Vlogging (Fall-Spring)

 

 

Hello, I’m…!

 

A vlog to welcome visitors to your website. A short, professional “hello” to people interested in your work.

 

Don’t Worry! 😀

 

Just like speech class, this is something that can be stressful for many of us. And just like speech class, if you get a bit better at it, you’ve gained a powerful skill. Imagine going on a job interview and not making eye contact with your interviewer, but looking at the ground instead because you’re nervous and embarrassed. Many of us feel this way. It’s intimidating. But if you can give someone a confident handshake, and make comfortable eye contact with them as you talk about yourself, you’ve gone a long way to forging a real relationship with this person.

 

Step 1: Vlogging

 

You can use your

• Phone
• Laptop
• Or any other Camera

3 tips 4 more watchable vlogs

• Use a Microphone
• Use a Tripod
• Have a clear outline of what you want to say and keep it short

Most of you won’t have microphones. If you can get close to your phone or laptop, that will be a lot better sound than if you’re far. You also might try recording a few sentences in different rooms and outdoors. Outdoors could have jet noise or other distractions, but it won’t sound like you’re talking inside a trash can as many rooms can.

Most of you won’t have tripods either. But you can tape your phone to a chair or ladder. Or if you have a selfie stick, you can tape that to a chair or ladder. Or you can set your laptop on a table.

Give it a shot!

Record your “Welcome to My Website” short video.

For Welcome to My Website, make a “hello” video for your Engineering, or Fashion Merchandising, or Criminal Justice website. Introduce yourself briefly and talk about why your field excites you.

Pro Tip: Don’t say “I’m a student.” You’re not denying that, but let’s focus on you as a professional. Even if you’re just starting out, or will be in school for a few years still, your professional identity is not “student”, it’s Child Development, or Theater Art, or Graphic Design, or Nursing. So talk about how excited you are to be a young professional soon to enter your field. (unless your current goal is to apply to a program, like Nursing or Film, etc, then your hello video can orient in that context).

Pro Tip #2: Now that you’re talking as a (soon or future) professional, how about talking about results instead of tasks:

• Instead of: I create user guides, process documentation, and multimedia training.
• How about: I create documentation that helps my customers inform, teach, sell, streamline, and succeed.

(example from Doug Sasse’s Amazon review of Stephanie Palmer’s book Good in a Room ).

Post Your Video

Then upload your video to YouTube (or Vimeo).

Then make a new post on your WordPress, and paste the URL for your video on the page – it’ll turn into an embedded video on your page.

In your WP post say a few words about:

• What you were going for in your video
• Did you accomplish it?
• What would you do differently next time?
• Do you think you’ll ever vlog again?

Use the same YT (Vimeo) URL to add your video to your Wix (or other platform) ePortfolio.

https://youtu.be/hqHGhdaPHjs