Seven Tips on Making a Successful Video Production

Author : Marie-Claire Ross
Producing a video for your company can be an exciting and potentially stressful experience. There's more to it than simply assigning a video production company to the task and crossing your fingers.To get the most from your video production dollars, we'll take a look at seven top tips for making your corporate video a success.1. Start with Results. The first step is to work out exactly what you want your video to achieve. Is it to train staff on a new procedure or is to increase interest at trade shows? Design your video concept around the desired result. Often clients get caught up with showing off their company that the main message gets lost.2. Write a brief. Once you know what you want to achieve, work out what you want to show and explain in your video. Formulate a brief that specifies your objectives, target audience, the countries your video will be viewed in and any required languages. A list of all the shots that you need is also helpful. Will the bulk of the shots be at your premises and do you need your CEO to talk to camera? Video production companies will try to calculate how many days filming are required to work out the cost, so it's important to know how much needs to be filmed at the outset.3. Know your image. What sort of image do you want to present to your customers? While watching your corporate video, your customers will be left with an impression of what type of business you are and what to expect when doing business with you. If your television program happens to be radically down-market than your up-market product suggests, then you create cognitive dissonance in your prospects. This will mean that your viewers will be left with an uneasy feeling that something isn't quite right with your company and will automatically distrust your message. To avoid this, make sure the quality of production reflects the quality of your product/service. This can involve using a professional camera operator with broadcast quality gear to having a graphic artist design maps and titles.4. Messages. One of the key areas to work out is what communication messages you need to get across. Work out the 4-6 key messages and develop the video around these. If you have too many messages people will tune out. Essentially, make sure you give information that your audience wants to know (not what you think they ought to know).5. Script. The script provides the backbone to any video project. It's always worthwhile spending extra time refining the script. As a rule of thumb, it needs to be completed before any filming begins. The best kind of script is short and sharp and revolves around your main messages. The quicker you can get your message across, the better the result. Avoid putting everything into the script, as wall to wall voiceover is quite tiring (and boring) to watch.6. Assign a contact person. A designated person from your firm will need to be available to work with the video production company. The production house will need script information and approval, help in organising shoots, copies of your logo and other relevant materials and someone to view a draft of the video and then finalise. This person will also need to make sure that the look and feel of the video best represents your company.7. Get expert advice. A good production company will be able to advise you on the best format for your needs such as the music, the filming, editing style and how the schedule will run. They will also be able to take your brief and come back with a range of suitable suggestions. Don't stress about the technical issues. That's the job of your producer.(c) Marie-Claire Ross 2005. All rights reserved.Marie-Claire Ross is one of the partners of Digicast. Digicast works with organisations who are not satisfied that their marketing and training materials are helping their business grow. She can be contacted at mc@digicast.com.au. The website is at http://www.digicast.com.au
Category : Business:Video-Streaming

How to Protect your PC from Atrocious Spyware in the Cyber Age.

Author : George Papazoglou

Wouldn't you be shocked to find that your personal sensitive
information, like files, credit card information, operating
system / software and other non-disclosed data to be penetrated
by unscrupulous prying eyes? Even worse...

"Is your computer infected by Spyware?"

What is Spyware? Spyware are infectious programs developed to
secretly subtract and transfer electronic information over the
Internet, without a User's apprehension.

Norton Anti-Virus or any other "virus protection" solution, will
not protect your computer from malicious applications like
Spyware.

Ever Downloaded any kind of Music, Video or even "Free Software"?

On the Internet, anything "free" has a hidden cost... much more
than the cost of a highly-priced product.

How much is your Privacy's worth to You?

To diabolic marketing companies, your identity my friend, is
worth thousands of dollars... they get rich by capitalizing and
selling your privacy to third parties, who will in return, sell
(again!) or use you as a guinea pig for their promotions - your
Anti-Virus won't protect you from Spyware!

Hint: Some even sell your information to telemarketers, or bulk
e-mail marketing companies.

The question is... are the gigantic companies selling
"anti-virus solutions", a part of this greedy industry?

