We have heard many times before – the fear of speaking is considered by many as their number one fear, outdistancing death and divorce. There are legendary stories of entertainment superstars who undergo extraordinary episodes of stage fright immediately before they perform.

However, the ability of speaking before groups, even large groups is very very important in our daily life, especially in our work when we want to get promotion to be a leader.

Besides the solutions to be a learned person, rehearse and then rehearse again when we grow up, we need to train our children during their school time.

There is one perfect class which is to hold digital story telling class in the literacy class, history teaching class, ETC.

This idea is inspired by Peter Tollmar. A post can be found at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=4968

For more details, you can click the link above to learn more. Here below are the basic steps for you to refer to.

Basic Steps

A Digital story is a story told with the help of computers. It combines images, text, sound-effects, music and voice-over to tell a personal story.

1. Ask your students to prepare and make the presentations with PowerPoint.

Note:
Provide them with some stunning PowerPoint templates. EG: These free PowerPoint templates for back-to-school.

2. Hold a class to organize students to share their stories one by one.

3. Compile the wonderful stories slideshow into one and then share it.

Some students may not have computers at home. Then you can burn them to DVD for wide sharing.

Enjoy it, share it!

The following file conversion sites allows you to convert files of the most common and frequently used file formats. They support almost all kinds of file formats with regard to audio, video, document and image.

Multiple File Format Conversion

1) Zamzar.com – Performs online file conversion in a fast and easy manner. No need of registration and it sends the converted files right to your email inbox.

2) Media-Convert – This website includes online file conversion along with a variety of options. Provides local file conversion, conversion from URL, file hosting, website screenshot and sending the converted file to mobile. It also provides a host of advanced settings while converting files.

3) Youconvertit – Allows you to convert all kinds of media files including archives. Allows you to choose more than one input file at a time for conversion.

Video File Format Conversion

4) Vixy – This website contains an online FLV converter. It allows you to convert a flash video or an FLV file to MPEG4 (AVI/MOV/MP4/MP3/3GP) file online. This application is open source.

5) Converttube -  It allows you to directly download videos from the internet to a mobile, PC, iPod or PSP. It also provides various options for the output format of the file.

6) Vidtomp3 – This online tool allows you to convert video, music video, Mega Video, MySpace video, Google Video or YouTube video into mp3 format for your mp3 player or mobile phones.

7) Cellsea – An online video converter tool to convert video files in the required format.

Media Converter – A web based video conversion utility that supports conversion of files even from YouTube. This tool facilitates uploading a media file directly from web portals.

9) Movavi – This online video converter tool helps to convert multiple files. The maximum file size it allows is 100 MB. This tool has a special option of merging all the video files into a large movie.

Image File Format Conversion

10) Converticon – The online application allows you to convert ICO, PNG, GIF, and JPEG formats to a better quality PNG or ICO files. The interface is simple and easy to use.

11) Vector Magic – This website converts bitmap images to clean vector art, using auto-tracing software. It allows you to save time and get your images ready to cut, embroider or print.

12) ConvertICO – This tool facilitates conversion of ICO files to PNG files and PNG files to ICO files. You can upload files either by specifying a URL or by browsing a file that is on your PC.

13) Image Converter – This online tool converts one image format into another image format. Some of the image formats which it supports for conversion are bmp, dib, epi, eps, gif, jpc, jpeg, pcd, pcx, pdb, pgm, pict, png, tga and so on.

14) Image Optimizer – This online tool not only helps us to convert image files from one format to another but also helps us to optimize images to load quickly. The maximum limit for file size is 300 KB.

PDF File Conversion Tools

15) Expresspdf – This website provides online tools for exclusively converting Web pages, Microsoft Word documents and Microsoft Excel documents to PDF documents.

16) Pdfonline – This website provides a variety of online tools to work with PDF files exclusively. Merging two PDF files, Doc file to PDF, PDF to Word, Web to PDF and PDF service for iPhone are some of the tools provided here.

17) Pdftoword – This online tool helps us convert PDF documents to DOC or RTF files accurately. It also allows us to re-use the PDF content in Excel, Open Office, Microsoft Word and Word Perfect. This conversion tool tries to maintain the formatting and image fidelity of the page to the maximum extent.

