Short version: I decided to finally take advice I'll give to clients (and anyone else): if you have an audience, you want to get their email addresses so that you can contact them about things that are mutually interesting. After writing approximately four full-length novels worth of blog posts about software businesses, some people seem to be interested in hearing from me about them, but I have no way of knowing who they are or how to get in touch with them unless they contact me directly.
So, I thought I'd start an email list. Just asking for email addresses seemed kind of boring, though, so I recorded a 45 minute video on improving the first run experience of software. (Something crazy like 40 ~ 60% of users will abandon an application after their first use of it. Track that stat and work on it and it will go down, which will make users happier and improve business results. For the topic treated at length, see the video.)
As a published mobile developer watching a huge daily churn rate on my free app's downloads, all I can say is I haven't been this excited to watch a video of a guy with a headset mic.. ever. So.. signed up and thanks in advance :)
.. edit: but you need to fix your audio. Your mic is using a noise gate to try to block background noise when you aren't speaking. The effect is like someone turning the mic on and off at the start and end of every word you speak. This makes it very hard to focus on your content. It would be easier to listen to you if:
- you had a single $20 dynamic mic a foot or two away from your mouth (or one of those $50 USB mics marketed for 'podcasting')
- speak louder (as if you were in a meeting)
- minimize background noise in the room.
If your floor is hardwood put a blanket down (or hanging behind the mic) to reduce reverberation and use audacity's parametric EQ to filter everything below 100hz and above ~30000hz (tune to taste).
As it is I got a few minutes in and decided to read the script instead (thanks for including it)
One tip for the next time you're making a video or audio recording: you could improve the sound quality afterwards, or use a different setup in recording. There are some distortions --rumbling, spikes, noise-- that should not be necessary in such a setup, and can be easily filtered away. (Also, although many will not mind, it should not be necessary to use air traffic controller-like headphones/mic in recording such a video :-)
For another example of someone sharing his experience, see Derek Sivers in http://vimeo.com/26818727. No headphones, somewhat better sound, but (I guess) a similar investment in time and material, so within reach of many with a story/knowledge to share.
I'm happy to hear more from you, so I gave you my e-mail - despite the fact that I don't like video and was going to post here asking whether there would be a transcript. I was happily surprised to find a transcript on the "you have subscribed" page.
Dude, I know you see "teaser" but I see "5 minutes with no demonstrated value." I'm convinced that the next 40 minutes of your video will have content that I could have just as easily consumed in blog format in about 45 seconds.
I was going to post something about how Patrick probably doesn't need to post much of a teaser because frankly, name recognition alone is going to get him a ton of email addresses to play around with.
Then, in lieu of responding blindly, I closed the window (because I hate responding when I feel like my answer is going to make me look like an asshole) and went to watch the video.
With that, all I can say is that either we have different definitions of value, or perhaps you're not in his target demographic?
Only a jackass registers a new account just to slam a person who actually creates value for people. He deserves an instaban, not validation through a response.
Comments
Short version: I decided to finally take advice I'll give to clients (and anyone else): if you have an audience, you want to get their email addresses so that you can contact them about things that are mutually interesting. After writing approximately four full-length novels worth of blog posts about software businesses, some people seem to be interested in hearing from me about them, but I have no way of knowing who they are or how to get in touch with them unless they contact me directly.
So, I thought I'd start an email list. Just asking for email addresses seemed kind of boring, though, so I recorded a 45 minute video on improving the first run experience of software. (Something crazy like 40 ~ 60% of users will abandon an application after their first use of it. Track that stat and work on it and it will go down, which will make users happier and improve business results. For the topic treated at length, see the video.)
Feel free to ask questions.
As a published mobile developer watching a huge daily churn rate on my free app's downloads, all I can say is I haven't been this excited to watch a video of a guy with a headset mic.. ever. So.. signed up and thanks in advance :)
.. edit: but you need to fix your audio. Your mic is using a noise gate to try to block background noise when you aren't speaking. The effect is like someone turning the mic on and off at the start and end of every word you speak. This makes it very hard to focus on your content. It would be easier to listen to you if:
- you had a single $20 dynamic mic a foot or two away from your mouth (or one of those $50 USB mics marketed for 'podcasting')
- speak louder (as if you were in a meeting)
- minimize background noise in the room.
If your floor is hardwood put a blanket down (or hanging behind the mic) to reduce reverberation and use audacity's parametric EQ to filter everything below 100hz and above ~30000hz (tune to taste).
As it is I got a few minutes in and decided to read the script instead (thanks for including it)
Interesting material, many thanks for sharing.
One tip for the next time you're making a video or audio recording: you could improve the sound quality afterwards, or use a different setup in recording. There are some distortions --rumbling, spikes, noise-- that should not be necessary in such a setup, and can be easily filtered away. (Also, although many will not mind, it should not be necessary to use air traffic controller-like headphones/mic in recording such a video :-)
For another example of someone sharing his experience, see Derek Sivers in http://vimeo.com/26818727. No headphones, somewhat better sound, but (I guess) a similar investment in time and material, so within reach of many with a story/knowledge to share.
I'm happy to hear more from you, so I gave you my e-mail - despite the fact that I don't like video and was going to post here asking whether there would be a transcript. I was happily surprised to find a transcript on the "you have subscribed" page.
Thanks!
Dude, I know you see "teaser" but I see "5 minutes with no demonstrated value." I'm convinced that the next 40 minutes of your video will have content that I could have just as easily consumed in blog format in about 45 seconds.
FYI, the full video includes both a transcript and an audio version for easy car-listening. It's about as convenient as you can get.
I was going to post something about how Patrick probably doesn't need to post much of a teaser because frankly, name recognition alone is going to get him a ton of email addresses to play around with.
Then, in lieu of responding blindly, I closed the window (because I hate responding when I feel like my answer is going to make me look like an asshole) and went to watch the video.
With that, all I can say is that either we have different definitions of value, or perhaps you're not in his target demographic?
Only a jackass registers a new account just to slam a person who actually creates value for people. He deserves an instaban, not validation through a response.