Welcome everybody to Creating Awesome Recordings for WordPress. My name is Kathryn and I'm based in Montreal, Canada.
I've been using WordPress since 2008 and giving talks about WordPress for almost 15 years as well.
And I currently work at Automattic, where I'm sponsored to help with the Training team and all of different things that go into Learn WordPress.org
And I want to introduce my colleague Wes.
Yeah, good morning. From my side of the world. My name is Wes Theron and I am an Instructional Designer.
And I'm also part of the Training team. So another term for Instructional Designer, I can say I'm probably like a Learning Wrangler.
And my work basically focuses on creating learning content for WordPress users. I have a background in teaching.
And I'm also sponsored by Automattic to work on the WordPress project. Full time. So yeah, you'll see, you'll, you would have seen a lot of my content on Learn.WordPress.org.
And we've also actually started hosting, our videos on YouTube.
So yeah, excited to be here with you today.
Alright, so how this is going to go is I'm going to 1st talk a little bit about the new guide to video best practices that was recently created in the Training team handbook.
And then I am going to turn the reins over to Wes who is going to do a little demo of the tool that he uses called Camtasia. And then we'll have Q&A at the end.
If you have questions along the way, we may stop and answer them along the way or we may wait till the end, depending how the timing goes.
So thanks in advance for either holding off or if you feel the need to ask the question in the moment please feel free.
And it's probably better if you put the question in the chat, but if it's easier you can also unmute and do it verbally.
Alright, so I'm gonna share my screen and we will look at the page that I referred to the video best practices page.
So I'm going to link to this and some of you might have already seen it, but it is a new and expanded guide to two things.
One is some of the tools that you can use when creating video recordings for lessons on Learn.WordPress.org.
But of course this can also apply to demos and lessons and recordings for any other purpose as well. And what we've done is compiled some different software.
We've got different types of software that can be used for both screen recording and editing. For example, Camtasia and Descript are two of the ones that some of the content creators for Learn.WordPress.org use a lot. Wes already mentioned or we already mentioned that Wes uses Camtasia, for example.
And many of these are paid apps. So the more professional you get, you know, the more likely it is that it's going to be a paid app.
But there is also open source and free software typically that does one thing or the other, either recording your screen.
Including things like QuickTime, which is built into Mac. Or even Zoom and some other things, one, the software's that was mentioned by someone.
Earlier before we started recording was OBS Studio is another one. And then there's a collection of editing software and editing is something you can do after you've done your recording to piece together the parts of your recording.
So these are two different groupings of software, the recording, and then the editing. And then just to sort of recap, we've got the things that can do both.
Sort of multipurpose software at the top. So feel free to have a look at that. And if you have questions about these software, you can certainly ask.
I'm not an expert in each of these software's, but if you have questions about Camtasia, West can certainly answer.
And there's a whole section about audio here and I wanted to talk a little bit about audio because I used to work in the film and TV business and the sound people would always complain that you know nobody really pays much intention to sound until there's a problem because you know we take for granted good sound and it can really extract from what you're seeing.
So I think, you know, it's a good idea to go through these tips. I'm gonna go through some of them now.
Together. Choose a space where there isn't any background noise and where you won't be interrupted is important.
Actually, I wanna ask West to chime in a little bit on this one because, you know, a lot of us.
You know, might have a family, might have children, spouses. Roommates, maybe you're in a co-working space where there's people around.
How do you handle? Interruptions and make it more likely that you won't be interrupted.
Where some things you do as.
So yeah, I've got kids, so that is definitely a problem. During the school holidays.
So, I use a noise canceling software called CRISP. Which basically blocks out any outside outside noise.
So even if the kids are playing and I can hear them and the microphone won't pick them up.
But in general I I do work in a small office space. I find that's better for, for sound as well.
And I worked in a co-working space a few years back. And if I wanted to do recordings, I had to use the small seminar room or the large one.
And I remember one time using the large seminar room. And I found that the Even with crisp, the sun was, was not as dense.
So having a smaller space. I know, I've even noticed that curtains make a difference.
And yeah I think I've told this The story before, or I mentioned this to Kathryn, but, one of our, my previous colleagues.
She also had, a lot of animals at home and, she used crisp as well, but she actually used her cupboard.
Or yeah, she used a cupboard to, to support a soundproofing.
And I also know, I've actually seen it on like Amazon, but you can, you can buy a soundproofing screen that you can put it around yourself.
So that's another another option.
That's an interesting one. I've never heard of a soundproofing screen, but that's really intriguing that such a thing exists.
Things that you might not think of like closing all windows and doors, you know, it might not, the birds outside in a tree might sound really faint to your ear, but your microphone, especially if it's a decent one, might be picking that up and it could be distracting.
Things like turning off air conditioning. My organization is currently in another room and I'm sweltering in here but I did not want to have any fans going here because this isn't a demo recording I still didn't want it to distract folks.
So, okay. Some of the other things that I won't go through every little item. But yeah, you mentioned Chris.
So I pasted that link in the chat. Chris is one of the, noise cancellation apps that is very popular and there's some, other ones that are in the guide that you can check out.
Oh, thank you. Somebody posted a link to an example of a. Partition divider from an online source so thank you Steve.
Now let's talk a little bit about pets. You know, pets like to be where the humans are.
And but that makes for a challenge when you're recording, especially if they want to be climbing on your computer or doing things, you know, knocking your hands away.
So, you know, think about. You know, excel in your pets, just temporarily, tell them it's temporary, putting them somewhere where they won't disturb.
You know, I know it can be challenging. We don't wanna put, put limits on it.
Well, I have a cat and I certainly feel terrible, like a terrible mom. Putting your outside and not letting her be with me.
But you know, we must make sacrifices. Also talking about microphones.
The idea of Trying to use a separate microphone other than the one built in to your computer.
Because it just gives a better quality audio. So try to always use an external. Mike. This is a very ironic because at the moment.
My external mic is on the Fritz, so I'm not using an external like and I hope this audio is good enough.
But, you know, in addition to that, the external microphone shouldn't pick up the sound of if you're typing or clicking your mouse if you have to type while you're doing your demo the external mic is less likely to pick up that.
That type of noise. Also doing doing a little test recording yourself playing it back making sure you don't hear anything odd sometimes you know wearing headphones helps you pick up things that you wouldn't otherwise so wearing headphones when you play back, your test is important.
Please.
Can I jump in there? So, I know one of my, other colleagues also said that, She enjoyed using a headphone for recording.
And that is also a cheaper option. For, for getting a quality. Microphone.
I just wanted to share I I use a microphone called the road. Microphone. So I'm of course very pleased to have a really good microphone for for recording but yeah I can I can get a massive difference between when I just use my laptop and compared to when I use my my road mic.
But yeah, this. As I say, using a headphone is definitely a cheaper way.
Of getting a good microphone. In place.
Cool. Thank you for sharing that and I think that was our ODE. Was that the name of the brand?
I'm gonna
Yes, and there's like a little stripe through the O.
Okay, thanks. Now this next tip I will highlight because I did not know this. Apparently, a cell phone frequency can cause audio interference.
So even even in silent mode, so It's suggested to turn off your cell phone during recording or I suppose keep it far away.
Hopefully keeping it far away would do the same but that's an interesting one I hadn't heard of before I started putting these tips together.
And also this is another good one. If you get, you know, Garbled up your words, you've lost your place and you need to start over what you were saying.
Give yourself a nice little pause of a few seconds to make it much easier to make the cut later and edit.
Scott says plus plus on the pods. Yes, I I made this mistake myself last week in an online workshop where I had to pick up.
Part 2 of something and I did not pause before I just launched into it and when I was editing I just sort of wanted to go back in time and Chasse myself because I wasn't taking my own advice.
And yes, Scott is pointing out pauses, that, that you have so many pauses.
For making those cuts. So yeah, it's 1 of those things you need to get into the habit of doing.
I don't think it comes naturally, but. The 1st time you need to make that cut and you don't have enough space you'll probably remember the next time to leave leave the pods or hopefully you will.
Something Scott shared that I'm gonna read out loud, something that you also do.
When you do the pause, I clap or something loud. So there's a big audio jump.
So I know there was a cut pause and not just a normal pause. Just an old recording hack I used to do when I recorded music that is a brilliant idea because that's a very good point.
When you're listening back, you might be like, why have us along there? Is that just a natural pause?
So if, if you do a big clap or something. That's a queue for yourself.
You can, yeah, you can actually get, a clicker. There's a little clickers that you can actually purchase as well.
And then you can see where spikes and then wait to cut. So. Yeah.
Cool. Yeah.
Something else to
Now, yes, please.
Can I can it before we continue the one thing I know we I don't know if you were still.
I'm going to get there. But. As I mentioned, I've, children, and I've worked at a go in space.
And some people have as you say, roommates, etc. And I've definitely have people come in.
To to my room while I was recording. Which is of course very frustrating because then you have to start all over again or cut that part out.
