I’m always kind of scandalized when presenters connect to the Internet to show YouTube videos. I mean, if they want to risk it, fine, but why take the chance? The Internet connection could cut out, the wifi could fail, the connection could be slow, an embarrassing ad could pop up … I think people have the idea that you can’t download videos from YouTube, but it actually couldn’t be simpler. Just enter the address of the video at KeepVid, press “convert,” and there you go: a file in the format of your choice, ready for you to drop into your presentation.
KeepVid also works for other Flash-based video and music sites. It’s free, no registration required.
For YouTube videos I usually just add “dlv” in front of youtube in the url so that it reads http://www.dlvyoutube.com and I’m ready to go =) Gives the options to select what quality and can even download it as audio