TL;DR:

• Use OBS Studio or Camtasia to record.
• Send a 15-sec test recording to your producer before the full run.
• Resolutions: 2560 x 1440, 3840 x 2160, or 1920 x 1080.
• Think of a viewer watching the demo at 1080p and act accordingly.
• Clean up desktops, taskbars, and browsers—no rogue icons, logos, or trash bins.
• Make your browser full screen and zoom in an appropriate amount.
• Avoid unapproved third-party IP, and stick to approved fictitious names.

Demo recording guidelines

Set up to record your demo in OBS Studio or Camtasia:

• OBS Studio. Free, powerful, and occasionally intimidating, like a Swiss Army knife with too many blades.
• TechSmith Camtasia. User-friendly, like a butter knife you can’t possibly misuse.

Unless otherwise instructed, include the mouse pointer in your recording. Record your microphone and talk through your demo. Restarting portions of your demo is fine. We’ll use the most recent take. We’ll do our best to clean up your audio to remove stutters, restarts, and so on.

Before settling in to record a complete demo, record a quick sample and send that to your producer for review. We’ll double-check your settings and send notes. Think of this as the test drive that keeps you from having to redo the entire road trip.

Resolutions

Screens must be 16x9 aspect ratio. If your device can’t, use an external monitor. (Nobody likes pillar boxing.) Our order of preference is below (and we’re happy to explain why if you contact us):

• 2560 x 1440 at 125% zoom in the browser
• 3840 x 2160 at 150% zoom in the browser
• 1920 x 1080 at 100% zoom in the browser

Framerate isn’t as important as you might think. 30fps or 60fps is fine, but even 15fps looks good if you’re not wiggling the mouse around like it’s running from a caffeinated cat.

Screen set up

Recordings should be accessible when rendered in a 1920x1080 video. In a browser, record with the following guidelines:

• Zoom in as described below. If your page’s layout breaks, back out until it works.
  
  • 1920 x 1080 at 100% zoom in the browser
  • 2560 x 1440 at 125% zoom in the browser
  • 3840 x 2160 at 150% zoom in the browser
• Go full screen and hide the address bar and all browser chrome. The goal is to maximize your canvas and hide the browser clutter. Distractions begone.
• Name things wisely. Stick to approved fictitious companies like Contoso. Resist the urge to invent “Contoso Intergalactic Conglomerate of Doom.”
• Keep third-party IP out, unless you have permission for it. Don’t flash third-party icons or branding you don’t own. Legal gets twitchy about that sort of thing.
• Clean your desktop. Hide icons, unclutter your taskbar, and empty the trash. Nobody wants to meet your recycle bin mid-demo.
• Skip dark mode. Looks cool in your hacker cave, but impossible for some viewers to read. Accessibility > vibes.

Motion tips

All mouse movements should have a purpose and be as direct as possible.

Avoid using the mouse pointer to highlight things on the screen. It's distracting, and we can add highlights in post.

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Record smart, clean up your digital mess, and test before you record. Do this, and your demo won’t just work—it’ll sparkle like a diamond in front of a perfectly placed ring light.

TL;DR:

• Goodlighting beats camera resolution every time.
• Look at the camera when you speak. Practice in your next meeting.
• Use a wired microphone. Bluetooth will betray you when you least expect it.
• Keep the brightest light in front of you and slightly above your head. Backlighting is how horror films start.
• Clear your background. Offensive objects, copyrighted posters, or your Jedi action figure army—hide them. Avoid virtual backgrounds.
• Test your bandwidth before you start. Wi-Fi has moods. Wired connections do not.
• Dress business casual. No visible logos. Jewel tones are flattering; moiré-inducing patterns are … not. Unless you enjoy vibrating on screen.
• Look at the camera. Again. Yes, we’re repeating it—because it matters.
• Demo on a 16:9 display (1080p) and zoom in so people can read text.
• Read the rest of this guide. Seriously. There’s some good stuff here.

Session preparation

We’re here to make your recording session fun, easy, and utterly free of meltdowns. Think of this as the ultimate prep list—part instruction manual, part survival guide. Got questions or special requests? Let us know. We’ve heard it all (including the one about timing the session perfectly to Revolver by The Beatles, objectively their best-ever album).

