It is often useful for marketers and presenters to show a web page or some other visual representation in their PowerPoint slide show, training manual, white paper, etc. One tool that helps facilitate this is a screen capture program. Most of these tools allow you to capture an image; edit, enhance, annotate or modify the image and generate output in multiple formats for your intended use.
I use Techsmith's SnagIt, but there are also various other software packages and online services that you might consider for this task.
Among the other tools that are out there are the following:
Research Buzz has a posting on how Google Image Search now allows users to "filter their searches by a variety of use licenses including Creative Commons and GNU Free Documentation". Using the Google Advanced Image Search you can select search parameters that include size, color, image type (.jpg, .png, .gif, .bmp) or license use. Here is a screenshot of the Google Advanced Image Search.
I'm not familiar with GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), so I did a search at Wikipedia and found their definition - "GNU FDL is a copyleft license for free documentation ... it is similar to the GNU General Public License giving, giving readers the right to copy, redistribute and modify a work and requires all copies and derivatives to be available under the same license". Interestingly when you look at the GNU FDL site it seems to refer to manuals, textbooks or other documents without expressly referring to the images that are searchable through the Google Image search enhancement.
Update Since the original posting earlier this afternoon, I've come across a useful plug-in for your Microsoft Office Programs including PowerPoint. The toolbar, OfficSync integrates Google Search Right into your standard PowerPoint tool bar. This is a useful tool that takes you beyond the Microsoft ClipArt image search results to include the Google Advanced Image Search capability described above right from within your Microsoft PowerPoint Document. You can also save files into GoogleDocs allowing you to remotely access the files online as needed.
The free plug-in can be downloaded at OfficSync.com. I downloaded the tool and you can see screen shot of the search tool bar for Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 and 2007, respectively. A video from the OfficSync site explains the toolbar (beta) and the utility it provides not only for image searches in PowerPoint, but also for its use with other Microsoft Office Programs. (Hat Tip to Techcrunch)
The enhanced image search tool could be useful for presenters and marketers looking for specific images that might be of use for their presentations.
I've updated the PPT - Powerful Presentation Techniques Resource Guidelistingto include several new books, blogs, web sites and article links that I've come across or that have been submitted to me. The Resource Guide is now in its 10th version. You can download and share the Guide - Download PPT-PowerfulPresentationTechniquesResourceGuideRev10
If you have additions or changes that should be made to the listing, please send me an e-mail.
If I can be of any help in assessing your team's current level of presentation or PowerPoint skills or assist you with your training needs, please let me know.
Lifehackerreports on a free service provided by Zamzar, where you can upload a PowerPoint presentation and have it converted to an image file. The process involves 4 steps:
Select the file you want to convert and upload it
Enter the type of file you want it converted to (.PNG)
Enter your e-mail address
Select convert and wait for the file location to be e-mailed to you.
Image 1 - Screen Shot of Zamzar Website I
decided to try out the service by uploading a 9 slide presentation on
branding architecture that I've been experimenting with. After completing Step 4, I waited for a few minutes while it converted the presentation. Zamzar in turn sent me an e-mail telling me that the file had been converted and giving me the location on their site where I could download the file. I proceeded to download the file as a .zip file, unzipped it and found that each of the slides in my PowerPoint presentation had been converted to a .PNG file.
Image 2 - Title Slide Re-formatted to Landscape Here was the title slide from the slide presentation that I converted
to a .PNG file. I'm not sure why it rendered in portrait format and I
didn't see an option to select landscape or to have landscape be
the default. All of the slides in my deck converted to portrait
format picture. This meant that I had to use an image editing software
package on each of the slides to rotate them to the correct landscape
orientation.
This looks like it could be a useful tool and for those willing to purchase the full service, a faster and more robust service is promised without the advertising experienced with the free beta service.
Once you upload your slide presentation, you can use the embed code to insert the presentation into a blog or website. Here is the second most popular presentation on the site (the first was a compilation of photos from the USAir plane that went down in the Hudson River).
The New York Timesreported that touchscreen smartphones like the iPhone have found new utility as universal remotes for televisions and for projectors using PowerPoint. According to the article "Senstic makes a $9.99 PowerPoint remote application for the iPhone (and the iPod Touch) called
i-Clickr. The application connects to PowerPoint on a PC and displays
the current slide and the control buttons on the iPhone’s screen." A video I found on the Senstic site demonstrates the i-Clickr in action.
PCWorld author Zack Stern, in a February article referenced the iClickr and two other tools that allow you to convert your iPhone or iPod Touch into a remote control for PPT - the iPresenter and the mbPointer. Of the three tools, he rated the iClickr #1.
I apologize for not posting for a couple of weeks. I took a vacation away from the computer, blogging and any other responsibilities. I'm now ready to get back into the swing of things and wanted to share a couple of links that were submitted by a reader. The first gives an excellent reminder in 6 easy steps on how to connect a laptop to your projector and the other gives 3 questions to ask when choosing a projector to purchase. I like the 3 questions but would add in a 4th - will you be traveling with your projector? If the answer is yes you need to include the size, weight and carrier options for the projector you are considering.
I've been invited for my fifth interview by Jody Glynn Patrick and Joan Gillman for their show "In Business with Jody and Joan"
on Madison, WI-based radio station WTDY 1670 AM from 6:00 - 7:00 pm. The show will provide an
informal look at some of the evolving changes being created by the
Internet. You can listen to the show on the radio or hear the podcast of the show here after the 8th of December.
Freepath is a new service that offers an online digital library letting you mix and match your digital assets into a "playlist" of your choice. Among the assets that can be included are PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, videos, Word documents, etc.
Qwaq is a service that creates a 3D virtual meeting world or collaboration space somewhat like Second Life.
Xcelsius Present, Engage or Enterprise are versions of a Business Objects software that creates "visually stunning dashboards, financial calculators, forecast reports and much more".
My latest article "Ich Bin Ein Presenter" was just published as part of the ongoing column Buzz Networks that I write for Wisconsin Technology Network. The article focuses on moving beyond PowerPoint with new Web 2.0 related tools for presenters like SlideShare, SlideRocket, authorSTREAM, PollEverywhere, while also suggesting enhanced software tools like PPTMinimizer, PowerShrink and image databases to bring your presentation strategy up-to-date.
I was also recently quoted in an article on Wisconsin Technology Network about Fiserv's MyMoney application for banks and credit unions.
Give me a call or e-mail me for help with your presentation strategies.
