August 2014
Weekly Video Update – 08/01/14
Hi there, it’s Michelle this week. I just finished presenting at the NAMS12 conference in Atlanta and Lon does his presentation Sunday morning. I skipped the Karaoke Party lastnight so I could make sure my mind was clear enough to write this newsletter today. I’d say it’s as clear as it’s going to get so here goes….
From the Blog…
A Narration Technique I Use all the Time
When I first starting doing my own narration, I thought doing a great voice over would be something I could learn fairly quickly. In reality, it can be as difficult as learning to create a good screencast. It can require quite a bit of practice to get as good as a professional. Here is a technique that has made my voice sound a lot better.
Quick Camtasia Tip
When your video clip is longer than your audio, and you are trying to sync them together, instead of cutting out a chunk of your video, try using the “clip speed” function.
Just select the part part of the video you want to shorten, right click and choose “Clip Speed”. Try changing it to 200% and then just adjust it until the audio and video match. This works great because you don’t get those awkward cursor jumps that are often the result of cutting out a piece of video.
BTW – be sure you have only selected the piece of video you want to speed up. This may involve adding a split right before or right after your selection.
This is one of the many tips Lon and I will be demonstrating on August 20th at 8 pm on an all new free webinar. Save the date and you’ll be getting your invite in a couple of weeks.
[divider_line_dashed] [/divider_line_dashed]Live from NAMS12
In spite of a few initial technical glitches (I was the first of 41 presenters) my workshop “Easy Videos with PowerPoint Templates” went well at the “Novice to Advance Marketing Systems” conference this weekend. Lon speaks tomorrow morning. His topic is “Affiliate Marketing with Video”.
A few weeks ago I told you they were offering all the videos of all the presentations for a flat $77 and they are doing it again through the end of the conference, which is Monday.
Considering the price to attend live is usually $697, and the instructors are all experts in their areas, consider taking a look to see if purchasing this package for almost 90% off fits in with your learning plan for this year. Since there was no way I could attend all 74 sessions I’ll be picking this up myself.
So, that’s it for this week. See you next time!
Lon Naylor and Michelle Schoen
Contact Us 
Weekly Video Update – 08/08/14
Hi there, it’s Lon Naylor with this week’s highlights and Video News You Can Use:
From the Blog: Are You Doing Podcasts? Why not!
Repurposing your video content yields BIG benefits in terms of extra exposure for your content.
If you have a video with narration? You already have what you need to realize those benefits as a podcast!
We can “pick” them apart and use what we have already done in ways that can deliver our content to potentially vast new audiences.
In this mini-seminar, Lon Naylor discusses some of the benefits of this strategy with Podcasting expert, Fred Castaneda:
Read More ==> Podcasting For Screencasters
This technique works for video creators AND the other way around to turn audio content into videos.
[divider_line_dashed] [/divider_line_dashed]Heads Up ALERT:
**** Back Up Your Work! ****
As a 35 years veteran of the computer industry there have been many times that a computer failure has taken center stage in my life.
If you never suffered a total machine meltdown or hard drive crash, I can’t really describe the feeling…
It’s kinda like trying to explain a hangover to someone who has never had one: You have to live through it to believe it!
Trust me… you MUST back up your work! Period.
Here’s a pretty nifty option I bought yesterday:
A 500GB cloud hard drive with software to automatically keep you backed up for a one-time fee of under $10:
==> http://www.screencastprofits.com/tools/backupbeast
I also upgraded it to the 2 TB (that’s terabytes!) option for about $50 – one-time payment instead of a monthly charge like with DropBox or even Amazon S3.
Check it out: http://www.screencastprofits.com/tools/backupbeast
Price goes up with each block of sales so don’t wait too long.
Some nice features:
– Works on both Windows and Mac.
– Does hourly backup of all your files.
– Saves deleted files for up to 30 days (wow)
– Backup external hard-drives too.
– Web Portal to access all your files.
– One-Click Restore whenever you want.
– Mobile Apps to access your files on-the-go.
Backing up is way better than a multi-day hangover! 😉
Have a great weekend!
Lon Naylor and Michelle Schoen
Contact Us
Weekly Video Update – 08/15/14
Hi there, it’s Michelle this week. If you have any kids, by now they have either started school or are about to. As for me, I have started another year of homeschooling mine, who are now 14 and 15. At the start of each school year, I spend hours identifying the best on-line video training for them to to take. When I hear the reasons why they think some on-line training is awesome and why some of it stinks I learn an awful lot about designing my own video courses.
In the first article below, I’ll identify some of my favorite places to learn and some best practices for making your video training better.
