Introduction
LaTaunya Howard is founder of Howard Corporate Centre, LLC in Laurel, MD; an author (“Kill the Rent – Grow Your Biz: Five Simple Steps To Cut Costs, Attract More Clients, & Improve Your Bottom Line”); and creator/host of the Public Access Laurel [MD] TV series “C-Suite On Your Street™”. I have written about her in Support Our #creatives® Meets #entrepreneur LaTaunya Howard . I support LaTaunya as Social Media Administrator, managing the Facebook page for C-Suite On Your Street – TM . LaTaunya and I meet monthly and we brainstorm on ways to use social media to promote the TV show.
We decided to develop a video web series related to the Laurel TV show, called “C-Suite On Your Street™ – Behind The Scenes”. This would be another way to promote, and something very different from static posts on the Facebook page. The episodes of this series would provide viewers with additional insights on the show “C-Suite On Your Street™” and the people who help to make it happen.
“C-Suite on Your Street™” is an educational business show whose main purpose is to discuss how business owners, regardless of the size or stage of their business, can operate like a C-Suite executive. With this mission in mind, the show covers a wide range of business topics to educate viewers about how to start, operate and grow a successful business and features informed guests who can offer unique insights on such issues. – from Support Our #creatives® Meets #entrepreneur LaTaunya Howard
“C-Suite On Your Street™ – Behind The Scenes” is a web series that will provide viewers with additional insights on the show “C-Suite On Your Street™” and the people who help to make it happen.
What better way to begin this series than for LaTaunya to interview ME! The high-level premise was for me to convey what I do to support LaTaunya on “C-Suite On Your Street™” and to discuss my passion brand Support Our #creatives®.
Making the First Episode Video
Making this first video was a learning experience for both of us. Here is a play-by-play of getting it done!
In preparation for the subject matter that would be covered, I proposed some questions for LaTaunya to ask me, based on the high-level premise stated earlier. I then wrote notes where I answered my own questions. These were just to be used as guides – to provide talking points; I have to confess I did it because I thought I might not be coherent without notes.
The tool used to record the interview was Zoom, where we would be on the screen simultaneously in adjacent windows. We used our laptops’ cameras and microphones to achieve this. We did some tests but the audio sounded awful – echoes and reverberation. After some thought we figured this occurred because we were physically sitting next to each other with our laptops a couple of feet apart.
So, we tried again where we were in separate rooms with the doors closed. This worked out a lot better (once I turned my laptop’s volume down to 70%).
After a few more short test runs, we were ready to go.
It was important to always look straight into the camera. That took some getting used to. So I had to place my notes at eye level yet not block the camera.
After the interview was completed, we both play it back and provide comments. It went quite well, except my Zoom window froze for about 13 seconds as I was answering one of the questions. We had to decide if we would conduct the interview again, but there was no guarantee there would not be a similar problem.
We decided to edit the recorded video to remove the offending part. I will not mention the tool used, since it is no longer supported. LaTaunya’s question and my frozen answer were cut out. The result looked quite smooth! Now we were on a roll! We used the editing tool to make additional small edits, AND added intros (titles), outros (credits), music, and captions.
So now we are video producers and editors – something for the resumé!
Episode 1 of “C-Suite On Your Street – Behind The Scenes”, February 2019
On this episode, Alan Greenstein of Support Our #creatives® is interviewed by host LaTaunya Howard. Alan is the Social Media Administrator for C-Suite On Your Street™. Topics covered include: how Alan got started in social media and entertainment; how LaTaunya and Alan collaborate; the strategy for posting content to C-Suite On Your Street – TM Facebook page and other Facebook pages he manages; entertainment projects he works on and what roles he plays on-set; why he started Support Our #creatives®; and Alan’s definition of what makes a person a “creative”. #CSuiteOnYourStreet #BusinessEducation #HowardCorporate
Conclusion
We did it! LaTaunya leveraged her experience as an interviewer to ask questions in the order she saw fit, and the conversation was driven by my responses and follow-ups by LaTaunya. My notes were still a great help to me – I felt quite comfortable – I think it would have been harder without them.
It was fun working with LaTaunya on the recording and editing. The resultant product turned out well for our first go. We met our objective from both a technical and content-coverage perspective.
Looking forward to future episodes!
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Disclaimer: The author is not being financially compensated by LaTaunya Howard or Howard Corporate Centre, LLC for this post. The author is not being compensated by Zoom for this post.
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