And so, Jonathan, one of the developer content. Creators. He's got a little sign.
That he puts up on his door. It's almost like when you, when there's an exam in progress, you know, it's like, please be quiet examining progress so that people can see you all recording and they should not.
They should not enter So.
Absolutely. That can help for roommates or anybody who might you might be cohabiting with or co-officing with.
That's an awesome.
Joe suggests genius at work. Yes, and getting back to about pauses, Lisa says, that you can also use those pauses for time signatures for each segment in your notes.
So you know there was a natural chunk there. Good point. Being a points, this one I think is worth calling out also some people and I don't know I'm interested to know what you what your approach is West but I always try and not write out every single word I'm going to say and any kind of presentation because I'm then tempted to read it backward for which can sound sort of stiff
and formal. And not it doesn't flow so I try and now make bullet points for myself instead so that I know the key things.
I want to say, but not every not necessarily word for word. I don't know what your what your approach is.
So, I will probably get to this later in my demo. But of course, do have a script.
But yes, for demos, I think that, that is true. You need to have a You need to have A script or bullet points for for the demo.
So that you don't sound robotic but it's just very important to to plan it out.
Step by step. So that it doesn't sound like you are fumbling over your words or thinking about what you say, because that doesn't sound professional either.
Cause you know, you're trying to multitask. But yes, for.
For demos, I also Don't, read out a script. I will show you later but I 1st record.
I 1st record the demo. Without the sound, well, I'll speak doing everything that I need to do, but I don't actually record my sound and then I, I record my sound.
Okay.
On top of my, my recording. To make sure that the and the recording or the narration, you know, is streamlined.
I don't use any . I don't you know, doesn't sound like I'm grasping for words, etc.
That's a really good point. I think it is a balance between
Noing everything you want to say. Saying it smoothly and not having it sound as you put it robotic or I, you know, unnatural.
It's definitely a balance. I agree. The last section in the guide is to follow accessibility guidelines.
So if you're reporting videos for Learn not WordPress.org. The training team already has an accessibility checklist so we will to that here just to remind you to go through that and make sure to follow those.
Those items and some of the particular things relating to WordPress. If you're doing any sort of technical lesson is to include a copy of any code examples that are shown on video.
Within the transcript or as text so that people can read that. With whatever software they might need, a screen reader or anything.
You know, I think this is useful for all kinds of purposes in addition to accessibility. It's just a good practice to include your code examples.
Somewhere outside of the video. That could be a link to a GitHub. Guest or something.
And also the point that sometimes can be overlooked is to say what you're doing and where you're going in the dashboard or whatever you're doing rather than relying on someone to be able to see what you're doing.
So saying, you know, I'm going to, I'm in W, and I'm going to go to post and I'm going to click on add new.
It can. You know, there's a balance between making it sound a little bit tedious and really being helpful for people.
So I think there's a balance there. That people can find. And also Yeah, go ahead.
Yeah, I think. Oh, you just wanted the words to avoid there that I, and that's something I may be struggled with more in the beginning.
Yes.
But instead, not to say, and then click on that. Because somebody who can't see clearly, for example, won't be able to no what is that so you will say I will click on the insert to top right so you, Yeah, you explain through your narration as you say.
Yeah, excellent example. And then of course making sure the videos include captions and or transcripts ideally both but at least one or the other and there's a whole a separate guide on creating transcripts and captions for lessons.
Alright, I'm gonna stop sharing my screen and I want to. Thank Steve in the chat for sharing a reasonably priced set of headphones that you like.
I am on the hunt for a good, so I will be actually looking at that myself, but I will include links, in the meetup.
Comments for people who don't wanna take time or, you know, aren't necessarily looking at the chat here.
So thank you for that, Steve. So just a couple of things. Before I ask you to share your screen with, You know, one thing you mentioned earlier was the expression filler words and I just wanted to share.
For folks who haven't heard that turn before, what are filler words. It's anything okay. I just did one right there.
I said, it's words that we slip into our speech that we don't even We're not even aware of a lot of the time that we're doing.
They're not adding to your Meaning they are just there to take up space. So, mmm, all those sorts of things.
And, you know, the advice I give, this is sort of separate from the, the, any software related things, but the advice I give is to watch yourself back or listen to yourself back.
And become aware of what your filler words are and then when you'll be 1st of all doing that will make you more aware of them and less likely to do them in the future.
And also, when you feel like you're going to use a filler word, Just pause instead.
So just give yourself a moment and pause instead. So I just did, I just another, now I'm going to be completely self conscious for the rest of this recording.
