A year of The Video and Livestreaming Show; YouTube Features
John Lacey
Showcase your expertise through content creation | Co-host of The Video and Livestreaming Show | Host of Build A Presentation Muscle Podcast | Author of Learn Livestreaming and Learn OBS Studio LinkedIn newsletters
A year of The Video and Livestreaming Show
"I have no concept of time, other than it's flying." — Alanis Morissette, All I Really Want
It's a little difficult for me to process, but this week's episode of The Video and Livestreaming Show marks a year of the show.
Not all of the shows we recorded are available because when we first started we were recording offline and this created a bit of an editing bottleneck. So there will be 49 shows instead of 52, but it still feels like quite a milestone.
My manager at my day job often invokes the idea of The Ship of Theseus. It's a bit of a thought experiment: if you rebuild an entire ship over time is it still the same ship? Is your work team the same team after changes? Are you the same person as you were a year ago?
Broadly speaking, I like to imagine that I am essentially the same person as I was a year ago, but perhaps a little older and wiser.
After Sam Proof and I spoke to Michelle J Raymond on the show last week, she mentioned that she couldn't endorse me because I hadn't listed the show (or Build A Presentation Muscle podcast) on my profile, so I went back to the first video in that playlist to get an accurate start date.
I'm not going to lie: it was a little confronting.
I was clearly very nervous, and the audio quality was what I could only describe as 'crunchy.'
But that was a solid 51 episodes ago. So much has changed.
The uncomfortable thing newbies don't want to hear is that you need to practice. You'll get better over time. And as someone who feels like they need to be super prepared in all situations it can be super tempting to do all the courses, listen to all of the podcasts, read all the books before you get started. But I need you to know that this is a trap. The best feedback you'll get comes from doing, so please get started on whatever it is you secretly want to do.
It's difficult to take stock of all the changes over the last year, but I want to articulate a few of them.
From recorded to live
We went from recording offline to doing it live. This was predominantly for the comfort of the presenters. I was nervous. I wasn't convinced I could do it well. At least if it wasn't live I had an opportunity to 'fix' it before sharing. But this created an editing bottleneck in our already busy lives. The interaction of a live audience also helps us shape our content for the better.
From Restream to StreamYard
We moved from Restream Studio to StreamYard. (There is always a bit of OBS Studio magic with anything we do but these tools simplify parts of the production of the show.) Restream is a great product but StreamYard gave us a bit more flexibility with the layout of the canvas. Regardless of the tool you use, it's really important it to learn it well and explore how it can support your goals.
Stop playing small (especially in video thumbnails)
I stopped playing small. I was super self-conscious about being on camera. I had set up OBS Studio in a particular way to ensure I wasn't filling the frame because I didn't want 1920 x 1080 of my physical imperfections in high definition. But the other place this was really obvious was from the video thumbnails. I made the words huge and the people tiny. Video thumbnail creation has not been something that has come easily to me. I find I need to explore a number of different thumbnail variations before I am happy with one. But, again, practice has led to improvement. More than 52 thumbnails in a row later, I am feeling more confident.
Develop a show format
We developed a show format. Essentially now we have 4 segments with an introduction and a farewell. I built out a tabbed interface template to show visually which segment we were in. (In a perfect world we would go back in and add the time code references within YouTube, though due to lifestyle constraints this doesn't always happen.) We have created some short video ads for other pieces of our content.
Invite people and promote early and often
I started inviting people to join us on LinkedIn Live. This is a bit of a theme, admittedly, but I feel super self-conscious about asking people to do things. Even when those things are "enjoy our free content which might help you achieve your goals." It feels like a character flaw. I will usually follow people on LinkedIn rather than asking them to connect (for fear of having them say no). I need to work on this, obviously, but one thing I have started doing is going to my LinkedIn Live events and asking my connections to join me. Not everyone does, of course, and that's fine, but my reach isn't that great on LinkedIn at the best of times, and this helps get the word out.
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I started promoting early and often (and, to the extent you can, everywhere). Social media algorithms are very fickle. People won't see all of your content. The more I promote the show (before, during, and after), the more people have an opportunity to know it exists and check it out.
YouTube Features
This week on the show, we're talking all about YouTube features and opportunities. We'll look at:
We'll dig more into this on the show, but there are likely a few new developments you may not be aware of.
Join us!
Please join us for the show.
Check out the event invites for the date and time in your local time zone.
Have a great week
I hope you have a great week!
Remember, if you're interested in video, livestreaming and content creation, you can:
#YouTube #YouTubeShorts #Livestreaming
Bonus: LinkedIn with Michelle J Raymond
Last week on the show, we spoke to Michelle J Raymond about LinkedIn, Video, Operation Rebrand and much more!
Michelle is: