A recent question came up in a forum I belong to about the possibility of recording a live Webinar one time then replaying the recording at a scheduled time again as if it is live. I have done this for a client, but I probably would not repeat it unless there is an easier way. So listen to my process below then let me know if you have a better idea.

The Scenario

I had a client who was selling a social media product and had a group of Philipino telemarketers cold call businesses in order to fill a Webinar audience up every week  After delivering and recording the Live Webinar several times, he chose the one recording that sold the most products and decided to try to run the recording every week as if it were live.  He only wanted be available to answer questions as they came in to the chat and at the end of the Webinar. 

How I Tried It

We attempted this in GotoWebinar. In theory it seems easier than it turned out to be and I found it more than a bit stressful. To do this you have to have the replay video ready on your computer. Then in GTW, you have to “Show your screen” at the exact time that you press Play on the video and the phone speaker has to be right up against your computer speakers so people can hear the audio coming out. Then you have to really monitor it closely because things like your screensaver coming on (from lack of mouse movement) or a popup, etc. can give it away that it is not live.  Also you can’t allow anyone to ask questions verbally during the event because if it is supposed to be live someone should be addressing them.  But the client can come on at the end to talk to the audience as long as there is no real “wrap up” at the end of the recorded call.

What Went Wrong

The first time I did it, for some reason, I got kicked out of GTW.  Maybe because there was no actual screen activity for almost a hour- I don’t know. But next time I moved my mouse around every 15 minutes and didn’t get kicked out.The client used the cat to answer questions that came in so that was the only part that was live.

In Conclusion

So, in reality, it can be done but it definitely has to be very well planned if you want your audience to really think it is live. There was just so many steps to do all at the same time to kick it off that I had a real headache when I was finished.

I would love to know if there is a better way than the way I was doing it. If you know of any please comment.

BTW- I recently added the ability to audio and video comment so go brush your hair, smear on some lip gloss and fire up that webcam if you dare.

Thanks for reading,

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You may know that Camtasia, what I use to create tutorials, does have a quiz feature. It is pretty good for self tests and for companies that have Learning Management software such as Moodle. It will send the scores right to those programs. It is also great for end of course surveys. But it is not good when it comes to sending scores out in order to get certification.  If used inside a corporation it will open up whatever hosted e-mail the company is using and send the scores but it doesn’t work for Web based e-mail like gmail or hotmail.

I spent about 30 minutes researching on-line, hosted testing.  There were quite a few to choose from but I narrowed it down to the one I thought would work best. http://www.exambuilder.com It seems to be economical and not too complicated to set up Exambuilder, is less than $13 a student and I remember using this service when I worked at IBM. I couldn’t figure out if they actually send a certification e-mail based on the results of the test or if it had to be done manually. 

It seems like it boils down to him needing 3 things to get this project going.

1. A Website hosted monthly- Hostgator at $8.95/month- he should be able to update your pages yourself with some coaching.

2. A shopping cart – At worst this should cost you only $59/month through Practice Pay Solutions  if paid for separately. The cart does not need maintenance. It just needs updating when you come out with new product or change your prices.

3. A hosted on-line testing system with a database to track all scores.  This also does not need maintenance- just updating if questions change or new tests need to be added.

All these items should be set up one time and I told him that a Virtual Assistant can do this for him. Then, the VA could give him some training as to how to update everything himself and he’ll never have to hire someone again unless he needs to do something rather complex with his site.

Maybe all you need is a little help from a VA to get your training site going then she can give you some coaching on how to do the updates and fixes yourself.

Best,

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If I have to watch another screen capture video where they slowly move from check box to check box, I think I will die.

Camtasia, a very popular screen capture software, lets you speed up sections of your video…if you must show them. If you use Camtasia, look for “clip speed” in the help area or go to the “Edit” at the top of the page and find “clip speed”. Please use it to get through mundane parts of your video. Another way, which is easier, is to just cut out the portion of the video where you type everything in. Don’t be lazy and make the person watch you type…you can edit that section out.

Many people refuse to view videos because they cannot skim through the material like they can with a document. Actually, people can move the scrubber bar at the bottom of the video and jump through parts of your video, but they shouldn’t have to do this if you show the essential portions only. This can be a problem if you haven’t saved the video in a efficient enough format. If you haven’t compressed it appropriately, then your video watcher will get excessive “buffering” which will cause them to leave.

AIDA
A stands for Attention: If you must reach out and grab them by the throat, do it…their attention is necessary. Use music, a smiling human face, an attractive woman, a short but interesting intro.
I stands for Interest: Once you get their attention, you have your chance to deliver the goods. Give them what you promised to give them in as succinct a fashion as possible. You will keep their interest if you have a video loaded with good content.
D stands for Desire: If you are selling something, you will want to create desire for your product or service. Now don’t say you aren’t selling something. We are always selling, all the time. It may be an idea, a notion, a product, a service, education, or training – you get the idea.
A stands for Action: If you have created the desire, then you need to give them a way to satisfy their desire. Perhaps it is just a link to your blog so that they can get more information. Maybe it is a special offer of an article, report or eBook if they visit your site. You have to be careful here. You don’t want to go hard sell. Just make it easy for them to find what they want.

Always remember, when you are done making the video, take a critical look at it. Do I need to show this part? Can I speed this part up? Can I eliminate whole sections? Did I show my website address at the bottom third of the video through out? Show your video to a discerning individual who will give you helpful advice. Perhaps you know a person who will give an honest opinion. Perhaps a friend who knows a little bit about the subject might be better. At any rate, get some opinions.

What do you think? Are you happy with the videos you watch? Do you have suggestions for improvement? Do you prefer to read articles rather than watch videos?

