Central Perk

luni, 3 septembrie 2012

Tips for Filming Whiteboard Presentations

Posted: 02 Sep 2012 07:58 PM PDT

Whiteboard presentations are a great way to easily communicate advanced ideas and engage your audience. Sure kid, but what isn’t so great is lighting for whiteboard presentations. No bulls-eyeing womp rats here. In fact, sometimes filming a presentation on a whiteboard can be like listening to a self-entitled princess micromanaging your ship. Needless to say, we get a lot of people writing in and asking about our WBF gear, so here it is!

(One caveat: I cannot take credit for the current WBF setup. The lighting was already professionally set up before I joined the Moz team.) Let's dive right in!

Lights

Lighting is the most important aspect of our setup. The mission of our lighting setup is threefold:

Light the presenter
Light the whiteboard
Eiminate shadows

Sounds easy enough, right? Whoa! Don’t get ahead of yourself, kid. Too much light directly on the Whiteboard will create glare; too little light and the actor will cast a distracting shadow over their content. The best way to get even light is by using lights with softboxes.

whiteboard side lighting Whiteboard friday lighting set up

Most people ask Rand what camera we use for WBF, but they really should be asking about our lighting setup. We use four lights with soft boxes. The camera is important, but you should spend most of your time on lighting. Just remember hokey cameras and ancient microphones are no match for a good lighting kit at your side, kid.

You can see what Moz's lighting setup looks like from my advanced and very technical schematics:

We have two lights mounted about 3 feet above and 6-7 feet away from the whiteboard. Mounting the lights above and back will light your presenter as well as cast less shadows on the whiteboard. We have another two lights on the left and right side of the whiteboard to provide an even, fill light across the board, which should eliminate any left over shadows. You will have to test how far to stage your lights from the whiteboard based on any reflections or glares. I recently found that you get an even look if you place your lights in the bottom corner and the top corner on opposite sides. This can also reduce glare. Again, all of this takes some fine-tuning, so you will need to experiment until you find the perfect placement. But don’t get cocky, kid.

Camera

I would suggest any prosumer camcorder (price ranges vary), but if you use your lights well, then you can go skimpy on the camera. At Moz, we have a pretty spendy Panasonic camera. If your latest smuggling runs aren’t producing enough to keep the Hutts off your back and you’re afraid to shoot first, then you can go for something a bit cheaper.

whiteboard friday camera set up

The features you should look for in cameras include:

Iris control
A manual focus ring
Zebra lines

Iris control will allow you to manually open or close the lens to regulate the brightness and darkness of the scene. A manual focus ring will let you set focus either to the whiteboard or the presenter. This is important because automatic focus functions get confused with expansive white spaces and can ruin your shots. The zebra lines will help you see what is overexposed or blown out. This is a great way to see if your iris is at the perfect spot. Always remember to practice with your camera because filming isn’t like dusting crops or moister farming.

Sound

Sound is fairly important for whiteboard presentations. I would say your sound quality is more significant than your video quality as people are more likely to turn off a video because of bad audio over subpar cinematography. For our sound recording, we use Sennheiser lavs, which are a bit pricey, but the price is well worth it for great audio.

You want sound that will isolate your presenter’s voice and eliminate background interference. Isolated sound is also a must if you have bantering protocol droid roaming around the office. Again, if you’re low on credits, just go cheaper with other brands likes Azden or Audio-Techina. Make sure your lavs have at least two frequencies to avoid interference from your hyperdrive (you wouldn’t want to warp into a sun or a supernova). If you want to get the lower-end lavs or microphones, you should look into some audio/video editing programs that let you clean up hums, noise, and interference. Use Audacity to accomplish some crisp audio, but don’t get any delusions of grandeur. There are some other great editing programs out there.

Editing

We were using iMovie for WBF, but we recently switched to Adobe Premiere. The reason for the switch was to take advantage of the amazing color correction tools. This is essential in keeping the WB balanced and white instead of reddish, yellowish, or bluish. Use any robust editing program if you are having trouble with color temperature and you can’t seem to fix with lighting or camera settings. With practice, you can make that whiteboard look almost as sleek as the Millennium Falcon.

whiteboard presentation color correction

Studio

If you want to regularly publish whiteboard content, then you should look into creating a studio. Make sure the room is at least 20’x20’ so you have enough room to experiment with different lighting schemes. Remember what I said about sound, kid? Well, you should probably put some sound deadening panels on the walls. Wait, won’t that make my converted studio ugly? Not so fast—there is such a thing as sound deadening wall art! Bet you didn’t see that one coming.

