Getting Started with Slido

Posted on February 1, 2024 by garysch

Working at conferences, that would be recording and live streaming them, I see Slido used quite a lot to engage with audiences whether they are right there or online or both.

Slido is an interactive tool used to create polls, quizzes, Q&A, word clouds, text based questions and more. It can be easily embedded into a PowerPoint presentation and the audience can see the results right there as they vote or enter questions.

You can send them a link and they don’t event have to login. Slido creates a QR code so they can do this directly from their smartphone or tablet.

Q&A can appear right there on the screen and others can like the question so it gets up voted. The chair or moderator can use this to choose the questions to answer.

Having seem Slido in action I decided to have a go myself and found it pretty straightforward.

There are a number of pricing options and does include a free version, so at the very least you can try it out and see if it is right for you.

If you are using Zoom or Teams it integrates there too, but if you are sharing a PowerPoint presentation in your webinar then you can use it in there.

Here’s a video I made to show you how it works and also how to set it up.

Posted in PowerPoint, Presentation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What is log video recording on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max

Posted on September 28, 2023 by garysch

Log video recording is something many haven’t heard of unless you are a video enthusiast or professional. Professional and more and more mirrorless cameras have got log as a format.

But what is log? Well log is short for logarithmic. So the video is recorded using a logarithmic format rather than linear. Right now I could go in to the mathematics behind it but what you really need to know is why.

Why use log? Well it gives you more flexibility when editing in being able to make adjustments to exposure and colour. This is known as grading. If you ever look at the credits of big television productions of movies you will see a Colourist listed there.

I use log all the time when I’m using my mirrorless camera as I can do so much with adjusting the exposure and colour, often there is nothing or very little to change.

Now when you switch log on immediately your image you see on the screen looks washed out, don’t worry there is nothing wrong. This is how log records in a flat format but it gives you the ability to bring that all out and that can be done with the click of a button.

To see what it looks like you need to add it to an editing application such as Final Cut for iPad, Final Cut Pro, iMovie, Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. Here in this video I show you how it works in Final Cut for iPad.

What happens is a look is applied and this gives you a starting point, it will bring out the colours, you can make further adjustments but you might not need to. This look is called a LUT, lookup table, it has the settings to give you that starting point. Each manufacturer has their own LUTs and other people make them too. When you put this into Final Cut for iPad it automatically adds the Apple Log, same for Final Cut Pro and iMovie, there is a drop down box and you can choose others to see if they might be better. Others like Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve you might have to make the adjustments to get the look you want.

Now this might be a bit different but if you want to be able to do more with your video then give it a go.

Posted in filmmaking, Iphone, Uncategorized, Video production | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Removing the Background in Final Cut Pro Without a Green Screen – Scene Removal Mask

Posted on August 20, 2023 by garysch

If you are a filmmaker like me you must get asked to do green screen. This means more setup time, making sure the lighting is right and that there are no shadows on the screen. Also reducing the creases helps.

Now with Final Cut Pro you can remove the background using the Scene Removal Mask effect. What you have to do is have at least a frame at the beginning or end without the presenter or other things in the foreground, as you will see in this video I discovered I should have removed the laptop in the foreground.

Anyway, it seems to work well as long as you don’t blend in to the background.

Posted in Final Cut Pro, Video editing, Video production | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How to Loop a PowerPoint Presentation Continuously

Posted on August 19, 2023 by garysch

PowerPoint is not only useful for doing a presentation in front of an audience but can be useful as a continuous presentation on a stand. Or perhaps you want to have something looping at a conference in the auditorium as your audience arrives, could be upcoming events or more information about the conference. This is not only a useful way to keep your audience informed it is engaging.

The good news is that you can create a presentation and then tell it to loop indefinitely.

In this video I show you how.

