I am always asked how to place video clips into PowerPoint presentations (PPT) and so I thought I will take some time to explain from my experience. As often is the case in working with Multimedia you will realise that there is more than one way in which to achieve the desired outcome. Some might be simpler than others. I found a nice application which works with PPT that allows you to insert Flash video. The benefit of this is that you can make your PPt transportable without having to ensure that all the videos are in the same location. However, one has to ensure that you computer has the flash player installed. Another plus of this method is that you can add controls on the video player window. The name of the software, you ask? Flash Spring pro. You can Google it if you wish. Another approach is the convert your movies to WMV extension which will play in your PPT. You have to choose whether you would like to embed the video or create a link from a particular slide. Here's an example of a Windows Media video (MWV)

I like to start a video when it is clicked. You never know whether you would still be busy speaking during a presentation when the video clip suddenly catches you off guard. I can't speak about video without mentioning compressions or coversions. A very handy OpenSource conversion tool to have is SUPER and since it is Opensource it is free. Nice to convert most video formats as well as audio formats. I know there's hundred's of tools out there so if there's any particular one that you would highly recommend, please do so. 'Till next time.