Host

Looking for an amazing host? Look no further, because Wistia has you covered. Wistia offers excellent compression options, comprehensive analytics, world-class customer service, and a blog that is more addictive than Coruscant death-sticks. Oh, and they also let you add your videos directly to a sitemap for excellent indexing opportunities. If that isn’t enough to get you signed up for Wistia, then maybe this will: if you are a PRO member, you get an awesome discount!

Transcriptions

Any Whiteboard Friday fan knows we have nifty transcriptions below each video. Not only are these great for the hard of hearing, they are also great for SEO. We use Speechpad because they have an easy upload process and their turnaround is amazingly fast. Don’t get any ideas; they’ve got nothing on the Falcon, but they can blow any Star Destroyer out of the sector.

Non-lizard brained creature

Don’t try getting some rodian or trandoshan to shoot your presentations. I would also stay away from any Fetts. I recommend finding someone who has experience with cameras to shoot the presentations. If there are any bumps in the road, an experienced filmer will have the knowledge to correct the issue. If you don’t know anything about shooting video, here are some great materials to get you started:

The first thing you want to read is The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video. This book is one of the greatest resources I’ve seen for a quick and comprehensive intro to shooting video.
Then, you will want to learn about color temperature and white balance.
Next, you will want to learn how sound works.
The last thing you should learn is the best export settings for your video hosting. If you don’t have an awesome host like Wistia, then you will need to compress your video correctly to avoid host compression settings.

Last but not least, you should definitely thank the people who make Whiteboard Fridays come to life. Give Kenny, Aaron, Casey, Joel and Abe a huge round of applause for making WBF happen every week!

Think you can film a whiteboard presentation now? Well good luck, kid. Oh yeah, and may the force be with you.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

Seth's Blog : Yield

Yield

The rules of right of way make sense.

A manueverable motor boat yields to a sailboat because it can more easily recover from the turn.

A bicyclist going downhill yields to one struggling uphill, because he can get back up to speed more quickly.

The senior partner invests a little bit of time helping the junior one, because no one else has the skills to do so, not because reciprocation is the goal.

Asymmetrical trades are what makes a society work.

Yield has two meanings, and one leads to the other.

• Email to a friend •

duminică, 2 septembrie 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Most Economically Illiterate Journalist In History Proposes "Gold is Backed by Nothing, but US Dollar Backed by Federal Reserve"

Posted: 02 Sep 2012 07:07 PM PDT

Congratulations to Canadian journalist Bridget Brown, a CTV news field reporter for being the most economically illiterate TV journalist in history. Brown proposes gold is not backed by anything but the US Dollar is backed by the Federal Reserve which will be around a year from now.

This story is actually about a year old, appearing as early as September 30, 2011 on Natural News with a story headline of The most moronic TV news journalist ever?

I offer this story and the following video for entertainment on this Labor Day weekend.

Should that video be pulled, you may wish click on Natural News which is keeping the video alive even with legal threats from CTV. You will need to flash forward to the 13:45 mark to skip past a lengthy Natural News lead-in as to why their posting of the video constitutes fair rights.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Who Do You Blame for the Woes of the Middle-Class?

Posted: 02 Sep 2012 11:32 AM PDT

The Pew Research center ponders The Lost Decade of the Middle Class.

Since 2000, the middle class has shrunk in size, fallen backward in income and wealth, and shed some—but by no means all—of its characteristic faith in the future.

These stark assessments are based on findings from a new nationally representative Pew Research Center survey that includes 1,287 adults who describe themselves as middle class, supplemented by the Center's analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

Median Income

Median Net Worth

Fully 85% of self-described middle-class adults say it is more difficult now than it was a decade ago for middle-class people to maintain their standard of living. Of those who feel this way, 62% say "a lot" of the blame lies with Congress, while 54% say the same about banks and financial institutions, 47% about large corporations, 44% about the Bush administration, 39% about foreign competition and 34% about the Obama administration. Just 8% blame the middle class itself a lot.

Who Is To Blame?

Three Lost Decades!

Median net worth is back to a level first seen in the 1980s. By that measure, the US has had three lost decades. Wow.

62% Blame Politicians, Only 8% Blame Themselves

Note that 62% blame politicians and 54% blame financial institutions, but only 8% blame themselves.

Five Questions

Did banks force people to take out loans they could not pay back, or did people do so voluntarily?
Who elects congress?
Do people make enough effort to understand interest rates, debt, the economic policies of politicians, exponential math and its implications, the untenable nature of public union pension plans and promises?
Do a significant number of people (if not the majority) get their economic views (assuming they have any economic views) from The View, Oprah, The Talk, or CNBC?
Why did PEW leave off the Fed and Fractional Reserve Lending from the list of answers?

Two Bonus Questions

Would the majority of respondents know anything at all about the Fed and Fractional Reserve lending had the PEW listed those options?
Who is really to blame for what is happening?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Seth's Blog : Slightly rewarded (slightly punished)

Slightly rewarded (slightly punished)

For most of us, it's not the big traps that mess us up, it's the little ones.

