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!

Teleprompters are not just for news anchors. They're nice for screencasters too! When making polished screencasts, teleprompters can make your projects go faster, sound better, run smoother and you don't run the risk of having rustling paper scripts mess up your audio.

Traditional teleprompters can cost thousands of dollars, but I found a free teleprompter that's available online called CuePrompter.com. It's simple to use - you just cut and paste your script and off you go! And, there's no software to install.

Here's a quick little Jingcast of the teleprompter in action. As many of you know, I am a hockey fan. And, since I'm not working on a script right now, I used some of my favorite quotes from "The Great One", hockey player Wayne Gretzky, as my script. :-)

And, don't forget about Max Rottersman - he made a teleprompter using SnagIt and some CD cases! You can read about him here. Have you found any tools that make video making easier with Camtasia Studio or Jing?

This week's Screencast of the Week is from Craig Lamb and David Caso of Empire State College. They gave a presentation entitled, 'Infusing Academic Warning into the Online Environment: A Pilot Program'. Click on the screencast below to watch the screencast. It is a longer one that runs a little over 29 minutes.

I liked this screencast for several reasons. Even though I was unable to attend the event in person, I can still watch the screencast and participate. The presenters also make great use of Camtasia Studio's side by side video option. That way I can not only view the slides, but I can also see and hear the presenters. This is a great way to archive an event!

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

Remember Maria Andersen from Muskegon Community College? She wrote a jingle about Jing Well, she's been at it again and creating lots of cool content!

Maria wanted to show what a year of blogging about math and technology looked like in video form. She discovered Animoto and it seemed like a good way to make promotional videos for courses and clubs at her college. Maria wanted a fast way to explain (in presentations and workshops) what it is that she has been doing for the last year with her Math & Technology blog.

How did Maria make this video? Maria has a math blog on Blogger. She discovered that Animoto can scrape your images from Picasa (and other services). And, since Blogger automatically creates a Picasa account and stores all your blog images for you, Animoto was able to pick up the images automatically. Then, Maria only had to order the images, spotlight the ones she want featured more prominently, and choose her music. Then Animoto does all the work so you can sit back and relax.

I like Maria's video because in addition to her photos, it shows off a lot of SnagIt screenshots from her blog! Check out her video below. This is a great way to visually off her year of blogging. It is like a blog scrapbook!

Audio is king in screencasts as you know. People will not tolerate bad audio. Think if you are wearing headphones... you don't want to hear any buzzing or popping in your ears. I'm always looking for audio tips. Especially for recordings done in uncontrolled environments like tradeshows and outside a sound booth.

So, on that note, this week's Screencast of the Week is about how to replace audio in your Camtasia Studio videos. If you're making a polished screencast, you might even want to hire a voice talent for professional audio narration. I heard from Paul Bridge, the Director of Marketing at NarrateIT. NarrateIt is a team of studio producers and voiceover artists who provide professional recordings. NarrateIt has created a tutorial on how to enhance Camtasia tutorials with improved sound. They also make good use of SmartFocus in the screencast.

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

This evening I have been sitting in a hotel room in Prague under a blanket! Yes, I looked silly, but there was a good reason behind my actions. :-) I had to make a quick Jingcast to answer a SnagIt user's question. And, I just could not get acceptable audio in the hotel room. It sounded awful. Lights were making a little buzzing noise, the fan was turning on and off, and the audio was bouncing off the wall and higher ceilings. To put it technically... it sounded flat out bad.

I remembered a quick audio trick that anyone can use... as long as you don't mind looking a little funny. Simply put a blanket over your head and microphone when you record your audio. It is not the equivalent of a sound booth, but it can help quite a bit quickly and easily.

I was also digging on our website and found this article with some additional audio tips.

Oh, and here's another quick tip. Forget your tripod for your camera or video camera while you're on the road? You can use a lamp for your tripod! The screw on top of a lamp for the light shade is exactly the same size as the screw on a tripod that you attach to your camera!

Do you have any audio or video tips to share with everyone?

As many of you know, I love, love, love Flickr! I have over 7,000 pictures posted there. I use Flickr to show friends and family pics from my travels. I also use it as a photo archive and back-up. And, Flickr has a great community - if I need some inspiration for knitting projects - I just look on Flickr to see what others are doing. Or, if I want a new desktop wallpaper, I look in Flickr Groups. Plus, I also love to send Jing and SnagIt screencaps there as well.

I had lunch with Raymond Kristiansen in Budapest this weekend and he mentioned that he had recently seen a screencast from Flickr made with Camtasia Studio. I had to find out what that was all about!

When I'm on the road, I don't check Flickr every day. So, after lunch, I logged into Flickr and saw that my homepage looked different. Flickr recently went through a big homepage redesign. So, I checked the Flickr blog to see what was going on. And, there it was... a Camtasia Studio screencast showing off all the new design changes for Flickr. You can see the blog post here that details the change and has a link to the screencast.

