I had to give a presentation today, and I wanted to include a live demo of a web-site that we completed for a client.  However, I had no access to the ‘net at that location.  Even if I’d overcome that by borrowing and aircard or something, demoing stuff live is asking for problems, especially when you have limited time.

To solve this problem, I used a handy little piece of software called CamStudio.  It allows you to record your session and save it as a movie file.  You can select a region of the screen to record, so I selected the browser window, minus the toolbars, so that the audience only saw the web page.  It created a .avi file (flash is also an option), which I was able to play with Windows Media Player or Winamp.

I ended up placing the movie on a slide as part of a PowerPoint presentation.  That resulted in some pixelation and flickering, but I suspect that PowerPoint is to blame, as I didn’t see those problems with Windows Media Player or Winamp.

FYI, the CamStudio project is looking for developers, so if you have a background in C++ on Win32, please check out their site.