Oh, Steve also link to an on air door hanger, which you can put on your door handle. Absolutely.
And you can make one if you're a crafty type. You can make one yourself as well.
Depends how professional you want it to look.
So, I did, I didn't, again, okay, I'm gonna stop pointing because now.
Yeah. Oh, we all do it. It's fine. We will do it.
She said, again. Okay. So speaking of, Is there any advice you could go back and give your past self before you recorded many, many demos.
Anything you wish you'd known from the start. That you now know.
I'll see. They added an as well. So basically, if I look back to, to my One of the things that
I would have told myself is to recording chunks and I will I will explain a bit more later when I share my screen as well.
But I've It is really helped me to kind of streamline, streamline my own recording. Because as you might have might have seen a lot of our content we don't share our our faces.
Our videos on mainly focused on the content. So I know when you share your When you share your face and, you're actually speaking to the camera, that's a bit of a different story.
But for, the type of videos we create, I wish I knew that from the start, like.
It's for me, it's really helpful to recording chunks. So I will record a little section.
And then one that once that section is done I'll move on to the next section. And it, yeah, it's just really helpful for me.
To save time. And I tend to make and few mistakes because I'm I'm recording soak little pieces of content.
Interesting because I guess another approach is trying to do it all one take so you minimize post production and editing but then if you need 10 takes to get through the whole thing smoothly maybe it evens out so Oh, there's an interesting question.
Yeah, go ahead.
Yeah. And then. Yeah, before you read the question, something else. And I think, most people in life, Will have had a moment like this, but I have.
Also Forgot to save something. Like I started recording and then I forgot to save it in the right place and then The program I used crashed.
Unexpectedly. And they were like missing files. And it was very frustrating. So.
Yeah, I know we all know this when we writing a document. Or working on any piece of content, we need to make sure we Hit save and continuously and we save things in the in the right spot.
It reminds me when I was at university. I I worked on an assignment. One of those long assignments with like thousands of words.
And this is like early 2,000 so I still have like a flash disk. But I did something wrong and I forgot to save.
A part of it in my computer just shut down. And whenever backup. Like a large portion of my work was gone.
So Yeah, we sometimes relearn these things, but, saving, saving, saving.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Oh, Wes, Wes, are you from South Africa?
Yes. Yes, I am.
Yeah, it's a common.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, you guys have like, these common last names that are like, like, are a small set of last names.
Yeah, well, there's that famous, actress as well, so they're on, and I think.
Their name on the map.
This is
Yeah Yeah, It's a i mean, I don't know. Yeah, yeah, that was just interesting.
You know.
Yeah, but yeah, good spotting. South African accent.
Alright, let me just see if there's any other questions before I turn the reins over to you to share your screen.
I think I will ask you something afterwards, but I think for now, why don't you go ahead and we'll start the demo portion and while you're doing that, thank you to all the folks that are sharing.
Suggestions for microphones and headsets. It's really, really useful. I'm gonna compile all of those and include them when I post the recording.
So thank you. And also somebody came in late and asked if they missed anything. Yes, you missed so much, but we are recording.
Yeah.
I did remember to hit record because it's always a Very unfortunate, if we forget, but, it will be posted, so you'll be able to play it back.
And West just tell me when you're ready to go.
Yeah, well, I'm ready. So as, mentioned, we thought it might be helpful just to kind of explain or.
It just helpful me kind of expanding my process, how I go about creating. A video, for learner, WordPress.org.
So of course I created videos every week. And it's part of my daily job and I just thought it's it's gonna be good too, to speak about my, process and I go about creating, video content.
So, Yeah, let me start at the top before I share my screen. Research is super important.
And so of course the 1st thing I do is I research, I, I Google, I try and watch other videos and then I'll also go to WordPress documentation.
As you will know, if you go to the or if you go to workpus.
Dot org there's a a documentation area. And you can you can find a lot of helpful information there.
So I will do a lot of research and then of course I will start working on the learning outcomes of my of my lesson.
So it's really important to have those learning outcomes in place before you actually start writing your script or creating content.
Cause you wanna decide, you know, what do we want learners to know at the end of this lesson?
What, what what object do you want to reach so then I will finalize my learning outcomes as well as examples.
So of course, if it's a feature that I'm highlighting, I will work on my learning outcomes and then I will actually go and create one or 2 examples that I want to maybe recreate.
Or so in, in my video. And then I actually go and practice it myself. So let's say, for example, it's about I'll use this example because I'm running an online workshop on this next week.
You know, how'd you set up your header and your footer? So let's say it's about the navigation block.
