Better than any camera phone, but not DSL beast, here are great options.

Being a camera guy, I've been asked by some friends what kind of camera should one get.  While the cliche is to suggest a DSL like a Canon T5i or a Nikon D7100, I'm adding a great guide for a variety of types, especially those who don't want an upgrade from their camera phones but don't want a beast.  I'd suggest going to a store and trying them out first.  If you have a Sony store, go check out their newest cameras coming out late 2013.  Sony has recently released the Sony Alpha 7 and 7r, and the super-zoom RX10 with a constant f2.8.  While that may be more info than you need, here's the aforementioned guide:

Originally from:

http://www.adorama.com/alc/0014323/article/Smart-Phones-Fugetaboutit-These-12-Compact-Super-Cameras-Let-You-Shoot-MUCH-Better-Photos

Smart Phones? Fugetaboutit! These 12 Compact Super-Cameras Let You Shoot MUCH Better Photos

Compact digital cameras with a "WOW!" factor

By Mason Resnick

October 2, 2013

Here are a dozen outstanding stand-alone cameraas that do what no smart phone camera is capable of.

Smart Phones are great for general photography in good light, and are great for sharing photos and videos. But they fail when it comes to features like optical zoom, good image quality in low light, manual exposure control and a host of other bullet points that phone makers don't want you to pay attention to.

Well, camera makers have been quietly making compact digital cameras better and more capable than ever. Here are twelve models that just might make you just want to use your smart phone for texting, checking your Twitter feed, and...you know...phone calls.

A few ways to flip slides in PowerPoint

First, remember to use the space bar to advance to the next slide – one tap on the space bar will jump you one slide ahead. Of course, you can use PageDown or the right or down cursor keys to do the same thing, but the space bar is a much larger and easier to hit target if you are nervous or your hands are shaking.

And please remember – PageUp or the up or left cursor keys will back you up one slide.

Next up, here’s a great tip for jumping to a specific slide:  If you press the Alt key, plus the one, two or three digits that represent the number of the slide you want to jump to, followed by Enter, you will jump to the specified slide. (Office 2013 handles this differently.)  This shortcut is handy if you get to a point in your presentation where there are questions and you need to jump back to a key slide to give an answer. Jumping directly to that slide looks so much better than having to Page Up or Page Down through multiple slides.

How Presenter View can help your Powerpoint presentations

In can be distracting for the viewers when the screen is flipping around.  Even with the most polished and practiced crew, you may find yourself doing the slideshow shuffle -- scrolling back and forth trying to find what slide one should currently be.  Fortunately, the solution is already built in.

• To View all the slides in your presentation, click See all slides.  (Image is based on Office 2013)

 

 TIP    You’ll see thumbnails of all the slides in your presentation (as shown below), making it easy to jump to a specific slide in the show.

Three reasons to use Presenter View for churches:

1. Ability to skip to any slide in any sequence.  (Helps find the right slide quickly.)
2. Ability to see upcoming slides.  (Increases confidence)
3. Ability to add and view notes

Here is a video on what is Presenter View:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3cns5w4yw

To read about using Presenter View:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint-help/what-is-presenter-view-HA010360603.aspx



Office 2013 automates this.  If you don't have it, please make sure you have multi-monitor setup, and set it on presenter view in the settings.

Presenter View automatically extends to the projector or external monitor, however, if you want to switch monitors you can.

 TIP    To manually determine which computer will display your notes in Presenter View and which will face the audience (Slide Show View), on the task bar, at the top of Presenter View, click Display Settings, and then click Swap Presenter View and Slide Show.

Sync PIM without cloud services, directly to and from Outlook

If you don't trust cloud-services or don't want to rely on it, take a look at

http://www.companionlink.com/

Looping Introduction

To stimulate interest before you begin your main presentation, consider making a looping introduction before you powerpoint presentation.  Two good links to do so:

add-a-looping-introduction-to-a-powerpoint-presentation

when-a-looping-introduction-refuses-to-stop