computer software and bees

[riverrat]

I am wanting to use my laptop computer at the market to show photos of bee removals to help advertise. I would like to be able to show off the bee yard and hives at the show. I think this would be a good selling point and help sell both the bee removal service and the honey since they can actually see what they are getting and where it comes from. I have access to electricity at the market so battery power will not be a problem. The question I have is has anyone tried this and what is the pros and cons. What soft ware do you recomend. I am leaning towards powerpoint or is there something else out there better. thanks for the help and have a merry christmas

[GaSteve]

IMO, if a picture is worth a thousand words, than a video is worth a thousand pictures. I might try to shoot some video of removals, hive manipulations, extraction, etc. Then you could show it on a small TV without having to risk someone snatching your laptop. It's amazing how fast they can grow legs.

I think it would be a great attention grabber.

[Pete0]

I use 2 laptops when we set up our club booth to present continuous viewing of pictures and video. On the first one I use the following program to set up a slide show of pictures: Free for non-commercial use, 32-Bit graphic viewer for Win 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP, with multiple (animated) GIF support and Multipage TIFF support.
www.irfanview.com/ (http://www.irfanview.com/) . It works really well, is small, free and stand alone.

On the second laptop we'll show video of club workshops. I have not had much luck with Windows Media Player but have found another media player included in the software on the laptop. It allows me to play several video clips in a loop like a picture slideshow. I'll have to add another post with the name and location as I don't have that machine here with me.

Using the pictures and video really creates interest and discussion. On the down side, laptop screens are small and if you are outside, may be hard to see. You can use a projector and screen along with the computer to make a larger presentation that may be less effected by daylight. Also, as it is continuous, it is not easy to stop or use the pictures to explain a topic as the pictures change every 10 seconds or so (you set the timer prior to starting the slideshow). That is where PowerPoint, if you are making a presentation, may be a better product.

Best of luck!

Pete0
Bena, VA

[riverrat]

Pete thanks for your input I just bought a new dell with a 17 inch monitor. most of the sale s I do are inside