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Your Church’s Most Underused Tool: The Video Tut

Welcome. I write for church leaders on topics like strategy and communication. Since this is your first visit, don't forget to subscribe to my RSS feed.

If you’ve been reading here for very long, you know that I’m a little infatuated with 37Signals, a little web development group in Chicago that’s making a big impact on the web economy. Aside from their insanely useful web apps, one thing that I love about them are their video demos/tutorials.

Since this is mainly a blog for church leaders, let’s put video tutorials in perspective for you.

Let’s say that your church just launched a new website. A good way to get your folks in-tune with how it works is a quick video tut. Maybe your pastor (or you) just launched a new blog and you want to show your folks how to leave comments and help foster discussion. What if you wanted people to sign up for this weekend’s Easter Egg Hunt, but the sign-up page is a little tricky? Maybe it’s time for a video tut.

Now that it’s solidly established that you’ll need a video tut soon, let’s think about how it’s done.

First, the hardware. You’ll need a computer, obviously. Laptops or desktops; PCs or Macs; old or new. It doesn’t matter. Of course, I have my preferences (13″ MacBook - Black), but most computers will do fine. You’ll also need a microphone input, by-the-way.

Second, the software. If you’ve got a PC, check out Camstudio (free) or Camtasia (not free, but has a free trial download). If you’re running a Mac, the best I’ve found is iShowU. It’s incredibly simple to use and gives tons of resolution, aspect ratio, and other customizing options.

Third, the tut. When actually recording the tut, you’ve got to remember these three things.

1. The tut only consists of sound (your voice) and video (your screen), so don’t worry about your hair. However, since the viewer is restricted to these elements only, you’ll want to speak slowly and more deliberately than normal. Also, try to avoid audible pauses like um, err, and uh.
2. You don’t need to use a high FPS setting. This isn’t a high-def movie, it’s a simple tut. Plus, it’ll take forever to upload to the web if the file is too large.
3. Keep it simple. Don’t try to be funny, witty, or clever. Just walk the viewer through the steps you want for them to understand. This should keep the tut to an appropriate length (less than a minute).

Fourth, the upload. There are about a million places to upload videos to the web and still be able to embed them wherever you want. So, without going through all of them, I’ll just tell you the ones I like.

• Blip.tv - Simple, fast, brandable, and configurable. This one’s my fav.
• YouTube - Ubiquitous, but nothing special beyond that.
• Vimeo - Fast upload and attractive flash player.

Now that you’re all set up, it’s time to think about where you can use this useful tool. If you figure something out, let me know in the comments below. If you’ve already done a tut or two, leave a link in the comments. I might just post an entry with the best you have to offer.

Have fun!

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