18) Htm2pdf – This online tool facilitates you to convert HTML files to PDF files in just one click. There are two options for conversion, one of them is conversion of web pages and the other one is converting raw HTML code.

19) Neevia – This online converter allows you to create PDF documents or image documents from the most commonly and frequently used file formats. The upload limit per file is 1 MB.

20) Freepdfconvert – This online and interactive PDF converter and document creator is quick and reliable. Converts web pages, graphic images, MS-Office, Open Office,Vector graphic file formats and other file formats to PDF.

21) Kinati to PDF converter – The PDF converter here allows conversions for all kinds of users, from an executive professional to a student. Allows to upload a document up-to 15 MB.

22) Lettos – This is an online conversion tool used to convert files from DOC, XLS and PPT to PDF format.

23) Pdf-O-Matic – A simple, fast and reliable tool to convert Web pages into PDF documents. It creates a PDF document within seconds, once you specify a URL inside the provided field on the website.

24) PDF4u – This site provides an online service to convert Word, PowerPoint, and Postscript documents to PDF. The conversion is done in three easy steps. The file size should be 30K or less to avail the free service.

25) Primo Online – Online service that provides a super fast way of converting documents and images to PDF files. Supports conversion of more than 300 file formats.

26) PS to PDF Converter – Converts a Post-script compatible file to a PDF compatible file. This application is suitable for light and moderate users.

27) RSS2PDF Converter – This online tool allows us to convert a web page or online RSS into a PDF document.

28) Text2Pdf – Converts any given text into a Portable Document Format(PDF) file. Contains a large text area to copy the text. This tools is based on Sanface software.

l  PowerPoint 2010 allows you to Insert Wow Factor

l  PowerPoint 2010 adds a lot of new slide transitions

l  PowerPoint 2010 enables user to edit embedded video

l  PowerPoint 2010 supports embedding video from online video sites like YouTube

l  PowerPoint 2010 empowers you to create a video from your PowerPoint presentation.

Besides these, Microsoft® Office 2010 gives you rich and powerful new ways to deliver your best work – whether you’re at work, home, or school – on a computer, Web browser, or Smartphone. [Anywhere]

Grab your audience’s attention and inspire them with your ideas using enhanced tools, customizable templates, and photo editing capabilities.

Work with multiple people from different locations at the exact same time using new co-authoring capabilities.

Let’s expect the final release in the first half of 2010.

I have a good friend who has been to Hawaii for an activity. She shared me with many compelling and attractive pictures which she took in Hawaii, including the beach where the Jurassic Park was filmed, the cultural center, the aloha tower – market place, the pearl harbor.
It is so clear, beautiful with peaceful life.
After that, I am longing for travelling to Hawaii with my husband in future to enjoy our honey moon. My best friend told me that she met a couple who came from Japanese in Hawaii. They were planning to be married and went to Hawaii for a great trip.
Here below is a slideshow made by my friend. Please enjoy it.

See also in Slideshare from the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq_72z1QPQo

Is your wedding anniversary in this summer vacation season?

Although we can send gift and shower love to our sweetheart all year round, we still need to grasp this perfect occasion to express our love and warm heart to beloved as we may especially be busy occupying our jobs during such economic recession.

During this romantic season, we are showered with tons of romantic gifts ideas and anniversary celebration tips each year. After several years, we still wonder what would be the best gift and dating method to enjoy the anniversary’s Day. Flowers (especially roses with scarlet color) would fade and be pale after several days. Chocolates will make you become fat and can’t be preserved long too. And we do not like soft toys, gift baskets, candles and sweets. We can’t afford for luxurious diamonds, perfume, watches, jewelry.

Are you distressed by lacking of gift idea too?

I hope the idea would inspire you after following Mary’s experience and story.

Story Begin:

My husband is my classmate during college. Several years have passed. Many harmony memory and pictures left for us to memorize.

I decided to make a digital photo album to tell the love history about us and enjoy it on anniversary’s Day after dinner, as:

1. There are many pictures preserved on our PC since we are passionate about making excursions/trips and taking photos on holiday or weekend;
2. My sweetheart presented me a TOSHIBA laptop as Christmas gift which comes with Ulead DVD MovieFactory for TOSHIBA Launcher and DVD burner. It empowers me to make photo DVD slideshow from pictures and videos easily.
3. It preserves longer and it also would be a good fortune for your future generation to know the life you once lead.

