Ahh… a workshop on creating content that people want to consume. This one was led by the MGImedia team (makers of CommandN.tv) including Amber MacArthur, Jeff MacArthur (yes, Amber’s brother) and Chris Dick.

I’m going to start off with two counterpoints so I can get them out of the way.

Why is it that so many people feel compelled to push making revenue directly from the production around web-based content? Specifically, this clunky word monetize — even worse, monetization. I have yet to attend a conference or session that specifically promotes the idea of producing and distributing content to build and strengthen a personal or corporate brand. I’ve decided to leave the discussion of how to monetize your content out of my post.

While content is extremely important, I disagree that content is king. Newcomers are often indoctrinated into the concept of content is king at the expense of context and delivery. While it is true that absence of content is a killer (Whitney Hoffman has dubbed content-free speech as oral kegels), strong content without relevant context and accessible delivery is going to be victim to the ’skip’ button. Scott did acknowledge in his talk that bad video will derail good content.  Jeff brought up a great point with respect to content and frequency — there should be a direct correlation between the strength of your content and the frequency of your production schedule.

Okay… that’s out of the way, now.

This session was full of great takeaways:

• The equation E² = education x entertainment.

• Engage your audience.

• Lighting will make a huge difference in your video. Use a bounce board to reflect light on your subject. The larger the board, the softer and more natural the light.

• Use a tripod to ensure a steady shot. For hand held use, zoom out and get close to your subject to avoid magnification of the shake.

• Every image you use should tell a story. Use the rule-0f-thirds to make your composition more interesting.

• Attention spans are short and YouTube imposes a ten-minute limit on all videos.

• Serve a need; fill a niche.

• Stick to a production schedule.

• Make sure your camera has connections for an external mic (1/8″ or XLR).

• Every camera has its strengths and weaknesses.  Any brand will do.  Prosumer cameras have great default settings to get started.

• A lot of what you will do will be sweat equity.

Amber, Jeff and Chris were able to draw on a lot of experience and creative collaboration for producing interesting content. This audio guy is ready to fire up the video engine and start experimenting.

Note: the presentation will be available on mgimedia.ca.

Amber MacArthur led a talk about the proliferation of video content on the web called Video is Everywhere. The panelists introduced themselves and their roles within their organizations as follows:

• Dina Kaplan (blip.tv): original episodic content on the web and matching of content with revenue opportunities

• Andre Gaulin (CTV): tasked with bringing online social media craziness to television for CTV

• Guinevere Orvis (CBC): mobile and online strategy production; putting behind the scenes video added value content that doesn’t appear on television online

This panel featured a classic display of the perceived personality stereotypes.

Dina represented the excited and passionate, over-caffinated envangelist of a grassroots community whose passion to create great content is increasingly obscured by the ambition to convert user-generated content into independent wealth. Dina’s near message-track focus was on maximizing revenue opportunities by packing as much advertising into any available corner of a video clip. She also really liked every question (’That’s a great question”, “It’s a really interesting question”…).

In contrast, Andre explained in his calm demeanor how CTV is working with various production companies to bring terrestrial content to the web and web content to our televisions. When posed with the challenge of explaining why some US content is not available in Canada, he spoke at a high level explaining that rights and licensing is an extremely complicated legal are which involves different production houses with different requirements and licensing restrictions.

Guinevere summed up the session’s unique qualities  by eloquently pointing out that the three panelists represent three different approaches that won’t likely converge into a single model, ever. Where CTV is pursuing unique ways of cross-pollinating content from various media, CBC is on the cutting edge of exploiting new technologies to inspire custom content creation and distribution. Among their innovative initiatives (for a public broadcaster) is the distribution of Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister using Bittorrent.

Say what you will about the dinosaurs of broadcast media, their primary interest remains the creation and distribution of quality content using innovative and accessible technologies.  They understand the competitive nature of content creation and consumption. Meanwhile, the grassroots are giddy about the idea making a buck. (note: Dave Fleet suggests that a buck might be more than they will actually make)