Web Video Marketing Class Launches Sept. 15

I will be offering a one day workshop on using web video for marketing (on your site and off) in San Francisco Sept. 15 through U. C. Berkeley Extension.

Workshop info here.

I'll also be offering a six session evening course there starting Nov. 10.

These will be great classes - go to the U.C. site to signup now!

Animoto - New and Improved - With Video

You can now add video clips to your Animoto videos. Cool.

See the announcement and demo video on the Animoto site here.

Vidyo: My Next New Favorite Ap - Personal Telepresence

Cisco telepresence, HP Halo? These are the telepresence (i.e. high resolution, life-sized video conferencing applications) aps to the Stars of American Business. But for you and me - ordinary folks - there's now an almost equally good offering as well: Vidyo.

While a Cisco telepresence room costs $300,000 to setup and install and $300,000 in monthly network fees over two years, Vidyo costs only $99 a month for 1200 minutes a month. Here's the 2008 demo:



I heard about it last night at a talk by Chuck Houston, executive director of Media X at Stanford University, in his presentation for the CIO Meetup group. And boy is Vidyo cool.

One of the biggest markets is anticipated to be boomers who want to keep tabs on their aging parents.

Vidyo's web site features this video showing the quality difference between its personal telepresence ap and "well known" (would that be Skype?) to show what a difference it makes to reduce blur and fuzzy images with crisp and clear ones. Vidyo supports HD as well as H.264-SVC (the latter automatically scales the streaming speed to the correct streaming settings for the end user's device).

Have a look and then visit the Vidyo web site for more details and a more engaging video here.

Web Videos: Not So Short Anymore

Today's New York Times features a story on how web video makers are going longer form with their offerings. See it here.

A Long Tail Video With Broad Appeal

Here's an example of a new kind of documentary distribution - on the web. Now this isn't a new idea, but it's nice to see it actually work. This wine documentary - 26 min. long - fights back against the mainstream wine media - Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast.

Many powerful folks from Napa are featured speaking out against the domination by wine's royal class of critics and the points rating system. Included are Robert Dunn of the famous Dunn Vineyards and Karen MacNeil of the Culinary Institute of America.

I would say also that the wine industry has been one of the early adopters of using video to market their products. We'll take a deeper look at this in my upcoming class at U. C. Berkeley.

Great Example of Video Ad - With Photos Only!

I talked to the Extraordinaries here at the Netsquared conference (we had breadfast) and they showed me their way cool video promo on their iPhone.

Easy to create - just use Comic Life, some photos, and edit together in iMovie or some other simple tool.

We'll learn more about these simple tools and how to make simple but effective videos in the July 18th class. Visit the UCBerkeley Extension web site to sign up.

East Bay Express Offers Video Ads

A new development in the rising tide of video ads that are professionally produced - the local free weekly in the East Bay today featured an ad for a new East Bay Express Videography service.

Ads are shot and edited by Jonathan Mann. A video slideshow costs $250; a real video $900 (the same as TurnHere).

• Samples here.

Call the East Bay Express at 510 879 3700 for details.

Web Video Marketing Class - Announcement and Enrollment Now Online!

You can now sign up for my Web Video Marketing class at UC Berkeley Extension's web site. The class will be held Saturday July 18 in San Francisco.

Class details

Rave Reviews from Past Participants

• "Easy to listen to...expert knowledge."
• "Thank you! Excellent informative presentation."
• "Lots of stuff. Very inspiring."
• "Great Content/Info!"
• "Valuable Seminar - well worth the time spent here."
• "Very informative, great resources, on target."
• "Lots of info - very friendly!"
• "I learned a lot of online video and a lot of good websites to help me make video without thousands of dollars. Really great!!!"
• "Very deep knowledge of video/media. Good speaker. Good at soliciting questions and comments."
• "Good, lots of questions allowed. Nice Pace. Great documentation. Lots of student/teacher interaction."
• "Learned a lot. Great informative handout - love the websites. Wonderful presentation."
• :Good help for my business."
• "Very well informed and easy to understand instructions."
• "The best workshop I have ever attended at SBA!"