My challenge in July is to change my ‘head space’ – to place my Family History pursuits first on my daily agendas! This requires a lot of self-talk, being in the moment and sometimes rescheduling other commitments!

Changes have now been made to my weekly routine as I proceed to carve out the time required for my Family History courses – the marketing and the networking – and more importantly to me – the exploration and fun experiential part of designing and creating.

Blogging in the Past Lane

On my agenda today was a ‘note to self’ to learn how to use a Teleprompter App on my iPad, so that I could record short video vignettes for my latest course under development, ‘Blogging in the Past Lane’. My former video tutorials and presentations had been done in Zoom where I was most comfortable but where the technology was not optimal, leaving me with a feeling of disappointment. I wanted clearer video and audio for my recordings and I now had a new iPad to use.

Step 1: Search for a video recording App

I tried the Teleprompter Pro and found it to be quite useful, however, in order for it to enable an automatic video recording directly into my Camera Roll, I needed to upgrade from the free version to the paid. Now that wasn’t too painful on the wallet, but it still only gave me the ability to record one minute at a time. My script was about 5-7 minutes long, a typical speech length, so I needed to record in several pieces. Now what do I do with the pieces? I would need another App to seamlessly join the video pieces together, one that I could use on the iPad.

The quality of the video and audio was great; superior to the quality I had achieved using Zoom with my laptop built-in web camera and plugin microphone. However, I was then left with more work to stitch the pieces of video together before I could upload to my YouTube channel. Not to be daunted, I tried a Google search to find a simple video editing tool I could obtain from the App Store for my iPad. Among the list was Canva and a voice sounded in my head – ‘You already have Canva’ – said the voice!

Step 2: Create a Canva video

Long story short, I could simply upload the 7 pieces of video from my iPad Camera Roll where they had stored themselves – a feat achieved without intervention from me – into a Canva video project! I could clip and stitch the pieces together with a little learning about Canva video editing and then combine them to play consecutively and seamlessly. On further exploration I learned that I could add consistent backgrounds (colours or images) behind my videos to further enhance the finished MP4 file. I could add a heading or two, and a final page with a call to action to visit my website.

‘Keep it simple’ the voice continued to advise, as I thought about a myriad of enhancements I could add, simply because I could. Resisting the urge to over complicate my videos, I added some background music and saved the Canva Video. I was delighted when about an hour later it had finished creating an MP4 file, ready for me to play, share or upload to YouTube.

Step 3: Upload my new video file to YouTube

My next task was to learn how to upload the video into a newly created Channel on YouTube. This was made simple by noting the YouTube Creator Academy – an area of YouTube I had skillfully avoided until now – and watching one or two of their video tutorials.

A whole new world of language emerges as I explore the Videos, Playlists, Channels and more in my YouTube Account. Uploading is a task I have performed frequently in the past so I knew I needed to allow time for the large MP4 file to upload neatly into my Channel. The tasks that were new to me included the personalising of my Channel and ensuring it was consistently branded to match my website and ecourses.

Back to the iPad I made a few adjustments to the new video and uploaded to my Channel in YouTube. Surprisingly, this took just a few moments. The experience of uploading from the iPad was far superior to the process in uploading from my laptop.

My Head Space was now filled with excitement and the bright lights of expectation – the potential for this new form of marketing was motivating me to spend even more time in my new world.

Here’s the finished product in first draft format – not perfect but I can correct that later! Leave a comment or better still, if you’d like to add yourself to my new mailing list and an opportunity to attend my free webinar on Blogging in the Past Lane, please Subscribe here 

COMING UP!

1. Create a Family History Blog
2. Research other Family History Blogs
3. Choose your Blogging Strategy
4. Plan your Family History posts
5. Write compelling Family History blog posts
6. Seek feedback on your Blog
7. Share your Blog with your network
8. Get ready to ‘Blog in the Past Lane’