you can see each other).
• Click the + sign at the bottom of your screen and choose Share Screens.
• Click Start and your presentation will come up on their screen with a thumbnail window of you.
• Start your slideshow and walk through it.
• When done click Stop Sharing and the presentation will close and you will be full screen again.

My Skype Presentation Tips:

• Friend the teacher on Skype and conduct a test sharing your PowerPoint presentation. The school will want to project it on a screen or SmartBoard.
• Be prepared for the presentation to crash. I’ve heard from some authors this can happen especially if the school’s internet is not strong. I decided that if this continually happened I would end the presentation and switch to Q&A. I also let the teacher know this as well.  Alternate choice: go through your slides without being in slideshow format. This may reduce issues. However, the audience will see the edit mode of your presentation and your video/animation won’t play unless you click to play.
• Practice your presentation beforehand and time it. My 4th grade period was 45 minutes long but it took the teacher a few minutes to settle them down before she called me. I took my full 50 minute in-person presentation and cut it to 20-25 minutes allowing for 10 minutes of Q&A at the end. I think even a 15 minute presentation plus Q&A would be fine as well.
• Beforehand, ask the teacher to have the students push their desks back and sit in rows of chairs to make it easier for them to get to the microphone and ask questions.
• Limit the Skype visit to 50 students or two classrooms combined.
• Set up a spot for your computer screen and clear the space behind you to create a presentable backdrop when on camera. Especially if you mean to scan your office to show the students!
• Make sure your speaker volume is turned up! This will ensure you can hear the reaction of the students and their answers to any questions as you go along in your presentation.
• Ask the teacher to turn the computer to face the students so you see them and their reactions and not you on the big screen. Otherwise, it’s very hard to gauge the student’s interest and reactions!
• Take a screen shot of your Skype presentation in the middle of it to save as an image to use for social media later.
• Plan ahead for the class to purchase your books. I have an arrangement with the representative of my local bookshop and we’ve created a new process for Skype and in-person visits. For both visits she sends the teacher an order form weeks ahead of time (so be sure to schedule your visits 4-6 weeks in advance). The teacher collects orders with checks made out to the school and the school sends the bookshop one check. For in-person visits I sign and take the books with me and they receive a 20% discount. For Skype, the bookshop offers a 15% discount to cover the costs to ship the books. This new process seems to be working out!

Keep in mind students will be excited during your visit and want to order your book, if they didn’t do so ahead of time. I let them know they can still order the book via my local bookshop and the bookshop coordinates that with the teacher.

Giving a Skype visit was very similar to presenting in person as I engaged with the audience throughout my presentation and ended with Q&A – but of course, did not have to leave the comfort of my home!

Additional resources:
Want to add fun animated GIFs to your presentation?
I use giphy.com where you can search by topic or add your own clips to create an animated GIF.

Want to grab video to use from any source? I recommend Bandicam (okay, really my 12-year-old son did and showed me how to use it). You can download the program for free and use it to record any video snippets to use in your presentation. 

How to use Bandicam screen recording software:

• Download Bandicam to your computer.
• Open it from the icon on desktop.
• A window will pop up to record.
• Open the video you want to capture. If it’s a portion of the video make sure it’s paused right where you want to start recording.
• Once you open your video, a blank window in Bandicam will pop up with a REC button in the upper right corner.
• Move the blank window over your video. You can click the borders on the top and bottom to frame the video exactly where you want.
• Click the REC button.
• When the video ends where you want it to then click the square STOP button next to record.
• It will record all within that window so make sure you don’t move your mouse through it as it will record that as well.  
• You can also use this program to just capture an image and not video. Click the camera icon next to the REC button for capturing an image only.
• Click on your Bandicam icon on your computer screen at the bottom and the window will pop up again with selections.
• Choose the file folder icon at the top and this will show you where your video file is. Copy it to whatever folder you want.
• The selection window is where you can also choose Settings before you record your video to make the file smaller. I discovered this when I did video for my website as it wouldn’t let me load over 50mg file so I had to reduce the video. Just click Settings to see choices.

