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[Progress] #AndyTalks

Andy Black

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Background
(This background part was added 7 days after creating the thread.)


I post a LOT !!!

I joined the forum 20 months ago and have posted over 2,000 times. That's a lot of posting!
A few months ago I even tried to slow down the posting, thinking it was stopping me from doing "real work". Lol... that didn't last more than a week.
I can't stop myself.
I read comments or questions and stories pop into my head. Often I start with a quick response, and end up writing a chapter in a small book.
If I don't answer, it's like a bothersome little splinter in my mind until I go back and answer as best I can.
I PM people a lot !!!

Every time someone follows me or sends me rep, I say thanks. I think it's good manners for starters. But I've also enjoyed the little interactions.​
That's over 600 PMs in 20 months.​
It surprised me ...

To be made a moderator.
To have helped/impacted so many people.
That it mostly had nothing to do with AdWords.
(This thread here.)
Help more people ...

I'm starting to regularly be surprised when a new forum member likes a post from months ago and I re-read it. I mostly can't remember even writing it. I'd like to repurpose a lot of it somehow, rather than have it all scattered to the wind.
Anyway, whatever I'm doing seems to have helped people in the forum, and I wonder how many more people I can help if I start posting (somehow) outside the forum.

Help people more ...

Three months ago @SmoothFranko left the following comment in this thread:​
Make a show called "Andy's Talks" and you'd have the majority of all active members on these forums watching you. throw so ads on there + ??? = profit?

I've had quite a few people say I should create an "Andy's Corner", or "Andy's Talks" and just start churning out content.
Creating content and interacting just seems to be one of those things I can't NOT do.
It seems to help people - so I'm going to see what happens when I double down on it.
This was an encouraging reply from @SlowlaneJay that made me smile when I said I was considering it.
ohmygodyes

oh-yes.gif
Thanks @SmoothFranko, @SlowlaneJay, and everyone else who's told me to "shut up and take my money".
Renaming the thread ...

I initially titled this progress thread "iPhone talking head videos", but I'd also like to document creating screencasts, creating a YouTube channel, doing live streaming (Periscope/YouTube?), and whatever else I do to get more content out of my head so it helps more people.
So "Andy Talks" will do for now. It's a bit embarrassing to put my own name in a thread title. It's not to "brand" myself. It's so people who don't want to follow this thread can avoid it. Anti-click-bait. (I vaguely feel this is something I have to get over.)
If anyone can think of something better, I'm all ears.

My goal ...

I mention this in a later post.

Help more people. Help people more.
I don't really know how I'll "monetize" it.
It's obviously an itch I can't scratch, so I'm going to do it anyway.
It should be either "Hell Yeah!", or "No".
So "all-in" it is.
 
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Andy Black

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#AndyTalks 001 - Get Your Goal Right!

A few weeks ago I created a quick video to say thanks to @SinisterLex in his video thread here.

I just used my iPhone 5S with the inbuilt mic.

I then bought a lapel mic that didn't fit into the iPhone jack (grrrr). I've since found out there's an adapter that can be used, but ordered a MOVO PM10 lapel mic anyway.

The next test I wanted to do was to improve the audio.

This first video was created using the "selfie" camera, and I found it really hard to look at the lense, hence not bothering and just looking at myself.




#AndyTalks 002 - Improving Audio

The MOVO PM10 lapel mic arrived today.

Here's a video comparing it to the iPhone 5S inbuilt mic, and the standard iPhone hands-free kit.

I've uploaded this video to YouTube for the moment.

I had the normal camera facing me, so wasn't distracted by an image of myself moving about. It was much easier to focus on the camera lense this way too.

I bought the iMovie app for my iPhone to edit this video. All I did was delete the first and last few seconds where I turned the video recorder on and off, and add a "fade in from black" at the start and "fade out to black" at the end. It was then easy enough to upload from the iPhone straight to YouTube and Vimeo.

The first video was done at night-time, and I had the blinds as a neutral backdrop. This second video was done during the day and is at the other end of the kitchen table. I noticed that during the day, some light shows through the blinds. Also, I might as well make the use of the natural light as well as the kitchen light.