Two of the best "Spyware Scanners" you must-have to protect your
computer and identity from prying Spyware.

Spyware Removal Tools

No Adware : Stops privacy invaders like Gator, Kazaa or Adware
and PC cluttering pop-ups.

http://cyber-software.com/spyware-removal

X-Block Probably the most powerful tool to automatically
tracking, cleaning and informing you about malicious spyware,
Trojans and Privacy-intruding programs.

http://cyber-software.com/x-block

Scan your Computer now for free. Open the program here and then
opt to choose "RUN" instead of downloading it. You will be
probably shocked to see how your Computer's system is infected
with several spyware programs.

Category : Gardening

Wedding Reception Site Rental Check List

Author : George Meszaros
When you book your reception site, be sure that you understand what is and is not included in the rental fee. Each facility is different, so you have to clarify with the manager of the property what can be provided by the venue, and what you must provide. As always, make sure that everything you have agreed upon is put in writing.

Depending on the venue you may need to supply some, if not all the items listed below:

Chairs Ââ€" For a seated dinner or seated buffet you need to provide seating for all reception guests. For a buffet style reception you may able to get away with enough chairs for half or more of the total number of guests. You may need to rent or purchase chair covers separately. High chairs for children should be available from rental companies.

Guest Tables Ââ€" Smaller tables like a 36-inch round will comfortably seat 4-6 guests and be appropriate for a buffet type menu. Larger tables like a 48-inch round will seat 6-8 guests, or a 60-inch round seats 8-10 guests. Regardless of their size, all guest tables are pre-set with flatware, glassware, linen napkins, and coffee cups that work well for a seated dinner.

Cake Table Ââ€" usually a 48-inch round works well, but the appropriate size will depend on the size of your wedding cake. Make sure you include the decorative adds to the cake display like floral or linen accents. Be sure the cake table is located in a highly visible, but low traffic location. You want to show it since it is part of the decor, but keep it out of the high traffic areas to keep it safe.

GroomÂ’s Cake Table Ââ€" If the groomÂ’s cake has not been served during the rehearsal dinner, a 36-inch round will work flawlessly.

Head Table Ââ€" The most important factor about this table is that is facing the guests. A very common head table arrangement is several rectangular tables placed end-to-end to seat your entire wedding party.

Buffet Tables Ââ€" If you have decided on a buffet dinner, youÂ’ll need to arrange several food stations, such as meet carving, etc. (Buffet tables may be provided by the catering company.)

Gift Table Ââ€" The wedding gifts are placed on this table, the size should depend on the number of guests you are expecting.

Guest Book Table Ââ€" A small table for your reception guest book.

Linens & Tableware Ââ€" Linens and tableware may be included with the rented tables, or you may need to source it elsewhere.

Tents Ââ€" Could be lifesaver outdoor receptions to protect guests from the sun or rainfall. Maybe used as a plan B for a rainy day.

Las Vegas, NV - Bally's from $66 per night

Author :

Looking for a touch of class? That's what you find when you stay at Bally's Las Vegas. Located in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, Bally's is always convenient, always accommodating and always a cut above other gaming resorts and casinos.From today until 12/31/2003, <a href="http://www.las-vegas-reservations-net.com" target="_blank">http://www.las-vegas-reservations-net.com</a> offer special price at Las Vegas, NV - Bally's from $66 per night.<a href="http://www.las-vegas-reservations-net.com" target="_blank">http://www.las-vegas-reservations-net.com</a> cover 95% of all hotels and shows in Las Vegas area.<a href="http://www.las-vegas-reservations-net.com" target="_blank">http://www.las-vegas-reservations-net.com</a> link all the hotels with the shows, so now you can know the shows already before you book the hotel.

Category : Action Alerts

Cisco CCNA / CCNP Certification: How And Why To Build An Etherchannel

Author : Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933
CCNA and CCNP candidates are well-versed in Spanning-Tree Protocol, and one of the great things about STP is that it works well with little or no additional configuration. There is one situation where STP works against us just a bit while it prevents switching loops, and that is the situation where two switches have multiple physical connections.

