Presentation Muse

(Continuation from post on 5/25/2022).

As I was preparing for the video recording of my talk, I learned about different programs I could use to record myself while doing a slideshow presentation. I was excited that I found this free program to record. While I was setting up to record, there was a prompt to allow the microphone to be used. I clicked “ok”. Then I clicked the button to start presentation and record. There was a button to check the camera settings, but it was greyed out and I was not able to click on it.

I thought that perhaps the video function was not available because I was not using the paid function. Then I discovered that I also had to allow the camera access, which I did. Still no camera on the presentation program. I was going back and forth. Restarting my computer. Watched the program’s video presentation tutorial more than 3 times. At no point was there any indication that only the paid version could use video camera presentation.

Somehow more than an hour passed. I still had no clue what was going on. I was determined to figure out how to get the video recording started. Seeing that I was going nowhere, I phoned a friend. I invited her to use the same presentation program. She was able to access the video presentation, and sent me a short clip of her and the slides.

Maybe the program was my computer and not the program. I found my husband’s computer and attempted to open the video presentation function. It worked! Alright, when time came (in the next day or two) I would use my husband’s computer to record.

Prior to the recording day, I had a Zoom meeting. Zoom was not able to detect my camera. Alright, this got to be my computer set up. It turned out to be that the camera was somehow turned off while some computer updates were happening. Problem solved. I was able to use the video feature for my presentation.

Sometimes we have to be curious, especially when things do not go the way we wanted them to. Although the above incident ended up to be a couple hours of my time, I did not get upset. I was curious, doing the detective work, doing the step-by-step approach. The no-judgment way to do things makes it easier to overcome challenges and obstacles. Rather than thinking of it as a burden when things do not go my way, I view it as a learning process. Being curious also makes things feel less heavy. I was not in a dreaded mode. Rather, I was just focusing on to get my presentation recorded, to keep my word to complete the presentation before the deadline. It is fun to learn new things. It is even more fun to accomplish new things. I choose to enjoy the process and keep things light-hearted.