Required gear

Before you step into the glamorous world of being on camera, you’ll need some basics:

• A webcam. Yes, the one built into your laptop works fine. If you’re feeling fancy, external webcams like the Logitech Brio are popular. But here’s the real secret: lighting matters more than the camera. Frame yourself so your head is high in the shot, with just a smidge of space above. Camera at eye-level is best. If you need to stack your laptop on books, go for it. Consider it a modern art installation.
• Lighting. Lighting is the diva of production. Without it, your $200 webcam looks like a potato. Light yourself from the front, not the back. A window works, but diffuse bright daylight with curtains or blinds. No window? Get a cheap ring light or a soft lamp about six feet away and slightly above eye level. Voilà: instant glamour.
• A microphone. Audio matters. A lot. Possibly more than your camera. Your webcam’s mic may be “fine” (like gas station coffee is “fine”), but a wired external mic is better and surprisingly cheap. Skip Bluetooth—it clicks, pops, and betrays you. Also: keep mics out of frame, avoid large, echoey rooms, and remember that carpets, curtains, and other fabrics are your friends. (Hardwood floors, not so much.)
• Background. No virtual backgrounds. Unless, of course, you’re demoing virtual backgrounds. (In which case: carry on.) Showing your humanity helps increase your credibility. Otherwise, keep your space tidy and uncluttered. Avoid offensive objects (e.g., guns, posters, flags) or copyrighted materials (sorry, your Star Wars shrine must wait off camera). A simple, lived-in space feels authentic—and safe from lawyers.

Gear preparation

Make sure your gear behaves itself on recording day:

• Plug in your computer. Batteries don’t last long when you’re recording.
• Turn off notifications. Loud alerts are the modern-day jump scares.
• Close unessential apps and tabs. They use up resources and make your video look like bad stop-motion.
• Set your Windows power plan to Best Performance. The balanced power plans throttle your CPU, which is like asking a sprinter to jog in flip-flops.
• Use a wired internet connection. Wi-Fi has moods. Wired doesn’t. If others are home, bribe them to avoid Netflix until you’re done. Aim for 10 Mbps up and down.

Looking your best

You don’t need to look like a movie star—just avoid looking like you lost a bet at the thrift store return desk:

• Stick to business-casual clothing, with no third-party logos on it.
• Wear jewel tones near your face. They’ll never let you down.

• With a few exceptions, red, black, and pastels do not look good in videos.
• Choose simple fabrics with no visible patterns. Tight patterns can cause a moiré effect, which looks like a dancing optical illusion—fun but hard on the eyes.

Presentation tips

We’ll check these things during your precheck, but here are some pro moves:

• Practice. Talking to a lens feels weird until it doesn’t.
• Add enthusiasm. Cameras flatten energy—so bring more than you think you need.
• Look at the camera. Your audience is sitting right behind it. Making eye contact with them makes you feel more sincere.
• Don’t shake the camera. Typing with gusto can make your webcam feel like it’s on a trampoline. Stabilize with books or use an external keyboard.
• Hydrate like a pro. Keep room-temp water nearby. And, per musician lore, Lays potato chips. (True story: the Eagles once stocked the studio with cases of them. Who are we to argue with rock history?)

Realize that you do not have to nail the first take. Just. Relax. Stop, back up, start again—no one is keeping score. We’ll cover any edits with your slides, demo, or possibly a cat meme. Think of the recording session less like threading a needle and more like untangling Christmas lights: messy, frustrating, but oddly satisfying.

Demo tips

Demos are where the gremlins love to hide. Here’s how to keep them at bay:

• Watch Jeremy Chapman’s legendary “Windows Pro Demo Tips, Tricks, and Secrets” playlist on YouTube. (You’ll thank us later.)
• Use a 16:9 display (1920x1080, 2560x1440). If your device can’t, connect an external monitor that can.
• Too-high resolution equals unreadable text. Reduce your resolution or scale up your text. Use ZoomIt liberally so your audience can see what you’re doing.
• Hide the clutter. Empty your trash, tidy your desktop, and remove unapproved icons or logos. (Yes, someone once lost a demo over an NFL banner. It was awkward.)
• For web demos, zoom your browser in as much as possible without breaking the page layout. At 2560x1440, 125% is a good start. Also, make the browser full screen and hide the chrome (e.g., tabs, address bar, status bar, and so on). Preload your tabs; and use Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to navigate them like a magician.
• Use only approved fictitious company names. “Contoso” is fine. “Contoso ISD” once got a demo pulled by Legal. True story.

Come prepared, follow these steps, and you’ll look sharp, sound great, and keep the tech from developing scary personality disorders.

