Forum Discussion

SCLD's avatar
SCLD
Active Contributor
5 years ago

Webcam positioning for presenters

Is there a better option then having a presenter’s webcam floating around the screen when they are presenting?

 

I have a presenter in an upcoming webinar who wants to be able to see themselves on their webcam whilst giving their presentation, and although we’ve worked out how to do this, the webcam seems to appear in an awkward pop-out (see screenshot below) which you have to move around instead of just allowing you to split the screen evenly between the presenter’s webcam and their presentation. 

 

Is this just the way the webcam function works on GoTo or has anyone found a better solution?

 

Thanks,

Libby

 

Question
  • Chris Droessler's avatar
    Chris Droessler
    5 years ago

    It looks different on the Attendee's computer.  The Attendees see a split screen between the webcam and the shared screen (PowerPoint).  The Attendees can drag a line between the two to make either part of the window larger or smaller.

     

    GoTo is not really set up so the presenter can see their own webcam, but you have found a workaround.

     

    Another workaround that I have used:

    I open QuickTime on the presenter's computer and set it to record a movie. That puts the webcam in a window on the computer. I do this on a Mac, I am sure there is a similar program on Windows.

     

    Then I setup my PowerPoint to show in a window, rather than full screen. This is found under Slide Show Setup.

    I then arrange the two windows, PowerPoint show and  Quicktime, on my computer's second display.

     

    I then share the computer's second display to the GoTo audience.

     

    Doing it this way, the presenter has compete control over how large to make both the webcam window and the PowerPoint window.  During the presentation, the presenter can change the size of the windows to emphasize one over the other.

     

    In the extra space on the second display that is not the PowerPoint Show window or the Webcam window, you could have the company name or logo, or just a colorful background.

     

  • Chris Droessler's avatar
    Chris Droessler
    Respected Contributor
    5 years ago

    It looks different on the Attendee's computer.  The Attendees see a split screen between the webcam and the shared screen (PowerPoint).  The Attendees can drag a line between the two to make either part of the window larger or smaller.

     

    GoTo is not really set up so the presenter can see their own webcam, but you have found a workaround.

     

    Another workaround that I have used:

    I open QuickTime on the presenter's computer and set it to record a movie. That puts the webcam in a window on the computer. I do this on a Mac, I am sure there is a similar program on Windows.

     

    Then I setup my PowerPoint to show in a window, rather than full screen. This is found under Slide Show Setup.

    I then arrange the two windows, PowerPoint show and  Quicktime, on my computer's second display.

     

    I then share the computer's second display to the GoTo audience.

     

    Doing it this way, the presenter has compete control over how large to make both the webcam window and the PowerPoint window.  During the presentation, the presenter can change the size of the windows to emphasize one over the other.

     

    In the extra space on the second display that is not the PowerPoint Show window or the Webcam window, you could have the company name or logo, or just a colorful background.

     

    • SCLD's avatar
      SCLD
      Active Contributor
      5 years ago

      Hi Chris,

       

      Thank you for reply - that's a really great solution and one that we will certainly offer to our presenters. Really appreciate your help! 

       

      Kind regards,

      Libby

    • AESP's avatar
      AESP
      New Contributor
      5 years ago

      Hello everyone, 

       

      Chris, you seem to have experience with the webcam position. Do you know if I, as an Organizer, can move the webcam position around at all, during the "webinar"? We are recording our presenters' sessions for a virtual conference, using GTW. While we can see the split screen of the presenter's webcam and their PPT (camera on the left of the presentation), I wanted to see if there was a way to move the camera around during the recording (so not all three individual presenters appear on the left of the slide deck, during their portion.) 

       

      Libby, I am going to test your instructions as well. I know that a few of our presenters couldn't see themselves during our first round of recordings yesterday. 

       

      Thanks for any advice!

      Jennifer

      • Chris Droessler's avatar
        Chris Droessler
        Respected Contributor
        5 years ago

        You could mount a regular webcam on a tripod, which would give you some amount of movement, but not the most elegant solution.

         

        I use an ATEM Mini video switcher that goes into my GoTo presentation computer as the webcam input.

         

        This allows me to have up to four HDMI camcorders and use this switcher to decide which will be seen as my GoTo webcam.  You could use this switcher with just one camera if you wish.

        This allows you to use a better camera with pan/tilt and zoom features.  It's just a camcorder on a tripod you point wherever you wish.

         

        Some have had issues using the ATEM Mini on Windows with GoToWebinar, but it works great on a Mac.  Some have used an Elgato device on Windows to do the same thing. I have no experience with that, but you can search these discussions.

         

  • LynnK1's avatar
    LynnK1
    New Contributor
    5 years ago

    Hi Libby

    Could you tell me how you worked out the first step - for the presenter to see his own webcam while sharing slides?  

    Thanks so much

     

    • SCLD's avatar
      SCLD
      Active Contributor
      5 years ago

      Hi Lynn, 

       

      Sure no worries:

       

      - Ask your presenter to undock their webcam from the control panel

      - Tell them to click on webcams with the little down-pointing arrow

      - In the list that appears, click on 'Show all webcams'

      - Go to the icon that looks like a window with people in it and click on it

      - Then select 'View presenter'

       

      Your presenter should now be able to see themselves and have their presentation visible too (for example in Powerpoint view mode). They can then move the window with their webcam around the screen to a convienient position. The other way to do this is if your presenter has two screens then they can drag the window with their webcam onto a different screen from their presentation, so they get a clear view of both. 

       

      Hope this works for you!

      Libby 

      • Chris Droessler's avatar
        Chris Droessler
        Respected Contributor
        5 years ago

        FYI - The presenter sees a flipped image, like looking in a mirror.  The audience sees the reverse, normal image.