You would think that if you have two separate physical connections between two switches, twice as much data could be sent from one switch to the other than if there was only one connection. STP doesn't allow this by default, however in an effort to prevent switching loops from forming, one of the paths will be blocked.

SW1 and SW2 are connected via two separate physical connections, on ports fast0/11 and fast 0/12. As we can see here on SW1, only port 0/11 is actually forwarding traffic. STP has put the other port into blocking mode (BLK).

SW1#show spanning vlan 10

(some output removed for clarity)

Interface Role Sts Cost Prio.Nbr Type

Fa0/11 Root FWD 19 128.11 P2p

Fa0/12 Altn BLK 19 128.12 P2p

While STP is helping us by preventing switching loops, STP is also hurting us by preventing us from using a perfectly valid path between SW1 and SW2. We could literally double the bandwidth available between the two switches if we could use that path that is currently being blocked.

The secret to using the currently blocked path is configuring an Etherchannel. An Etherchannel is simply a logical bundling of 2 - 8 physical connections between two Cisco switches.

Configuring an Etherchannel is actually quite simple. Use the command "channel-group 1 mode on" on every port you want to be placed into the Etherchannel. Of course, this must be done on both switches if you configure an Etherchannel on one switch and don't do so on the correct ports on the other switch, the line protocol will go down and stay there.

The beauty of an Etherchannel is that STP sees the Etherchannel as one connection. If any of the physical connections inside the Etherchannel go down, STP does not see this, and STP will not recalculate. While traffic flow between the two switches will obviously be slowed, the delay in transmission caused by an STP recalculation is avoided. An Etherchannel also allows us to use multiple physical connections at one time.

Here's how to put these ports into an Etherchannel:

SW1#conf t

Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.

SW1(config)#interface fast 0/11

SW1(config-if)#channel-group 1 mode on

Creating a port-channel interface Port-channel 1

SW1(config-if)#interface fast 0/12

SW1(config-if)#channel-group 1 mode on

SW2#conf t

Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.

SW2(config)#int fast 0/11

SW2(config-if)#channel-group 1 mode on

SW2(config-if)#int fast 0/12

SW2(config-if)#channel-group 1 mode on

The command "show interface trunk" and "show spanning-tree vlan 10" will be used to verify the Etherchannel configuration.

SW2#show interface trunk (some output removed for clarity)

Port Mode Encapsulation Status Native vlan

Po1 desirable 802.1q trunking 1

SW2#show spanning vlan 10 (some output removed for clarity)

Interface Role Sts Cost Prio.Nbr Type

Po1 Desg FWD 12 128.65 P2p

Before configuring the Etherchannel, we saw individual ports here. Now we see "Po1", which stands for the interface "port-channel1". This is the logical interface created when an Etherchannel is built. We are now using both physical paths between the two switches at one time!

That's one major benefit in action let's see another. Ordinarily, if the single open path between two trunking switches goes down, there is a significant delay while another valid path is opened - close to a minute in some situations. We will now shut down port 0/11 on SW2 and see the effect on the etherchannel.

SW2#conf t

Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.

SW2(config)#int fast 0/11

SW2(config-if)#shutdown

3w0d: %LINK-5-CHANGED: Interface FastEthernet0/11, changed
state to administratively down

SW2#show spanning vlan 10

VLAN0010

Spanning tree enabled protocol ieee

Interface Role Sts Cost Prio.Nbr Type

Po1 Desg FWD 19 128.65 P2p

SW2#show interface trunk

Port Mode Encapsulation Status Native vlan

Po1 desirable 802.1q trunking 1

The Etherchannel did not go down! STP sees the Etherchannel as a single link therefore, as far as STP is concerned, nothing happened.

Building an Etherchannel and knowing how it can benefit your network is an essential skill for CCNA and CCNP success, and it comes in very handy on the job as well. Make sure you are comfortable with building one before taking Cisco's exams!