I've positioned myself into the corner. I watched a video of a professional film producer giving advice about creating "talking head" videos. He said not to worry about black/white/green screens, but to use a non-distracting background, and try and sit in the corner of the room - so that all the perspective lines lead to you. I wouldn't have thought of that!

Oh, and I was convinced to buy the MOVO PM10 after watching/listening to this video on YouTube.

 

Andy Black

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You have quite the soothing voice to listen to.

Are you specifically trying to go somewhere with the reviewing?

Or are you just doing that for us fastlaners?
Soothing as it puts you to sleep? Lol.

A few people in the forum asked me to do talks and/or courses, so here I am. :)

I feel I've not explained the benefits of paid search as well as I normally do when I talk to people. I've written a lot of content, but my best medium for presenting is talking with a flip-chart or whiteboard.

I thought I'd do a progress thread of me working out how to create the content in the first place. It might evolve into creating a YouTube channel, Udemy course, promoting the content, generating leads for my service business, etc.

I've not quite worked out the end goal yet. I think for the moment it's to just have a go and see where it takes me.

Thanks for the feedback @Omega
 
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marklov

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I feel I've not explained the benefits of paid search as well as I normally do when I talk to people. I've written a lot of content, but my best medium for presenting is talking with a flip-chart or whiteboard.

Eh.... If people actually took action using your advice then they would know it's actual gold.
I still use the your methodology to this day and it works great for me.

Lots of times I find people want "fluff" to make themselves feel good that they are taking action
by listening to this million dollar short cut or something. I on the other hand hate fluff especially in videos that can be 45 mins long.


I've not quite worked out the end goal yet. I think for the moment it's to just have a go and see where it takes me.

Launch & Learn;)


Soothing as it puts you to sleep? Lol.

I believe it depends....

I can tolerate a "sharp" voice for a 10 min video but bump that up to an half hour one
or even a series then I would rather get the pdf format.

Chet holmes had it just right I could listen to his videos all day.

All imo though.
 

Fox

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The last mic sounds best, although the standard hands-free mic isn't too bad.

You have a great, interesting voice tone. Perfect for online courses etc.
 

FastNAwesome

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The second mic makes all the difference - much clearer sound, and less echo. Perfect for start. Then as you go I guess there are better microphones out there, specifically meant for this purpose.

If you wanted to take it one step further - you could dry the sound (get rid of the echo). Some ways to do this, apart from recording in the studio are using a small room in which egg boxes are used instead of wallpaper:) And I'm sure there must be some other, less cumbersome DIY ways to do this. Seems there are multiple musicians on the forum, maybe someone will have an advice.

Video quality is as great as it needs to be for tutorials.

Your voice is great for this. Clear speaking, very pleasant tone and very professional - almost as if you have been through a course for a radio/TV speaker where these things are taught. But there's more to it - you have competence on the topics you cover and a great teacher personality.

Not every expert is a good teacher. You are.
 
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Andy Black

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Lots of times I find people want "fluff" to make themselves feel good that they are taking action by listening to this million dollar short cut or something. I on the other hand hate fluff especially in videos that can be 45 mins long.
I'm glad you brought this up.

If I'm targeting "the people in motion" (business owners), then they're the people who value their time.

Personally, I'd rather pay $100 for a 1 hour video on something I want to learn, than pay $10 for a 10 hour video.

People who prefer it the other way round aren't my target market.


...


Launch & Learn;)

Thanks for reading! (Inside joke... @marklov obviously read this post.)

I'm giving myself "permission to suck", as Doberman Dan mentions in this podcast.

My two other main take-aways from that podcast are:
  1. "Darken the page." (Just start writing.)

  2. "What can you NOT do?" ... "What do you HAVE to do every single day?" (For me it seems to be producing content... currently in written format.)


...


The last mic sounds best, although the standard hands-free mic isn't too bad.

Thanks @Fox. Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality from the hands-free kit as well. I can see now that if I'm out and about and want to do a quick selfie video, then it's more than adequate.