So then I will 1st go and. And practice using the navigation block. And 2, one or 2 examples.
And when I've got those examples in place, then I will start writing. My script. Now this links back to what Catherine mentioned earlier on about filler words and maybe sometimes I mean, I am, I mean, Basically, I I use a script.
For my entire presentation although as I mentioned for my demos I will. I will have bullet points, but then I will record the demo.
Without sound and then I will record my voice over the demo. So that helps me to ensure that I don't use fellow words or stumble over my words and when I'm doing a demo.
And maybe it's something just I struggle with as well. And that's what you know, you spoke about one of the lessons to your Like I remember doing it in the beginning, like trying to multitask, you know, like Doing a demo while speaking.
But I just I just struggled I just struggled doing that. So this was the way I overcame that or overcome that.
So yes, I will have bullet points. For my demo then I will actually record the demo like I will do the demo record the screen And while I while I record the demo, I will actually use my brilliant points and I will say, open this, click on that.
It's etc, but then I will you know, as I said, only add the sound afterwards.
And the program that I use that allows me to do that is Camtasia as, As Kathryn mentioned, early on.
So something else I use. For slides is Canva. So for. For slides and for.
Graphics or images. I use I'm mainly use Camtasia and of course I save a
I'll save an image and then I'll just drag it into, to, to Camtasia.
Alright, so I'm I'm going to share my screen and I'll show you. Where I do all of this.
So.
Welcome to, workspace. Now. As Kathryn mentioned earlier on, this setup will be different for everyone.
I can only show you what I use, but as you said, you might be using, a different different software and but I think the the elements are probably still the same.
Oh, the principles are still the same. So. You know this video recording is not about promoting Camtasia at all as i said my other colleague And Jonathan, he actually prefers using the script.
And he does all his work in the script. And other people might prefer a different program so yeah as i say the principles all the same
So If I go to the start of this. Video, for example. You will notice I've added my title and I've got an introduction.
And as you can see with the. Oh, I hope you can see this at the bottom.
But you will actually see my voice recordings. All in chunks. So as I mentioned earlier on, that's been my My go to is recording everything in chunks because it's much easier for me.
It saves me a lot of time and I make less mistakes and it's like a it helps me to have a more manageable workflow.
So. Yeah, for example, on my learning outcomes that I that I that I share with with viewers and then I get into into the video.
And, you will notice all these. Slides I would have, created in Canberra.
And then you will notice. We'll go over into a demo. And this whole demo that you will see.
So here's the demo that I recorded and then I went back off afterwards and I recorded every little chunk.
And then I recorded this section.
And I recorded the sound. And in chunks as well. So yeah, I just wanted to highlight this again.
I think a script is super important. Having a script in place. And is actually crucial. And, and then as I said for the demos having having bullet points having A clear pathway is, essential.
And to make sure it sounds professional and that you you know, you followed, you follow what you have planned.
Now I'm just gonna jump to the end of this recording to show you something else that that I use a lot.
So this happens to me a lot when I record and you can maybe relate. But, for a demo, for example, I
I'm maybe might have made an error here. Or I wanted to add something else in my narration.
But then I'm like, okay, do I have to re record all of this? To full this blank space.
And what do I do? So, Camtasia has this really nice feature. If I hover over this, just right there.
You can make a screen capture. So it says add exported to frame where you can add a frame.
And. If I click on that. On the little frame icon. I can now add this frame here.
And I can just drag it. And now it falls that section.
So this is also a real big time saver for me and I use this every day, quite often.
To. To full, missing spaces without having to re record something. And etc.
So yeah, as I mentioned, I recording chunks and then when my whole recording is done I will start adding transitions and I will start adding And the to.
To my video and then some annotations. So let me start with transitions. Of course this software allows me to do that But you can see this little green section shows me to transition.
So just helping. Helping, to flow better. I add transitions. Which I literally just use here, it says transitions, top left.
And then you can take it and you can just drag and drop it onto. The section you want to.
And you want it to be added.
There we go. And then. The transition is in place.
I try not to overuse it. You'll see many sections don't have transitions. But, it is a helpful way to make content flow.
And then you might have seen this little Yellow section over my mouse. And. You can see I've added.
A cursor highlights. So Let me show you this example because I think I removed it from this one, yes.
So I will go to I'll go to highlight. And then I'll drag it onto. This section.
And then I can just play around and I'll say, okay, I want the size to be.
Let's say IT. And I want the capacity to be list so let's make the 15% for example.
So there you go.
And then of course I can add the frame because I want to fill that gap.
