In addition to what David & Glen have suggested. You also have to be careful
regarding copyright.
Since I'm in the middle of writing a book chapter on copyright, I'll mention
a couple of things here. While you might have some limited rights to use
material you find on the Internet (under the Fair Use provisions of
copyright), the limitations are very severe. If this is for business
purposes, your likely to have no right to use it. Therefore, my
recommendation is to look for Creative Commons licensed material. So far,
the best place I have seen to find Creative Commons licensed pictures is
flickr.com. Do a search and then click on Advanced Search. Scroll to the
bottom and check all the boxes under Creative Commons (if it is for
non-commercial use, don't bother to check the box for commercial uses). Do
you search again, and you will find tons of pictures that you are allowed to
use with very little restriction (throwing them into a PowerPoint is
certainly no problem, but you should read the license that is linked to the
picture for more details).
The basic idea of Creative Commons is:
(1) As soon as something is created, it is automatically copyrighted.
(2) Most people don't care if others use their material (if you want to use
that picture of a buffalo I took on my summer vacation, please go ahead).
(3) Before Creative Commons, it was hard to get the people together who want
to use things with those who didn't care if others used them; the people who
don't care didn't want to be bothered with responding to requests for
permission if you could even find out how to contact them.
(4) Now, the people who don't care if you use their stuff can assign a
Creative Commons license that allows them to retain the rights to their work
but give you permission to use it without asking.
(5) This is a big win for everyone because people who create things can, if
they wish, give everyone the right to use their stuff, and people who need
stuff (like pictures) can find lots of usable stuff.
--David
--
David M. Marcovitz
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.PowerfulPowerPoint.com/
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
Associate Professor, Loyola University Maryland