Through recollecting the history and impressive story between you and your beloved, I believe that:

1. Romance would fill the air;
2. Scintillating passions of love would come alive;
3. Loving hearts would come closer;
4. It should help us to cherish each other and walk through the economic crisis season smoothly hand in hand.

At the beginning, I planned to create DVD photo album using Ulead DVD MovieFactory for TOSHIBA. After evaluating, it is really a time-consuming task to compile all the memorable pictures and set the proper transition one by one.

In fact, I am a big preserver of memories. I am used to making photo albums using PowerPoint 2007 after each journey or trip, as it enables you to adjust contrast and brightness of each picture, add captions and GIF decorations freely, and set transitions and animations at your will. Frantic, I searched in Google and find a tool which can convert presentations to DVD. You can also Google PPT to DVD and evaluate them to find the suitable PowerPoint converters which came to your eyes. Wondershare smart PPT2DVD converter ranks the first.

After getting the tool, I just imported the presentations, chose the TV standard by selecting country, designed the DVD layout and another click to directly burn a DVD, my project is well on its way to completion. It effectively handles all the features I used in PowerPoint presentation. No animations, transitions and sound effect were blown away. I can even control the slide if only I chose the manual mode.

At last, I put 8 presentations on the first DVD. And we are classmate during college. Therefore, I put the campus life and the scenery there as the first chapter. I also recorded a song named Missing You in English as the DVD menu background music. Here below are the ones and screenshots.

• Our campus life
• Our first Valentine
• Our seaside happiness
• Our hometown tripsⅠ
• Our hometown tripsⅡ
• Our engaged ceremony
• Our first anniversary
• Our Honeymoon in Hawaii

Here below are some other tips for you to follow.

1. Optimize the pictures by changing the contrast, brightness and removing dreaded “red eyes”. Picasa is a good choice to edit your pictures. For more free online Free Editors, please click here.
2. Arrange your pictures in chronological order.
3. You can add some gif decorations to your slideshow.
4. You can record some sweet words in the presentations.
5. You can also record a song if you are the musician type.

Enjoy it!

To reminisce the good times you and your beloved have passed through, may you have a fantastic and freak anniversary’s Day!

In the same way, you can create your own digital scrapbook for preserving, photo slide show for family events or reunion, or digital photo album for preserving and sharing.

Enjoy it, share it!

The Fourth of July is the independence day of United States which is also a federal holiday. It is often associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, political speeches and ceremonies, and various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States.

Did you participate one of the above activities?

Did you take many pictures?

Do you want to share your great trip or pictures to the world or your relatives?

If you have PowerPoint, then it is easy to complete a photo slideshow and share it to the world. And you do not need learn to use other photo slideshow maker.

For details of sharing presentation online, click here.

If you also want to enjoy your slideshow with your family on TV, you can choose one method to save and burn your PowerPoint slideshow to DVD. Then, you can view your slideshow on TV without computer and PowerPoint installed.

Preserve your wonderful Independence Day for perpetual memory.

by Bob from bobsloan.com

Many times we have incorporated our client’s PowerPoint slides into their video and DVD productions.  Because computer displays and television displays are different, keeping a few things in mind will be of help to both of us.

PowerPoint presentations are optimized for computers. DVDs are optimized for television. There are a number of differences between high-resolution output for computers and low-resolution output for television. Basically, computer resolution is far greater than television’s resolution of 720 x 486 pixels (NTSC). Also, normal televisions at a minimum crop as much as 10% from around the edge (5% from each edge), resulting in a number of consequences when incorporating PowerPoint images into your video production and then to DVD.   Keeping the following guidelines in mind when designing your PowerPoint presentation will help insure a good DVD experience as well.

These are as follows

• Try to use 30 pt fonts or higher as small text may get lost on video.

• Use sans serif (e.g. Arial, Helvetica) bold fonts.

• Use no more than 4 or 5 lines of text per slide.

• Avoid the color red, use darker colors and greens and blues.

• Keep your graphics simple.

• Provide at least a 15% border around the edge.

