Head First Video Strategy.eduGuru Summit 2010

presented by michael fienen@fienen «» michael@doteduguru.com

Just who do you think you are?

□ Hi, I'm Michael

◊ Director of Web MarketingPittsburg State University

◊ Chief Technology OfficernuCloud, LLC

◊ Dude that writes stuff.eduGuru

◊ Author of “dotCMS from the Ground Up”

□ Find me

◊ http://fienen.com/

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I gotta get this outta the way

□ I'm really sorry.□ I hate plain old slide decks.□ So here's a picture of why Canada is occasionally

awesome.

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Video, I haz it

□ See, here's the thing... it's sort of a big deal

Source: “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet,” Chris Anderson and Mike Wolff, Wired Magazine, August 17, 2010

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Times are changing

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What does it mean to us?

□ Noel-Levitz Rocks the E-Expectations Data□ 2010

◊ 52% of students watched video about schools◊ 81% of those watched the videos on your sites

(as opposed to at YouTube)◊ 59% of students have accounts on YouTube

□ 2008◊ 20% of parents watched videos about schools –

38% more wanted to

Source: Noel-Levitz E-Expectations, http://www.noellevitz.com/expectations

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We thought this might be important

At the end of 2010, .eduGuru

surveyed 98 institutions about their video usage

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Here's What We Learned(I promise to get through the boring numbers quickly)

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School Demographics

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Are Schools Making Videos?

97%Yes

If your school isn't, you are not #winning. Better get busy.

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What quality are they using?

80% are doing at least SOME HD video

1/3rd are working inboth formats

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No excuses

$177 onAmazon

(that's for the newest, coolest, shiniest version - older ones are even cheaper)

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Boring Stats (but still important)

□ Marketing, PR, or Communications make up 74% of primary “control”

◊ But offices all over campus are creating it□ 27% of schools budget over $5000/yr for video□ 28% don't budget anything□ Only 14% had multiple full and/or part-time

dedicated video people◊ But 34% have at least one

□ 31% are doing some level of HTML5 implementation

□ 65% ARE NOT CAPTIONING ANYTHING

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:(

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Video Is Content

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Plan accordingly

□ Consider the information

□ Is it relevant?□ Is it unique?□ Is it evergreen?□ Is it important?

◊ Remember, video is “costly” content, use it wisely

□ Have a plan for its lifespan◊ Video ages badly

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Context matters

□ How would you treat the editorial cycle of video for:

◊ PR◊ News◊ Promotions (programs, events...)◊ Campus Life◊ Internal Audiences

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Understand your audience!

□ 76% of prospective students found videos about student life and academics/classes to be the most important!

□ Only 5% cared about faculty/program details□ 67% wanted videos made by both the college and

its students...◊ …but only 7% wanted just “our” video

□ Ex: your students aren't going to care about your PR video, they're already living the experience.

Source: Noel-Levitz E-Expectations, http://www.noellevitz.com/expectations

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It drives traffic

□ Well marked up video has huge SEO implications

□ YouTube is changing search*:◊ 2nd largest search engine◊ ~3.9 BILLION searches a month◊ 28% of Google search volume◊ 50% more than Yahoo◊ 180% more than Bing

Source: comScore Releases December 2009 U.S. Search Engine Rankings; http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/1/comScore_Releases_December_2009_U.S._Search_Engine_Rankings

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Content is why people are at your site.

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The Technical Stuff

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Equipment Checklist

□ A computer – something with some horsepower

□ An external hard drive – the biggest you can get

□ A camera – ideally something flash memory based, with a card slot, that does HD, and has USB and/or Firewire

□ A mic – the more the merrier, but try to get at least one handheld and a lav

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But... what should I get?

□ I don't care what you use□ Use what you are comfortable with□ Realistically, you may be unpleasantly burdened

by the budget□ Focus on buying fewer

nice items□ Make friends with your

broadcasting department□ You aren't a professional

TV studio

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OMG the formats...

□ Containers - You may think of video files as “AVI files” or “MP4 files.” In reality, “AVI” and “MP4″ are just container formats. Just like a ZIP file can contain any sort of file within it, video container formats only define how to store things within them, not what kinds of data are stored.*

◊ FLV◊ OGV◊ MP4◊ WebM

□ NOTHING works in everything.

