Reflections on training: the video interview

An activity enjoyed by many social reporters but quite difficult to capture in presentable format, is the short video interview. During training day, I decided to do a short interview (2 minutes, 5 questions maximum) interview with our convenor, Elmi.
This turned out to be much harder than anticipated. Finding a quiet corner with minimal noise/visual distractions was easy enough......and this might not be the case at the conference. Our first take was nearly three minutes long, so we decided to do a shorter second take using only three questions instead of five. The second take was ruined by the interviewer when an %$#*&!! was uttered during an unexpected break. The third take was presentable, but needed tweaking. The fourth take was just right: lengthwise, contentwise and also visually up to standard. The use of a tripod-held camera instead on being handheld by the interviewer, would have resulted in an even better clip. Further difficulties experienced resulted in the following hints:
*Have questions ready in large print easily readable by interviewer
*If possible, do a practice run
*Try to mount camera on tripod or gorrila pod, or have a third party operate it
*Interview is much easier if interviewer's hands are camera free
*Interviewer to be ready with next question at all times! An answer might be much shorter than anticipated

Training day!

The big day finally arrived and most of the volunteers were able to attend. The morning commenced with obligatory coffee and introductions, and Elmi started off by giving some background to the social reporting concept. After that, aspects such as ethics, use of big screens, twitter questions, twitter hashtags, wifi usage, plus some social reporting do's and dont's were covered. The highlight of the morning was a mock-live tweeting session of a video presentation of Michael Stephens titled Hyperlinked libraries. It seemed to be enjoyed by all and when looking at the tweets afterwards, one could clearly notice the different styles of tweeting present in the room! Most were a bit flustered at first by the speed at which Michael was going, and the brevity of his screenshots, but the end-results was a decent conveying of the gist of Michael's presentation. Another significant moment was the unexpected twitter response of Michael to Siphethile, asking what the hashtag #socrt meant and if we were in Africa!

After lunch, the training turned its focus to the use of video in social reporting. The application of meta-analytics and statistics were also investigated. Videos were made by all.....using  a variety of gadgets: phones, ipads and cameras. Video interviews turned out to be harder than anticipated, as I discovered when trying to do a 2-minute 4-question interview with Elmi. We finally got a presentable take on our fourth attempt!

After the training had finished, most people left but I was still struggling to download 111 Flickr pics until way after 5pm. I had actually used a different camera than the one I normally use when doing walkabout photography while travelling, using the Canon 50D instead of the 5D as the former has a built-in flash. The pictures of the day had turned out better than I had expected, especially considering that the 50D is marginally inferior to the 5D.

Elmi had done a great job in exposing us to the expectations, practicalities as well as demands of social reporting during the day's training. With 13 days left before the conference, I felt more confident than I had felt before the training, yet ready and motivated to practice new skills and hone those which I already possess.