TL;DR:

• Schedule smart. Book your precheck at least two days before recording—ideally at the same time of day for consistent lighting.
• Precheck matters. Close unessential apps and tabs, run a speed test, and let us tame your camera, audio, and lighting before the real thing.
• Come prepared. Deck finalized, demos working, distractions handled. We’re recording live. “Fixing it in post” breaks our hearts.
• Stay connected. Don’t leave before uploads finish, or your footage could vanish into the void.
• Feedback lives in Frame.io. First cut, final cut—comment there, approve there. Email is where feedback goes to die.
• Final deliverables. You’ll get MP4s, closed captions, and a thumbnail—polished and ready to share.

Production process

Legend has it, a presenter once began a session without reading our guides. Their Wi-Fi became self-aware and refused to cooperate. Their microphone picked up only the sound of an enthusiastic leaf blower. By the end, everyone agreed it was less a recording and more a performance art piece about chaos.

We wrote this guide so that doesn’t happen to you. Our goal: keep things smooth, fun, and blissfully free of feral technology. So, follow these steps, and your production will look polished, sound great, and avoid being mistaken for experimental theater.

Step 1: Scheduling

Our producers will send you two scheduling links. You need to schedule both:

• Precheck session. We test your audio, video, and lighting until they behave like trained show ponies. The whole process takes about 15–30 minutes, depending on the number of presenters.
• Recording session. We capture your camera footage, demos, and presentation (interpretive dance optional but not discouraged). Length depends on the target running time of the final production.

Book your precheck at least two days before your recording. Choose a time of day when you’re at your best: alert, caffeinated, and unlikely to be interrupted by a garbage truck. Keep both sessions around the same time for consistent lighting and avoid times when bright light is streaming through Windows behind or beside you.

You’ll receive two Microsoft Teams invites, one for each session. You won’t join those meetings in Teams. We’ll update the invites with links to our virtual studio, which captures uncompressed audio and video straight to your computer, then uploads them afterwards. The result: footage so crisp and glitch-fee you could be in a shampoo commercial.

Step 2: Precheck session

Before your precheck, please:

• Fully update Windows devices. Windows Update doing its thing while we’re trying to record camera footage on your device is a non-starter. Avoid any nasty surprises by making sure your device is updated ahead of time (or pause updates).
• Run an internet speed test. Screenshot the results and optionally share them with your producer. Speeds above 10 Mbps are ideal. Anything slower and your Wi-Fi might start developing hobbies.
• Close unnecessary apps and tabs. Yes, even Microsoft Teams and Outlook. They steal resources from our studio and turn smooth video into a jittery slideshow.

During precheck we’ll:

• Test your camera, lighting, and audio.
• Peek at your demo setup.
• Walk you through a dry run so recording day doesn’t feel like a pop quiz.

This is the time to fix issues, ask questions, and get comfortable before the real deal.

Step 3: Recording session

Come prepared. That means:

• Your deck is finalized and Brand approved.
• Your demo environments or recordings are ready.
• Your kids are fully dressed and locked out of the game console.
• Unessential apps and tabs are closed (force quit Teams).

We’re recording live, and swapping things later slows delivery.

Here’s what we capture (in 1080p, depending on your camera):

• One recording per presenter’s camera, up to four.
• One recording containing demos and presentations.

When we’re done, avoid the temptation to jump out of the studio until we have all your footage. You’ll know, because we’ll tell you. Walking away mid-upload is like forgetting bread in the toaster: You’re left with nothing. However, unlike the toast, there is hope. If you happen to disconnect before your upload finishes, reopen the same browser and go to our upload page. The upload might complete automatically.

Step 4: Postproduction

This is the easy bit. About two business days after recording, depending on our SLA, you’ll receive an email with a link to your video in Frame.io. (Because nobody likes watching themselves, high-speed playback is an option to get through it quicker.) Here’s the process:

• First cut. Watch, leave comments directly in Frame.io, and if you’re happy, mark it Approved and reply to the email thread. Done.
• Final cut. In addition to addressing your notes, the final cut adds any graphics, lower thirds, and other elements that the event requires. Most times, we’ve done our job well, and you approve the final cut. The other times? A pixel loses its wings and drops to the floor.

Please DO NOT send feedback by email. Our editors live in Frame.io (figuratively, though some look suspiciously like they might) and won’t see stray notes elsewhere. Keeping comments in one place means clarity, speed, and fewer stray pixels dropped on the ground.

Once approved, we’ll add thumbnails, captions, and stage your video for release.

Step 5: Final deliverables

For each approved video, you’ll receive:

• An MP4 video file
• Closed caption files (SRT, TTML, VTT, and TXT)
• A thumbnail image

And that’s it. Follow these steps to turn preparation into recording brilliance. You’ve got this!

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