How To Setup A Freshwater Tropical Fish Tank

Author : Mike Magnum, FishLore.com Editor

This is an 11 step guide to setting up a freshwater aquarium in
your home.

Equipment you will need: Aquarium Aquarium gravel Aquarium
filter Replacement filter media Heater Other decorations (such
as plants) Chemical test kits Fish food Aquarium vacuum Fish net
Glass Scrubber 5-gallon bucket Pasta strainer

STEP 1: Realize the responsibility involved. A tropical fish
tank is just like having a dog or a cat when it comes to the
amount of effort on your part. In order to have a successful
fish tank you will have to work at it. Once a week, or at most
once every two weeks, you will need to perform some kind of
maintenance on the tank. Most of the time you will be performing
water changes. You will also have to feed your tropical fish at
least once a day. If you are up to the challenge, please
proceed!

STEP 2: Decide on an aquarium size. It’s a good idea to have in
mind what kind of tropical fish you want to keep before you
purchase an aquarium. Some tropical fish only grow to be an inch
or two, whereas other types of tropical fish can grow 12 or 13
inches in length! Knowing what kind of tropical fish you want
will help you decide the size of the tank they will need. If
this is your first time with an aquarium, I would recommend
going with a 10 or 20 gallon aquarium for now.

STEP 3: Decide on the aquarium's location. Place your aquarium
in an area where the light and temperature of the tank won’t be
affected by external sources such as windows and heater vents.
You will want to place your aquarium on a stand that will be
able to hold its total weight. A good rule of thumb for
determining the total weight of a full aquarium is 10 pounds per
gallon of water. For example, a 55-gallon tank will weigh
approximately 550 pounds when filled with water!

STEP 4: Buy your aquarium and equipment. Now is the time to
decide on the type of filtration you will want to use. You will
also need to purchase a heater capable of heating the tank size
you have. Buy the gravel, plants, a power strip and other
decorations. A good rule of thumb for the amount of gravel that
you will need is 1 to 1.5 pounds of gravel per gallon of water.

STEP 5: Set up your aquarium and stand. Wash out your tank with
water only! Do not use soap or detergents. Soap residue left
behind will be harmful for your tropical fish. If you are going
to use an under gravel filter (not recommended) now would be the
time to set it up as well.

STEP 6: Wash Gravel, plants and decorations. Be sure to wash the
gravel thoroughly before adding it to your tank. An easy way to
do this is to put some of the rocks in a pasta strainer and wash
them out in your bathtub. Then place the clean gravel in a clean
5-gallon bucket for transport to the aquarium. After adding the
gravel you can place your plants and decorations.

STEP 7: Add water to the aquarium. To avoid messing up your
gravel and plants, you can place a plate or saucer in the middle
of your aquarium and direct the water flow onto the plate. Use
room temperature water when filling. To remove the chlorine and
chloramine, use something like Tetra AquaSafe for Aquariums.
Don’t completely fill up the aquarium until you are sure of the
layout of your decorations. Otherwise, when you place your arm
in to move stuff around water is going to spill over. Doh!

STEP 8: Set up equipment. Install your heater but don’t plug it
in until the thermostat in the heater has adjusted to the water
temperature. This usually takes about 15 minutes or so. Hook up
your filter and any other equipment you have, then top off the
aquarium water to just under the hood lip. Place your hood and
light on the aquarium and then check your power cords to be sure
that they are free of water. I would also recommend using a drip
loop on all of the power cords to be extra cautious. Plug all of
the equipment into a power strip and then “turn on” the
aquarium.

STEP 9. Wait, wait, wait and then wait some more. I know, you
want to add some tropical fish. But, in order to do this right
you must wait until your aquarium has cycled before adding any
fish. There are ways of speeding up this process. Check out the
nitrogen cycle page to learn more. If you must use fish to
cycle, try to get a hardier species like the zebra danio or
cherry barb.