...


Video quality is as great as it needs to be for tutorials.
Thanks for replying. @FastNAwesome

Exactly. From my learning so far, when it comes to video, the content and audio are the most important, then the lighting, and finally the camera.

I'd like to use my phone. The less friction the better - be it getting started, creating the content, or publishing it.


You have a great, interesting voice tone. Perfect for online courses etc.

Your voice is great for this. Clear speaking, very pleasant tone and very professional - almost as if you have been through a course for a radio/TV speaker where these things are taught.

See? I've had this feedback a couple of times from other videos I dropped into the forum. I wouldn't have known this if I hadn't just thrown something out there.

Below are links to some of those other videos I dropped into the forum.

Some are done on my iPad with audio done after and edited in.

Some are powerpoint screencasts with audio done after and edited in.

One was a nightmare to do, because I didn't know much about editing. I lost the will to live after that one and am trying to find a way I can do it that comes more naturally.

...


But there's more to it - you have competence on the topics you cover and a great teacher personality.

Not every expert is a good teacher. You are.

Thanks. It reminds me of this video by Gary V that I posted here.


...


Where I'm going with this...

I'm not thinking of creating courses or doing coaching. There's plenty of AdWords / paid search / online marketing courses out there that show HOW to do stuff. I've even created a step-by-step guide that I dropped into the forum here.

Instead, I have this vision of explaining to business owners WHAT can be done, and WHY they'd want to do it. The same way I do when I meet business owners for a "coffee" to discuss generating more leads for their business. Or the same way I'd do a 20 minute presentation to a business chamber morning (which I've not done yet but intend doing shortly).

I'd also like to record some of the presentations I did when I lead a team of 35 AdWords specialists. Every Friday I'd do a 20 minute flip-chart presentation to help them improve their campaigns... which really meant helping them to be the best they could be.

I'll also do more screencasts, and I've bought a Blue Yeti mic to use with my PC when I do that. (I use Camtasia to record and edit these.)


I'm guessing the video content can be used to generate more leads for my service business.

At the very least I'll learn some useful skills.

And last but not least, I'll be hopping from foot to foot until I get this content out of my head and "down on paper" anyway.
 
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Andy Black

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[UPDATE]

I ordered a few things from Amazon that should arrive maybe in a week (or more given they're coming from the UK to Ireland!):

z49mRvZ.png



They are:

1) A converter so that I can attach the other lapel mic I bought to the iPhone. That mic has a good and long cable. I'd have to test it to see if it's as good as the MOVO PM10.
(Link here.)

2) A mic stand to hold the Blue Yeti mic. I used the mic for a Skype call a few days ago, and the other person said my keyboard was *really* loud. The Blue Yeti sits on the table right along with the keyboard, so I figure I should get it off the table to reduce the vibrations. It's one of those folding stands that attaches to the table. Hopefully it will attach to my table.
(Link here.)

3) An extension cable for the MOVO PM10. Hopefully it's the right one for Apple stuff, and it's long enough for me to stand up and use a flip-chart.
(Link here.)

4) A pop shield for the Blue Yeti mic.
(Link here.)


...


I'd LOVE to get this shotgun mic that goes with the iPhone - for when recording the kids. I'll do that another time though.
(Link here.)

Some video I saw on YouTube of it in action here.
 

marklov

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Instead, I have this vision of explaining to business owners WHAT can be done, and WHY they'd want to do it. The same way I do when I meet business owners for a "coffee" to discuss generating more leads for their business. Or the same way I'd do a 30 minute course for a business chamber morning (which I've not done yet but intend doing shortly).


Actually something a lot of business owners would really pay good money for especially in a series, I am too burnt out from consulting to make my own podcast series in the lead gen space.

I have done my fair share of webinars through my linkedin group (thankfully now sold) with lots of different service based businesses owners who operate heavily on leads and word of mouth. Another big revelation is that these guys are willing to spend big on "systems".

