Blog for Speech Sequencer Technology

Adding Speech to PowerPoint

Intended Audience

This blog is prepared for anyone interested in learning how to create Microsoft PowerPoint presentations that include speech.

Enhancing Presentations

As you know, PowerPoint is a powerful tool for authoring all kinds of presentations, and computer based training. Adding a voice to PowerPoint is such a huge enhancement that it can make the difference how complete and professional a presentation appears. Adding background music, which is integrated with the voice narration, will put you way over the top. The problem is that the workflow, for adding these enhancements, will cost a lot in time and resources. Finally, there is now a way to automate this process.

Theory of Operation

The VoiceOver Speech Sequencer is the plumbing to integrate 3 types of technology to create VoiceOver PowerPoint. First, we started with a word processor to edit topics that include narration and subtitles. Next, we added a slideshow editor to arrange the topics into slides, and finally layer the narration being delivered by a synthesized voice. This is the essence of the VoiceOver PowerPoint solution.

My Design Contribution

The framework for the VoiceOver Speech Sequencer is an object model that contains all the properties of speech as part of a presentation. This also includes the narration text, and the subtitles. Other properties include start time, speed, volume, and balance.

When I first saw the Speech Sequencer demonstration which converts text from an MS-Word document into audio for a video, I was interested in learning how the model could be expanded to work with PowerPoint. With very little implementation I was able to design a solution that would give the user the same integration between Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. The result is a solution that gives much power and flexibility to create voice over for PowerPoint.

Using VoiceOver PowerPoint for a CBT

People have been begging me to post more articles on using VoiceOver PowerPoint for creating computer based training (CBT). I’m currently working on a new publication that will detail all steps to publish a CBT using VoiceOver PowerPoint. But really, there are only a few simple steps to creating a VoiceOver PowerPoint CBT.

Quick Start

I will describe briefly how to create a VoiceOver PowerPoint CBT. These instructions assume that you have already successfully installed VoiceOver PowerPoint, and any SAPI compatible voice that you wish to use in your CBT. Once installed, you can begin authoring the CBT.

First, create your CBT using MS-Word. The MS-Word document will contain as many topics as necessary. Each topic will have a section for the narration, and the subtitles.

Set the start time, speed, and volume for each topic using the VoiceOver Track Tools. Save the document.

Open up PowerPoint and use the VoiceOver solution utility to integrate the Word document with PowerPoint. Now, at this point, you have imported all of the topic’s narration and subtitles into a PowerPoint slideshow. Each topic has become its own slide.

Adding background music to the presentation is an optional step. This process will result in having background music that is synchronized with the voice over narration. During the narration, the background music will adjust to a lower volume level, which will allow the voice to be heard distinctly.

High Quality Speech

The single most important step in authoring a quality VoiceOver PowerPoint presentation is choosing a high quality voice. Most novices will start out trying to use their own voice. The results sound cheap and unprofessional. Lately I have been recommending voices from Ivona, and the Acapela group. These voices are sampled at 22k, and give the most natural, clean, bright sound.

Background Music

Background music has always set the mood or stage for the type of presentation that you are viewing. Without music, the presentation could be lifeless or boring.

VoiceOver PowerPoint has a feature that enables you to quickly integrate background music with your slideshow, and its narration. It works by giving you control over the volume level of the background music during parts of the presentation. The background music volume level comes down when the narration begins.

Adding background music will breathe life into you VoiceOver PowerPoint presentation.

More Information

Product Description
Quick Start Video
About My Background
How it All Began

Video Based Help System

MS-Word Version

Intended Audience

This blog is prepared for anyone interested in learning how to create a video based help system.

Why Use a Video Based Help System

If a picture is worth a thousand words then a video must be worth a million. I’m sure everyone agrees that watching someone demonstrate a process is much easier to learn than if someone tries to explain it to you in words.

Problems using Videos

There are more file formats for videos then there are for documents. This presents a challenge when trying to standardize on just one file format. But the main problem is searching for keywords and phrases within a video or series of videos. Until now, there has not been a good approach to solving this problem. The Speech Sequencer Technology solves this problem by storing the narration and topics into a database that can easily be indexed.

Benefits of the Video Explorer

The Video Explorer is a solution that is a layer on top of the Speech Sequencer Technology. It gives you all the power and flexibility to present topics in an organized help system. You can search for keywords and phrases, group topics together, view HD videos starting where keywords are used, and save links in a folder called “favorites”.

The main feature of the Video Explorer is that it is a web based solution that gives you much flexibility for updates to the directory structure of the Video Explorer, and the videos themselves.