Posted in Microsoft Office, PowerPoint | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Running Your iPhone and iPad Apps on Your M1 or M2 Mac

Posted on August 18, 2023 by garysch

We all love our apps on our iPhones and iPads, they are really useful tools that make our lives easier. It could be checking on public transport, sharing on your favourite social media or just a game for some fun.

Now wouldn’t it be great if you could have those apps you love on your Mac, well you can, kind of. If you have an Apple Silicon chip in your Mac you can. It is the same type of chip you now find in your iPad so guess what, you can use those apps. Except some developers don’t enable it so you can’t. However, I have found quite a few I like that work on my MacBook so I’m happy. Perhaps more will be available.

Here’s a video I made to show you how.

Posted in imac, Mac, macos | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Removing the Background in Camtasia without a Green Screen

Posted on August 17, 2023 by garysch

Camtasia a popular way to record what you are doing on your computer as it records the screen and the webcam.

Being seen on the webcam, or even another camera if you choose, helps add engagement with your audience. The thing is we like to have a different background or remove the background so that you appear over your screen recording.

Until now the best way to do this was using a green screen, but now Camtasia has the background removal effect, no more green screen. I tried it out and I’m impressed. The thing that I found that helps is to make sure you stand out from the background. For example, if you have a dark background and you are wearing dark clothes it might not work so well.

Here’s a video I made to help you out.

Posted in elearning, filmmaking | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Using Your Apple Watch to Take Photos with Your iPhone

Posted on August 16, 2023 by garysch

You can’t look at social media without seeing selfies, nothing wrong with that, but what if you could get a better photo without having to reach out with your iPhone at arms length. You could prop your iPhone up on something or a small tripod and use the timer to take a photo.

But if you have an Apple Watch you can use it as a remote control for the camera on your iPhone. You can even see what you are taking and zoom in and out. And yes, it has a timer so you can press the button on your iPhone and have time to get ready.

I have to say I do use this quite a bit when I have to get group shots or maybe something a bit out of the way.

By the way, you can do this with starting a video recording too, great for vlogging.

So the only thing I would say is be careful. Don’t put your phone where someone might grab your phone and run.


https://youtu.be/mhr2E3vRyN8

Posted in Apple Watch | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

How to Duplicate Events on Your Calendar in Your iPhone and iPad

Posted on August 15, 2023 by garysch

If you are like me you have events you want to copy and paste, not an event that recurs regularly but something you have to add again.

This is easy to do. You can copy and paste or use duplicate.

In this video I show you just how easy it is to do.


https://youtu.be/wAO9hLwAYMM

Posted in iPad, iPad Pro, Iphone | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Using Zoom to Live Stream to Facebook

Posted on March 10, 2023 by garysch

Earlier this week I posted a video about live streaming to YouTube directly from Zoom and you can do the same and live stream to Facebook.

Why use Zoom for live streaming, well many of us are already familiar with it and although there is more sophisticated software for live streaming out there you don’t have to learn something new or pay for more software. Zoom is also enough for what many of us need.

So here is how to live stream to Facebook using Zoom and also two other videos. One for YouTube which I posted earlier this week, so you might have already seen it, and another for live streaming to many other platforms such as Vimeo and Hopin.

Posted in facebook, Zoom | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Using Zoom to Live Stream to YouTube

Posted on March 7, 2023 by garysch

There is no doubt that live streaming has become more popular than ever and that in the past few years we have all come to know Zoom.

If you are doing conferences or webinars then you might have used Zoom to do this, particularly during all the lockdowns we have had. But you don’t have to limit your audience to Zoom you could in fact stream your webinar or even conference to YouTube using Zoom which you are most likely already familiar with.

This saves you learning or even having to purchase more sophisticated software but for the most part Zoom will do the trick.

In this video I will show you how it works and if you are interested I have also included two other videos below that, one on how to live stream from Zoom to Facebook and another on how to live stream to other platforms such as Vimeo, Hopin and many other that use something called RTMP.

Posted in YouTube, Zoom | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment