When I got started as a conference speaker I would see Jeremy Clark recording his talks and I thought I should record my talks too. It would help me improve as a speaker by seeing how I actually was on stage versus how I think I was. As well, it gives attendees the ability to watch a replay of the talk in case they missed something or weren’t able to see it. This is assuming though that the recordings are posted somewhere and advertised to the attendees, which I used to be really bad about. It was difficult for a long time for me to watch myself giving a talk.
So I started recording my talks. Unfortunately, in 2015 and 2016 I didn’t process most of those videos. However, at the start of 2017 I decided that if I was going to take the time to record a talk I would process it and post it. A side goal was to also see if I could post the video while at the conference so that I could ensure that I actually posted it. For 2017, I posted 9 talks publicly and 15 talks as unlisted (paid workshops) to my YouTube channel. I even managed to post all of the public talks while at the conference. Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel to get notified when my talks are posted.
Before we get into the specifics, I have some basic recording requirements that guided me as I figured out this process and what equipment to use.
Note: Many of the product links below are Amazon affiliate links. I won’t get rich from them but every little bit helps me be able to continue to speak and record my talks.
If you don’t care about the equipment that I tried out before settling on my current equipment, you skip this section.
Before we get into my current setup, lets take a quick look at some of the other equipment that I have used before settling in on my current setup.
For the camera, I started out with a GoPro Hero 3 Silver since I already had this camera. The camera was small, easy to use, and recorded decent video but battery life was an issue as well as it started to become really unreliable and where would just randomly power off. Next, I used my iPhone 6 (64 gig) mounted on a tripod along with the MoviePro app. Using my phone worked great since I always had my phone with me and the video quality was good. However, disk space was an issue as the phone only had 64 gigs and an hour of footage would take ~12 gigs. Then it would take over an hour to get the file off the phone and it was very flaky when copying it over which totally sucked. As well several times I had talks close enough together that I wasn’t able to transfer the recording to the computer in time and had to rush to clear off enough space for 2 hours worth of footage. I was also starting to do more workshops of 4-8 hours in length and the phone didn’t have enough space or battery life for those recordings.
For audio, since I wanted good audio, I knew from the start that I couldn’t use the cameras built-in microsoft. So I started with a Zoom H2 mounted on a small table top tripod since I already had it. Even though Zoom is known for their audio quality it still was just recording the audio in the room so it was hit and miss plus moving around the stage greatly effected the quality of the audio. Next, I went with a Zoom H1 with an external lapel mic which gave even better audio and I didn’t lose quality as I moved around. The downside to both Zoom devices was that it was a 3rd device that I had to worry about getting setup and then syncing up the footage in editing.
I also tried a live steaming type setup with a 2nd laptop plus video capture card so that I wouldn’t have to do any editing. This setup was a total bust. It took too long to get setup. Carrying a 2nd laptop was annoying. I had to get the camera, capture card and microphone synced since there is a slight delay with capture cards which manufacturers don’t publish and If I screwed this up then the whole video was ruined as there was no way to post edit the video to fix it.
For my current setup, I have used it to record over 30 talks and it hasn’t let me down yet. Yes that is more talks than is on my YouTube channel as some of the talks are internal talks at work.
A key piece to a great video is great audio. You can get away with an ok video but if you have crappy audio no one will watch your video.
Meeting requirement #2 and 3 was hard as most wireless lapel microphones are XLR connections which means that I would need to carry around an audio interface to go from XLR to USB. I am already carrying enough equipment and didn’t want more equipment. Also, XLR Wireless microphones are pretty expensive as they start around $299 plus the audio interface. Since I already had an audio interface, I did try out a few of the cheaper XLR wireless microphones but the quality was terrible and they were quickly returned.
The microphone I am currently using is the Samson Stage XPD1 which is a wireless usb lapel microphone that cost < $100 and provides a good compromise between quality and cost.
PROS:
All of the videos on my YouTube channel are using this microphone. Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel to get notified when my talks are posted.
CONS:
To solve the battery problem, I purchased a set of Rechargeable batteries. I needed a charger since I didn’t have one and AAA batteries are used for my Logitech R400 Slide Advancer.
Pro Tip: If the event is also giving you a lapel mic for the room, put their microphone above yours. The audience in the room deserves the best sound possible. Yes, I am also aware that you will be wearing 2 lapel microphones and 2 transmitter packs.