I picked this as the Screencast of the Week because I liked how they used the power of video to help ease some major changes with their website. The tour helped me be well versed in the new options and now I'm ready to use them. The screencast did a great job showing off the key new features on the homepage in just over 2 minutes! And, the screencast told me where to find more info if I needed it. Perfect - I'm ready to run and explore on my own.

And, if you're curious, I've been putting some snapshots from my recent travels to Berlin, Prague and Budapest here. Enjoy!

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

I'm still in Berlin this week for Berlin Web Week. Yesterday I attended PowerPoint Anwendertage (that's PowerPoint User Days for those of you who do not speak German). I attended a session about video and PowerPoint conducted by Axel Becker. That's Axel and I to the left at a Berlin Eisbären hockey game tonight (Eisbären won, if you're interested!).

This reminded me to share with you some resources to using SnagIt and Camtasia Studio with PowerPoint. One way to set yourself apart from boring PowerPoints is to spice them up with some great visuals and video.

I've seen many presentations completely derailed because the presenter ended up not having an internet connection that they were promised. I always liked to 'safety proof' my PowerPoint presentations with some Camtasia Studio videos. I'd simply use Camtasia Studio to record the website I wanted to show off, save the video, and add it to my PowerPoint slide deck. That way, it did not matter if I had an internet connection for my presentation.

Also, ever done a presentation and have someone ask for your slides? I don't about you, but my slides don't usually have a lot of text and I'm too lazy to write in-depth speakers notes. And, I often leave PowerPoint to show off software and websites. So, my slides are only one part of the story. Next time you present, hook yourself up on a microphone and use Camtasia Studio to record all elements of your presentation. That way you can share your entire presentation with anyone who'd like to review it.

I compiled a few links about using SnagIt and Camtasia Studio with PowerPoint, but there are many more out there. Check out:

• A tutorial about how to record a PowerPoint Presentation with Camtasia Studio here.

• A SnagIt Output accessory for PowerPoint. Use this Output accessory to send your SnagIt screencaptures directly to PowerPoint... and its free.

• An example about how to add interactive images to your PowerPoint presentation with PowerPoint.

So, let's hear from you! How are you using SnagIt and Camtasia Studio with PowerPoint? Any tips and tricks you can share with the group?

As many of you know, I end up traveling quite a bit for my job. This means I spend a lot of "quality" time going through airport security.

Part of the airport security routine is to remove your laptop from your bag for the scanner. Once you pass through the detectors, you are greeted on the other side by several of the same looking laptops piled up together... grey HP, Dell, and Toshiba laptops everywhere! I wonder how many people pick up the wrong laptop?! So, I've been adding stickers to my laptop - not only for fun, but so I can easily identify my laptop in a sea of grey laptops! :-)

We just got in some new stickers and pins for SnagIt, Camtasia Studio and Jing! And, I'd like to share them with you. They are perfect for your laptops, notebooks, backpacks, tripods, etc... You can request the stickers and buttons online using this form here. We have a limited amount so put in your request early. Yes, we will ship internationally. And, yes, they are free. Just put them to good use.

I'd love to see your stickers and buttons in action! E-mail your pics to me, post links in the comments on this post or tag your photos so we can find them on Flickr or other sites as SnagItSticker, CamtasiaSticker, JingSticker, SnagItButton, CamtasiaButton, JingButton.

Ever dream of being chased up a tower of padded mats closely followed by a muscleman who is trying to throw you over the edge of the mountain toward your impending doom?! Well, Tiffany Florentine was up for the challenge! That's Tiffaney pictured to the left (pic from the NBC American Gladiators website). She recently tried out to be a contestant on American Gladiators.... and made it to the competition with some help from Camtasia Studio! Blog readers, you're in for a treat with the week's Screencast of the Week!

I heard from Robin Moore, one of Tiffaney's co-workers at Deloitte Consulting, about Tiffaney's plight to make the competition of American Gladiator.

Tiffaney had made it through the second and third level trials, but needed to submit a 10 minute video that "sold her story" to the team of judges to make the next level. The kicker? She only had a 48 hour notice to shoot and submit the completed video. Lucky for Tiffaney, Robin had experience with video.

Tiffaney and a friend went out that night to film her. They got some footage of Tiffaney running around Michigan's state capitol in Lansing wearing only her signature spandex in 18 inches of snow! Now that is dedication! It's hard to look tough when you're freezing!

Early the next day, Tiffaney brought Robin the footage on a flash drive to start making the video. There was only about 9 hours left to work on it before it had to be in the overnight mail. To Robin's surprise, she had raw video files straight out of the camera. Not the converted files. After Robin downloaded the files, it took her a while to even find the right codec so she could view the videos. And, Robin wasted another hour looking online for anything that could convert the video into a readable format.

