THE SCREENCASTER
The Official Newsletter of dapper|text

 In this issue:

    * Screencast Safari - iOS: The easiest way to record screencast
      footage of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
    * Photos and Callouts: On rocking your screencasts with serious
      eye candy, and where you can find some real beauts.
    * Success as a Pro Screencaster (or Pro Whatever): For the newly
      self-employed (or those who aspire to be), five simple tips
      for trimming years off your learning curve.
    * August Savings: dappertext launches its web shop with the
      Definitive Guide, TechSmith products, and
      SuperStamps/SuperCallouts. Discounts galore, dude. Save up to
      $50 on sweet screencasting products you probably want, anyway.

-------------------------------------------------------

Dear :

SCREENCAST SAFARI: TRACKING THE ELUSIVE IPAD

On the various screencasting-related net forums I monitor. One
topic that's been burning them up for the past several months is
how in the world you can make a screencast of the iPhone or iPad.
There are no (official) apps that support that will let you make a
screencast of the iOS.

This of course isn't a technical impossibilty, but rather an Apple
policy restriction. Steve Jobs just isn't letting any screencasting
tools get approved for some reason. 

In this screencast, I cover both hardware- and software-related
workarounds for this draconian restriction. It IS possible. Let's
see how...

http://screencastervids.s3.amazonaws.com/SC005/ios.html


ROCK YOUR SCREENCASTS WITH SERIOUS EYE CANDY
(And where you can find some real beauts)

A good part of my time spent on a project is devoted to hunting for
images. Background pics and callouts are needed for titles, closing
screens, exposition slides, b-roll, you name it. They help
illuminate your point and make your presentation much more visually
interesting.

On the other hand, screencasts that consist exclusively of screen
recordings are a wonderful cure for insomnia. Take a look at my
screencast on iOS capture that I did for this issue. Image if I
only used screen recording footage. Zzzzz....

If you want to create a truly compelling screencast, you'll need to
mine some good image sources. Doing a simple Google Image search
might seem like a fine idea, until you realize that all those
pictures have owners that might not take kindly to having their
pics being pilfered by a renegade screencaster.  So let's respect
the copyright holders and look to legal, royalty-free sources
instead. There are four sources I would recommend to you. Two are
free, and two paid (but reasonable). Let's look at the paid sources
first.

iStockPhoto.com. This stock photography service carries
high-quality photos on every imaginable topic. Their business model
consists of purchasing credits (either in bulk or by subscription).
This is where I turn when I have something very specific in mind,
as they usually have it.

   - www.istockphoto.com

SuperStamps and SuperCallouts. These collections of PNG images are
built specifically for SnagIt and Camtasia Studio by TechSmith, but
can be used by any screencasting application. Rather than
full-sized photographs, these are smaller icons that make excellent
custom callouts. I've got SuperCallouts always at-the-ready in my
Camtasia Studio Library.

And check this out. I've got a no-cost trial pack of SuperStamps
that you can download RIGHT NOW:

http://screencastervids.s3.amazonaws.com/SC005/20SuperStampsMini.zip

You're totally welcome  :-)

It's also one of the few products beyond my own book that we carry
in our shop, and if these collections sound up your alley, keep in
mind that we've got coupon codes at the end of this message that'll
save you beaucoup bucks. Scroll down.

   - www.dappertext-shop.com

Microsoft Office clip art. If you're a Microsoft Office user, this
free collection of clip art and photos should definitely be one of
your browser bookmarks.

   - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images

Stock Exchange. Both amateur and professional photographers share
their photos and graphics for your use. Quality level isn't quite
on par with iStockPhoto, but a lot it is quite good, and it has the
obvious advantage of being free. Pay attention to each image's
usage restrictions, though. While most allow you to use their pics
in your screencasts with no major restrictions, some wish to
notified, or even credited.

    - www.sxc.hu


Have a topic to suggest? Please contact us!