What Makes Some Training Better…
After many years of reviewing on-line video training for myself and my kids, I have some criteria that courses need to meet to be sure myself and my teens get the most out of them. Below are 3 of my favorite places to learn.
Lynda.com – Especially their Programming courses
Rosetta Stone – We are taking French together
Skillshare.com – Danielle is taking this Entrepreneurship class
Just some of what makes these on-line video training classes so great.
- Students feel a connection with the trainer who is likable, informal and entertaining.
- The ability to practice what they have learned through exercises.
- The course is blended with social media discussion groups allowing the students to interact with others and get their work critiqued.
- The videos are well edited without mistakes, missing steps or rambling
- Information is chunked into small Lessons no longer than ten minutes each (usually much shorter) to coincide with people’s short attention spans and letting them jump to just the lessons they want to review
- And lastly, but most importantly, the videos are professional with great sound quality.
As much as possible, we try to incorporate the standards above in our training at LearnCamtasia.com. Because of time limitations we are not always able to add practice sessions to every course, but we do whenever possible.
What about your courses? Have you been able to incorporate most of these best practices for e-learning?
From the Blog…
So, you’ve probably see LOTS of PowerPoint templates being offered out there from the Warrior Forum, JVZoo, and others.
All of the sales pages for these products promise you can easily create professional videos with NO skills or work!
Well, yes, you can create videos with them. But how good those end up being is a little more involved than just modifying some text.
In this tutorial, Lon Naylor covers some of the pitfalls you may likely encounter in trying to use these templates and shows some of his top tips & tricks for truly getting the quality video results you are looking for:
[divider_line_dashed] [/divider_line_dashed]All New Webinar Next Wednesday
You should probably have received your invitation by now, but if you haven’t you’ll want to go register for next week’s free training.
“Cool Tools for Hot Summer Videos” Wednesday at 8 EDT.
Lon and I share with you a bunch of free and cheap resources we’ve been using throughout our videos in 2014. https://screencapturevideo.com/cooltools
So, that’s it for this week. See you next time!
Lon Naylor and Michelle Schoen
Contact Us
Weekly Video Update – 08/29/14
Hi there, it’s Michelle this week. Hope you are having a nice weekend. I have a few items in this Newsletter that I hope you will find helpful.
First, I have a blog post reminding you of the extra Modules new course developers often leave out of their video training courses, then some news about the availability of my Camtasia newbie webinar next week and lastly, a look at my narration setup that you may find helpful if you’re just getting started on your own.
From the Blog…
Creating Your Video Courses – Don’t Leave These Parts Out!
When I do Video Coaching I get to see many of our student’s training videos and their outlines. And most of the time they omit some of the necessary Modules that make a course much more user friendly and instructionally sound. Here are the course components that you should strive to have in every multi-lesson video course you develop….
Are You a Newbie to Camtasia Studio?
Here’s the deal….
I sent an email this past week letting people know that I was delivering a Live Quick Start Webinar next Wednesday at 8 pm EDT,at no charge, to anyone who is interested in purchasing a new or upgraded version of Camtasia Studio.
I got quite a bit of interest from people who already had Camtasia but still really needed the newbie Quick Start. So if you already have Camtasia but haven’t really used it yet and want to get started fast, you can join us at the live webinar for just $27. Here is what you’ll learn….
- The high level steps to creating a training video, in order. You’ll receive a best practices, step by step outline so you won’t have to guess at what comes next.
- How to name and set up your folders and where to place everything, so you won’t ever wonder where the heck Camtasia put your files.
- How to decide if you shouldrecord narration first, second or together with the video. There are pros and cons to each method.
Plus, plenty of time for questions.
So either get this for free with your Camtasia Purchase or buy for $27 through Tuesday night.
[divider_line_dashed] [/divider_line_dashed]My Recording Setup
I can’t believe I waited this long but I finally bought a microphone stand. In the past, I just leaned down to my mic on the stupid little stand it came with which wasn’t particularly steady or easy to maneuver. Now I really feel like some sort of voice over specialist or even a studio musician. Let me tell you what’s in my set up. These are not affiliate links so feel free just to Google them if you don’t want to purchase at Amazon.
My AT2020 USB Mic (I’ve had this for years)
Clip on Pop filter (to get rid of popping sounds)
Boom stand (just purchased this finally)
Mic clip (needed this to attach mic to stand)
The stand is just making my neck feel better and it helps keep my sound more consistent because I keep it in one place all the time.
So, that’s it for this week. See you next time!
Lon Naylor and Michelle Schoen
Contact Us