They really appreciate easy to consume information that speaks their "tradie" language and is short.
most of my webinars weren't more than 30 mins at a time.

Most owners are overly involved with low rung work and heavily fatigued at the end of their day,so imagine a 35 min session with the first 15 filled with tony robbins esque stuff.

Take for example Remodelers, a mom and pop operation with no website
could be doing 3-5 million in sales they have built up over the years.

You can create a website/facebook/yelp/google places and get them some "web presence"
that drives leads and some really good ones if they are laser targeted.

Flip the coin and say get some young unemployed kid give him a script and get him
calling some neighborhoods offering an inspection to set an appointment.

Kid can easily generate 3-5 appointments a day and remodeling leads through CC tend to convert very well and a typical smaller project is around 7k-24k and bigger projects 40K-70K

Although both methods have the same lead value potential, explaining the WHY behind both is severely lacking in most material, it's usually along the lines of do this BECAUSE.

My knowledge in this niche is mostly offline methods such as directmail, telemarketing with a little ppc as that's what I found owners grasped faster.

So take my perspective with a little grain of salt.

Lead gen space has lots of room for value:)
 
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Andy Black

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Thanks for the reply @marklov

Most owners are overly involved with low rung work and heavily fatigued at the end of their day,so imagine a 35 min session with the first 15 filled with tony robbins esque stuff.

Err... you mean you have to coach and motivate them too? I'm noticing that.
 

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[UPDATE]

Periscope?

I keep hearing about Periscope and joined this evening.

My poor old brain can't quite compute what's going on, but I can't deny it's very interesting (compelling?) to watch live broadcasts.

Some "scopes" I've tuned into briefly this evening:
  1. A couple driving across the US playing music in their car (guitar and singing).
  2. An American showing a traffic junction in Poland with heavy snow on the ground. Ooops... a few fender benders there.
  3. A designer in LA doing a Q&A. It was a bit quick-fire, and people were asking dumb-a$$ questions.
  4. A few people bored at work.
  5. A dubious one of an attractive lady in gym gear being asked more dumb-a$$ questions.
Apparently, less than 1% of Twitter users are even on Periscope. And as per usual, only a small % are producers, with the rest being consumers.

I found a few good recorded scopes on YouTube, with people explaining how they work. (Isn't YouTube just the first port of call to learn stuff quickly?)

What's very interesting is how "unproduced" the scopes are. Forget green screens and professional lighting. Forget editing and highly scripted recordings. It's all about authenticity and being yourself.

I can sort of see how I might enjoy using this. I produce my best content live, and in response to questions. (I'll post a profile I had done via www.marketingdnatest.com when I find it - it nailed me.)

I'm really happy I decided to go down the iPhone route for these talking head videos.
 

marklov

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Err... you mean you have to coach and motivate them too? I'm noticing that.

From my experience it depends....

Coaching and motivating is a whole different ball game, personally I
let my "tone/inflection" do the motivating, kept the info straight to the point and that
worked great for me.

Business owners action fake too....

Some buy 10's of thousands in material/seminars and do little if anything with it ...They know what they need to do but just don't do it. I am starting to see a trend where courses that get a owners motivation through the roof , chances are they are less likely to follow through as they come down of the high vs material that lets them see the work cut out to getting to where they want to be or what you are offering to help get them there.
 
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Andy Black

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I think it has potential I imagine if you have a loyal following you could create mini launches or just add another level of interaction to your brand.
I was thinking more as a way of teasing the content out of myself. There's a reason I inhabit forums... I'm a "responder". I find it hard to create content when staring at a blank page. I need someone to help. (I think most people are probably like that?)

However, I've just seen on YouTube that they are Beta'ing a Live Stream thing. And Google has Hangouts anyway, which I don't know much about.
 

Andy Black

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[UPDATE]

This was unexpected.

I loaded that second video (the MOVO PM10 one) to YouTube instead of Vimeo purely because it seemed to be hanging when uploading to Vimeo (it wasn't - I was just impatient).

It's currently the only video in my YouTube channel, and not what my channel is going to be about. I was going to delete it, but then thought I'd fiddle with the title of the video instead.