Theory of Operation

There are 2 components to the Video Explorer, the design time component and the run-time component. The design time component gives you a facility to group which videos are to be used, and the run-time component is the actual user interface for the Video Explorer. The run-time architecture supports both the Flash (FLV) Video, and the Windows Video Media (WVM) formats.

My Design Contribution

My challenge on the Video Explorer project was to design a layer of code that represents the user interface for the Video Explorer. First I looked at the Video Explorer Express. The Video Explorer Express is a free download that uses the JW Player. Then, I designed an object model that would support both the Flash (FLV) Video, and the Windows Video Media (WVM) formats.

Using the Video Explorer with CBT

The Video Explorer is a good companion and host for a Computer Based Training (CBT) course. Because of the possibility to group video and topics, it is a natural fit to use as the front end for a CBT. It provides everything necessary to present a course or a series of courses delivered to the viewer by the Internet.

More Information

Product Description
Video Demo
Video Explorer Express
About My Background
How it All Began

Speech Sequencer Technology

MS-Word Version

Intended Audience

This blog is prepared for anyone interested in learning how to create VoiceOver using the Speech Sequencer Technology.

What exactly is the VoiceOver Speech Sequencer

The VoiceOver Speech Sequencer is a framework that makes it possible to integrate different technologies for using synthesized speech for presentations. It includes an object model that represents the speech narration for a presentation. The presentation could be a video presentation, or it could be a PowerPoint slideshow. The VoiceOver Speech Sequencer also includes a database to store information, such as the narration, subtitles, start time, volume, and so on.

The integration strategy uses a series of plug-ins. These plug-ins will work with MS-Word, PowerPoint, Corel VideoStudio, Sony Vegas, and Adobe Premiere.

Benefits

Integrating Microsoft Word with a video editor has many advantages. The workflow for a video project is greatly reduced. Now it is possible to make changes with the narration without needing to re-record the voice. You may freely go back and forth between MS-Word and your video editor. In fact, you can think of your workspace as being one big application which includes a word processor and a video editor.

The other big benefit worth mentioning is the ability to search for keywords and phrases within the video. This is a big deal because now it is possible to start your video exactly where the keyword is used.

Everything I just explained for integrating with a video editor is also possible with PowerPoint.

There are other benefits for using the VoiceOver Speech Sequencer, but they are out of scope for this short article.

Theory of Operation

Two plug-ins make the integration possible. The VoiceOver MS-Word Plug-in and the VoiceOver VST Plug-in. The VoiceOver MS-Word Plug-in extends the functionality of Microsoft Word, and the VoiceOver VST Plug-in extends the functionality of the video editor. Both of these plug-ins share a common database where the VoiceOver information is stored. The result is a solution that looks like one combined application, a word processor and a video editor.

Figure 1.1 Object model for integrating MS-Word with a video editor.

Figure 1.2 Object model for integrating MS-Word with PowerPoint.

More Information

Product Description
Complete Video Series
About My Background
How it All Began

My Background

Background:

I have changed the focus of my career to become more of a system integrator. The really exciting part is that I have become a moderm day explorer, but without all the attention.

Most Recent Design:

I was asked by the company to create an add-in to PowerPoint to add voice to PowerPoint slides. The effort was a little more than expexted, but the framework was already very robust. So, I've delivered a product that solves most or many all problems associated with this type of solution.

Future Plans:

Here is all I know for now. I'm leaving my options open for the moment, but I think I am going to work on some more products involving system integration.

Other Interest:

I've been playing a Yamaha WX5 Wind Synth for about 1 year. This is a musical instrument that synthesizes the sound of horns, woodwind and rich electonic sounds. I love to play modern trip-hop, techno, and experimental music, as well as Jazz.

I also enjoy video editing and production, and synchronizing music with videos and visualizations.

Solution History

Overview:

When I first became involve with ProMatrix, I was an instructor for some of their leading courses. They put me on site at several medical device, and financial companies to teach how to integrate Microsoft technologies including Microsoft's Internet Information Server, SharePoint and Business Intelligence.

Creating CBT:

I created a number of computer based training presentations to help me teach these classes. It wasn't long before it was apparent that I needed narration to accompany these presentations. I tried using my own voice then I used a professional voice to add the voice over narration. I couldn't believe that there wasn't a better way to add a voice to a presentation.

Searching for a Solution:

I started a search for software tools or plug-ins that would allow me to add a synthesized voice to presentation.

Because most of my presentations had been authored using MS-Word, I was looking for a Solution that would use MS-Word and convert text into audio that would directly integrate with a video editor. At the time, I was using Sony Vegas. After an exhaustive search I realized that it was necessary for me to create the solution.

Birth of the VoiceOver Speech Sequencer:

Late in 2009, I complete the VoiceOver Speech Sequencer, and released it to the public as a free download.