PodCamp Boston 2007

Engaging the audience with audio. It's big and it's picking up players everyday. By now you'll know that the Aleuromedia team has an enthusiasm and passion for video as a major communication medium. We believe that video has value in everything from internal corporate messages and corporate culture pieces, to relaying what might have traditionally been a white paper with greater detail and cognition, to dynamic product demos using video, flash and screencasting tools.

That said, our desire to bridge communication gaps and to increase the efficiency with which we share information endears us to audio tools. The goal is to communicate with each other the way we are most inclined to receive it.

Podcasts are great for sharing information because they are so efficient. We can relay lots of material, in small doses, and with great frequency using podcasts. Who could deny that it is faster and easier to tell someone your story than it is to document it? Bigger still, it is more relate able to hear someone share their story. The pace of their words, the inflection, the tenor and diction all have meaning we are already prepared to process and these keys provide us with so much more than our interpretation of the written word. Check out Chris Brogan's blog to hear what I mean.

Whatever you think Podcast are, prepare yourself to learn how much more energy they conduct, check out PodCamp Boston 2007.

Screencasts to social networks and fundraising.

I LOVE the internet!

Kenny ran into this great article on the Non-Profit Times about screencasting. The author Beth Kantor did a great job of going "101" on the topic. It was very cool timing because I've been working with some non-profits and non-profit solution providers to give them insight about New Media and Social Networking. Helping these organization understand what social technologies can mean to fundraising, event, and constituent management, for example using Facebook to work a community based event, or using Inner Circle to connect and stay abreast of what your donors are doing.

Well I liked Beth writing enough that I went to her blog and found that she is infact managing a fundraising campaign for Leng Sopharath. Beth is using Facebook, flickr, ChipIn and her blog, among many other social technologies to coordinate and communicate her fundraising efforts and mission. Kudos Beth! The name of Beth's blog is "How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media", you should check it out.

Screencasts are expected!

In the PC World Community Voices blog, Phil Shapiro writes:

If a company has gone to the trouble of designing a software program, but hasn't taken the trouble to create a screencast about the program, then they are apt to lose me as a customer. Seeing is believing.

I am so happy to read this! The screencast is an essential tool for all software sellers. The ability for a potential customer to see your software in action before a purchase shouldn't be an afterthought, it should be a requirement for a product launch. I hope more and more savvy customers start expecting - and demanding - them!

I also found part 1 of a nice article on screencasting. It's written by Beth Kanter, and it's a well written primer for folks doing their own screencasts.

Video really is better. No, really.

We get the same question asked frequently: "is video really better?". We think the answer is pretty obvious, but apparently, it isn't.

As an example of the sheer power of video to explain and simplify, a few folks have asked how to create certain effects in a video, or do something in Photoshop. If you've ever tried, those kinds of things are difficult to explain using words. Pictures help a little, but they're often even more confusing.

I created this screencast to demonstrate how video makes it drop dead simple to explain a concept to someone. This is a fairly simple concept, in this case, but imagine how much text would have to be written (not to mention the terminology involved) to explain this the "old fashioned" way!



How do you explain your concepts to your cutomers? I'll bet they're more complicated than drawing a 3D glassy ball!

By the way, this tutorial was created using the new Jing Project from TechSmith - check it out!

"How is this relevant to me?"...

Shortly after my last post I received some feedback from a software business owner. He still didn't get how the video "thing" was relevant to his business, outside of say executive presentations. We'd talked previously about screencasts but it had always appeared to this person that they were things to be used after a release as a marketing tool. I guess I never really explained it, it just makes so much sense to me that I figured it was obvious. My bad. Let's start from the top.

When I was actively leading a development team, we worked in a modified agile, product centric way. That means we worked with QA, Doc, ET AL, early; even in design. We delivered work product in quick measurable iterations. The "keeping everyone in the loop thing" works so much better when the loop is manageable. So we bit off bite pieces and cycled through, gaining education and information across each domain every time. This not only decreases time to market, but it takes the "crunch" at the end of a project and dismisses it completely, because by the end, everyone knows what they need to know to execute their part successfully and efficiently. Big point coming up...This included Sales. Video is more than just the sexy, it communicates so much information, so quickly, that it just makes sense to use it.

We used screencasts to get project stakeholders and the sales organization up to speed on the new features as well as the look and feel, before we even hit beta. Letting the sales team get excited about the impending release is a good thing! Furthermore putting a similar screencast of "what's new" out to your beta users is smart. It can get them engaged and ready to use the new release instead of just letting it sit in their "when I've got time for it" pile.

Once you've brought your sales team and maintenance users up to speed; it's time market and demo the bits. Again with the video. If your not using it, you're missing it. Screencasts can be created to highlight the "wow" points of the new release. Putting a 30 sec./1 min. video teaser on the product page and/or landing page has a much higher rate of conversion to contact than a picture or big words with "New!", "Just Released!", or "Version XX!".

Giving the sales team a demo product is common, but unless the prospect is hot, and not busy doing their own job, it can be really difficult to get them through a product demo successfully and with any sense of urgency. But you give your sales team a screencast, or a webcast, or both, and now they have the tools to get the prospects hooked and evaluating the purchase options. These tools reduce the sales cycle significantly. Double check me with stats from all the big guns, it's true.

So with video you can shorten the time to market by making the information flow richer and faster, you can shortened the sales cycle with webcasts and screencasts, and you can increased the rate of conversion for sales by using these tools...I'd say that's pretty relevant.

Here are some businesses that get it (these are not clients, nor am I endorsing their products or services...they are just folks that get it):

www.ecopy.com watch a video that showcases their software

www.ektron.com watch a value prop video

www.fitnh.org watch a non-profit connect donors to the cause

Communication vs. Connection Part Duh!

So previously I talked about the difference between communicating and connecting. Everyday I find myself being asked; "why video?" , "why does it make that much of a difference?"...ok so here's an example or two.

I can tell you that there is this really cool ad that uses shadow puppets to create forms of bunnies, birds, branches, and a moose. It's set to music and kinda surreal.

We all know what shadow puppets are and you should be able to imagine them being used in an artistic way...so then, I have communicated that concept to you.

I could be more descriptive, but with all the elegant writing in the world, I still do not believe that it would have the same effect. Nor do I believe that all the adjectives and adverbs I might use to articulate the imagery could hold your attention span or be recalled in conversation weeks later.

I do believe the following will engage you in just these ways.




BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE...

If your not worrying about artistic impression or want something a little more "real". I can tell you about this guy, Xin. He's an immigrant kid who studied martial arts to get by in a gang ridden neighborhood. He got really good at it and felt confident until he came up against a kick boxer who schooled him some more. Long story short, this young man wanted to be the next Jackie Chan stunt man. He could be found leaping through malls and doing acrobatics as he learned to perfect his skills. This young man, not only is an amazing aerialist, but he is the subject and the producer of an online video that has seen more than 15 million viewers. The video serves him better than any picture or text article could, and it has enabled him to reach a larger audience than he imagined.

You've got to watch this...



Still not satisfied look at these...

http://www.time.com/time/topten/2006/webvideos/01.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/215472/urban_ninja_takes_youtube_by_storm.html