Now I see it ranking within an hour on Google. It's for a search term no-one is likely using... but still.

(Look how cr@p the ads are btw... Only the Amazon one is relevant.)

rySQHYl.png




I've updated the video description and tags a bit:

gp7RzOs.png



I've no idea what I'm doing with YouTube SEO.

I picked up a couple of YouTube marketing courses on Udemy over Christmas, but haven't gone through them yet.

Time to get my head round YouTube...



Oh, and that stuff is being dispatched from Amazon and might be here in a couple of days.

I already have a flip-chart I used last year to give weekly Maths grinds to a couple of teenagers doing their Leaving Certs (to get into College). (They both passed btw, and are doing Business Degrees of all things... I said I'd help them with Marketing and Excel.)
 
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marklov

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Oh that's really cool stuff with youtube.

I only know superficial stuff about youtube/social media marketing so can't really offer much useful advice in that area but it's really cool to see your video ranking

Amazon s3 was were i uploaded my linkedin webinar content for protection purposes.


I was thinking more as a way of teasing the content out of myself. There's a reason I inhabit forums... I'm a "responder". I find it hard to create content when staring at a blank page. I need someone to help. (I think most people are probably like that?)

However, I've just seen on YouTube that they are Beta'ing a Live Stream thing. And Google has Hangouts anyway, which I don't know much about.

About being a 'responder" Yea I am like that I am not traditionally creative at all, I had to torture myself to design a directmail piece from a blank page last year, fiver is a godsend.

Thankfully found a book that mechanizes creativity into a formula so I'll be applying a lot of it's principles to see if it works.

Youtube's live streaming....I usually watch a local entertainment show on it as I don't watch tv much but the stream service has been very good on the viewers end.

We are in the same boat on google hangouts...

After looking into Periscope more I see where people have actually told viewers to go like their facebook page or subscribe and they did!

But I can't put my finger on how it would work for idea extraction though....

Really need to dig deep into social media marketing this year among so many
other things to do as well, it never ends:rolleyes:.
 

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Google gives YouTube videos waaaay too much power right now. I'm taking advantage of it atm. Not a scalable model, but an easy sideflow of cash if you find the right searches.
 

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[UPDATE]

The pop filter for the Blue Yeti arrived today. It looks a bit crap attached, but definitely reduces the "pop" from plosive sounds ("b"s and "p"s).

The mic stand also arrived. The Blue Yeti doesn't fit into it, and my table surface is too thick for the clamp to attach to it. Sigh... why am I even remotely surprised? This is a great example of how YouTube is so good and why I should have used it to learn about mic stands before I bought one. The worst bit is it's not worth sending back to the UK, so it will go into the cupboard of stuff I don't use (yet).

The mic stand is to reduce the sound of the keyboard. Maybe I get a different mic stand, or maybe I use some shock mount pad or something. I'll get round it somehow. The Blue Yeti is more for screencasts. I'm concentrating on talking head videos at the minute, so I'll leave that for later.
 
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Andy Black

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Marked notable. Gold watch.

With big expectations comes big responsibility.
Oh poo.

I feel like a rabbit who's just been janked out of his nice warm rabbit-hole. Thanks @Vigilante !

The urge to flee back to the comfort of perfectionism and not ship is strong.

But I'll overcome it ... because I've given myself "permission to suck".
 

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Google gives YouTube videos waaaay too much power right now. I'm taking advantage of it atm. Not a scalable model, but an easy sideflow of cash if you find the right searches.

Interesting.

Congrats Andy on the action taking, Looking forward to your journey.

Knock 'em out...
 
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Andy Black

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[UPDATE]

I've been busy doing that client stuff that pays the bills. I'm gonna have to burn the midnight oil this weekend to get the momentum on a few projects.


It hasn't stopped me thinking about this though...

Whilst I enjoy writing, I also like creating content live (and helping people by responding live), so I'm looking at Snapchat and Periscope (and YouTube live streaming/hangouts/etc).

