I get lots of questions regarding which camcorders I recommend. I’ve found that for the money, the Kodak Zi8 [aff link] can’t be beat.

In this video I share with you the 3 reasons I give to my clients on why I prefer the Kodak–even over the more popular Flip Mino HD.

And by the way, this video was shot in front of a green screen using the Zi8. The audio sounds good because I use a lav microphone. That leads us into reason number one but watch the video for the other two reasons too.

If you’re looking to create customer testimonials, interview people, or create your own how-to videos, I can’t recommend the Kodak Zi8 highly enough.

I was reading an article over at CNet on how Tiffen was introducing a “steadicam” for the iPhone. If you’re not familiar with steadicams, they’re camera mounts that are typically counter-balanced to smooth out the camera movement. If you’ve ever watched a video shot with a handheld camcorder, you’ll immediately understand the benefit of a steadicam. They remove all the camera shaking.

But this post isn’t about steadicams. I wanted to watch the video to learn more but what really caught my eye is that I think this entire video was produced with Apple’s Keynote presentation tool. This is important because the average user can create a video just like this. Where something like this used to cost thousands of dollars, we’re now able to produce this at home.

I see transitions & effects that are native to Keynote here. QuickTime video is easily embedded into Keynote and adding a soundtrack is easy too. What do you think? Was this created entirely in Keynote?

So here we have a decent size company producing videos with Keynote. It makes me wonder what individuals and small businesses can produce. Do you have any examples of professional “down & dirty” videos you’ve produced? Let me know in the comments.

Nancy Duarte from Duarte Design produced a very polished presentation with their 5 rules for effective presentations. If you’re not familiar with Nancy, she wrote the book Slide:ology – The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations. This books is so good, I ordered copies of it for my contractors in 2008. Nancy knows how to develop a great presentation.

Now what I’ve found interesting with this is that she did it entirely in PowerPoint 2010. I know most of her presentations have been done in Keynote. In addition to great presentation tips, this video makes me want to at least look at the new PowerPoint.

Does this mean Microsoft may actually be getting hip?

In Part 1, I explored how individuals could leverage screencasting. Here in Part 2, I want to explore some uncommon uses for screencasting in a business environment.

One point that I want to elaborate on here is this concept of tribal knowledge.

I think a lot of businesses just avoided a disaster. Baby boomers were nearing retirement age in such a great number and so fast, that I believe businesses were really going to feel it. However, they were saved by the Great Recession because this delays the boomers from retiring. However, it doesn’t diminish the need to capture what’s in their heads.

In days long gone, we used to sit around camp fires and tell stories. Elders passed their experience to younger generations. From this, traditions were established and more importantly, knowledge was transferred. In more modern times, we used to have apprentice and mentoring programs. Those too are long gone. But how do we transfer today’s knowledge?

I believe screencasting is one of the techniques we can use to capture and disseminate key information. It’s easy enough for most authors to develop and now with broadband internet, it’s easy to distribute.

You’ll have to let me know in the comments if you see additional uses for screencasting. In the meantime, here is Part 2 of the video.

I was asked by Lynn Elliott to do a guest post over at the Screening Room blog. This is Telestream’s blog for their ScreenFlow product; my preferred screencasting tool. I was more than happy to help.

I think most people relate screencasting to computer tutorials. Now granted, that makes the most sense. However, I think we need to view screencasting in a much larger picture. I see it as a new form of rapid video creation. One that savvy users can capitalize on. Let me explain.

American society is moving from a manufacturing society to an information and service society. Heck, there is so little manufacturing left in the US, lets just say it’s over. What this means for workers though is that we’ve become knowledge and concept workers. Now that we need to communicate concepts and ideas, we need tools that enable us.

And please don’t say it’s a PowerPoint with bullet points on it.

In this video, I explore a couple of ways you can use screencasting software. For other than computer tutorials of course.

Did I really call the former Vice President, Dude?

In Part 2, I’ll explore some uncommon business uses for screencasting. Stay tuned.

Skype is a great service for making free & inexpensive phone calls. What a lot of people don’t realize is that you can also conduct video chats.

What’s great though, is that with screencasting software, you can record and enhance your video chats. This is a great way to conduct remote interviews, train, and collaborate.

For this presentation, I collaborated with my friend Terry Brock. Terry has conducted numerous business interviews with Skype and knows a thing or two about doing them. And of course we did this in Skype!

This is the actual Skype video and was recorded from my desktop using ScreenFlow.

A sister site to SkillCasting is a dedicated Mac screencasting site I’ve launched called MacScreencasting. While I focus on all aspects “productizing your knowledge” here at SkillCasting, MacScreencasting is dedicated to working with screencasting software and the Mac.

I created a whitepaper entitled Mac Screencasting Inspiration. It’ll share with you 10 ways to use screencasting software. I bet there’s one or two ideas in there that you haven’t thought of before. And don’t worry, it’s completely free and no registration is required either.

One of the first videos I’ve created is about Using iMovie Green Screen with your Screencasts. This is the same effect I employ a lot of here on my videos. In the video, I show you how I do it.

I hope you’ll stop by and let me know what you think of it.

While leading an e-learning workshop last week, I shared with the class some tips for increasing their narrating effectiveness. This is because I’ve seen too many e-learning modules really fall apart because of poor narration. Nothing will erode your credibility like poor speaking skills.

Now these tips aren’t just limited to e-learning though. These are also great for screencasts and videos too.

This importance was highlighted this week when my Screenr video received a lot of Twitter re-tweets due to the quality of the narration. If there is one thing I can say about that piece it’s the fact that it’s coming from the heart. I didn’t polish that delivery up at all. Perhaps that’s why it’s so effective – it’s authentic.

The 2:30 minute video below shares the 5 P’s of presenting. (If you’re RSS feed doesn’t show the video, head on over to the actual site to see it embedded in the page.)

If you want to get great feedback on your next narration, apply these 5 tips.

Dan Pink gives a great presentation about motivation in this TED Conference video.

Having come from the corporate world myself, I can say that traditional motivators don’t work. Dan Pink provides the scientific proof. What does work though? Dan believes it’s Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.

I encourage you to take your passion, your years of mastery, and your freedom, to package what you know together to help make a difference.

Last week I was teaching a class on Articulate Presenter, Engage, and Quizmaker to a group of nurse educators. Right in the middle of class something happened and all of a sudden my Articulate ribbon in PowerPoint 2007 was gone.

This 3-minute Screenr video explains what happened. More importantly it’s an excellent example of customer service. Are you able to do this?