Thomas Clifford /// Humanizing Business Communications

Let’s say you’re about to bake a cake. You have a dozen eggs, 1 lb of flour, a carton of milk, etc. The recipe only calls for 2 eggs, 1 cup of milk, 2 cups of flour. What do you do with the remaining ingredients? Throw them away?
Um– I hope not!

But that’s exactly what happens when most people finish their video projects.

They use what they need from the interview and throw out the rest of the conversation. What a waste! Let’s see if we can turn this situation around into something profitable.

When you finish a video interview, two things pop into your head:
1. You cross your fingers and hope you got what you needed.
2. You know all those great quotes from your guest will wind up on the cutting room floor.

Leave all those great quotes on the cutting room floor?
That’s the last thing to do. Remember those left-over cake ingredients? You didn’t throw those away, did you? Well, in the land of video, this happens a lot. Why?

Everyone is focused on the “one big project.”
The “one big project” blinds us from seeing other ways of extending the conversation. It’s tempting to just ask enough questions to get answers for your one project. But there’s another way to approach your project.

Turn your “one big project” into “several mini-projects.”
Before you begin any video interview, determine ahead of time what other areas your interviewee could talk about. It may only take an extra 15 or 20 minutes to record the answers, so you might as well go for it.

If you do go for the extra recording, chances are great you will capture enough information to create 11 media products in three formats:
1. 1 e-Book
2. 5 Video podcasts
3. 5 Audio podcasts

Will creating all this extra material break your budget?
You would think so but that’s not the case. Since you’re already recording the interview, you just need to budget a little extra for the transcript (which you should be doing for all your interviews) and a few hours of audio and video editing.

Let’s take a look at an example.
You just finished interviewing your guest. The first thing to do is get the interview transcribed onto paper. You’re now on your way to creating several media programs.

1. e-Books
Once you have your video transcribed, your e-Book is 90% finished. Go through the transcript, edit what you don’t need, get rid of the “um’s” and “ah’s,” apply your branding guidelines. Voila! An instant e-Book. Now available to distribute to employees, customers, vendors, etc.

2. Five 60-Second Video Podcasts
Take the transcript and highlight five answers you can use in other areas of your company. Create simple title graphics to begin each video. You can use graphics whenever you get stuck making transitions in-between thoughts.

3. Five 60-Second Audio Podcasts
Highlight five answers you want to use for the other projects. Find the answers in the video interview using the transcripts. Edit the five answers. Add some music. Create your MP3’s. Distribute as needed.

See how easy it is?
You now have a simple process to take one video interview and turn it into 11 media programs in three formats. And this process is from just one interview. Can you imagine how much material you would be able to create if you interviewed five or six people?

Now about that cake. Save a piece for me, ok?

---Tom