What a great idea! I'm going to share it with our speakers and encourage them to give it a try.

Yes, this is great. We were already planning to try this with our speakers this year - even if we get only a handful, it will liven up our promotional mix. The "How to make a video" video will be very helpful.

Video creation is so easy nowadays.... why not? It's a great way for speakers to promote themselves and it makes a dull, static program more exciting and energetic. Video isn't a new thing and it's time associations and conferences step it up. Youtube isn't a success for no reason. I'm curious who else in Engage365 is having their speakers create short videos to overview their session/presentation.

Funny, interesting and enlightening -- what could be better? Definitely will share with my not-for-profit clients. One extra bit, that would have made it perfection...a little info on editing the piece before posting it. Any good sites for layperson guidance?

Katherine:

I'd recommend Camtasia ($299) if you will do a lot of editing and want lots of options for publishing to different formats.
But, if you are just wanting to take a simple video, trim and sent out the door, just use Windows Movie Maker.

Most XP installations already have it.You can find it by clicking: Start, Run, Programs, Accessories, Entertainment. If not, download and install: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx

Windows 7: http://download.live.com/moviemaker

Both versions have a very short learning curve. (Easy Schmeezy!)

Good Luck!

Tony

thanks for the tips re. video editing, Tony

Katherine,

In the video I wanted to avoid recommending one brand or software over another, so I did skip the editing information. If your video camera uses formats other than .wmv, you can try the free Pinnacle VideoSpin software (http://www.videospin.com/) which handles many more formats.

On the Mac, iMovie is a great, inexpensive option (included with Apple iLife) and is what I used to edit the video in the article.

David

David, what an awesome video!! I did a little promo piece for MeetDifferent - would probably have been a good idea to rehearse before recording, but ah well...you know :-)
I invite you to openly taunt my dorkiness here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yahhAPQwvQ

This is SO great, I will totally share with planners/clients. Thank you and all of the other geniuses (there should be a plural like "Geni" for that word) at Omnipress for consistently being such an invaluable source of knowledge and ideas!
Midori Connolly, Chief AVGirl
http://www.twitter.com/GreenA_V

I mean, I'll share YOUR video with planners/clients - not mine :-)

Midori,

Brilliant. You didn't practice? you could fool me.!

Nice job,

I'd like to see others. Please post yours everyone!!!

Tony

P.S.

The plural of genius is geniuses or genii (genie-eye) LOL

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?genie002=genii

David that is a great video - thanks. I can tell I have some re-recording to do. Also, perhaps you can answer a question I have - is there such a thing as a teleprompter for those of us recording video on our webcams or flips? (I use the latter). I could be so much smoother if I had a crutch like that - do you know of anything available? Thanks for sharing your excellent info.

Sue, a very easy way to do this is to create a PowerPoint and use that as your teleprompter. You can use a wireless slide advancer (sheesh, technological terms do NOT lend themselves to grammatical wizardry), or the timer function in PowerPoint so you don't have to visibly reach for a mouse or mousepad when you want to advance a slide.

For Mac users, I suggest Presentation Prompter. You can either pay $65 for the unlimited version or a free version for up to like three minutes of recording (perfect for our short little videos).
http://www.nextforcesw.com/presentationprompter.html

I should have used this when I made my video ;-)

What a great question!!

great thread. I did my video with my FLIP Camera and no editing. I needed to have someone do the filming and I gave them simple instructions. I did two takes and took the best one.
http://socialmedia-for-trainers.wikispaces.com/Video

I cheater for my teleprompted and made it part of the video. I turned the camera to the screen - and then I had my browser tabs opened to the things I was going to voice over.

Another low tech teleprompter, is to put a piece of paper on the wall behind the camera -- with your bullet points. Place it at eye level with the camera. I had to make a video of me for the Business Week Voices of Innovations award. I was sick with the flu - and couldn't remember any thing. So, taped my bullet points on a piece of flip chart paper behind the camera. Put the camera on a tripod. Then did some takes to make sure the tripod was at my right eye level. Can you tell I'm reading from a script?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guAI1RYiYgQ

With Flip Video - you can easily upload to youtube and there' s a very very very simple editing function. I used to use Camtasia as my editor, but to be honest some weeks I just don't have the time to do the editing - and I think for social content - it doesn't necessarily need high production values.

What platform (PC or Mac) and program do you use to make dumped video footage into a DVD? There will be no editing. Thanks! Sue

Here is an open source teleprompter that works online and standalone. I experimented with it and thought it was great. I haven't had a chance to test fully but it really shows great potential.
http://www.easyprompter.com/portable.php

It's a cool place you people have created. I look forward to participating.
Brent

Midori, that was a great presentation...I'm with Tony; you could have fooled me for not having practiced. By the way, I just got back from Cancun and it should be beautiful down there for Meet Different 2010. I highly recommend snorkeling off Isla Mujeres!

Beth, I like your low tech teleprompter ideas! I also had a sheet of paper with bullet points, but it was hard to find a good place to hang it in my desk area.

Sue, I worked on a Mac and the iLife '09 suite (which should be updated soon, I imagine) has iMovie for editing your video and sends it right to iDVD for making your DVD master. It works very well. I'm afraid I'm not savvy on video editing suites for Windows.

Ah, I replied to one Sue and not the other. That last reply was for Sue W.

Sue B., I don't have much experience with teleprompter software but looks like there's some good solutions already recommended here.

If you haven't checked out Visual Communicator, it is worth it. Adobe bought them a few years ago. It is a really easy piece of software that lets you put together videos complete with transitions, slides, pics, etc. It has a teleprompter built in, and if you have proper lighting and a green screen, you can do a lot more. It isn't too expensive. It isn't for editing raw video, but is good for putting together a news type program or web video presentation.

http://www.adobe.com/products/visualcommunicator/

Here's another free teleprompter that looks insanely easy to use: http://www.cheapskatefreelancer.com/2010/02/cueprompter-free-teleprompter-to-speak-like-a-pro/

The best teleprompter is the one I use when speaking - a mental one. I write out the keywords and practice sequentially linking them in my mind. This frees me to just be myself without any notes.

Seriously, if you practice this some, you will find it is an easy skill to learn.

When I did use a teleprompter to record videos, it was the low-tech handwritten note. I really believe, just as with the mental method, it is the writing it out that anchors the keywords in your mind.

The trick is to just jump and trust the net (the right words) will be there. :)

Great discussion and wonderful suggestions - thanks to all of you for your teleprompter links and recommendations.