Every time I break stride and distract myself by checking my email (a hundred times in a bad day), I get a small reward. I get the satisfaction of starting and finishing a project, on time and for free.

For a lot of people, every time they drink a Coke instead of a glass of water, they get a small punishment in exchange for their treat. One Coke never hurt anyone, but a hundred of them make you fat.

One way to change behavior is to keep track of how often these little events occur, because seeing them lined up on the windowsill might be enough to change your mind. The other way is to make those events louder. I'm pretty sure that if I got an electric shock every time I stopped to check my email, I'd only do it daily...

• Email to a friend •

sâmbătă, 1 septembrie 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Harrisburg to Run Out of Money in October; Inside America's Most Indebted City; Labyrinth of Fraud

Posted: 01 Sep 2012 10:15 PM PDT

Congratulations to Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, for having the highest per capita debt of any city in the country.

The town's 50,000 citizens are on the hook for $1.5 billion according to the NPR article Inside America's Most Indebted City.

The city has delayed payments to light bulb venders and paper sellers. Restaurants have hired their own security. A local strip club paid to keep the street light on. The city is projected to run out of money entirely in October.

A judge has recently ordered a 1% income tax hike on the people still left in Harrisburg. But the city council has promised to fight it.

$1.5 Billion Does Not Include Schools, Pensions, Unfunded Liabilities

The Patriot News notes Harrisburg's eye-popping debt total is just one piece of city's bleak financial puzzle

It's almost impossible to say exactly how much money the elected and appointed officials of Harrisburg have borrowed.

Missing financial audits, complicated transactions and intertwining finances create a labyrinth of money that stretches decades into Harrisburg's history.

At best estimates, based upon reviews of independent reports and audited financial statements, the amount of debt owed by the city and its affiliated entities — with interest — stands somewhere north of $1.5 billion.

That's roughly $30,285 for each of the 49,528 men, women and children living in the city and almost twice the income of the average city resident.

While the amount of debt is eye-popping, it is only one piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is the city's bleak financial background.

It does not account for past-due debt payments or unfunded pension and healthcare obligations. Nor does it include the estimated annual deficits in the city's and school district's budgets, which this year are so far estimated at $6.8 million for the city and at least $7 million for the school district, even with drastic cuts such as eliminating kindergarten.

A declining tax base contributes to the overall problem — between 2009 and 2012, the assessed value of property in the city dropped by more than $30 million, according to a school district report.

Meanwhile, each time property taxes increase, fewer people pay them. According to a school district report, property tax collection rates have fallen from 87 percent to 83 percent.

THE DOMINO EFFECT

City schools may find themselves in a similar situation.

In 2009, the district refinanced almost $280 million of outstanding debt to exit swap agreements and lower debt payments over the first few years by securing lower interest rates. It also borrowed an additional $10 million for building projects and equipment purchases.

In his recovery plan, former Receiver David Unkovic noted that according to the last completed financial audit of the city — and the letter of the law — the city could borrow still more money.

According to his office's calculations, the city could legally borrow up to an additional $117 million.

Whether anyone would agree to offer the city another loan, however, is an entirely different question.

Labyrinth of Fraud

Whenever you see stories like this, you can bet your last dime that massive amounts of fraud are in play.

The NPR article profiled David Unkovic, the man appointed by the state of Pennsylvania to fix the Harrisburg debt problem.

Unkovic resigned in May, then completely vanished from public life after scrawling out a hand-written letter of resignation.

Months later, NPR tracked him down and now Unkovic believes there is something more sinister than gross mismanagement at play.

From NPR

"Illegal conduct occurred," Bill Cluck, who serves on the board that runs Harrisburg's incinerator, told me. "I think false statements were submitted under penalty of law to the state government in connection with the financing."

Stephen Reed was the mayor of Harrisburg from 1980 to 2009. People in town famously say he never met a bond he didn't like. He used the money borrowed on the incinerator to do all sorts of things.

He bought strange artifacts from all over the country, dreaming of building a Wild West museum. The city borrowed money to buy a baseball team and build a stadium; the team was later sold at a loss.

"The fundamental problem is he was borrowing more than he was really allowed to under state law," Unkovic says.

In 2007, Harrisburg filed a document called an 8110 b certificate. It was a promise, Bill Cluck says, that all the previous debt borrowed on the incinerator was still self-liquidating — that the incinerator would bring in enough money to pay the money that had been already borrowed on it.

"They knew it wasn't true when it was submitted, and it's never been corrected to this day," Cluck says.

And that, according to Cluck, was a crime.

There were 17 different revenue projections showing that the incinerator could never earn back all the money that had been borrowed.

