Presentation Guru Reveals “Create Flash” Button for Camtasia Studio

 

Benefits realized:

• One-click easy recording of PowerPoint presentations
• Multitude of shareable formats
• Secure, foolproof playback
• Repurpose valuable content
• Capture audio, slides, animation, video, more!

What's the best way for Microsoft PowerPoint users to share presentations via the Web, CD-ROM, or DVD?

Geetesh Bajaj, a Microsoft-awarded PowerPoint MVP and presentation consultant, believes the solution lies in screen recording software such as Camtasia Studio.

Microsoft PowerPoint Presentations:
A Hidden Goldmine?

Bajaj says the rise of PowerPoint has led to the creation of millions of information-rich presentations—content that can be a valuable asset for businesses or non-profits looking to spread their message online.

But many organizations are missing out on the opportunity because they don't know how to convert Microsoft PowerPoint presentations to a shareable format, or even which formats to choose.

Bajaj identifies the most popular sharing formats as:

“Flash, followed by video, followed by Java. Flash and video (which is either streamed or burned to CDs and DVDs) are most popular because of their widely accepted viewing formats.”

But Microsoft PowerPoint has no way to create Flash directly. So how can a non-technical user create something shareable?

“We used to suggest exporting the slides from PowerPoint and then redoing it in Flash,” he recalled. “That was not easy—Flash had a huge learning curve, it still does.”

This is where Camtasia Studio comes in.

A “Create Flash” Button for PowerPoint

The latest version of Camtasia Studio essentially puts a “create Flash” button right inside Microsoft PowerPoint. This makes it one-click easy to record a presentation as it's given—including audio, slides, animation, transitions, and embedded video. Camtasia even records Web pages or other applications displayed on-screen during the presentation.

Once the presentation is captured as full-motion video with high-quality audio, it can be easily saved and shared in any of the most popular formats.

“Camtasia Studio delivers the greatest number of Flash (SWF, FLV) and video (WMV, RM, AVI, and QuickTime) output formats for users to choose from…” said Bajaj.

The user simply selects a format using the wizard-like interface, and Camtasia Studio generates everything needed to post the video online. If the user doesn't have access to a Web server, Camtasia offers hosting options via Screencast.com.

DVD: The “Other” Shareable Format

Bajaj also urges his clients not to overlook DVD as a distribution format, “I see as many questions about DVD output in the newsgroups today as I used to see about Flash output.”

He points out that Camtasia Studio creates DVD-ready files that can be imported into any popular DVD-authoring tool from Nero, Roxio, or others.

“The user simply imports the lossless AVI and burns it. It's easy, and the video and audio quality is exceptional. It's ready to be viewed on a TV or computer DVD player,” said Bajaj.

No-Brainer Screen Recorder

Bajaj calls Camtasia Studio a “no-brainer” companion for anyone producing Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

“The…PowerPoint add-in concept makes using Camtasia Studio a no-brainer. The add-in does all the work for you and you don't even have to launch Camtasia—just click a button inside PowerPoint and everything is done for you easily…This makes things so much simpler for the average office or home user.”

The value of Camtasia Studio for sharing business or educational presentations is clear. “No other PowerPoint-related online rich media tool is available at the same price…For users who want an easy way to distribute their PowerPoint content as video, the advantages are obvious and manifold,” said Bajaj.