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Add-ins
Speech-Over Studio
Reviewed by Geetesh
Bajaj, November 13 2005
See Also: The Joel Harband Interview
Introduction
About Speech-Over Studio
Download and Installation
Using Speech-Over Studio
Pricing and Support
Conclusion
Introduction
Conventional PowerPoint presentations are heard and
seen, and most of the time the "heard" part is the speaker for
the presentation
explaining content in detail while the "seen" presentation works
as a framework. That's a great solution when you have a captive
audience of tens, hundreds or even thousands. But what about
those who did not attend that presentation, or those who you would
have
wanted to see and hear it?
Many speakers feel that there are hundreds of people out there
who might have loved to be part of their audiences, but due to
reasons of time, geography and resources, that might not be always
possible. True, you can email them a copy of your presentation,
but then the "heard" part is lost. What about narrating
your voice into PowerPoint then? Well, how many speakers are open
to the idea
of recording narrations anyway - common excuses to avoid doing
that range from improper microphones to just a plain lack of interest!
That's
where Speech-Over Studio, our product for review can help.
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About Speech-Over Studio
Speech-Over Studio is a PowerPoint add-in product that lets you
add professional-sounding narration to a PowerPoint presentation
without any microphone or recording. Based on your text input alone,
Speech-Over Studio can generate a narration that is synchronized
with the presentation’s screen objects.
Speech-Over Studio is created by Tuval
Software Industries, an Israel based software company that is headed
by Dr. Joel Harband.
More information about the product and the company can be found
on their web site...
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Download and Installation
A trial version of Speech-Over Studio is available for download
from the Speech-Over Studio web site.
Installation is a quick affair and adds the Speech-Over menu within
your PowerPoint interface (see below).
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Using Speech-Over Studio
Using Speech-Over Studio is not terribly intuitive, but the Hello
World tutor in the help file does get you started. To access the
tutor, choose the Speech-Over | Help option in PowerPoint and select
the Getting Started - Hello World option.
Thereafter, all you need to do is select a text box or placeholder,
or other screen object and choose the relevant commands in the
Speech-Over Organizer panel to enter or edit the speech text for
the selected object. This panel is accessed using the Speech-Over
| Organizer option
(see below).
All speech recordings are generated automatically in a sub-folder
- recipients of your presentations generated using Speech-Over
Studio don't require the actual product to hearthe narratives -
they should be fine with just PowerPoint or even the free PowerPoint
Viewer.
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Pricing and Support
Speech-Over Studio is priced at US$ 90 - each license allows three
copies of the software to be installed concurrently. Ordering is
through secure server and purchase details are sent immediately
to your mail inbox.
Support is through email - a comprehensive online FAQ is also
available on the Speech-Over site.
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Conclusion
Speech-Over Studio is a fine product and its licensing terms of
three concurrent installations is generous. The program interface
would benefit from being a little more contemporary. If you are
prepared to look beyond
that,
Speech-Over is a great product.
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