DorkoTech on TechSmith Blog

On one end being mentioned on the TechSmith blog gives me the opportunity to do some bragging about actually making difference. It seems my Setting Goals with MindManager Video or screencast has inspired Betsy Weber over at TechSmith to start using MindManager the way I demonstrated in that video. I am always pleased to here about others success with MindManager and when I actually motivate one to start using or try a new way of working with MindManager it really makes the hard work worth it!

At the other it gives me the opportunity to mention TechSmith's Camtasia Studio. As I am sure all of you know, one of the categories for the Note Talker contest is creating a screencast. Of course as far as I am aware you don't actually have to use Camtasia Studio to create the screencast. However it is by far the easiest program in my opinion for creating such productions. I also believed whatever format you send you video in will in fact be converted to a Camtasia screencast. So you might as well just give it a shot. To be honest though I have not tried any other type of program that claims to be able to perform similar tasks but I am sure they exist.

It is also the one program that I have used to create every one of my MindManager Videos and I have been pretty succesful with using it. It is easy enough to use to just capture the screen as you walk your viewers through a demonstration and has many very nice wizard modes that allow one to present the infromtaion without being a Camtasia Studio expert.

The program also provides many advanced features that allow you to edit your project but I have not had the time to experiement with these features. This contest may allow me to do so but this all depends on the many other things I need to acomplish.

I've also heard several stories where Camtasia Studio is used to do video demonstrations and tutorials that really allows users to present to the audience exactly what is going on and what they are doing on their computer. It records these actions and even allows you to format the project in an easy to distribute file. My last recroding was very big (50 mb I think!) as I forget to reduce the quality settings like the first two but shows you the flexibilty you have when it comes to the size of the final production.

Many websites like Student Tablet PC, GottaBeMobile, along with my very own have all taken advantage of the program. If your looking for a way to show off your MindManager maps and create a screencast for the contest I suggest you download the trial and give it a try. I had to load it up on my desktop computer (the trial on my Tablet PC ran out) but plan on using it to create the screencast I plan to submit for the Note Talker Contest. Despire my knowledge of the advanced features I know they do exist and hope to take some time to maybe learn them a bit more to create hopefully an entertaining, fun, and informative video demonstrating my very own use of MindManager.

For more information about TechSmith and or Camtasia Studio check out their webpage or download a trial! Also don't forget about the TechSmith blog, (called The Visual Lounge) in which I was mentioned by Betsy.

*On a totally unrelated note I learned that TechSmith is located in Okemos MI, which I drive by a lot of the time when I visit friends in East Lansing. Kyle McFarlin, the Gyronix consultant I met with today, also lived in my hometown of Rochester Hills MI. This just goes to show you despite this crazy techy world we live it is still a small world after all!

posted by Jason Dorko at 4:34 PM 1 comments links to this post