As you read this month’s column it will be approaching August – traditionally a quieter time for trainers as so many of our would-be delegates are on holiday. It’s a great time for getting round to revamping and redesigning your current training events as well as planning new ones. Which means you’ll probably be looking for good sources of pictures and sounds to add value to your materials, to inspire you and your delegates. Here’s three websites which you may find useful.

I’m not a fan of clipart, especially if it’s the standard Microsoft offering. Indeed, I’m perplexed by how often I still see that cartoon of the moustachioed, angry man in a pink shirt banging his fist on the table, or, even worse, the cartoon with the trembling man (they’re all men!) wearing several hats. Please – enough. Don’t use this stuff – there’s so much more, of such better quality to be had for nothing in cyberland.

You’ll find that this link http://www.allfree-clipart.com is, unlike many clipart links you may come across, genuine. By which I mean it takes you directly to a site which actually has clipart! Those of you who have played the clipart hunt before will know that you can follow lots of seemingly different links which constantly bring you back to one or two equally naff sites. I’m not going to pretend that every image on Allfree is of the highest quality, but it is simple to find them – start by pressing the red clipart button on the left and this will take you to the subcategory index. Plus, there’s a fair few images, mainly cartoons and mostly showing white males when you get to the business related ones. (Heh ho.) And, if you love irritating your audiences with animated clipart, then check out the animations' link here for such joys as a beating heart, a bouncing ball or a Tweetie Pie that flies.

Personally, I find photos much more useful for pepping up presentations using PowerPoint. In fact, in my book, it’s one of the few good reasons to use that clunky piece of software in the first place. If, like me, you’re not a good enough photographer to use your own photos then try http://www.morguefile.com. This somewhat gruesome name (popular in the newspaper business to describe the file that holds past issues) disguises a simply stunning, free, photo resource to spice up your slides and handouts with high resolution, digital photography for either corporate or public use.

The purpose of this site is to provide free image reference material for use in all creative pursuits and - somewhat incredibly these days - they don’t ask for your registration details. Just turn up and download. One of the nicest features of this already very nice site is that you can choose how many photo thumbnails to display. The default is 12 but you can alter this to show up to 288 – which dramatically reduces mouse clicking. Click on a thumbnail you like the look of to get a full sized image. If you still like it you just click again to download a high resolution zip file. The copyright restrictions are – again unlike many so called copyright free sites – negligible and basically mean that you can’t resell or reassign the images.) Indeed you’re told: ‘these images may be used for any other commercial or personal use. Credit for this use is appreciated but is not necessary.’ I can’t praise this site too highly.

Now - sound effects. Again, I’m not a fan of those provided by Microsoft. Indeed, good advice generally is to avoid sound effects – after all, as a trainer you’re your own sound effect. But sometime it’s useful to add something and this is the place to go for royalty free music, sound effects, midi files, audio software and sound advice. http://www.partnersinrhyme.com . Note that it’s royalty free though not necessarily free to use. Take a look at the (completely) free music loops which could be useful for connecting people to time and events in your presentation – for example reminding them to come back from a break or alerting them that it’s time for them to get engaged in an activity.

If you do decide to buy a music file or CD from here then the license agreement that comes with your purchase extremely generous. It’s a one off payment that allows you to use the sounds in more or less any way you wish other than reselling or redistributing them. You can even remix their music into your own music- if you know how to do this (I don’t!) Once again an excellent site for finding that odd piece of music to make your presentations zing.

Ratings
http://www.allfree-clipart.com
Content ***
Originality ***
Navigability ****
Presentation and graphics ***
Downloads and freebies ***** Links ***

http://www.morguefile.com
Content *****
Originality *****
Navigability *****
Presentation and graphics *****
Downloads and freebies *****
Links *****

www.partnersinrhyme.com
Content *****
Originality *****
Navigability ***
Presentation and graphics ***
Downloads and freebies ****
Links ****

As always our thanks for this ‘Netcheck’ go to Clare Forrest, who would be pleased to know by snail-mail, e-mail or carrier pigeon the URLs (web addresses) of any sites that you have enjoyed, loathed or found just plain indispensable so that she can bring them to everyone’s attention. She can be contacted at clareforrest@structuredlearning.com or visit www.structuredlearning.com Garry Platt returns next month to share his latest Internet finds.

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