The Visual Lounge lets you find out about TechSmith behind-the-scenes. Watch screencasts and videos from other customers, meet up with your fellow TechSmith users and staff, and get more tips and tricks!

I'm sitting in Detroit, Michigan at the Airport watching people run to catch their planes, wrestle with their luggage, and herding children. It's good people watching today! :-) I'm getting ready to head across the pond for Microsoft TechEd EMEA in Berlin! TechSmith will have a booth at the show, so if you're attending the tradeshow, please stop by! I'd love to meet-up!

Troy Stein, the Camtasia for Mac Product Manager, will also be attending the show. So, if you have any feedback for him, this would be a great time to meet and share thoughts with him.

I'll be tweeting and posting lots of pictures from our adventures.

Drop me an email, text or call me (+1.517.410.0030) if you are in Berlin or attending the show. We'd love to see you!

Time for me to pack up and catch my flight! Thankfully I'm not running late and checked my luggage so no need to run to my gate or struggle with my luggage! :-)

Oh - and if you have any travel advice for Berlin, I'd love to hear it! What should we see? Where should we eat? We will be going to the Festival of Freedom to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

This week's Screencast of the Week has it all - mountains, roads, half-pipes and road rash!

I heard from Jay Bailey of RapidFire Video recently about some of his recent screencasts. Jay's "philosophy" is that you have less than a minute and a half to tell your story. That makes his approach to screencasting very creative and fast paced! You can read more about his philosophy here.

Jay uses PowerPoint and Camtasia to help tell the story. Jay mentioned to me that in order to concentrate completely on both the voiceover and the video elements, he actually records the audio on its own and reads it as naturally as he can. Then, while his audio recording plays in the background, he runs through the PowerPoint and does a Camtasia screen recording. Using PowerPoint's Presenter mode on a separate screen, he knows which slide is next. Then he imports both to Camtasia for editing and fine-tune the sync of each image with its corresponding words. Exporting to various sizes and formats is important as some clients use these as a "Digital Business Card" and actually want to e-mail a small WMV file, while others upload it and send a link. Still others want to embed it, with the Flash player, on their site's home page.

Jay uses stock images from iStockphoto and Dreamstime...

Check out one of Jay's recent screencasts - it runs just over 2 minutes.

Jay Bailey is the CEO and Creative Director of RapidFire Video, and was previously Director of Marketing at Answers.com, a Top-20 website, where he developed his unique video style and technique. Originally from Los Angeles, he lives in the rolling hills just south of Jerusalem, Israel.

Congrats, Jay! You are the Screencast of the Week! Any nominations for next week?

We asked, you responded! Remember last month when I asked for your tips to share with a new screencaster here? We compiled all of your comments from this blog post, as well as comments from the Education blog and our Newsletter. Big thanks to the 40 people who responded. I appreciate it!

From your responses and tips, we created a booklet "What would you tell a new screencaster?". Download your free copy here. If you left us a comment, your name will be listed in the booklet! Now, if I could just meet up with all the contributors and get a signed copy, I'd be all set!

The booklet has several sections including: General Tips, Content & Planning, Before Recording, During Recording, and Editing & Production.

The top tips (by number of mentions):

* plan out screencast &
do practice takes
* create a script/storyboard
* shut down apps to free up memory & avoid pop-up notifications
* use a good mic

Download your free copy here and feel free to share the PDF with others you think would find it useful.

Thanks to all who shared their knowledge and tips! What else would you like to learn from others about?

Ever since my dad brought home an Atari 5200, I've been hooked on video games. I still love them to this day! Lately I've been addicted to Rock Band. And, sometimes, if there is no one around, I may even work up the nerve to play role of the lead singer in the game! I do a mean rendition of the Beastie Boys, "So Watcha Want". :-)

I recently 'met' Jeff Chausse (JC) on Twitter. Jeff has one of the coolest jobs around and is also a Snagit user! Jeff is the Web Director at Harmonix. And, Harmonix develops, you guessed it, Rock Band - Squeeeeeee! I had to know how Harmonix was using Snagit! Jeff was kind enough to answer some interview questions about how he uses Snagit. Enjoy!

BW: How have images and screenshots changed your own communication for the better?

JC: Obviously, it's cliché, but "a picture is worth a thousand words". If I need to tell my team that something on the web site needs to change, it's far easier for me to do a quick screen grab and add some explanatory text and arrows, than try to explain it in words.

BW: Are your images and screenshots used internally or externally? What is the viewer response to them?

JC: We use them both internally and externally. Again, within my team, they eliminate a whole lot of ambiguity when trying to describe a bug or how a feature should look. Externally, we often use screenshots when seeking approval from partners. When building a site, a whole lot of people need to approve the way certain things look, and their placement - the first parties (that is, the game platforms), our lawyers, business partners, and licensors. We sent countless screenshots to Apple Records folks in developing TheBeatlesRockBand.com.

