Getting close to your microphone usually results in something called “the proximity effect.” As you get close, most microphones amplify your voice in a rich, deep way. The proximity effect can make you sound like a late-night DJ. Some microphones give you the best proximity effect when you’re practically kissing the mic. Unfortunately, as you get closer to a microphone, the microphone starts to pick … more »

A while ago I was gathering feedback on different tech comm deliverables. I asked a user if she preferred videos or written material when learning software. I thought she would immediately say “videos,” but it was a toss up for her. In her mind, videos involved long stretches of narration that included sitting passively at her computer, waiting for the narrator to get to her … more »

One of my goals in creating engaging video tutorials is to develop a warm, personable, natural voice, like the voice of an encouraging friend or mentor. In search of this more personable voice, last year I attended a voiceover workshop in my area. The voiceover coach explained that good voiceover artists start by imagining a situation—in their minds they imagine who they are, who they’re … more »

In Screencasts: So what?, Kristi Leach tells an engaging story about a turnaround screencast. She explains how one good screencast can change users’ attitudes about software. Here’s an excerpt: I rarely watch video online. Unless it’s a funny meme I have deliberately searched for, or a show that I missed, or Netflix, I won’t press play. If a blog post is all video, I skip … more »

To embed video on a web page, you don’t need to upload your video to youtube, vimeo, or some other video sharing service. A lot of times in a corporate setting, uploading your videos to a third-party site isn’t appropriate or allowed. Does this mean you have to resign yourself to a basic WMV output that opens up in the Windows Media Player? No. You … more »

In a recent design review meeting, I showed some of my screencasts to our team for feedback. We also reviewed some screencasts created by voiceover talents in our audiovisual department and screencasts created by trainers. In listening to my voice in the screencasts, it’s clear that I still have a lot to learn. I’m not even close to the personal, conversational-sounding audio voice that I … more »

A couple of months ago I created some documentation on Joomla for some web admins using Joomla to build country sites. After delivering the documentation, the users needed something more visual, so I set about creating screencasts. I created 30 screencasts to match the tasks in the documentation (which I transferred from InDesign to Mediawiki). I then integrated the screencasts with the various pages of the … more »

If you’re interested in the PowerPoint for my screencasting webinar, here it is below. I always smile a little when people ask for the PowerPoint, because it just consists of pictures. I resist detailed bullets points on each slide because it locks you into a certain order that may be at odds with your presentation’s flow. Also, when you give people text to read while … more »

Brooks Andrus has a good post and video about including the human element in screencasts. Brooks writes: Screen video alone is not enough. You need to humanize your content by getting in front of the camera and engaging your audience. And no, I’m not talking about long-winded monologues either. Several 5-7 second talking-head elements can go a long way toward winning over and maintaining the … more »

The other week I visited Performance Audio in downtown Salt Lake to see what recommendations they had for microphones. The clerk asked me what audio interface I was using. I said I was just plugging my mixer directly into the computer. He looked shocked and said no matter how good of a microphone I bought, the real increase in performance would come with an audio … more »

I’m presenting an STC webinar titled Screencasting: Video Tutorials for the Web on Dec. 16. Here’s the description:

At the STC Summit in Dallas this year (May 2-5), I’ll be giving a presentation titled “Developing a Personal Voice in Audio.” I’m moving in the direction of screencasts, focusing on the audio component in this presentation. Here’s the presentation description: Narrated video tutorials — both scripted and spontaneous — are a powerful tool tech writers can employ to help users learn software. But the … more »

Harry Miller is a multimedia enthusiast who brings his expertise with film and audio to the screencasting world at his job at Microsoft. The following three videos are some of the most creative, mesmerizing video tutorials on Visio I’ve ever seen.

I recently spent 10 days in Florida visiting my family and giving a couple of presentations to the STC-Suncoast and STC-Orlando chapters on blogging. You can hardly take a family of kids to Florida without going to Disneyworld and Seaworld, so we did that as well. In case you’re unaware of the cost of theme parks, prices are enough to bring on a cold sweat … more »

LugIron recently praised a video response that a vendor made to a customer, calling it “an outstanding example of Social Documentation at work.” The customer loved the video, especially given that it was personally created by the company founder. Ten years ago, such a quick response wouldn’t have been possible except at a large time cost from the company. But with the software tools today, … more »