We realize that these recommendations may seem limiting to you for your live presentation but it helps to be aware of this.  In addition, audiences basically prefer simpler graphics.  Too much information can cause them to disassociate altogether with the slide.
<END>
Tools to save PowerPoint to DVD or video:
PPT2DVD & PPT to Video converter

Enjoy it, share it!

Summer holiday is near. Your family would come together for reunion.

During such big days and memorial moment, do you want to get some tips, ideas and advice to capture group pictures?

Just follow the following tutorial.

[From Kodak: http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=11164&pq-locale=en_CA&_requestid=7037]

Sometimes, it takes a little more than getting everyone to smile at the same time to get a great group photo.

Use different levels
The eye likes variation, so get some people sitting, some kneeling, some standing. Use props like a staircase to stagger height.

Look down
Change the view by standing on a chair, ladder, or balcony to shoot down at the group for a more interesting perspective.

Give them something to do
Depending on the occasion, have them jump at the same time, or throw a ball up and have them watch it.

Eyes open, people
Have everyone close their eyes until you say, open! Taking the photo as you say it.

Some other tips to Composing people pictures

At the heart of composing good people pictures are a few basic decisions: what picture format to use, where to position the subject within the frame, what other picture elements to include, where to position those elements, and which camera angle is most effective.

Horizontal vs. vertical format
The majority of people pictures are horizontal in format probably because it’s easier to hold a camera horizontally. The horizontal format does work best for most group pictures. However, a vertical image can be very effective for pictures ranging from full-length portraits to tight facial close-ups. The unexpectedness of a vertical format can also give an image added impact.

Subject placement
To hold the attention of the viewer, give your pictures a bold and dramatic arrangement. Avoid putting your subject directly in the center of the picture unless you are striving for a formal arrangement in which the subject firmly commands attention.

Rule of thirds: In candid pictures of people, it’s often wise to follow the traditional rule of thirds. Imagine a pair of lines dividing the picture into thirds horizontally and a second pair dividing it into thirds vertically. Place the most important visual element—usually the face (or eyes in a close-up)—on one of the points where the lines intersect.

Open space: When a person moves across your camera’s field of view, the final image usually has much more impact when the subject is off-center. Leave the open space in the direction in which the subject is headed. Similarly, if a subject is looking off to the side, it’s best to leave more space in that direction.

Backgrounds
Indoors or outdoors, a plain background will focus attention on your subject instead of a dozen other things. Indoors, avoid distracting furniture, toys, patterned wallpaper, and bright lamps. Outdoors, don’t let tree limbs, utility poles, wires, signs, and other people distract attention from your center of interest.

Point of view
As you compose your picture in the camera viewfinder, think about what you want to include, other than your subject that will make the picture better. Simply changing your point of view can dramatically alter the mood of a picture.

Eye level: Shooting at eye level, either head on or at an angle, is usually best for most people pictures. It’s the way we most often look at the world, so it conveys realism. Too low an angle in a close-up exaggerates the size of the nose, mouth, and chin. Too high an angle-often the problem in photographing children and seated subjects-exaggerates the size of the head compared to the rest of the body. When you photograph children, you may need to kneel or even sit on the ground.

High and low angles: At times, however, you’ll want to use a different angle to create a certain effect. For example, in a full-length portrait, an eye-level view makes a subject look shorter. A picture taken from a squatting position more accurately indicates height and can lend an aura of authority and power. Even a high angle, which is generally unflattering, can sometimes add drama or eliminate a distracting background.

Close-ups
Close-ups convey a feeling of intimacy and focus attention on your subject.

More distant views tend to emphasize the foreground and include too much that is confusing and distracting to the viewer.

As you look through the viewfinder and move toward your subject to fill the frame, notice how you eliminate things that don’t add to the picture. Even though you can crop your picture later if you plan to enlarge it or manipulate it on a computer, it’s usually better to crop carefully when you take the picture.

At last, learn how to adjust the effects of your pictures.

Are you planning go around the world or around the corner to the amusement park to enjoy the happy time with your family out?

Do you want to get some tips, ideas and advice to capture your experiences?

Just follow the tutorial below.

[From Kodak: http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=13172&pq-locale=en_CA]

Here are ten simple tips to get you on your way to taking better pictures. Each tip has pictures illustrating the tip in action and instructions detailing the tip.