They could be good ways to:
  1. Talk to my iPhone camera without feeling like I'm talking to no-one (that is such a weird feeling - just try it and see how you're suddenly at a loss for words.)

  2. Get my head round these new platforms.

  3. Get questions from people that I can use to generate more content.

  4. Give myself more "permission to suck" (those platforms are *supposed* to be live and unproduced).

  5. Get in front of more people anyway.

  6. Suss out these new platforms before others do (go where the puck is going as Gary Vaynerchuk would say).


Here's why I'm leaning towards unpolished, unscripted , and maybe live:

My first 15 years of work were as a Production Oracle Database Administrator. Any IT guys amongst us will know that's highly anal retentive, detail oriented, and not especially creative.

I read Perry Marshall's excellent book "80/20 Sales & Marketing". It had an upsell to an 80/20 productivity course, the crux of which was that you won't be at your most productive until you fully understood what you do best, and focus on that and outsource the rest.

It included a test at www.marketingdnatest.com.

I did this maybe 3 years ago, and it was a BIG eye-opener to see that I'd been doing the EXACT OPPOSITE of what my strengths were (and I was a pretty damn good DBA btw).

Take this as a lesson to know your strengths and go all-in on them.

3aIOuHP.png
 

Andy Black

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#AndyTalks 003 - I Can Stand!




Observations from this video:

1) Damn, it's a lot easier to talk when you're stood up.

2) So this is a video progress thread of me just getting to the start line!

3) One take. No practice. No editing. Go on the "B" of "Bang". (EDIT: I had no idea that I was going to talk about team consumer vs team producer. It again backs up that profiling I did a while back and included above.)​


Things to note for next video:

1) Don't talk while you're moving at the start and the end. You can't then cut out the bits where you turn the video on and off. Mind you, it's easier just to upload without editing.

2) The camera focus/colour (exposure?) changes as I moved around - I should fix that at the start.

3) Small rug to stand on? ... so you can't hear my clumpy shoes on the wooden floor.

4) Too much check shirt and check wallpaper? Haha...

5) It's a bit long at 4.5 mins. I'll aim for 3 mins or under.

6) I'll plan out the next one rather than just ad-lib. It only needs to be a few bullet points I think, with a conclusion/goal I'm working towards.​


What do you think?
 
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Last edited:

marklov

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Audio is pretty good and you look comfortable in front the camera.

I can understand with the with pressing the launch button, I remember looking at my webinar room and seeing all the people logged in, however my button was "unmute" but as you say it's little steps.

Green Screen maybe?:cool:

Good Luck!
 

Andy Black

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Real nice, every video getting better and better.

Video, sound and presentation skills - everything is there.

Thanks @FastNAwesome




Audio is pretty good and you look comfortable in front the camera.

I can understand with the with pressing the launch button, I remember looking at my webinar room and seeing all the people logged in, however my button was "unmute" but as you say it's little steps.

Green Screen maybe?:cool:

Good Luck!

Thanks @marklov

I'd love a green screen, and lighting, and ..., and ..., <insert more shiny stuff>. :)

Except I know I don't NEED any of it to get going. So I'm gonna see where I can get to with the minimum.


The background isn't the best in this video. Pretty busy, especially with what I was wearing. Honestly, I was just doing tests of the audio and the setup as if there was a flip-chart to my right, and I ended up waffling and figured it would was good to go.

I had some good learnings out of it. I found it really hard to start the previous two videos, but with this one I didn't have a problem. I don't know if it's because I was standing, or if it's because I'm more practised.


Thanks for following, watching, and your feedback everyone (including those who've PM'd me!).
 
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Buickestate

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You are doing great, you got a decent voice and great screen presence. You're working on the little things, so the more you do the better you'll become. Keep it simple no need for gagets, unless they will make things simpler and or faster for you.

You're better at this than you think
 

Mattie

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Your marvelous! :) Ha ha! I've been trying to get into this too, but the thing is my mind goes blank and then I'm like uhto! So, trying to figure out how to do it so I don't go blank and forget what I want to say. lol
 

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