Camtasia Quick Tips

This prevents you from stumbling on words, creating long pauses in between sentences, and/or creating redundancies. Following a transcript will also make captioning your video easier. If you do not want to follow a transcript, make sure to at least outline or storyboard what you plan to record.

Stories are compelling and memorable. Think about how to introduce your subject, how to build suspense or curiosity, and what the "moral" of your story is. You can also add additional media (videos, images, diagrams etc.) in Camtasia to help illustrate your points.

Make sure your microphone is recording at a clear and moderate volume. An external mic will deliver MUCH better sound. Click on the Tools tab up top in Camtasia and select Voice Narration. Then test your audio by clicking on the Audio Setup Wizard button.

An external USB mic will help, but do isolate yourself from miscellaneous noises when recording. Feel free to make a reservation for the eCampus Video Lab.

Break your lectures into smaller individual topics lectures. Working in segments will make your recording and editing experience much more manageable. Recording a whole lecture with the goal of finishing in one attempt will increase your editing time and looking for errors.

If you plan to create a screen capture video, keep your cursor steady and avoid moving it around too much while recording. If necessary, you can highlight the cursor in Camtasia.

Have you ever tried watching a video where the text looked really blurry? This happens because of their recording, editing and production settings were not all the same. Keep your video in large, high quality dimensions.

Consistent and judicious use of these elements highlight important information, draw attention to a specific area of your screen, and can make your videos look more professional.

Accessibility is not only a best practice but it is the law. Captioning not only helps users with a disability, but also helps those with English as their second language. For more information, check out the Camtasia: Captioning Guide [pdf].