It may seem odd to include video and audio among in-person techniques. The chances are you will feature them on websites or in social media as the main point of access. However, recordings can be used locally in various ways:
- Recording videos and audio can be an excellent way of building relationships. I have written about testimonials elsewhere but they are only one approach. People may be willing to speak about problems they face or issues that concern them. They may be able to illustrate your product or service in action.
- Recordings of live events can be a way of sharing ideas locally, beyond those who are able to attend.
- Whilst podcasts, downloads, websites and social media have become the most frequent ways of accessing recorded material, DVDs still have some utility. This is particularly true of audio recordings that can be listened to whilst the listener does other things such as driving or jogging. Podcasts and downloads are taking on some of this role but longer material might still benefit from being recorded on static media.
- Recordings can be used for presentations. Short illustrative recordings are perhaps best for talks, so the speaker can pick up issues and develop them from the recordings or open discussion about them.
Of these the possibilities of recording material that can be used online may be most attractive to local businesses and organisations. Such recordings are opportunities to build relationships between the people involved.
YouTube is the most popular site for storing videos. You can create a channel for your organisation and keep all your videos there. Members, customers and other interested people can be encouraged to subscribe to the channel.
The search engine in YouTube is the second most powerful after Google (who own YouTube). So, if you can highlight keywords for your video, you can use YouTube to publicise your organisation and point viewers to your website. If you have a lot of relevant videos, you can build your list through this route. Maybe show videos on your premises or during presentations and offer people the url for the video or your channel.
There are options for storing your recordings online that enable you to restrict access to selected groups.
Recording Video and Audio
The first step is to decide why you want to make a recording and what you need to record to meet your purpose.
Types of Recording
You will have a number of options. Live videos are perhaps the easiest to record, although some people find speaking to camera daunting. The head and shoulders shot is popular and if you are using an editing suite, such as Camtasia, you can illustrate a talk by adding animations.
The same person can talk over a PowerPoint presentation. This can be a better approach for those who are nervous of cameras. There are alternatives to PowerPoint, such as Prezi and it is also possible to film MindMaps, using applications such as xmind. You can in fact film any screen on your computer and zoom in on details.
You can also film events, where people are working or talking together.
Equipment
You don’t really need any equipment in addition to the camera in a mobile phone or tablet. Videos from these are usually adequate. Obviously if you use a purpose-built camera you may produce a higher quality video but it depends on how important quality is. For example, a video intended for the home page of your site might benefit from additional attention to quality. Teaching videos, hidden deep within your site, perhaps do not need to be such high quality.
Sound is absolutely crucial, if viewers cannot hear your video, they will switch off. Most video cameras have good microphones, so the main problem is external noise. Be aware of this particularly if you are filming outside. Traffic or people talking in the background can drown out the sound you are seeking to record. Also wind can overpower a speaker and you may not be aware of this whilst recording.
Lighting is also important but less so than sound. You can usually see if the image is ridiculously dark. If you want a particularly sharp image or the film includes whiteboard images, then you may need to invest in lighting. This is not terribly expensive.
Editing
It is worth spending some time editing your film. This can be cutting and splicing, especially if you have a number of takes to consider. Camtasia and other video editing suites offers a massive range of special effects that are not hard to include.
It is always worth offering a transcript of the video. This is easy if you film a speaker reading from a script and may take more time if you need to transcribe it yourself. Some listeners like to follow a transcript, especially if they are hard of hearing. Also, Google likes transcripts because the words, if they are on the site and not in a pdf, can be picked up by search engines. You can sometimes include these in sections that open out at the viewer’s request.
Perhaps this is the least in-person of these in-person techniques but I’m sure there’s still plenty to explore about the potential of recordings for building community groups and businesses.
Do you have examples of recordings that have helped build community?