Feasibility, Believability, and Fixability: Three Reasons Not to Use a Professional Voiceover Actor

Here's a common scenario for creating a corporate screencast. In an effort to create a screencast, the project manager writes a script, carefully storyboarding it in PowerPoint. The project manager reviews the script with a committee several times to make sure it's perfect, and each member of the committee makes a few edits. Finished with the script, the project manager hands the copy off to an audiovisual specialist, who creates the vide...

Comparing Creative Writing with Technical Writing (2 min Videocast)

I decided to record a short two-minute videocast to try out my new Kodak zi8 pocket camcorder. In this videocast, I share a brief thought about the similarity between creative writing and technical writing.

Message from the Sponsors — March 30, 2010 Dr. Explain, Madcap Software, & more

Last month I started a regular message from the sponsors post as a way to give my advertisers more visibility. Here's the second sponsor post. Lots of good information in here. Dr.Explain 4.0 Enables Rapid Creation of Software Help Systems to Speed up Software Rollouts Indigo Byte Systems, LLC today introduces Dr.Explain 4.0, the most significant release of its innovative help authoring software, with over 10 new features and enhanceme...

When Social Media Becomes Hollow

I attended Podcamp Salt Lake City (Podcampslc.org) on Friday for the third year in a row. The attendees have fluctuated. The first year, about 30 attended. The next year, about 90 attended. This year, the attendees decreased to around 45. Sometimes events just suffer from poor timing. We are all so busy. But I noticed another trend: more and more sessions focused on social media, almost as much as podcasting. Here are a few of the session...

Breathing correctly (Voiceover)

Voiceover techniques 1.1 Finding a Conversational Voice in Video Tutorials 1.2 The Problem with Speaking Conversationally in Video Tutorials 1.3 Finding an acoustic environment (Voiceover) 1.4 Sounding natural (Voi...

Recording with the right microphone (Voiceover techniques)

Voiceover techniques 1.1 Finding a Conversational Voice in Video Tutorials 1.2 The Problem with Speaking Conversationally in Video Tutorials 1.3 Finding an acoustic environment (Voiceover) 1.4 Sounding natural (Voi...

Adding inflection (Voiceover)

Voiceover techniques 1.1 Finding a Conversational Voice in Video Tutorials 1.2 The Problem with Speaking Conversationally in Video Tutorials 1.3 Finding an acoustic environment (Voiceover) 1.4 Sounding natural (Voi...

Fixing Fumbled Sentences

Voiceover techniques 1.1 Finding a Conversational Voice in Video Tutorials 1.2 The Problem with Speaking Conversationally in Video Tutorials 1.3 Finding an acoustic environment (Voiceover) 1.4 Sounding natural (Voi...

WordPress Tip: Integrate Google Calendar into WordPress

I have a lot of events coming up, so I've been trying to coordinate and manage my schedule in a more efficient way. I use Google Calendar, with various calendars that I toggle on or off based on what I want to see. Lately I decided to integrate some of the event information from my Google calendar into my WordPress blog. I have two new buttons on the top: My Calendar and Presentations. Using the ICS Calendar plugin for WordPress, I integ...

Avoiding phlegm in your throat with voiceovers (Voiceover)

Voiceover techniques 1.1 Finding a Conversational Voice in Video Tutorials 1.2 The Problem with Speaking Conversationally in Video Tutorials 1.3 Finding an acoustic environment (Voiceover) 1.4 Sounding natural (Voi...

Smiling while you narrate (Voiceover)

Voiceover techniques 1.1 Finding a Conversational Voice in Video Tutorials 1.2 The Problem with Speaking Conversationally in Video Tutorials 1.3 Finding an acoustic environment (Voiceover) 1.4 Sounding natural (Voi...

Avoiding plosives and breathing noises (Voiceover)

Voiceover techniques 1.1 Finding a Conversational Voice in Video Tutorials 1.2 The Problem with Speaking Conversationally in Video Tutorials 1.3 Finding an acoustic environment (Voiceover) 1.4 Sounding natural (Voi...

Avoiding a sense of rambling (Voiceover)

Voiceover techniques 1.1 Finding a Conversational Voice in Video Tutorials 1.2 The Problem with Speaking Conversationally in Video Tutorials 1.3 Finding an acoustic environment (Voiceover) 1.4 Sounding natural (Voi...

Sounding natural (Voiceover)

Voiceover techniques 1.1 Finding a Conversational Voice in Video Tutorials 1.2 The Problem with Speaking Conversationally in Video Tutorials 1.3 Finding an acoustic environment (Voiceover) 1.4 → Sounding natural (Voiceover) ...

Finding an acoustic environment (Voiceover)

Voiceover techniques 1.1 Finding a Conversational Voice in Video Tutorials 1.2 The Problem with Speaking Conversationally in Video Tutorials 1.3 → Finding an acoustic environment (Voiceover) 1.4 Sounding natural (Voiceover) ...