And then you won't even see that I've done that.
And then of course something else I I often do is I add annotations. And little arrows or red boxes, etc.
To help. Or to help guide the eye of the viewer of the video. So for example, I'll go to annotations and say, oh.
Let's add.
A red box. Around this section that I want to highlight. Now I always use the red. To make sure.
I see one of my other colleagues, he uses green. But yeah, I can add a little.
Annotation around there. Or if I don't want to use that. I can use an arrow.
And do the same thing.
You can add your arrow and of course that just kind of helps the or guides the reader.
Now, I wanna share, my Canva page with you as well.
Yes.
Wes. Before we switch gears to Canva, do you mind taking a couple of Camtasia specific questions?
Of course.
Okay, so a couple questions. Elisa wants to know can you turn off certain tracks so your original in your original recording so you can silence the audio
Oh, can you spend that question to me again?
Elisa, can you explain that question a little more to us? You.
Yeah, I think you said you do your original recording and you actually record it with sound cause you do your bullet points but then you sounded like you go back in and over record what your steps are so that you do one that's a recording.
Of physical stuff and then you go back and do an audio over it because you've got different tracks, right?
Oh, yeah.
So can . One and then just have the audio of track 2. I'm wondering And that's what I, cause I, I'm used to using Premier, so it's like a, you know, a different thing altogether.
Yes, so basically, when I record my demo, I don't record my voice. So there is only only one track.
Oh, so silent, okay.
But But if you do that though there is an option in in Camtasia where you can split you'll
If you right click, there's an option to split your audio and your. Oh, let me.
Video.
Yeah, I can't do that right now, but yes, there's an option to split your audio and your video.
And then you can just delete the audio bit and. Recording another audio or narration over that.
Yeah.
Yes.
Okay, but that is I got your steps right, right? That's what you do. You kind of accept that you actually don't do audio in the beginning you just do the video and then you go back in and lay your track of sound over it.
Is that correct? Okay.
Yes, because as I mentioned, this is something I struggle with and other people might not struggle with it, but But you know, when I'm doing my demo, like I'm focusing on the demo.
So I then struggle to multitask and. And make sure my My voice narration is professional and it flows.
So yes. I record the. The demo without any sound, although I will I will speak but I'm not recording what I what I say and then once it's done, I add it to Camtasia, then it's only the video and then I add my voice narration.
Sometimes in chunks sometimes in longer chunks yeah
Alright, so cause I used to do this for clients just like in print but not in video but I know that video is just so much more effective for most people.
So that's part of the reason I wanted to see this. Thank you.
Yes, sir. And maybe I should highlight this as well. And this is something I especially do for when I have lots of demos and you will have noticed if you've seen any of my content Of course, I teach a lot of the features of Workplace.
So there's a lot of A lot of demos. And therefore I do it that way.
If I, if I create a video with mostly slides. I found it's actually easy to create like record your entire script.
Add your script and then add all your slides to it. That's another way of going about it.
Like doing doing your voice recording all in one go if you have a good script And of course, as we mentioned in the beginning, you will make mistakes along the way, but you'll add poses or add a clap or a click to know you can cut out those parts.
But that's another way of going about. Going about it. But yeah, as I said, more for recording purposes.
Right.
I mean, demo purposes.
Right, right. It's just how you wanna perform it actually, or create it. Thank you.
Yeah. Cool. Was there another, question?
Couple more. Yeah, couple more questions. David says that he has a challenge with Camtasia where they stumble in their speaking and try and splice in a bit of audio to cover up the mistake.
But then the sound levels don't match even though they haven't changed the microphone settings intentionally.
Do you have any suggestions on how to get sound to match like that? It's a tough one.
I don't have that problem. Maybe it's because of my microphone because of using script.
But no, if I make a mistake, for example, yeah. They say this section doesn't sound that great.
I'll just remove it. And I will re-record that section and then just add it there.
And. I would say, 99% of the time, my voice. Sounds the same and I think I've mentioned this to Laura, Laura and I spoke about this a while ago you know if you may be a bit sick or congested your voice sounds a bit different so if you're recorded one part on the Monday and on the Wednesday, you're not feeling that, and you feel a bit
congested, then your voice might sound a bit different. So. Yeah, that can, that can be tricky.
So there's another audio related question. Laura asks, is there a filler option for audio breaks too?
I think you were showing something visual. Is there a filler equivalent? For the audio.
No, not that I'm, that I'm aware of. Meaning.
I will just, if it's empty, there's no sound. So Laura, what do you, can you elaborate a bit more?