STEP 10. Add tropical fish. Only add one or two fish at a time.
Adding a couple tropical fish at a time gives your filtration
system the time needed to take on the increased biological load
that the new fish introduce. When you bring the fish home let
the bag float in the tank for about 15 minutes so that the fish
can become acclimated to the temperature and pH of the aquarium
water. After 5 minutes of floating the bag you should add some
of the aquarium water to the bag so that the fish can become
acclimated to the pH level in the aquarium. This will help
reduce the amount of stress imposed on the tropical fish.
Stressed tropical fish often leads to dead tropical fish! Don’t
feed your tropical fish on the first day. They probably wouldn’t
eat any food on the first day anyway. Let them get acquainted
with their new home.

STEP 11. Get ready for regular maintenance. Be prepared to spend
some time once every week or two to clean your tank. Performing
regular water changes will reduce the nitrate levels and keep
your tropical fish happy and healthy.

For more tropical fish and aquarium information, please visit FishLore.com - Tropical Fish &
Aquarium Information.

Category : Sales

A cigar box purse or handbag is a unique fashion accessory with a touch of old world charm.

Author : LynnDonn

Theres an unmistakable charm about a cigar box purse or handbag. Neat, petite and elegant, and decorated with romantic, quaint and quirky images from a bygone era, these design gems are becoming increasingly sought after fashion accessories. You can buy cigar box purses and handbags made from real cigar boxes, or they can be decorated with just about any image you can imagine, including classic movie stars, fashion photographs, dancers, animals, flowers or abstract designs. If you shop around online, youll find a huge range of cigar box purses and handbags, many of them uniquely designed and sold by the artist who created them. You can even have a cigar box purse or handbag custom made using a favorite image of a pet, a special place, person or thing, or perhaps a cherished old photograph of a great aunt or grandmother taken in a bygone era. Any image is suitable, so long as its your own, and there is no copyright existing in the photograph or artwork. Or if youre particularly creative, you could even make the purse or handbag yourself.

Making your own cigar box purse or handbag.

Its very simple to make a cigar box purse or handbag yourself, and youll have the satisfaction of having something which is absolutely unique. A handbag or purse youve made yourself also makes a lovely gift for someone special. You can buy a simple wooden box, or a real cigar box if you can find one, some paint and lacquer, and the hinges, corners, handle and clasp from purse hardware suppliers which youll find online. Of course, youll also need a photograph or piece of artwork to use on the box. Choosing an image, a color scheme and purse hardware pieces which work together artistically is great fun, and very satisfying when it all comes together. Its a very simple job to paint the box, glue on the image, cover the whole thing with a few coats of lacquer, then attach all of the purse hardware components.

About the author:

Lynn Donn is the webmaster for http://www.unique-handbags-and-purses.comHer website offers tips and information on all the latest trends in purses and handbags for the fashion enthusiast.