Do your homework

Look at travel guides, postcards and picture books of the area. Learn where the best photo opportunities are. Remember key events, festivities, and landmarks. You’ll be inspired to take better pictures.

Learn the features and operation of your camera. If you’re still learning how to use your camera, take the camera manual along — it’s good reading on the plane.

Tell a Story

Use pictures to tell the story of your trip, from the time of your departure to your return.

Capture the details. Take pictures of signs, ticket stubs, menus, local maps and more.

Capture the emotions. Take individual pictures of each member of your travel party with their favorite landmarks, rides, eatery or animal.

Carry a small note book to jot down quick details to use later.

Capture the local flavor

Unique subjects make great pictures. Keep an eye out for the unusual and snap a picture when you come upon it.

Interact with the locals. You’ll learn more about their culture and take better pictures while capturing details you may have missed. (Always ask permission).

Create a photo menu

Take pictures of everything you eat, especially the unique and different items. Your memory of how good it tasted may fade, but you’ll have pictures. After all, eating new foods is as important a part of travel as seeing new sights.

To create a more dramatic picture, move in close and fill the frame.

Look for themes

Look for common themes in your travels and take lots of pictures. This will help you tell a unique story that is just yours.

Always carry your camera

Your camera won’t do you any good sitting in the hotel room. You never know when an opportunity will arise, and for many photos you may not get a second chance.

A point and shoot camera is compact and easy to carry with you, be it a hike through the woods or an evening at the opera.

Have fun

Take candid pictures. Ignore the impulse to force your subjects to pose.

When taking pictures of a group, don’t work too hard to position them. Let them relax and fall into a natural pose.

Blend into the environment while taking pictures to avoid making your subject self-conscious.

Take lots of pictures

Not every picture will be perfect. Taking multiple pictures will give you more to choose from.

When taking pictures of children, wait for the right moment, then shoot lots of pictures quickly.

Look for themes in your travels and capture them often to highlight your story.

Accessorize

Expand your picture-taking capability. Check into an accessory wide-angle or telephoto lens for your camera. It might be just what you need to capture architectural details or the local culture.

Protect your gear

Sand, water, snow, and heat are your camera’s worst enemies. When you’re not taking pictures, keep your camera and supplies safe in a camera bag or zippered plastic bag.     <END>

Make DVD Photo Slideshow and Disperse it

Before you make the digital photos to DVD slideshow, you may want to edit it or enhance its effect, then you can refer to this tutorial with recommended free online editor.

You can choose some photo to DVD slideshow tool like this Movie Story to make a DVD slideshow with transition effects and background music.

If you have PowerPoint and get used to make Photo Album with it, you can make Digital Photo album with PowerPoint and share it with your relatives or good friends directly without any other slideshow software.

You can also add background music to spice it up, or add video clips to bring more life to it.

After that, if some of your relatives do not have computers, you need to save them to DVD and then disperse it. At this point, you can refer to my old post to find a better method to save your PowerPoint slide show to DVD for widely and easily distribution and sharing.

Enjoy it, Share it!!

If you have PowerPoint, it is recommended in my old posts to make digital photo album.

Before we start to add photos to our photo album project, we may need to optimize or enhance the picture with some special effects.

We do not have professional photo editing tool Photoshop. What can we do?

Don’t worry. We can use some online free photo editor to do this.

The following two recommended websites would help you.

http://editor.pho.to/

http://www.freeonlinephotoeditor.com

We can use them to:

• Rotate, Crop and Resize it.
• Adjust its basic effects.
• Enhance it by applying special or artistic effects.
• Add frames, texts (or glitter texts) or even watermark.

Here below are three samples made by me.

To remove the red-eye with one click

To add frame

To apply artistic effect and add glitter text

It’s all that easy.
Besides these kinds of online editor, you can also use some shareware to make photo collages for the photo album, digital scrapbook.

If you have Windows PC, you may try this Photo Collage.

If you have Mac, you may try this iCollage tool.

After enhancing the pictures, then you can get started making photo album with PowerPoint. You can also add music to spice it up further.

After completion, you can choose to save the PowerPoint slide show to DVD for widely distribution and sharing.

Enjoy it, share it!