With what you mean there?
Yes?
Yeah, that was just when you did the screen capture. To fill in, I was wondering if there was something that filled in those empty spots and audio so that If I don't know the track flows better.
Does it doesn't, is there a worry about it?
So I think this might be a bit deceiving as well. It looks like there's a big gap here.
But actually it's really it's really quick. So. So yeah, I don't think those little gaps are on issue.
Okay, thank you.
Okay.
Yeah. But no, I don't know about the audio gaps, but that's a good question.
I never thought of that.
And then one more quick one. There's a question about AI, but we'll get to that later if we have time, cause it can be a rabbit hole.
But the quick one is, do you have a timer in front of you while recording?
And because I I recording chunks, I I don't have a time and because I follow a script.
I know how long my script is, for example. And so, I will know. Like my plan is in place so no I don't I don't use a timer.
Okay. Alright, I'll let you proceed and if we have more time, we'll get to the last few questions.
Afterwards.
I just saw one question it was about and what do you think about not showing your face in the videos?
Wouldn't they be more engaging? Oh, that is a very good question. I think everyone differs You know, I personally sometimes feel if you have a face at the top.
While I'm trying to watch the demo, it can be distracting. And others like it because it's more personal.
So I think it all.
It's true. Yeah, it's about what you probably prefer. And in the training team, we decided.
To not show faces and just to kind of focus on the content.
Alright, so.
I just wanted to show you Canva. And this is actually, I'm gonna show you an example.
Okay, we can get up now, but let me just go to Canva. Now,
So I actually, for the, latest, video that I created. I did not have a lot of demos.
I mainly at slides and of course, I didn't use Canva to to make the content engaging.
And to, to kind of support the, the text, right? So the images. Reflected what I was saying or related to to what I was saying in the I'm in the video.
So yeah, you will notice I've actually used a lot of different type of slides. I even used.
I used them, I wanna put this in presenter mode. And show you.
Present full screen. Which is present. So I use this typing function as well. So when I.
When I focused on a new section, I just kind of recorded this. And then I added to Camtasia and it looked quite nice.
If you move over into a new section, you've got the typing. So I even used Camtasia for that.
And as you can see, many different images.
And just to show you, if I go to elements.
You know, you can basically search for anything. Let's say a firewall.
And then there's many, many different things to choose from. And sometimes I don't see exactly what I want and then I kind of build it myself.
So this was a a web application firewall that I wanted to highlight. So I actually added some text.
So I got this. I got this picture. And then I added this and I added the text. So I kind of use kind of a to build my own, little example, as well.
So yeah, and I use. These slides, in between my, demos. And it.
Okay, so that was me a lot of Tokyo. A bit of, a bit of my process just to reiterate.
My script is super important having learning outcomes, having my examples ready. And then of course creating your slides in Canva or Google slides or somewhere else.
And then when you record these different ways of doing it, but for me chunking works the best and at the end after everything's done, decisions, I add my COSI effects.
And my annotations.
Any other questions that's come up, Catherine or? You wanna move on to next?
Next part.
Yes. Yes. We had a big open end question. Do you, do you use AI and then someone specifically asked about I don't pronounce this synthesia AI.
Use any
So no, I've never heard of Synthia AI, but do I use AI?
Yes, I do use AI. For For certain things, yes. So let's say for example I I've written a script.
And something doesn't make sense. I might, might copy and paste that sentence and I'll say I'll add it to AI and say, can you simplify this?
And then. Yeah, so I I will use Camtasia in support of my writing.
Even sometimes a bit of research. But I will only use, If I actually know enough about the topic, because I have found, I mean, sorry, I will use AI sometimes to.
To support my script writing, but it needs to be a topic that I know of so that I can, say, oh yeah, this is true or no, this is not completely right.
The one area where I, where I find that AI makes a lot of mistakes, it's just because I or AI struggles to differentiate between classic teams and block themes.
So they sometimes give you information. And it's not completely correct because it relates to the classic team and not a block thing.
But yeah, of course we need to verify anything we find in AI. And yeah to make sure it's It's correct.
But yeah, I definitely use it on a weekly basis. In support of my my work.
Awesome. We had a very specific question from someone who's searching for a function to cut an interview in Camtasia with one voice on left.
And one voice on the right audio channel. So that's something you. Would quickly know how to do.
Can you say that again?
They want to put one voice of an audio interview on the left. Audio channel and one on the right audio channel.
So I guess this is a stereo track. Whoever asked this question feel free to unmute yourself if you want to.