Note, the video you create will have bandicam.com titled at the top unless you pay for their service but I don’t think it takes away from the presentation. Check out a website with an educator's guide on copyright, fair use, and creative commons using video for education purposes.

Insert Video into your PowerPoint Presentation: 

• Open your presentation and the slide you want video in.Click Insert and then Video (all the way to the right in the top menu).
• Then click Video from File.
• Select your video from the folder you have it in.
• When inserted then click the video image still for Video Tools options menu at the top.
• Click Playback.
• Make sure the box Start Automatically is checked if you want it to start once the slide opens in the show – or if you want to click the video to start during your presentation then don’t check this box.
• In Video Tools you can also choose for the video to loop or fade in or out.

A great website resource for creating school visits is School Visit Experts.

Have you ever done a Skype PowerPoint presentation or other kind of Skype visit? Did you use video as well? Share your advice and tips here!

Author School Visits! Preparing For Your First by Donna Galanti

I had my very first school visits as an author last week. I spent hours creating and practicing a presentation. One was at a middle school creative writing group and the other two presentations were for the 5th and 6th grades at my son’s school. As my anxiety ramped up I was informed of my one goal (according to my son):  DO NOT be boring.

My son and friend getting ready for a skit!

When these visits were planned I sought help – immediately! With no teaching or classroom background I felt miserably unprepared. 

But I had a few ideas of what I wanted to accomplish and that was:
*Inspire and entertain.
*Show my love of storytelling through telling my own story of life.
*Connect to the kids and put a human face to an author.
*Use humor and student involvement to engage them.
*De-mystify the mysterious process of writing.

Since presenting to kids is very much like stage performing I called on an author and theater friend to help me brainstorm. Here are some bullets from our talk that helped me generate ideas to create my presentation.

Start by asking yourself questions, such as:
*How can the kids be just as qualified to be an author like you?
*How can you encourage kids to unplug and read?
*How did you become a better storyteller -  how can they?
*How can real life material feed into fiction?
*What are some events/topics in your book you can incorporate to the storytelling process? For example, is your book about friendship? What makes a good friend?
*How do you generate story ideas – how can they?
*What are some funny tales of your childhood, early writing days, or writing life now?
*What is one thing that excites you about writing?
*How did you get started writing?
*What are the three keys to telling a story?
*Think visually. What pictures can you incorporate from your own life?
*How can you engage the kids with an interactive stage skit or have them create a story, characters, or a world?

Plan and prepare:
Pick an area or two from your brainstorm Q&A and outline your presentation. Keep in mind you may need to narrow your topics based on the event timing. 

Find a connector to the kids and include real life examples/personal stories:

*What activities can you do with the students that would relate to your subject?
*Share writing exercises such as brainstorming and outlining.
*Read a scene from your book and relate it to the process of storytelling.
*Have students act out a story or improvise a skit with your guidance.
*Question and answers.

Visuals: what can you show during a talk?
*Personal pictures such as you as a kid, in your writing office now, places you write, messy desk, rejection letters, your research bookshelves, editing process, or travel research.
*Have a PowerPoint presentation with photos, animated gifs, or video.
*Include a white board or flip pad activity.
*Objects that inspired you to write or real life objects that became a part of your story.

I also sought out workshops in my area on conducting school visits and was lucky to attend Getting the Gigs: Capturing the Spotlight at the Highlights Foundation by Larry Dane Brimner.

Here is what I learned :

*Expect anything! Kids can ask or do anything, especially the younger ones. Write up a list of anticipated questions and create stock answers.
*Limit your time based on grade level and attention space.
*Give kids instructions on how to engage if you have interactive theater skits such as respecting everyone's space, etc.  Find out the school’s “quiet sign” to use.
*Include Q&A for grades one and up.
*Be patient and listen but move along.
*Interject your talk with questions for the kids to engage them as you go along. For example, if your book is about running away ask the kids: what would you pack if you planned to run away?
*Watch your word choice. For example, instead of using the word “stupid” say “silly” instead.
*Take a theater class to be more theatrical!
*Use stories from your own childhood to connect.
*Think about activities in your presentation that the students could follow through on in the classroom.
*Find what is universal in your book to connect with kids: family, friendship, etc.
*If you have volunteers come up on stage also engage the audience.
*Make note of what equipment you need to request from the school and ask about photo release permissions if you have photos taken.