So how was it that nobody — none of the law firms, none of the financial advisers — raised questions about the wisdom of this loan?

We asked, but they refused to respond on the record. And, Cluck notes, all those advisers made hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees from the loan.

Almost none of the $30 million the city borrowed in 2007 went to the actual incinerator upgrade. It went to pay back old debt, and to pay fees to the many firms that set up the deal in the first place. The same firms ended up on virtually every deal, Cluck says.

To make matters worse, the city ultimately was on the hook. If the incinerator couldn't make the money back, it would fall to the taxpayers of Harrisburg. And this makes Bill Cluck crazy.

"Where's the advocate for the city to say, 'Hey, you're getting screwed by the terms of these deals,'" he says. "It never happened."

Where Did the Money Go?

Stories like this irritate me because they always seem to stop short. Citing Cluck, NRR says money went to "pay fees to the many firms that set up the deal in the first place. The same firms ended up on virtually every deal".

I can certainly believe that. Indeed I would be shocked to find out otherwise. But where is the list of names? What banks and politicians profited from these shady deals? Inquiring minds and taxpayers have a right to know.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Foreclosure Stats From You Walk Away

Posted: 01 Sep 2012 11:51 AM PDT

Here are some interesting stats courtesy of Jon Maddux, CEO of You Walk Away.

State	% of You Walk Away Clients With No Foreclosure Notice	Average Months Without Foreclosure Notice
Washington	79%	13
Nevada	79%	13
Georgia	75%	12
Michigan	73%	18
Virginia	72%	18
Oregon	69%	13
Pennsylvania	66%	12
Hawaii	60%	21
California	59%	15
New York	57%	16
New Jersey	53%	14
Arizona	52%	14
Colorado	52%	8
Florida	45%	17
Ohio	37%	19

Says Maddux

In Florida, 45% of our clients are in pre-foreclosure status. On average, these Florida homeowners are 17 months delinquent and have yet to receive even their first formal foreclosure notice. 59% of our California clients are in pre-foreclosure status. These California borrowers are an average of 15 months delinquent and also have yet to receive their first formal foreclosure notice. Eighty-five percent of the homeowners we're working with are in pre-foreclosure and have not made a mortgage payment for an average of 14 months.

Structural Issues

Kids graduating from college are deep in debt and holding off home buying, getting married, and starting families.
Boomers looking to retire and downsize have few candidates able and willing to buy larger homes, even with deep discounts
Shadow inventory and the pent-up foreclosure list are huge forces in play.

Maddux believes the data points to significant backlog, eventual foreclosure activity and a drop in value for home prices.

I think home prices are bottoming in many areas, but even if so, prices in general are not going anywhere fast because of aforementioned structural issues.

Addendum

Questions came up regarding the size of the sample.

You Walk Away has 7,000 clients.

Is that a representative enough sample?

I do not know. It is certainly not scientific sampling. However, I suspect it is at least reasonable.

From Maddux ...

Information Regarding Our Methodology:

YouWalkAway.com has worked with over 7000 clients nationwide. One part of the service includes monitoring their foreclosure and providing weekly updates and a personalized foreclosure timeline. Once enrolled, we begin by asking each client when was the date of their last mortgage payment and weekly research each client's property to determine if a foreclosure start notice has been filed. We then continue to monitor every property and record each milestone of the foreclosure process until the home goes back to the bank or is sold in a short sale.

The data was compiled using our current client database we compiled lists of the number of active clients in every state and compared the number of borrowers who had received their foreclosure start notice and those who have defaulted, but not yet received the foreclosure start notice. This was done to see what percentage of our clients had defaulted, but were not yet in the formal foreclosure process. After realizing that the numbers were higher than expected, especially in light of recent news indicating that lenders had picked up the pace as a result of the $26 billion mortgage settlement, we decided to see how many months delinquent on average these "pre-foreclosure" borrowers were. Again, the numbers came back much higher than expected. This indicates that, while there may have been a recent uptick in foreclosure filings, lenders are still dealing with years of backlog.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

luni, 3 septembrie 2012

Tips for Filming Whiteboard Presentations

Tips for Filming Whiteboard Presentations

Lights

Camera

Sound

Editing

Studio

Host

Transcriptions

Non-lizard brained creature

Seth's Blog : Yield

Yield

More Recent Articles

duminică, 2 septembrie 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Seth's Blog : Slightly rewarded (slightly punished)

Slightly rewarded (slightly punished)

More Recent Articles

sâmbătă, 1 septembrie 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

luni, 3 septembrie 2012

Lights

Camera

Sound

Editing

Studio

Host

Transcriptions

Non-lizard brained creature

More Recent Articles

duminică, 2 septembrie 2012

More Recent Articles

sâmbătă, 1 septembrie 2012

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

Subscribe to