Upcoming Klessblog Sightings - Webinars, Meetups, Streaming Media East, Oh My!

It's been an extremely busy year so far in the online video industry and in my own personal and professional life. I admit that I haven't been able to keep as current on this blog with news and information, and to that extent, I've been focusing my energy on other areas, including: webinars, meetups, and travel to new places. I recently attended the Streamy Awards in Los Angeles and ended up in the front row of the now infamous award show. I saw a lot of familiar faces, met many great new friends and shared some of those highlights in the last several posts. I have a lot more video that I may post to my YouTube channel, but for now, I wanted to share a few upcoming events over the next several weeks where you can catch me in the wild, so to speak.

You can catch me next week on the Encoding Video For The Web: Free Webinar on May 5th, which is produced by Reel SEO and sponsored by vzaar. I'll be joined by Robert Reinhardt, creator of the online video service videoRx.com, VP of the multimedia consulting company [the MAKERS) and noted author of a number of Wiley and Adobe Press books, including Video with Adobe Flash CS4 Professional StudioTechniques. See this related post of Robert's Flash Encoding Resources: Bit Rate Calculator and Optimal Aspect Ratios. Also, joining the webinar as moderator is my good friend and 2010 Streaming Media All-Star, Mark Robertson, Reel SEO Founder and Publisher. If you're a producer wondering what you need to know about video compression, then this is the webinar for you. You will have a chance to ask questions about the various video formats, codecs, bit-rates and more. You get tips on best encoding practices so your online videos look the best that they can. You'll hear what the pros have to say about H.264 and watch how to simply and easily apply high quality H.264encoding to your video. Register for this FREE webinar here!

After that, my next big trip is to New York City in two weeks for Streaming Media East on May 11-12th, where I'll be moderating a panel discussion on Video Publishing Platforms. For that session, I'll be joined by Bismarck C Lepe, President, Products at Ooyala, Ron Yekutiel, Chairman and CEO of Kaltura, Daniel Webster, SVP of Media at Synaptic Digital and Jason Liebman, CEO and Co-Founder of Howcast. A number of vendors offer video publishing platforms, the features and functionality-not to mention cost-vary widely. Some vendors focus their solutions on content management and monetization, while others are geared towards enabling syndication and interactive advertising campaigns. Adding to the confusion is the fact that different platform vendors have different metrics for billing, and costs rise as content owners become more successful.

This session builds on the program that Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen and I put together for the Online Video Platform Summit and will lay the groundwork for content owners to better understand what type of publishing platform they need and what they should expect to pay for managing content.

Following Streaming Media East, on May 14th, I'll be a featured speaker on a Ragan Communications webinar on How to produce Flip videos that inform, engage and entertain your employees. I'll be wearing my day job hat for this session discussing how at Kaiser Permanente, our employees are using Flip cameras to capture important employee news to post on the company's intranet. This 60-minute webinar will offer practical tips on how to use your Flip, Kodak or other pocket camera—and find out what kind of stories are best told with this camera. This session is not a free webinar and you can find out more about it and register here.

I'll be joined by my colleague Elizabeth Schainbaum, Staff Writer, Corporate Communications, who was handed a Flip camera and found herself learning how to do photo essays and video on the job. Instead of writing an article about a group of employees that were conducting a critical events trauma training at our Health Care Innovation Center, Elizabeth produced a video instead. Since that first piece on the trauma center, she has worked on two other videos.

Some of the topics we'll be covering are:

Shooting tips:

• How to frame an interview to give your speaker enough head room
• When to use a tripod and why you should avoid zooming
• How to select the best background for your interview
• Tricks to make sure your video is always sharp and in focus

Lighting:

• What kind of lighting conditions you need for good picture quality
• How to avoid producing grainy video
• Ways to light your subject, without buying expensive equipment

Audio:

• How to avoid distracting background noise
• Why you need to stay close to your interview subject
• When to use an external microphone

Editing:

• Why shorter is always better
• Types of free software you can use to create your video vignettes—and optional equipment you can buy if you want to kick it up a notch
• A step-by-step process to edit your Flip video, including transferring the video, creating a timeline and uploading it to your intranet or YouTube

How to produce stellar employee videos:

• What types of stories are best told with a Flip camera
• How to produce videos that your audience will want to watch—over and over again
• Why clips produced on a Flip can be more engaging that polished, professional videos

Finally, I'll be a guest speaker on May 18th at the Eastbay LocalPreneurs Meetup Group giving a presentation on how to Quickly and Easily Master Online Video Promotions and Watch Your Sales Skyrocket. Meetup is the world's largest network of local groups. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities. I'll share tips on how to use video to become your own online TV to promote You, Your Products or Your Business!

If you're in the Bay Area and you're an entrepreneur, it's crucial to understand how to make the right connections, get the tools and inspirational education in order to grow your business. Eastbay Localprenuers Meetup brings you fresh speakers, monthly training and networking to jump-start your projects and dreams. This Meetup group is organized by my friend and local entrepreneur, Jonathan Fleming. Join this Meetup group here or sign up using Facebook.

Some subjects I'll cover include:

• Creating a powerful video pressence using Flip Camera, HD, etc... 
• The Importance of video online, Do's and Don'ts for your business 
• How to use video effectively to market your product, company and increase sales 
• Tools needed to get started 
• Best practices for newbies and small business owners

Learn how to make and produce attention getting video for "Low Cost" that jump starts your marketing efforts to help you get attention for your product, service, business or venture!
Learn how to to get attention online using video on Facebook, Google, blogging and other social networks! In this fast paced hour,  I'll deliver low cost tips of how you can rocket up the ladder to get noticed and produce professional winning videos to help your business today!

Meetup's mission is to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize. Meetup believes that people can change their personal world, or the whole world, by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference.

That's all for now! I want to thank you all for reading, subscribing, retweeting, sharing, commenting and supporting me here on this blog. Stay tuned for more upcoming Klessblog sightings in the near future and more online video news and information.