Here is how my presentation came together:
I shared stories of being a young author and what – and who – inspired me to write. I shared some of my first writings and talked about the power of brainstorm and also the 5 R’s of being an author: Reading, (W)Writing, Research, Revision, and Rejection! I shared the challenges and also the rewards of perseverance that come with writing. I wrapped it all up in a slide show of photos, humorous animated gifs (these were a HUGE hit!), and video ending with my book trailer. I then did an interactive 10-minute skit with the kids and ended with Q&A. All in 50 minutes.

Most important I survived it and had a blast and so did the kids! And I got very positive feedback and testimonials from the school staff and librarian about my visit (and my son let me know it was the best author presentation ever. Pheww). But I know I can improve on my presentation, and I signed up for a theater class to become more skilled and at ease in stage performing. 

The one thing that calmed me down was the realization that these kids WANTED me to succeed! They were there to be entertained and I could do this. You can too!

Planning, Preparing, and "Performing" School Visits by Caroline Starr Rose

This has been a busy season for me. In the last six weeks I’ve given seventeen presentations at six different schools. If you are an author or aspiring author, it’s never too early to plan ahead for visits of your own. Here are some tips on preparing school visits, from start to finish:

Plan:

What in the world will you talk about?

What age group will your presentation(s) best be suited for?

Will your presentation work best in a small (classroom) or large (assembly) setting?

How long will your presentation run?

Will you need props or technical equipment?

What will you charge?

Will you offer free visits? If yes, what will your guidelines be (a certain number a year, for example, or free visits to your children’s schools)?

These are just a few of the things you need to consider before scheduling your first event. If you’re not sure just exactly how to create a presentation, look to your book for inspiration. Think through topics, settings, characters or themes and see what ideas naturally arise. You can also mine experiences from your own life. Perhaps you have a unique background or skill that can be the basis for a school visit. As long as you connect your presentation to reading and writing in some way, there are limitless directions you can take.

Be Professional:

Once your planning is well underway, it’s time to present yourself to the world at large. I’ve posted here once before about school visits, and that post covers several ways you can do this in your community. Today my focus will be on your author website and/or blog.

Be sure to devote an easily discoverable page to author visits. Give a brief overview of topics (ideally you’ll have more than one). It’s also helpful to include what kind of setting (small or large) and age groups your presentation is best suited for. Here’s my page as an example.

Should you include fees on your presentation page? That’s entirely up to you. You can read more here as to why I’ve chosen to do so.

Pick Brains:

Check in with author friends who more experienced and ask them for advice. This is how I learned I needed a City of Albuquerque business license and an Albuquerque Public Schools vendor number. I also found out I would have to pay gross receipts tax for any visits conducted within the state of New Mexico. If you’re not sure what official steps might be required of you in your state, I’d start by talking to other authors in your community. If you have no connections there, check with your city and state government or with the schools in your area.

One author friend gave me an incredibly useful school visit contract she created, which I've adapted to best suit me. The contract covers what the author commits to doing, when and where the event will take place, the author’s fee, a Plan B for unforeseen illness or weather issues, and ways the school can best prepare for the visit. It’s gold. If you’d like a copy, I’d be happy to email you one.

Practice:

Your presentation is ready. Your author visits page is up and running. A school has scheduled you for an event. Now what?

Practice, practice, practice! Know your material. In other words...

Prepare:

If you need special props or materials, be sure to organize everything ahead of time. If you plan to create a powerpoint presentation, be sure you’ve checked with the school to see if they have access to an LCD projector or SmartBoard. If you’re working on a Mac, it would be wise to buy an adapter, as not all schools use Apple products.