Source: Dive Into HTML5 – Video on the Web; Max Pilgrim; http://diveintohtml5.org/video.html

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So which one?

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Elephant in the room

□ Can't count out Flash□ Sure, no iProduct support, but nearly ubiquitous

otherwise□ But have an escape plan

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I got yer bitrate right here

□ Guess and check□ Varies on container and video stream

format – they are not created equal□ Consider your visitor demographics – do

you still have a lot of dialup users? Mobile users?

□ There is no silver bullet video profile

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Here's what you said

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The YouTube Equation

□ Let's play follow the leader□ YouTube encodes at several levels

depending on the source◊ 37 – 1080p◊ 22 – 720p◊ 35 - 480p

Source: Approximate YouTube Bitrates; Ad Terras Per Aspera; May 24th, 2010; http://adterrasperaspera.com/blog/2010/05/24/approximate-youtube-bitrates

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On DIY

□ Ultimately, this is a rough road beyond the occasional one-off

□ Requires server resources□ [Trans/En]coding is time consuming□ Embed tools□ Doesn't get your stuff “out there”

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Save some sanity

□ 91% of schools are using 3rd party video solutions in some capacity

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Why it's nice

□ YouTube can spend more than you on doing one thing really well. Like, better than you could ever, EVER hope.

□ It's convenient and easy□ It's cheap □ Your videos make it into search results□ They handle the storage□ They handle compatibility

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The Players

□ YouTube wins big (94% are using it)◊ Branded pages◊ Promoted videos◊ YouTube EDU

□ Vimeo is a decent second (46%)◊ Nice player◊ Limited accounts◊ Accessibility issues

(http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/student_affairs_and_technology/vimeo_still_not_a_viable_web_video_solution_for_higher_education)

□ Facebook third (40%)◊ Reach your audience

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Get creative

□ Just because you use YouTube, doesn't mean you have to be tied to their site...

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Regardless of how you film it, how you create it, or where you store it, people need it to be easy to watch – don't get caught

up in the technical details.

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Accessibility

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Primary considerations

□ There are two major components to video accessibility

◊ Player controls◊ Captions

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The big problem? We generally suck at #a11y.

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So... about those players

□ You should be able to trust:◊ YouTube◊ SublimeVideo◊ JW Player*◊ Flowplayer*

* with some additional work

□ On Santa's naughty list:◊ VideoJS (no keyboard controls)◊ Vimeo/Facebook (no captioning)

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The truth about captioning

□ It's not just an accessibility issue, it's a usability issue. It's just a good feature to have.

□ You're gonna hate it.□ Excuses won't cut it once you're in a

courtroom.

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Dump it on someone else

□ Half of our survey respondents who are captioning are using third parties, like:

◊ YouTube Machine Transcription (eww, but free)

◊ CastingWords◊ Transcribr◊ AutomaticSync

} Gonna need some dollars set aside.

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Good planning goes a long way

□ Remember that good time we had a while back we talked about how video was content?

□ SCRIPT YOUR WORK□ Not only does it make the video better,

but it gives you a solid basis to create captions from.

“Well, what you plan and what takes place ain't ever exactly been similar.”

~Jayne Cobb

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YouTube♥Transcripts

□ Script your video□ Edit in the interviews, etc□ Go to YouTube□ Upload

transcript□ MAGIC!

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Most #a11y challenges are solved by proper planning and good code

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The Meta

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All the other work

□ Analytics matter◊ Don't put out video no one wants to watch

□ Communicate internally◊ Everyone's making video, help them

understand why doing it right matters□ Video isn't a weapon

◊ Keep it digestible◊ People want to enjoy video◊ Don't be a jerk (I'm talking to you)

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Set up for success

□ Don't underestimate students and GAs□ Invest in the same equipment and software

you're using for broadcasting classes□ Give your team some creative freedom□ Keep B-Roll□ Create a series of stock animations and lower-

thirds□ Grab some After Effects templates□ ARCHIVE EVERYTHING

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...last but not least...

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Be...

□ Opportunistic□ Fearless□ Authentic□ Open minded

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Recap

□ Video is content, just like text. It must be planned and maintained.

□ Set up some quality standards, both in shooting and encoding.

□ Plan for accessibility always.□ Pay attention to what people are

watching.

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fin fin

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STORY TIME!

@fienenmichael@doteduguru.com

fienen.com