Add Movies to your Powerpoint Presentations!

Sometimes sitting through a powerpoint presentation can be painful. Nobody wants to look at a presentation that’s packed to the gills with extraneous whooshing sounds, animated stick figures, and garishly colored charts. However, PowerPoint offers one capability you might want to take advantage of: video.

For example, let's say you’re doing a presentation for a prospective client. You will have your slides about the services you offer, and you might want to include a collection of video testimonials from satisfied customers.

Here are the simple steps on how to actually do it:


1. Make the video and save it in a commonly used video format such as AVI, MPEG, or WMV. This will ensure that the presentation will successfully play, regardless of what kind of computer you’re using.

2. Save the video in the same folder as your presentation. In the presentation, go to the slide where you want the video to play. If you’re in PowerPoint 2003, go to the Insert menu, select Movies and Sounds, select From File, and choose the movie you want.

Using PowerPoint 2007, you have two options: If the slide layout includes a content placeholder, click the Insert Movie button in the placeholder, or you can click the Movie button in the Media Clips group, which is located on the Insert tab (pictured below):

 

The 2010 version of PowerPoint changes the name of the button from “Movie” to “Video,” but essentially works the same. 



3. Whether you’re using the 2003, 2007, or the 2010 version, you’ll be prompted to specify whether you want the video to play automatically or only when you’ve manually clicked it. 



And it is as simple as that!

One important thing to remember: unlike pictures or drawings, videos are not actually embedded in presentations. They’re linked files. The presentation has to know where to “look” when you ask it to play the video, and if you move the video after you set up the link in the presentation, PowerPoint won’t know where to find the original video. Just make sure the video is stored in a logical place before you link it. The most logical place, of course, is in the same folder as the presentation itself – thus Step #2 above. Keeping all relevant files in the same place also makes for easy copying if you need to save the presentation to a CD or USB drive.

CMIT @ the 7th Annual NY Business Expo

The 7th Annual NY Business Expo - Only the largest trade show for small & mid-sized businesses! There will be unlimited networking opportunities being that there are over 10,000 attendees and plenty of business seminars.

Date: May 2-3, 2012

@ the Javits Center in New York City

CMIT Solutions booth number is 418. There will be raffles with a chance to win some great prizes!

Come down to see us and stay up to date with the best business practices for your company. We will show you how to keep your data safe from disasters and keep your business at it's highest level of efficiency.

CMIT owner Tim Davis will be speaking at the event! The topic of the seminar is ““Cracking The Gen Y Code: Selling & Marketing to a Generation That Refuses to be Sold To.”

“Technology allows us to communicate better, but you still need communication skills to make the technology meaningful.” – Tim Davis

Don't wait for Data Disasters to Happen - Prevent It!

Our country has been experiencing recent extreme weather events which reminds us that catastrophic data loss is one of the most detrimental events that can happen to a small or medium sized business(SMB). There have been Tornadoes in Texas and the Midwest that have destroyed people's years of hard work. Don't let that be you!

According to the Underwriting Guide for Insurers, only 6 percent of mid-size companies the suffer catastrophic data loss ever fully recover. Yes, it is true. Only 6 percent. 43% never reopen and 51% close within two years of the disaster. Unfortunately, data loss is a relatively common occurrence. Hard drives die and even automated backups sometimes fail to archive every single file correctly. Data loss becomes catastrophic when a sizable or vital set of data becomes unrecoverable. When one considers the degree to which most SMBs rely on electronic data for their operations, one quickly understands how devastating consequences often arise in the wake of a disaster. A business might lost not only its customer database, but also sales records, payroll information, inventory numbers, and financials. That last item can damage far more than merely the health of a business.

Imagine hoe the IRS might respond if you've lost all documentation for several years of business tax returns. Preventing data loss requires a two-pronged approach. First you need to have an effective and automated backup system. Manual backups just won't cut it unfortunately because someone will forget to do it. Even if you remember, you still risk losing any data generated between then and the last time you performed the backup. Its best to have a data-mirroring setup, which updates automatically and in real-time. The second prong, one that a shocking number of business owners overlook, is having a reliable, effective and tested disaster recovery (DR) plan in place. Merely having a backup copy of your data won't do you much good if no one knows how to restore it to the server. An effective DR plan should include written procedures for restoring data that minimize the risk of corrupting the system any further.

The key to preventing data catastophies lies in having these measures in place before disaster strikes. Even the most reliable back up system won't help you if you wait until after the fact to install it.

Just remember: Don't wait for the disaster to happen...set up a back up plan before it strikes.