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Jamie
February 22nd, 2006, 12:22
I am soon to start developing a final presentation to coincide with the final countdown for the Switzerland trip I have been organising for the last 5 months.

The initial presentation which I did to help get the numbers confirmed on the trip was done using PowerPoint, but we soon learnt that PowerPoint, even combined with a high performance laptop, simply didn't allow us to do everything we wanted. The presentation was based around timings at split seconds to the theme tune (Eye of the Tiger if you're wondering), and quite often, PowerPoint and the laptop would throw a fit and end up 5-10 seconds out on the timing, simply because the file size of the presentation was very big, and the laptop couldn't handle it. Out of the 7 or so presentations we did, this happened about three times, so I guess we were quite lucky that it stayed in sync all the other times.

Once again, this final presentation is going to be quite large, possibly focusing again on split second timing. It will likely contain a huge amount of photos taken of the organisers planning the event, the training camps we had running up to the main event etc, and also several short videos.

I guess my question is, what other options do I have apart from PowerPoint, baring in mind this will be made on a PC, put on a laptop, and then projected on to a projector screen?

We are planning on developing a DVD, or video on a CD when we get back from Switzerland for everybody to purchase, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to do this presentation as a media file, such as .wmv. I have absolutely no experience with video, so it will be a huge learning curve for me, but maybe that's the way to go. Christina, Ross, would you suggest a video for a projected presentation?

My other option is Flash. I assume, because this will be ran locally, and not over the Internet, there is no need to worry about out of sync music as everything will load in double quick time, as it does when developing a Web site on your local machine, right? Although I would have thought this would have been the same with PowerPoint, but I guess not.

Are there any other methods I haven't mentioned which may be useful?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

vito
February 22nd, 2006, 14:51
Jamie, you can try downloading the free trial of Articulate PRESENTER at http://www.articulate.com/presenter.html . This allows you to easily convert your PP presentation to Flash within a few mouse clicks.

Vito

Jamie
February 22nd, 2006, 15:32
Thanks for the suggestion, Vito. I downloaded the trial and converted the initial presentation to Flash but unfortunately it didn't do too good a job. It doesn't seem to like the fact I have slides changing as music is playing, and therefore displays one slide with the song playing, until the song gets to the end, where it starts going through the slides again.

It also watermarks the presentations with the trial, and for $400-$500, we simply won't have the money to buy it. ;)

Thanks anyway Vito. It was certainly interesting to play with, and it gives me an excuse to go searching for a PowerPoint to Flash converter.

vito
February 22nd, 2006, 15:34
Sorry, I didn't realize it watermarked during free trial. But yes, you would be wise to google for a converter. I'm sure there are a few out there.

Good luck.

Vito

vito
February 22nd, 2006, 15:39
I just thought of another site that has a converter. I use a few of their products and they are excellent. Perhaps this converter will work better. (Sorry, I don't know if the free trial applies a watermark)

http://www.wildform.com/products/wildpresenter/

Vito

Jamie
February 22nd, 2006, 15:45
Thanks Vito. I had to contact them for a demo of Wild Presenter, but that isn't a problem, I'm in no real rush. :)

I have looked at a few others. Most have some sort of limit, whether it be a watermark or a limit of 10 slides in the trial (Typical, I have 11).

If all else fails I'll hunt out an unsuspecting company and throw them the "We're a charity, a Scout group to be exact, how's about a free, no limit, 15 day trial in return for a little exposure" e-mail. :lol:

vito
February 22nd, 2006, 17:17
After taking a closer look at WildPresenter, I'm very close to buying a licence for my own use. I have it in my shopping cart ready to process payment, but I'm just waiting for a reply from them regarding a discount. I get discounts because I have purchased other products from them in the past. So instead of $299, I will/should be paying $219.

Anyways, if you have trouble with the free trial, and if I end up buying it, I'll be happy to convert your PP to Flash for you. :)

Vito

Jamie
February 22nd, 2006, 17:28
If you could do that, Vito, that would be fantastic! I'll keep looking for others on the chance you don't purchase it.

Thanks for your help so far Vito. :)

Christina
February 22nd, 2006, 18:32
http://www.justdosoft.com/powerpoint-to-flash/

They will also convert 1 file free if you send it to them. Worth a look. Don't know about their free trial.

vito
February 22nd, 2006, 20:59
Jamie, send me your PP files and let me try converting for you.

Vito

Jamie
February 22nd, 2006, 22:46
Thanks for that Christina. :)

Jamie, send me your PP files and let me try converting for you.

Thanks Vito. :)

I only have one at the moment (The one I used a few months ago for the initial presentation). I don't really need this one converted, but it will be a nice test.

However (and this is a big however), the presentation is 28mb, plus 13mb of songs. PowerPoint sucks when it comes to compression of files. Let me know if you're happy download to 41mb of files, and if so, I'll zip it up and send a link your way. In fact, I'll send a link everybodies way, it's a nice little presentation. ;)

vito
February 22nd, 2006, 23:32
NP. Given the size of media files I usually work with when producing movies, 41 MB is nothing. ;)

Vito

Koffy
July 28th, 2006, 11:27
hey, i want advise to you this prog (http://www.geovid.com/Presentation_to_Video_Converter/) to convert ppt to video and flash. maybe you like it.also i know another one to do it-there`s a free online converter on vidflash.com, you have just to send your ppt there (but as i know,it converts to video only :o )

the_pm
July 28th, 2006, 14:18
Thanks for the tip Koffy, and welcome to IWDN :) Have you used GeoVid yourself? If s, what makes it worth the price over less expensive/free convertors?

Koffy
July 28th, 2006, 16:46
hi, the_pm :hi:
yes, of course i use GeoVid! first, it`s cheaper than the programs mentioned here, and also i got 20 % discount cause i`m a student-so it wasn`t expensive for me. second-it matches my computer (it`s strong enough) completely! everything goes great.and i told about vidflash only as an example of free online conventers for those who just want to convert only one-two files and isn`t longing to buy a special tool :)))))))))))) on the whole i don`t like free progs of their low-quality

rosschapman
August 1st, 2006, 11:17
Hey Jamie,

I'd certainly offer my services, but I'd have to charge a small fee - sorry :-(

Jamie
August 2nd, 2006, 22:20
Well, you're a bit late now Ross. ;) I first posted this back in February. Thanks for the offer though! :)