Robin had used Camtasia Studio countless times for software capture (Robin used it extensively. We worked together on Morae training videos several years ago), but never tried it for full-motion video. She decided to give it a shot. And, the good news was that Camtasia Studio was able to import and manipulate all the video files Robin needed. And, they were back on track! Robin and Tiffaney spent the next 6 hours glued to Robin's monitor splicing about 40 video clips together and mixing in some photos, transitions and fun music to complete a 10 minute video. They produced the video, burned it on to a CD and drove, I'm told recklessly, to the latest overnight pickup location they could find. Tiffaney almost tackled the delivery guy who was on his way out of the parking lot. They had made the deadline!

With Camtasia Studio's help, Tiffaney was able to win her contestant role!

Check out Tiffaney's Camtasia video here.

And you can read Tiffaney's bio on NBC's American Gladiator website here.

And, Tiffaney writes of her own experience on the show here.

I think Robin and Tiffaney make quite the team, don't you? If you disagree, Tiffaney may chase you down and tackle you! :-) Thanks Robin and Tiffaney for sharing your fantastic journey and Camtasia Studio video!

As you know, TechSmith loves user feedback. We need it. Our products are better because of your input and feedback.

So, with that in mind, I was chatting with the Jing (and SnagIt) Product Manager, Tony Dunkel. That's him on the left. And, we were wondering, now that Jing is a little over a year old, now what?

This is where I need your help - help shape future versions of Jing to how you want them. What would you like to see in future releases? What about a Jing Pro version? What would that look like to you?

I'll get the list started. For a Jing Pro version, I'd like to see some additional features and functionality like:

• Editable Jing video content - I'd like to do some basic editing to my jingcasts like resize them and do some editing in Camtasia Studio (trim clips, join multiple jingcasts, produce in multiple file formats).

• Additional mark-up options for screen captures - I'd like to change the font of the text and add transparency to objects (arrows, text boxes, highlights, etc).

Now it's your turn - What would you like to see in future releases? What would Jing Pro look like to you? Comment away - We're listening...

I'm happy to share with you that we have a new product in the Camtasia family - Camtasia Relay 1.0 is here!

What is this Camtasia Relay thing? Well, it is an easy and streamlined way for anyone at your organization to record lectures, presentations and meetings. As a presenter, you can walk into the room, select your profile settings and everything from the recording to the formats the recording is produced into to the location where you will publish your files is predetermined. When you're done with your presentation, no need to hang out while your video produces or make technical decisions. You can just leave the room and a central server does all the work for you by automatically processing and publishing your video. Easy, right?

Top features include

• Easy recording on Mac or PC - Yep, you heard me right. Recording on the Mac or PC.
  
• Automatic processing and publishing handled by the server - Predetermined profile settings automate everything from the recording settings, to the formats the recording is produced into, to the destinations where produced files are published.

• Multiple file formats - Produce your recordings in Flash and iPod video (MP4), audio (MP3), Camtasia Studio (CAMREC), Windows Media (WMV), along with others... Plus, you will have the ability to produce one recording into any or all of the formats above.

So, are you wondering how does Camtasia Relay differ from Camtasia Studio? Basically, Camtasia Studio is for individuals who typically edit their recordings and choose how to produce the video and where it should go. Camtasia Relay, on the other hand, is for teams and organizations to do recording. Typically the recording would not need to be edited (note: you can edit your Camtasia Relay content using Camtasia Studio), and production and publishing are handled automatically by a central server.

Here are some additional resources for you to learn more about Camtasia Relay

• Comparison chart: See Camtasia Studio vs Camtasia Relay side by side here.

• Product Tour: Check out our product tour for all that Camtasia Relay has to offer.

• Newsletter: If you'd like ongoing information about Camtasia Relay, you can sign up for the Camtasia Newsletter.

• Licensing: Affordable and flexible licensing - No monthly, annual or per-seat fees. Camtasia Relay can grow with you. As the number of recordings your organization creates increases...so can your server capacity. You can easily upgrade to the next level at any time.

So, how are we using it at TechSmith? We have a mandatory Monday Morning Meeting every week at 8am. In this meeting, we go over company news, product information, new hires and other information that all staff needs to know. And, we've even had marriage proposals in our Monday Morning Meetings! They are not to be missed. But I am often on the road so I end up missing a lot of the meetings. Consequently, I'm often out of the loop. But, we've been eating our own dogfood at TechSmith and and have been using Camtasia Relay to record our Monday Morning Meetings. Now I just subscribe to our feed and I can see what happened at the meeting regardless of where I am in the world! It has been invaluable!

I hope you'll give Camtasia Relay a try and please feel free to share your feedback and input in comments on the blog or via the formal feedback form here.