Update everyone, attendees and non-attendees, as to what’s happening at the event by recording short reports (ideally less than three minutes) from the show floor. This is different from live interviews because you’ll actually write, shoot, and produce a show report. It can be a very simple shot of a talking head into a Web cam. Two free Web-based options I like are Springdoo and TokBox. Both allow you to quickly record short videos via your Web cam, which are hosted on their sites, but you can embed those videos on your blog or Web site.
The advantage of these Web-based alternatives is you don’t need to save a file, encode it, and then upload it to a video sharing network like YouTube. The disadvantage is you won’t get a video sharing network’s casual viewing traffic. If you’re hoping to get that kind of traffic, expend the extra effort of going through the extra steps of saving a video file, encoding it, and then uploading it. Also, when filling out the description page make sure to label the video appropriately, choose a representative thumbnail image, and add in descriptive keywords including the tag name you’ve chosen for your event.
If you want to create really impressive looking reports that look like a newscast, invest $400 and purchase Adobe Visual Communicator 3, a software package that allows you to create professional-looking news reports with over the shoulder graphics, lower thirds, and full screen video effects. There’s no need to do any editing. All the cuts and graphic effects happen live. AVC3 takes a little training, some producing, and copy writing, but the end result can be extremely impressive. If you have the right person on camera, he or she will look like a real news reporter covering a live event.
