[development] Presentation recording best practices

[Larry Garfield]

Ignoring the who didn't intend to offend whom part of this thread... 
Also, retitling.

For the past several years, DrupalCon and a few other conferences I've 
been at don't have a videographer with a camera.  They record the live 
output from the presenter's laptop on its way to the screen, give the 
presenter a microphone, and then just join the audio/video in recording. 
  There's no one pointing a camera anywhere, it's just straight up 
recording of whatever comes out of the VGA port.  That is, largely, for 
the sake of simplicity and cost.  It's very simple and straightforward 
to do, and in recent years we've refined that process to the point that 
videos are often online same-day (where some other conferences may take 
months to get videos online).

Some conferences do have a dedicated cameraman, or sometimes two (one 
for the screen, one for the presenter).  I don't know what the 
additional cost/complexity is there, but it would no doubt take us a few 
tries to get right; definitely that's something that would need to be 
practiced at Camps first to work out the kinks.  If you know a 
DrupalCamp organizer, I would very much encourage you to try and get 
them to experiment with such techniques.

As far as video quality/resolution, I have no inside knowledge there.  I 
don't know what goes on inside the magic video compiling machine. :-)

I absolutely agree that presenters should practice, and the good ones 
do.  However, the idea of effectively lip-synching a presentation I find 
quite repellant.  I want to be able to read the audience, vary my 
presentation based on feedback, answer a question part way through if 
needed, use different jokes depending on which conference I'm at, etc. 
If I'm strictly following a script, I can't do that.  And I'd probably 
just distract myself with words in my ear and get confused and lost 
anyway. :-)

--Larry Garfield

On 4/21/13 10:41 PM, David Metzler wrote:
> John, I did not mean to offend you only to point out the tone of your email.  If you'll recall, I indicated that I'm sure you didn't intend this to be offensive.    In particular, "So I don't know what your videographers are doing, but they do need to sharpen up their act."   I found this inflammatory, and they are not  even "my videographers".   That does not mean that your ideas are bad.
>
> I agree rehearsal is important.  I agree that there are probably things that can be done to improve the video.  I pointed out a concern of scale with regard to the ideas you seemed to be asking someone else to pursue, wanting you to understand why someone might not want to pursue them.  Would you prefer that people remained silent under such circumstances and ignore your ideas, or would you like me to express the concern?
>
> I agree with Anthony, we all need to not come in with a thin skin when it comes to expressing ideas and listening to feedback, but hopefully that means you can take a little criticism and feedback as well.  I probably would've never said the comment that your taking issue with if I hadn't felt called out for even making a criticism.
>
> You are right,  I do not have any idea at all about you……  nor do I pretend to.
>
> Sorry to have offended you,
>
> It was not my intention.
>
> Dave
>
>
>
> On Apr 21, 2013, at 6:54 PM, John Summerfield <summer at js.id.au> wrote:
>
>> On 22/04/13 05:01, David Metzler wrote:
>>> My own "analytical" thinking (intelligent or otherwise)  suggests that
>>> as well intentioned as his ideas are, they do not look to "scale" to an
>>> event the size of Drupal CON, and should be tried out at a smaller
>>> event, preferably at one where the person who has the idea is willing to
>>> contribute time to making sure those ideas work.
>>>
>>
>> Whether any of my ideas is practical in the context of DrupalCON or not, I have highlighted a problem and illustrated goodwill by offering suggestions.
>>
>> The idea of prerecording isn't mine, and nor is rehearsing. I used to be a toastmaster, and the need for rehearsing speeches is key to the training offered.
>>
>> As for "one where the person who has the idea is willing to contribute time to making sure those ideas work," are you saying that, because I am unable to make the contributions you think I should that I cannot offer ideas?" How do you think that makes me feel?
>>
>> Do you have any idea at all about me? I thought not.
>>
>> --
>>
>> John
>>
>