I need to put a Web presentation together that combines a slide presentation with a video of the presenter, and some additional Web links for publishing on our Web server. What software tools can help me put this together?
Web presentations combining slide presentations and video are easy to build in a Windows environment using the Microsoft Producer add-in for PowerPoint. You can download MS Producer here. Once installed, you will find Producer in the list of Office programs in your program menu. Opening the program launches a wizard that allows you to choose a template for your Web presentation, the PowerPoint file, and the video to include. After you select the component files, Producer generates the complete package and allows you to preview or publish your Web presentation. You can even adjust the slide timings by watching the video and clicking to set the mark for advancing to the next slide. Macintosh users will need the Flip4Mac QuickTime plug-in available from Microsoft or from FlipMac to view presentations created by Microsoft Producer. Producing similar presentations with a Macintosh is more difficult. Producer is not available for PowerPoint on the Mac. Zentation provides a platform independent hosted service that can deliver similar results. Mac users can utilize the PowerBullet utility to convert PowerPoint files to Flash presentations and combine those Flash files with video to create similar Web presentations. Those looking for higher end production capabilities like ongoing Web conferencing uses of Web presentations may be interested in the Adobe Connect line offerings. Those not looking for a hosted solution whose primary audience is Windows PC users could be well served by Microsoft Producer presentations posted to their own Web site.