Yeah, I wouldn't know about left and right audio tracks. Yeah, I'm sure.
Awesome. Hmm. Stephan asked us. You're still here, Stefan.
Now's your chance.
If not, there were some suggestions in the chat for other software including Loom, which is linked in the handbook.
So thank you for calling that out. Steve points out that it's free for videos are less than 5 min.
And it could be a good use for a quick instructional video. So thank you for highlighting.
That's helpful.
And Maurice mentions. Oh, Maurice is expanding on what Cynthia AI is, a system for using avatars to make your presentation.
You type in the script and the avatar speaks it. Interesting.
We only have a couple of minutes left, so Wes, there's probably a bit more you wanted to show and that was a lot of excellent questions.
So thanks. If people can stay a few minutes past the hour, we might go over a little bit, but go for it, Wes.
Well, I think I just wanted to mention, something exciting that I've been working on alongside other people.
It's actually to collaborate on a video. So maybe that's the last thing I'll say.
So within the training team, I've had a person write the script. I recorded my voice.
And then a video editor, somebody who's been sponsored by hosting a he Compute the whole.
Video editing part of the video. So I just wanted to kind of share that because it's something I think we as a training team are proud of.
Because it shows that we can collaborate on content and it's worked really, work really well.
So. If I go back to. To Google Chrome, I just wanna show you. Get up, of course all our work is done in GitHub.
And you will notice here this lesson tasting your content for accessibility, there's different assignees.
And.
Yeah, I would just scroll down. Here's the video. But as I mentioned, the script and the research was done by Ronnie?
I recorded my voice and I used the script to record the voice recording. And then I seen the script, my voice recording and everything.
To Oven and he completed the whole. Video editing part of it. And he put the video together.
Amazing. I think.
So. Yeah, really cool. So you can work with other people on a video as well.
Yeah, it doesn't have to be a 1 person show, which, which is great. And we are, you know, the training team is open and looking for people to create more content for the site.
If you hadn't heard, learned not WordPress.org is undergoing a transformation at the moment.
And you know. West and other content creators are working. On adding all kinds of new materials.
So if you're interested in that, please join the training channel in WordPress.org Slack Check out the handbook and, it would be great to.
Get to know you and have your contributions. I am going to pay that link. Laura says I'm working on stuff for learn right now. And that's amazing.
We have some people here who are already involved in some who are in. So it's great to see a mix of people from.
All spheres of the WordPress world. So thank you so much Wes for taking part and agreeing to show some of, some of your process and some of your own tips.
I think it's, great to see how this stuff is actually. Put into use because it's 1 thing to read a handbook page, it's another to actually see some, some concrete things hands on from someone who uses these tools every day.
I hope everyone here learned at least one new thing today. I learned a bunch and I learned that these videos are fun to watch and they look Like they are, when you see the final product, they look so smooth.
And then when you see what goes on behind the scenes, I don't know about you all, but it really makes me appreciate the effort that goes into putting them together and all the all the different moving parts.
So I really have a new appreciation. So thank you, and thank you everyone for joining. This recording will go up shortly and I will post a note in the meetup group when it is ready.
So thank you everyone.
Yeah.
Did you hear about it?
Yeah, I also just wanted to say thank you to everyone. You know, sharing all the ideas and, and products and software in that in the chat as well.
It's been very cool.
Absolutely.
Kathryn, is there a possibility that you guys can answer Ed's question about embedding videos in a WordPress site?
Cause that seems like a really great one to have added into this.
I missed that question. Thank you very much. I'm scrolling back and thank you. For calling it out.
So Ed says, if embedding videos on a WordPress site, is there a recommended format for better site performance.
So I think that's a very good question. I would say don't. Add a video to your media library.
I would say use the video block. To Yeah, use the video block to add a video from from a 3rd party.
And platform. So if your video is up on YouTube. You just copy that link. You paste it into the YouTube block or the video block.
And then you will make sure that That video doesn't take up space in your on your server.
Very good point. And also I would say not to embed too many videos on one page or post and WordPress because people don't realize that that can really slow down your page.
They kind of just get all excited and post all the favorite music videos or whatever. And, not realizing that that really can slow down the page.
Yeah.
And at least also mentioned Vimeo as an alternative to YouTube for sure. There's pros and cons to all these different services.
Let me as a good one too. Great. All right. Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you. For pointing out that last question that I missed. So. That is awesome.
Yes, Joe, Chop. Joss or I'm sorry if I'm just pronounced your name. VideoPress is also cool.
The press is a video format available through the Jetpack plugin or on WordPress.com.
Alright