Look up the school’s address. Pack your bags. Have everything ready to go. So that you can be…

Prompt:

Don’t dash around madly the day of your event, remembering the last school you visited didn’t have an extension cord and perhaps you should swing by Wal-mart on your way across town, and after you get back on the road turn on the wrong street, miss the school’s entrance, and get lost finding the front office. 

Ahem. I know no one who did that last week.

You’ll probably be a bit keyed up to begin with. It’s really helpful (and saves on the sanity) if you give yourself a bit of extra time. Plan for busy traffic, faulty Google Map directions, or trouble finding the visitors’ parking lot.

Thanks to @CStarrRose for teaching us about frontier life and her book May B. #buckboardsbloomers&buffalochips pic.twitter.com/JIkGfeDv3d
— Julie Sibley (@juliesibley) May 7, 2014

Play it cool:

You will at some point have technical difficulties.

Office staff might have no idea where to direct you.

Some days kids will be rowdy.

Other times the payment the school has committed to have ready the day of your visit (in your contract, right?) won’t be there.

Repeat after me: go with the flow.  Ask for help if necessary. Wing it if your projector acts up (you prepared ahead of time, remember?). Correct those kids who are squirrelly, or ask teachers to help you out. If there are payment issues, be gracious and understanding. It will all work out in the end.

Have any of you done school visits? What advice might you share? Anyone with questions?

School Visits 101 by Caroline Starr Rose

Having only published my first book in January 2012, I'm still a very new at this author thing. This is especially true in terms of establishing myself as a speaker available for school and library events. I have, though, had a number of opportunities locally and several out of state (thanks to my sister, who arranged two visits for me while I visited her in Atlanta last year).

Here are some things I've learned from my experience:

If You Build It, They Will Come
It's not exactly like Field of Dreams, but kind of. Teachers and librarians first need to know you exist. The most helpful, easiest way for them to learn about you is through some sort of permanent web presence online -- that's your field. It doesn't matter if it's a blog or official website, but you do need to include some key things:

• contact information
• an overview of presentations 
• (optional): speaking fees*

How do you determine presentation topics? Start with your own writing process. Teachers are especially interested in having their students hear from a real, live author that writing is not a one-time event but a slow unfolding that requires multiple drafts, feedback, revision and editing, and lots of hard work.

There will also be topics that naturally grow from what you write. Do you focus on fairy tale retellings, like Liesl Shurtliff? Magical realism, like Kimberley Griffiths Little? Historical fiction, like me? Use your knowledge as a spring board for topics.

Reach Out to Your Community
Beyond establishing a web presence, it's wise to actively seek out opportunities in the connections you've already formed.

• Get to know your local independent bookseller(s), who often have connections with local schools
• Introduce yourself to the children's librarian at your local library branch
• Tell friends, family members, and those you know in your general community that you're interested in setting up visits, and ask them to spread the word (contacts from your church, your daughter's soccer team, your son's scout troop, your husband's office -- anywhere)

Be Willing to Offer Free Visits...

...but not forever. I know authors who've offered free visits for a month. Others who've offered for a year. For me, I offered free visits for about six months (though I am happy to continue to offer once-a-year free visits to my boys' schools, if they're interested). While it's a great way to spread the word, hone your skills, and build contacts, I strongly recommend you begin to charge speaking fees at some time. Why? You're a professional. SCBWI says you should. You will be taken more seriously. Schools will prepare for something they've invested in.

Other Ways to Spread the Word

Several months before MAY B. released, I sent postcards to all elementary and middle schools in my city. For a handful of schools I sent packets which included bookmarks and a listing of presentation topics (places I'd attended as a child, schools where my children attended, the middle school were I did my student teaching and taught my first year).

Because MAY B. has been selected as a 2013-2014 New Mexico Battle of the Book title (yay!), I've decided to do a selected mailing for next year, too. This time, I'll include this wonderful Author and Illustrators on Tour booklet. SCBWI's Inter-Mountain Regions (Arizona, Colorado/Wyoming, Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Southern Idaho/Utah) recently asked members if they'd like to buy space in this publication, a resource book for schools and libraries looking for speakers. Choosing to be included -- and adding it to my mailing packet -- was an easy way  for me to spread the word.