Best,

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After I left there I freelanced off-line as an Instructional Designer, creating Instructional videos for all types of businesses for many years before getting a Website and promoting myself exclusively to the on-line community.  Now, I help Internet businesses create all types of videos, both training and marketing but all using the same basic tools.  The point is, you can make a really good living just making training videos for others if you want to and it is really enjoyable. These videos did not require any sort of real moviemaking knowledge. I didn’t have to know anything about lighting or hiring talent or any sort of Hollywood stuff. They were all done using PowerPoint and video captures of my computer screen (called Screencasts) combined and imported into Camtasia software where I edited them and produced the videos.

All from my desktop. Lots of my friends are still with companies or freelancing doing this kind of work and they average around $50-75 hour.  They call themselves Instructional Designers, Instructional Technologists or E-Learning Specialists. Some have advanced degrees, like myself, but many do not and have just learned how to do it through training classes. My graduate degree, basically, taught me how to design training for adult learners, so I understand how people learn but they never taught us how to use the software tools necessary.   That training I had to take on my own after I graduated. Many Instructional Designers are hired for two to six month projects working for large and medium sized businesses and schools so there is some stability in that, but you never get bored being with the same company for a very long time. Recently, I have been approached to start teaching what I know about on-line learning and Camtasia software at an on on-line university. They want their professors to start creating their own Web based training.

If you have ever thought about creating training videos, whether for your own business or to work for an outside company as a freelancer, may I suggest you take a look a the course I am teaching on Camtasia 6 which starts next Thursday, Oct 22. We (Lon Naylor and I) filled it to capacity when we ran it last April. but we still do have a few seats left this time as we haven’t promoted it quite as much. It is a fast track way to break into the field and we fill it to the brim with content and templates!

http://screencastprofits.com/camtasia6/

Hope you’ll join us!

Sincerely,

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It seems that a huge chunk of my business is coming from clients wanting me to help them set up these events.

With the massive growth in virtual events, there is a very unique and timely opportunity to position YOURSELF as a "Virtual Event Specialist"! Whether you are a VA or an Internet Entrepreneur these are great skills to master.

On September 16th, I will be co-hosting a "must attend" event with  VA Classroom’s Craig Cannings,  titled, "Building a Profitable Niche as a Virtual Event Specialist (Even in a Down Economy)!"   

We will be exploring the crucial skills required to effectively deliver Virtual Event Set-up and Management services to your clients(or for yourself). In addition, we will be sharing some exciting news on our upcoming training program: The Virtual Event Specialist Certification. So, go ahead and click on the below link to watch a short 5 minute video and then sign-up to receive some special bonus information including more details on the upcoming event on September 16th!

Click Here:

http://www.vaclassroom.com/virtual-event-specialist/

Enjoy the short video and I looking forward to seeing you at our event very soon!

Have a great day,

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I just learned today that my shopping Cart, Practice Pay Solutions, has added some nice new features. While a lot of people are using Aweber for their newsletters I will be sending in mine out from Practice Pay because they now have e-mail templates. To announce this update they created as screencast and submitted it to YouTube. There are a few things I really like about this screen cast

1. It is obviously scripted. There re no “ums”, and “you knows”. The audio is perfectly smooth and confident.

2. It has the music running though the entire piece. I like that as it gives it more energy and life.

3. It uses zoom and pan liberally to show close-ups of the software menus.

4. Even though the video is short, it is still segmented with title screens as nice transitions between topics.

Check it out.

By the way, if you want to check out the site I use to send my newsletters and host my products and house my affiliate program check out Practice Pay Solutions

Sincerely,

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Best,

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If you find yourself trying to be everything to all your clients it may be time to step back and make some decisions about where your VA business is going. I happen to have chosen just two areas to be really good at: Creating and recording Webinars and creating and training on screencast demos (esp. Camtasia).  Those are the only service I offer. Yes, I CAN do shopping carts and PPC and blog/Website creation and many other things that Internet Marketing VAs learn along the way but I don’t choose to offer those skills to clients. I have chosen an area that very few VAs offer so I get a lot of work and have become known as the Go To person for just those specific areas. That makes it a lot easier to market myself and organize my time. And I don’t have constant learning curves that I can’t charge my clients for.

So take some time and decide if you have a specific area of Internet Marketing that you really love then become the “Shopping Cart Queen” oops taken- or the “Ezine Queen” oops taken again- Or the ” Blog Girl”- that one might still be available. Better hurry!

Best,

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Hi ladies,

Does anyone have experience with video blogs?  Is it any different/harder than adding HTML code to a blog post?  I have a client who wants to get into video blogging and I’d like to learn more about this so I can have an intelligent conversation with him.  I am comfortable with creating/maintaining blogs for text posts and I have had to place audio code into blogs.  Is video code any different?  Who would provide the video code to me?

Thanks, Karen

Karen,

Here are some tips for your client

1. If they are looking for their videos to be searchable and open to everyone, go ahead and host them on Youtube or Viddler.  If they want them private, host them on screencast.com and choose a private account. Screencast.com is also a great place to host client videos that you have created with Camtasia. That way the client can review them without the entire world seeing them at the same time.

2. If they are hoping their video blog will to show up when people search for their blog topic in Google (for specific keywords) they need to add a lot of text commentary below their video (on their blogs) because Google can’t watch videos and won’t have any idea what the blog post is about.

3. Once the video has been uploaded to the sharing sites, you can post the videos on the blog by just grabbing the “embed” code that comes with each video and paste it into the html code wherever you want to video to appear on your blog page.

4. The easiest way to get started with recording video is to use a webcam or a flip camera and upload the avi file to the video sites. They will compress it for you to make it faster to load.

Let me know if you have any more questions along the way.

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