ON SUCCEEDING AS A PRO SCREENCASTER, OR PRO WHATEVER

For the newly self-employed (or those who aspire to be), here are
five simple tips to trim years off your learning curve

Next month marks the eighth anniversary of my consultancy. I began
with two clients, one of which was my former employer, who had
promised me but a single small project as a parting favor. These
were scary times, made scarier by the fact that I had just moved
(with an unemployed spouse and a year-old baby) to a foreign
country where my job prospects were virtually nil. After years of
gainful employement, I was utterly on my own, in the classic
sink-or-swim dichotomy where I either find success as a pro
screencaster, or (maybe) get lucky enough to score a counter jockey
position at Burger King.

So I put my nose down and started paddling like mad. And I'm
pleased to report that with the noted exception of my son, I've
never had to ask anyone if they wanted fries with that. (Besides,
he always wants fries.)

As the economy continues its downward spiral, I'd thought I'd take
up a part of this issue laying out a few of the harder-learned
lessons for anyone considering a similar path. While this is
obviously the most applicable to those who screencast
professionally, there are also lessons here for folks who
screencast as part of their regular job as well as for those
considering striking out into self-employment for ANY kind of
business. So, regardless of your current professional situation, it
would behoove you to spit out that gum, crack open your notebooks,
and pay attention, because I'm gonna be dropping some serious
pearls over here...

LESSON 1: The 80/20 Principle is a real thing.

In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of
Italy's land was owned by 20% of its populace. Decades later,
business consultant Joseph Juran came to apply this "Pareto
principle" to various aspects of business and of life. Nowadays,
the Pareto distribution is applied mathmatically by economists and
statisticians to gauge probabilities on populations, prices,
incomes, etc. In practice, I've seen this play out time and again
in my own consultancy. The following are but general rules of
thumb, yes, but I'm often stricken at how frighteningly accurate
the 80/20 principle can be...

1. 80% of your profits come from 20% of your clientele.

2. 80% of your income comes from 20% of your time spent.

3. 80% of your complaints and hassles from 20% of your
clientele.

So, how can you wield this information to help your business? By
separating the wheat from the chaff, of course. When you
successfully identify that key 20%, and focus your attentions on
it, good things happen. If 80% of my income depends on 20% of my
clients, identifying and rewarding those clients is key to my
long-term success. Conversely, identifying the 20% of problem
clients who really need to be jettisoned is just as critical. Which
leads me to my next lesson:

LESSON 2: Don't be afraid to cherry-pick your clients and projects.

A lot of new consultants worry that if they turn down any project,
regardless of how many red flags are flying from it, they'll be out
of business by the following month. In a volatile economy, it's
often more than a little scary to say, "Thanks, but we're too busy
to take this on. Best of luck to you in finding another provider."
But I'm here to tell you, these are two sentences that are much
more likely to save your business (and your sanity) than kill it.
Trust your instincts. If you get the sense that this is one of
those twenty-percenters who's likely to bring on 80% of your
headaches, run in the opposite direction.

"But they're offering a lot of money!" you might argue. Don't care.
Not worth it. I've walked away from buckets of boodle when I got
the sense that something was off about the client or project. Of
course, I've also learned to occasionally accept less money to make
screencasts for organizations from whom I get a particularly
positive vibe. This is especially appealing if they have heavy
needs, where it becomes clear that the initial project is only the
tip of the proverbial iceberg. As a service provider, your most
important asset is your time. Spend it with those who make your
professional life a pleasure. And the ones who enjoy wasting your
time and generally making life difficult? Kick 'em to the curb.

LESSON 3: Don't leave money on the table.

This may seem like a contradiction considering what I just said
about discounting good clients, but when setting your general
pricing, make sure your pricing is a good reflection of the value
you provide.

For service providers just starting out, particularly in a
competitive field, there's often an enormous urge to distinguish
themselves from their competitors by advertising as the "budget
provider." This is an awful trap to fall into. Budget-minded
clients do not tend to "easier" clients than those with deeper
pockets. If anything, they're more demanding. Even if you succeed
in generating a lot of new business this way, you'll ultimately
become a victim of your own success, scrambling to satisfy all
these guys while reaping rapidly diminishing reward.

In addition, at least for the field of screencasting, it cheapens
and commoditizes an industry that ought to be rewarding innovation.
So what to do? Find other ways to distinguish yourself, naturally.
This may mean educating yourself on related services you could be
offering. Know a foreign language? That could be an asset as well.
If you're a true beginner in your field, you simply have to accept
a smaller fee until you have a chance to train yourself up a bit,
but generally, aim for the high side of the industry average.