 Resources for School Visits

• The ABC's of a Successful School Visit (available to SCBWI members only)
• Children's Authors Network Hosting An Author page
• Finding School Funding for Author Visits
• Grants for School Visits

And don't forget Skype!

Skype is a wonderful, quick, convenient way for authors and schools to connect. I suggest setting up a free account with the Skype an Author Network. Here's my page there.

Any questions, comments, or things that have worked for you? Share below!

*Though some authors choose not to do this, I'm most comfortable with having this information available upfront. After studying what other authors charge for visits I settled on my rates (which are on the mid-to-low end, in comparison).

Skypetastic

Well, it's official.  I've gotten my feet wet in the publishing process, and now, nearly six months out, I'm toweling them back off again and sorting through exactly which puddles I want to splash through from here on out.  Storybound launched in April 2012, and, true to the testimonies of those who have gone before, releasing the first book is quite the whirlwind of obsessive anxiety, innumerable bookmarks and other sundry self-promoting bits, and blog posts, interviews, and more blog posts.  I'm not complaining, mind.  It was quite the ride.  But now that things have slowed, I'm ready to re-evaluate the process and determine which components were truly helpful, which I actually enjoyed doing, and which sent my stress-meter through the roof.

Not to worry, this will not be an incredibly long post outlining all the "thou shalt nots" for the debut author.  Instead I want to focus on author visits.  In the year preceding my launch, I was fortunate enough to meet up with some other local debut authors, and that group (with the fittingly apocalyptic title of "The Harbingers of Doom") was a fabulous support as well as a great resource for cooperative events.  We did several local appearances together which not only maximized the numbers of attendees but cemented our friendships and the capacity for mutual angst-ing over the entire publishing process.

That being said, I'm not altogether sure the events were "successful".  While most drew on average ten to fifteen people (excepting the dreaded event where we had one - yes ONE - attendee.  Ugh.), it seemed that we primarily reached other local writers, friends of friends, and the occasional very welcome MG or YA reader.  That in itself was lovely, of course, because what author in her right mind doesn't enjoy chatting books and writing with other people who love to talk books and writing?  But the reality of being a midlist debut author is that you haven't yet build a readership.  In fact, word is just seeping out about your book, and the odds of someone who has actually read it coming to a local event in the first months after launch are very slim indeed.

So while author events are fun (there's nothing like being handed a fat stack of your own books to sign) and provide the fabulous opportunity to connect with booksellers and librarians (you wonderful bookish folk, you!), they were not opportunities where I connected with readers of Storybound.  Enter Skype, that heretofore mysterious term I had heard thrown around by my expat friends but had ignored until now.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to do a Skype author visit with the kids' book club at Changing Hands Bookstore in Arizona.  After accepting the invitation, I fumbled my way through the online Skype tutorial, and at just the right moment, had a lovely virtual chat with kids who love books, and, even more thrilling, had read Storybound.  Perhaps I'm several years too late, and those of you who don't dwell in the 1990s where I bide my time in a wifi free and Luddite existence are yawning and tabbing over to the next blog post in your reader.  But for the rest of us, for those who muddle their way through the latest online trends, this is one worth checking out.  The savvy folks over at skypeanauthor have even set up a virtual network to connect interested authors with teachers, librarians, booksellers, and, ultimately, readers.

I, for one, am sold.  Not only is the virtual author visit an easy way to connect with specific readers, but it provides a welcome informality that seems fitting for a middle-grade event.  While I may be stumbling my way through the Skype menu, my middle-grade readers are not.  This is old hat to a generation that keeps in touch with grandpa via a regular Skype date or checks in nightly with mom when she's on a business trip.  I found the energy and enthusiasm of the kids to be a welcome surprise, and the necessary brevity of a virtual event kept my presentation streamlined.  Without question, I'll be adding Skype visits to my newly-revised list of author "Must-dos" before Story's End launches next year.


What about you, Mayhemers?  Authors, what are your favorite ways to connect with readers?  And readers, have you ever participated in a Skype visit?