Category : Women

Hard Disk Drive Recovery

Author : Tony Newton
Computer has become a necessity for most of us, but almost everyone who has ever used a computer have encountered that bothering feeling of having erased a file that is so important. The less fortunate users may have also had the experience of losing an entire hard disk drive. Fortunately, hard disk drive recovery is there to help everyone recover not only the lost data, but also the ruined hard drive.Hard disk drive recovery is basically the process of restoring the entire hard drive that had failed due to some factors like software problem, computer virus, or a deliberate human act. However, hard disk drive recovery is not only limited to restoring the drive, but it involves retrieving of the lost files, making hard disk drive recovery appropriate for those who have lost necessary data on their hard drives by accident, or those who have formatted or corrupted their drives.Now, what makes hard disk drive recovery possible is the so-called data remanence, which simply means that some information continues to exist on the hard drive even after it has been deleted. So, don't think and believe that once the data is lost, it's lost forever. That is not the real case; otherwise hard disk drive recovery would be impossible. However, while data remanence is very beneficial to hard disk drive recovery, there is also a downside to this method, and that lies on the idea that data remanence is one of the most convenient tools used in cyber-espionage. This is no doubt the reason that most wise geeks or those computer security experts tell you that simply erasing a file doesn't always completely delete it.Hard disk drive recovery simply works to reconstruct the lost data. The data will be reconstructed through hard disk drive recovery regardless of whether the files were deleted or are inaccessible due to a crashed hard drive. There are some instances when the hard disk drive may become inaccessible because of certain complications on the hardware. One example of this is when the actuator arm, which is a small mechanical arm that moves back and forth across the disk, may have suffered a mechanical error. So, instead of thinking that there is no hope to recover the files, thus ignoring hard disk drive recovery, note that understand that the data is not lost at all. The data is just inaccessible due to a mechanical problem, and with the use of hard disk drive recovery, you can recover those lost files.Hard disk drive recovery is also possible even if the circuit board have developed flaws, making the hard disk inoperable. Well, before considering a hard disk drive recovery, understand that if there are strange noises or no noise at all, the cause of the failure is likely mechanical. The hard disk drive recovery technician will simply disassemble the hard drive in order to repair the problem. But, there are some instances though that mechanical problem may cause the drive itself to become damaged, which may in turn affect the data stored on it. In either case, a hard disk drive recovery is appropriate.Discover all the facts about hard drive recovery before it's too late! - http://www.harddriverecoverynow.info
Category : Computers-and-Technology:Data-Recovery

Recover Data From Crashed Novell NSS Volume - Novell Netware Data Recovery

Author : Rupesh Kumar
Brief OverviewThe Novell Storage Services (NSS) File System is the default file system for NetWare 6 and later. Its many features and capabilities include visibility, a trustee access control model, multiple simultaneous namespace support, native Unicode, user and directory quotas, rich file attributes, multiple data stream support, event file lists, and a file salvage sub-system. These features can help you effectively manage your shared file storage for any size of organization, scaling management of the system for even the largest of organizations with hundreds of thousands of employees. NSS is a 64-bit file system that can manage a virtually unlimited number of file objects.On each physical storage device, NSS abstracts up to four physical NetWare partitions to make them appear as contiguous free space. NSS recognizes physical and logical devices up to 2 TB in size from which you can create any number of virtual storage resources, called pools. You can choose space from at least four devices of up to 2 TB each to create a pool with a maximum pool size of 8 TB. A pool can contain an unlimited number of volumes. If the pool spans devices, the volumes automatically span the devices. A single volume can contain up to 8 trillion files and grow to 8 TB in size, depending on the size of the pool and space consumed by other volumes in the pool.NSS VolumesThe logical volumes you create on NSS storage pools are called NSS volumes. You can specify a maximum storage quota for the volume, or allow the volume to grow dynamically to the size of its pool. You can add any number of volumes to a storage pool.Because there is no limit to the number of volumes you can create, it is possible that the combined size of all the volumes taken together is larger than the storage pool itself. NSS refers to this process as "overbooking." If you overbook space in the pool, the individual administrative size of a volume cannot exceed the size of the storage pool.NSS allocates space from the pools to the volumes only as needed. Typically, user consumption of a volume's available space ebbs and flows; it is quite unlikely that users concurrently consume volumes at 100% of their available capacity. Each volume consumes the space it needs as it needs it. By overbooking space, NSS provides a flexible and cost effective way to accommodate expanding storage needs.How to recover data from crashed NSS Volumes ?Kernel for Novell NSS - Novell Netware Data Recovery Software recovers data from corrupt volume(s) of a crashed Novell Server. Kernel for Novell NSS - Novell NSS Data Recovery Software can recover and allows access to the data when the volume(s) cannot be mounted, it recovers and allows you to save your data to another drive after cases of missing volumes, deleted files, corrupt volume(s), allocation errors and novell partition loss. Kernel for Novell NSS Data Recovery Software uses quick algorithm for searching and restoring lost partitions, files and folders and hence is a fast, simple and easy to use Novell NSS data recovery software, which helps you to recover your lost data and files in minutes in case of disk crash or data loss disasters and hence supports your business continuity.Professional Data Recovery Software and File Repair Utilities
Category : Nutrition