LESSON 4:  Get it in writing.

When signing a new client, I have a standard work order that has
evolved over the years. Whenever I'd had a less than happy
experience on a project, I would occasionally add a new clause to
innoculate myself against a future occurrence.

I encourage my clients to read the work order VERY carefully, as it
carefully spells out the rights and responsibilities of each party.
This avoids ambiguity and gives you a leg to stand on when clients
don't hold up their end of the bargain (which, for me, is
thankfully rare). Being able to preface with, "According to the
work order you signed, ..." avoids the he-said, she-said drama that
can sometimes plague business-related conflict. Without a signed
work order and a financial commitment (in the form of a deposit), I
won't even start a project.

Lesson 5: Penalize changes that waste your time.

In my standard work order, I have two clauses that make the
following provisions (greatly simplified here):

1. If the scope of your project changes (in either size or
complexity) from our original agreement, you owe me more money.

2. Projects proceed in a stepwise manner. First the script,
then the storyboard, then a video draft. They build on each other.
Each step serves as a blueprint for the following one. If you
approve the script, and then make radical changes to the narration
once it's put into video form, then guess what? You owe me more
money.

While many clients are very conscientious about not wasting your
time, there are also those who simply don't take your time or
sanity into account, and will sometimes request sweeping changes
that would force you to practically start over from scratch. This
is particularly likely with larger companies who like to critique
"by committee". Whenever possible, I insist on having a single
point of contact who serves as their organization's gatekeeper,
moderating the feedback of perhaps a dozen or more of their
colleagues who are all anxious to make their mark on my project.

Having clauses like this in place tends to force clients to
consider your time and to respect the process of the end project's
creation. In the end, they may heartily approve the blueprint, and
then request that half the building be knocked down and built anew
once they see it. But in that event, at least your interests will
be protected, and you won't have to do a project twice for the same
money.

----------------------

Ideally, I'd like to do more segments like this in the future. Got
advice of your own to share? I'd love to hear and possibly
incorporate it in a future issue...


SAVINGS! SAVE UP TO $50 WITH ONE OUR SWEET BUNDLE DEALS.

To celebrate the launch of our new web shop, we're offering HUGE
bundle discounts on Camtasia Studio: The Definitive Guide for the
entire month of August.

After writing our first digital version of Camtasia Studio: The
Definitive Guide, we decided to launch an online shop devoted
exclusively to screencasting. To celebrate its launch, I'm offering
bundle deals of the Definitive Guide with Camtasia Studio, and with
SuperCallouts mentioned above.

Just enter any of the following coupon codes after adding the
corresponding products to your shopping cart:

Silver bundle: $20 off Camtasia Studio: The Definitive Guide and
SuperCallouts. Coupon code "screencaster20off"

Gold bundle: $30 off Camtasia Studio: The Definitive Guide and
Camtasia Studio software. Coupon code "screencaster30off"

Platinum bundle: $50 off all three products. That's like getting
the Definitive Guide for free! Coupon code "screencaster50off"

But don't wait around! When August is gone, so are these deals. Go
to dappertext-shop.com today.

 
 
dappertext LLC is a screencasting consultancy created and led by
Daniel Park (that'sme). Started in 2003, we've created hundreds of
training and marketing screencasts for dozens of clients. Our
client roster includes the likes of Pfizer, the Mayo Clinic, the
Internal Revenue Service, Autodesk, The Cheesecake Factory, and
Microsoft.

If you lack the time or inclination to produce quality screencasts
for your organization, we'd love to help you out. We'll take your
materials, create an utterly splendid narration script and
storyboard, capture, edit, produce, and post. Zero hand-holding
required.

And if you're a do-it-yourselfer, you may want to have us come
onsite and train your team on Camtasia Studio and best practices
for screencasting in general. 

For all things screencasting, give us a shout: info@dappertext.com.
 




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All of the above is ©2011 by Daniel Park, except in the case of
articles by guest authors, who retain all rights to their own
musings.

Feel free to send Daniel rants, raves, and other assorted bits o'
feedback to info@dappertext.com.

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