Warning: If you are using a room microphone, you most likely will hear a slight amount of reverb in the recording and you can’t fix it without getting an audio feed directly from the room mic. Getting a direct feed for the room mic is not typically possible at most events. To see an example of what I am talking about, check out my Angular Mix Talk.
The two pieces of software that I needed were screen capture and video editing. My main goal was to find something that was easy to use and had a very small learning curve. After all, I am not an expert video editor nor do I want to become one.
I went with Camtasia for both the screen capture and video editing as it meet all of my requirements in one piece of software.
PROS:
CONS:
Note: These are more nitpicks than cons.
The camera is technically optional but since one of my goals is to use the videos to improve my speaking, I need to be able to see myself.
The camera I use is the Zoom Q4n. Make sure it is the Q4n as they also make a Q4. Since this is the 3rd product from Zoom in this post and 4th product that I own from them, I really like their equipment. I can get great audio and good video for a reasonable price.
PROS:
CONS:
There are lots of little things that you don’t think about such as travel tripods, memory cards, and cases to protect it all in travel that I also purchased.
Tripod: I have to say that it was difficult to find a tripod that was full size, lightweight, sturdy enough that I would trust my camera on it, and most important it would fit in carry on luggage. I went with the Neewer Carbon Fiber Portable Mini Tripod. It extends to 56 inches and folds down to 13 inches. It is also really light but still very sturdy.
Camera memory card 64 GB: I went with two Sandisk 64 GB Class 10 SD Card for no other reason than I have other cameras that can use the same card, so now I can do a multiple camera setup which I have done before with some drum videos. Space wise, at 1920x1080, I am able to get about 5.5 hours of footage.
External Battery for Camera: Since the camera can run off 5V 1A, I can use the iPhone portable charger that I already have. I am using the UNU Superpak 10000 mAH and can get around 4 full phone charges out it. It also has a really nice battery charge light so I know if I need to charge it or not. Don’t discount the value of having the status lights.
iPhone Wall Charger: Since the camera does not come with the wall charger, I got a [cheap pack of 5V 1A wall chargers][http://amzn.to/2BHRr3O]. I am always misplacing them so having extra on hand never hurts.
USB Extender Cable: - Unfortunately the USB cable that is included with the camera does not reach to the floor when the tripod is fully extended. I went with an Amazon Basics 6 foot USB Extender cable
Case for Camera, Microphone, Extender Cable, Batteries, and Memory Cards: I didn’t want all of the equipment just hanging out in my laptop bag especially since the casings are plastic. Since this equipment is meant to be travelled with, I went with the CaseMatrix Hard Case with Diced Foam. This case is big enough to hold all of the equipment except the tripod and still fits into my laptop bag.
Note: I just purchased a camera backpack with a laptop compartment that I am going to try instead of the case and the OGIO Gambit laptop backpack.
Travel Power Strip: To make sure that I get everything charged up in the hotel room and don’t have to worry about running out of power outlets in hotel rooms, I got a Belkin travel surge protector with 2 usb ports.
With this setup, we will have 2 audio tracks: camera and screen capture. We will need to sync the audio in editing and then remove the camera audio. This sounds like a pain to do but I am going to give you the best trick that I ever learned that will enable you to sync the audio in 30 seconds.
Recording The Audio
What we did was to create a big spike in the audio that you will be able to see in the audio wav form in Camtasia when you zoom into the timeline.
Syncing the Audio
After a few times of doing this you will get really good at syncing multiple audio sources and will even be able to sync the audio just by looking at the way forms.
I like to add an intro and outro clip onto my videos. I made both of these clips once and then added them to the asset library. Now for the intro all I have to do is add it onto the timeline and change the talk title and event name. For the outro, I don’t have to make any changes and just put it at the end after all of the editing is done. It nows takes me all of 2 minutes to add the intro and outro. This has been a huge time saver for me and made it possible to get the video editing done while at the conference.
To add the clips to the Camtasia asset library, you highlighted the set of elements on the timeline that make up the click, right-click on them and select save to library. Then give the new asset a name and you are ready to use it.
Now you are ready to record your talks. Make sure to do some practice runs with the equipment to work out any kinks. Leave a comment below and let me know where your recordings are and how the process worked out for you.
Also, remember that the most important thing is that you can give the talk, not that you can record the talk so if the recording isn’t working for whatever reason, don’t delay your talk just for the recording. There will be times where the equipment will just not work for whatever reason and you won’t be able to capture that talk. It sucks when it happens but honestly the recording of the talk is an added bonus.
