From the 2010 .eduGuru Summit, this presentation outlined a high level look at how higher education institutions could approach video production in a way that will help create meaningful, relevant content that grows over time.

1. Head First Video Strategy
.eduGuru Summit 2010
presented by michael fienen
@fienen «» michael@doteduguru.com

2. Just who do you think you are?
□
Hi, I'm Michael
◊ Director of Web Marketing
Pittsburg State University
◊ Chief Technology Officer
nuCloud, LLC
◊ Dude that writes stuff
.eduGuru
◊ Author of “dotCMS from
the Ground Up”
□
Find me
◊ http://fienen.com/

3. I gotta get this outta the way
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I'm really sorry.
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I hate plain old slide decks.
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So here's a picture of why Canada is occasionally
awesome.
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4. Video, I haz it
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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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5. Times are changing
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6. What does it mean to us?
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Noel-Levitz Rocks the E-Expectations Data
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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
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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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7. We thought this might be important
At the end of
2010, .eduGuru
surveyed 98
institutions about
their video usage 7

8. Here's What We Learned
(I promise to get through the boring numbers quickly)
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9. School Demographics
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10. Are Schools Making Videos?
97%
Yes
If your school isn't, you are not #winning. Better get busy.
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11. What quality are they using?
80% are doing at
least SOME HD video
1/3rd are working in
both formats
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12. No excuses
$177 on
Amazon
(that's for the newest, coolest, shiniest
version - older ones are even cheaper)
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13. Boring Stats (but still important)
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Marketing, PR, or Communications make up 74% of
primary “control”
◊ But offices all over campus are creating it
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27% of schools budget over $5000/yr for video
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28% don't budget anything
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Only 14% had multiple full and/or part-time
dedicated video people
◊ But 34% have at least one
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31% are doing some level of HTML5 implementation
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65% ARE NOT CAPTIONING ANYTHING
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14. :(
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15. Video Is Content
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16. Plan accordingly
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Consider the
information
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Is it relevant?
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Is it unique?
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Is it evergreen?
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Is it important?
◊ Remember, video is “costly” content, use it
wisely
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Have a plan for its lifespan
◊ Video ages badly
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17. Context matters
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How would you treat the editorial cycle
of video for:
◊ PR
◊ News
◊ Promotions (programs, events...)
◊ Campus Life
◊ Internal Audiences
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18. Understand your audience!
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76% of prospective students found videos about
student life and academics/classes to be the
most important!
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Only 5% cared about faculty/program details
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67% wanted videos made by both the college and
its students...
◊ …but only 7% wanted just “our” video
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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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19. It drives traffic
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Well marked up video has huge SEO
implications
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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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20. Content is why people are at your site.
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21. The Technical Stuff
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22. Equipment Checklist
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A computer – something with some
horsepower
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An external hard drive – the biggest you can
get
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A camera – ideally something flash memory
based, with a card slot, that does HD, and
has USB and/or Firewire
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A mic – the more the merrier, but try to get at
least one handheld and a lav
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23. But... what should I get?
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I don't care what you use
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Use what you are comfortable with
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Realistically, you may be unpleasantly burdened
by the budget
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Focus on buying fewer
nice items
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Make friends with your
broadcasting department
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You aren't a professional
TV studio
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24. OMG the formats...
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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
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NOTHING works in everything.
Source: Dive Into HTML5 – Video on the Web; Max Pilgrim;
http://diveintohtml5.org/video.html
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25. So which one?
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26. Elephant in the room
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Can't count out Flash
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Sure, no iProduct support, but nearly ubiquitous
otherwise
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But have an escape plan
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27. I got yer bitrate right here
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Guess and check
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Varies on container and video stream
format – they are not created equal
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Consider your visitor demographics – do
you still have a lot of dialup users?
Mobile users?
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There is no silver bullet video profile
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28. Here's what you said
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29. The YouTube Equation
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Let's play follow the leader
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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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30. On DIY
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Ultimately, this is a rough road beyond
the occasional one-off
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Requires server resources
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[Trans/En]coding is time consuming
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Embed tools
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Doesn't get your stuff “out there”
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31. Save some sanity
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91% of schools are using 3rd party video
solutions in some capacity
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32. Why it's nice
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YouTube can spend more than you on
doing one thing really well. Like, better
than you could ever, EVER hope.
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It's convenient and easy
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It's cheap
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Your videos make it into search results
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They handle the storage
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They handle compatibility
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33. The Players
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YouTube wins big (94% are using it)
◊ Branded pages
◊ Promoted videos
◊ YouTube EDU
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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_viab
le_web_video_solution_for_higher_education)
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Facebook third (40%)
◊ Reach your audience
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34. Get creative
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Just because you use YouTube, doesn't mean you
have to be tied to their site...
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35. 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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36. Accessibility
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37. Primary considerations
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There are two major components to
video accessibility
◊ Player controls
◊ Captions
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38. The big problem? We generally suck at #a11y.
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39. So... about those players
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You should be able to trust:
◊ YouTube
◊ SublimeVideo
◊ JW Player*
◊ Flowplayer*
* with some additional work
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On Santa's naughty list:
◊ VideoJS (no keyboard controls)
◊ Vimeo/Facebook (no captioning)
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40. The truth about captioning
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It's not just an accessibility issue, it's a
usability issue. It's just a good feature
to have.
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You're gonna hate it.
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Excuses won't cut it once you're in a
courtroom.
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41. Dump it on someone else
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Half of our survey respondents who are captioning are
using third parties, like:
◊ YouTube Machine Transcription (eww, but free)
}
◊ CastingWords
◊ Transcribr Gonna need some dollars set aside.
◊ AutomaticSync
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42. Good planning goes a long way
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Remember that good time we had a
while back we talked about how video
was content?
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SCRIPT YOUR WORK
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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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43. YouTube♥Transcripts
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Script your video
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Edit in the interviews, etc
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Go to YouTube
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Upload
transcript
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MAGIC!
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44. Most #a11y challenges are solved
by proper planning and good code
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45. The Meta
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46. All the other work
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Analytics matter
◊ Don't put out video no one wants to watch
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Communicate internally
◊ Everyone's making video, help them
understand why doing it right matters
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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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47. Set up for success
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Don't underestimate students and GAs
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Invest in the same equipment and software
you're using for broadcasting classes
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Give your team some creative freedom
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Keep B-Roll
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Create a series of stock animations and lower-
thirds
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Grab some After Effects templates
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ARCHIVE EVERYTHING
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48. ...last but not least...
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49. Be...
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Opportunistic
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Fearless
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Authentic
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Open minded
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50. Recap
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Video is content, just like text. It must
be planned and maintained.
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Set up some quality standards, both in
shooting and encoding.
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Plan for accessibility always.
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Pay attention to what people are
watching.
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51. fin fin
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52. STORY TIME!
@fienen
michael@doteduguru.com
fienen.com
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