BW: What do you use Snagit for primarily?

JC: Primarily, I use it to show things to my team - either "this is broken", "check out how this other site does this", or "here's how I think it should look. Snagit even has just enough editing features that I often use it to do quick and dirty mockups instead of firing up Photoshop. Sometimes, I'll get a confused email from a member of my team, 5 minutes before I have to run off to a meeting. The editing tools in Snagit let me VERY quickly clarify what I'm talking about.

BW: What are the last three captures in your Open Captures Tray?

JC: Let's see... I have a screenshot of an Outlook, showing someone on my team how he might have inadvertently scheduled a 0 minute meeting. I have a screenshot of a typo on our website that I sent to one of our writers to fix. And a screenshot of a ridiculous Windows error message. I thought of tweeting it, but never did.

BW: Is there one feature of Snagit that has flat-out delighted you? Tell me about it...

JC: I don't know if this is really considered a "feature", but I just love that I can see something on the screen, snag it (ha!), and send it off by email, all without ever having to save the file somewhere, give it name, drag it into an email as an attachment, and remember to delete the temporary file. Snagit really makes sending a mocked up image feel almost as natural as typing.

BW: Anything else we should know?

JC: Well, one thing I love using Snagit for (which is probably something you don't pitch heavily to corporations) is occasionally sending goofy LOLcat type images to my team. Normally, a manager shouldn't admit to such frivolity, but it's so quick and easy to do with Snagit, I feel no guilt! You can just do a Google Image Search, capture the image with Snagit, add some text, change the font to "Impact", turn on a drop-shadow, and - boom! - hilarity ensues. Whole thing takes 30 seconds. Great fun for all.

BW: What is the last video game you played?

JC: Why, The Beatles: Rock Band, of course! Actually, I have a 3 year old and a 2 month old at home, so I have very little time to get absorbed in a deep and complex game. I mostly play stuff I can pick up and put down in 5 minutes or less. Perhaps, unsurprisingly, this means I've been playing a lot of iPhone games. My latest addiction is "Canabalt", which is pretty much the ultimate mindless, quickie game. There's only one command, "jump", and a game is over in about 30 seconds.

BW: What's your favorite video game?

JC: Well, aside from the Rock Band games which, honestly, really do get the most play in my house, I'm terribly behind on keeping up with today's big games. My favorite game of all time is Starcraft - I think nothing beats a perfectly balanced RTS (Real Time Strategy) game. I've also logged a ridiculous amount of hours playing the Sims games and Half Life 2. That game truly turned managed to turn a first person shooter into an engrossing work of art.

Jeff Chausse is the Web Director at Harmonix and is responsible for managing interactive efforts for its Rock Band series of video games, most recently leading the design and development of TheBeatlesRockBand.com. Prior to working at Harmonix, Jeff has worked at Zoom Information, Hill Holliday and Groove Networks, in various technical, marketing, and managerial roles. Jeff lives in the Boston suburbs with his wife and two young children.

Last week, the TechSmith crew was at the Blogworld Expo. We had a great time and even had a fun new booth. The theme of our booth was all about Snagit, Camtasia and Jing making tasty screencasts and yummy screencaptures. In our booth, we had our new Om Nom Nom Monster. See? He's eating some screencasts and screencaptures with a spork! :-)

And, keeping with the theme of tasty video and screencaptures, we thought it would be fun to get some titanium TechSmith sporks! If you find me on the road, ask me for your own titanium TechSmith spork.

Brooks Andrus and I were armed with a Flip Mino HD videocam and caught up with some TechSmith friends. We shot a quick video with Sean Carruthers and Andy Walker (aka the Lab Rats) from butterscotch.com. Click the video to find out the idea Sean came up with for a new blog! It's a quick one - it runs less than a minute long.

And, we also ran into Ryan Hupfer (aka Hup) from Hubpages. Not only did Hup and I have the same shoes, but we also share the love of sporks. Check out the quick vid Brooks and I got with Hup at the tradeshow - it runs just over a minute long.

And, speaking of TechSmith sporks... Healthcare IT consultant and Camtasia Studio user, Luke Schnoebelen, is chronicling everything he eats with his TechSmith spork on his new blog, "Things I've Eaten With My TechSmith Titanium Spork". I love the creativity! Can't wait to see the adventures Luke's spork goes on around the world!

We've been taking pics of our Om Nom Nom monster and sporks on the road - you can see our adventures here. Again - find me on the road and I'll give you a titanium TechSmith spork. Hopefully it will inspire you to make your own yummy screencasts and screencaptures with Snagit, Camtasia and Jing!

This week's Screencast of the Week is a great one! How many of you take pictures? If you're like me, you love taking pictures to document travels, capture milestones and fun times with friends, family and co-workers. What if you took those pics, added some background music and turned it into a video to share with your friends and family? It's a great way to commemorate good times!

John Basile (aka Scraster) did that for his good friends who had chronicled the progress of their pregnancy with a photo session every Sunday morning. The baby, (John's Goddaughter) was born September 13th. Around that time, John's friends handed off the Sunday morning photo series and a fitting Velvet Underground song on a Flash drive. John put together the following slideshow using Camtasia for Mac.

I asked John how he created the screencast with Camtasia for Mac. Here's what he shared with me:

"In Pro Tools, I edited the Velvet Underground's track Sunday Morning to include the intro, an instrumental break, and the fade out ending. I brought the audio into Camtasia for Mac, along with all the images (as JPGs). In the Timeline preferences, I set the Default Image Duration to 3 seconds and the Default Transition Duration to .05 seconds. I had to fine-tune a lot of the clip and transition durations, but having the drag-and-drop fade-in/fade-out actions is a huge time saver. I enjoy using Camtasia for Mac over than other slideshow softwares I've worked with because it allows for more control and detail when timing images to audio."

Check out the screencast below. It runs just under a minute long.

Sunday Morning: a progress report from Earshot Presents on Vimeo.

Any nominations for next week's Screencast of the Week?

I'm starting the Bill Myers fan club! I've blogged about him several times before. Bill's been using Camtasia Studio to create training DVDs and CDs. And, he has recently created a free tool to quickly build custom user interfaces (also known as front end menus) for Camtasia movies placed on CDs.

Bill has been nice enough to make his CD creator public for anyone to use. You can see his free CD User interface builder, along with a short video showing how to use it and what can be created with it here.

Don't you love it when people share?! Thanks, Bill!

Have you seen any other useful tools to use with Camtasia?

I was in Atlanta earlier this week at the PowerPoint Live conference - it was a great event that not only focused on how to use PowerPoint better, but also the art of giving better presentations and storytelling.

And, as you may know, I love a good challenge! PowerPoint MVP, Geetesh Bajaj from Indezine and Scrapbook Presentations, the Snagit product Manager, Tiffany Wood and I took a field trip to the World of Coca-Cola. At the end of the tour, they have a tasting room where you have the opportunity to try out 64 different types of beverages from around the world! I mean, when else would I get the opportunity to try a fizzy watermelon drink from Japan?! I went into the tour planning to take down all 64 beverages, but instead walked out defeated after trying around 30 of them (plus I came out with a headache and feeling ill)! I'll have to practice for my next trip so I can walk out victorious!

Geetesh, also let me know that he is still adding new free Snagit Stamps every day to his website, Scrapbook Presentations. Check out these stamps for Halloween! You can see all the stamps here

You can watch a tutorial to see how to make your own stamps or add them in Snagit here. And, you can find some free stamps TechSmith made here.

Any requests for stamps? What kinds of stamps would you like made for Snagit? My vote? Mustaches, beards and glasses! Or a set for travel.

I love loading up the car and heading out for a roadtrip! It's a good time to turn of the technology (expect for GPS!), clear my mind, and think creatively. And, once I reach my destination, I love meeting with our users, attending events, and learning about a new city and culture.

I have a few extra tickets for two upcoming events that you can enter a drawing to win!

The first conference I have a ticket to share with one lucky reader is the StackOverflow DevDays in Toronto on October 23. You can find out details on the event here. I'm attending this event with TechSmith's lead developer of Snagit for the Mac, Paul Middlin. If you'd like to meet up in Toronto, please let me know! Email, text or call me (+1.517.410.0030)

In November, we're heading to the Degrag 2009 conference in Denver, Colorado. I have one conference pass to give away.

To enter the drawing to win one of the free conference passes, please leave a comment on this blog post by 5:00pm EST, Friday, October 16. Please include:

1. A topic or idea you would like to me cover in a blog post on The Visual Lounge blog
2. Which conference you would like to attend - StackOverflow DevDays, Toronto or the Defrag Conference

At TechSmith, we are passionate about our users and our software. I thought I'd give you a peek behind the curtain and show you the people at TechSmith who make the products you use and who are here to help you. Kelly Rush, our Video Production Specialist, and I will be roaming the halls to get quick interviews with people who work at TechSmith in a variety of jobs and departments. Consider us your roving reporters!

Up first, meet Amanda Pardo. She's one of our Inside Sales Specialists! She'll tell you what a typical day is like in the Sales department and more. The video runs just over 2:30 minutes. Enjoy!

Do you have any questions you'd like us to ask?