Gary North

Here, in a series of simple screencast videos, Bill Myers will get you up and running on YouTube and also the free Camtasia Studio 3.0 screencast-production program. I paid $300 for this program in 2006.

To download the program from Bill's site, go here:

Camtasia Studio 3 is a nice piece of technology. The company's site provides helpful training materials. Select Camtasia Studio 4 training. It's close to Version 3.

The company greatly respects Bill Myers. It refers to him as the how-to king. Read the company's interview with him here:

Warning: it is easy to get seduced by technology's gadgets. Some people think these gadgets have greater power than they do. Content is more far important than technology. At the same time, just because there is a learning curve associated with learning a new technology, we should not get paralyzed by fear of it. We should operate somewhere in between bedazzlement and paralysis. It is worth climbing the learning curve if you have been provided with good teaching materials, but when we get to the top, there will be no miracles -- just tools. In this case, a very fine tool: Camtasia Studio 3.

Bill Myers believes in bite-size training. There are a lot of videos here, but they are short and sweet.

To view these training videos, all you need to do is click the URL. When you get to the page, you will see a viewing box (like a YouTube video box). Click the Play button -- > -- at the lower left-hand corner of each video box screen. (Note: I find that in a couple of these videos, I must click the Play button twice, with a few-second interval in between clicks.)

Watch a video. Don't do anything else -- just watch. Get the overall view of each video.

Next, watch it again. This time, pay attention to the details. As you can figure out, it's "monkey see, monkey do." If you have downloaded Camtasia Studio, activate it and see if you can do what Myers did in the video. If not, watch the video again.

Then go on to the next video: view once, then view again, then go to Camtasia and try to do what you have just seen.

To get started, click here:

For Bill's ten-step checklist for creating effective screencasts, click here:

For a longer, written list, ready to print out:

How do you get better looking YouTube posts? Simple:

Confused about this procedure? Maybe this will help.

He offers 8 additional tips on uploading videos to YouTube:

How can you get top Google ranking on your YouTube video? Do this:

How do you add audio background? (Note: don't use copyrighted material. This is for the collections of royalty-free music or something you have created that you own.) Simple:

Want more screencasts by Bill? Click here:

Narration: For voice audio, he uses a Plantronics DSP500 headset, which runs about $50. If you get a popping sound and moving the mic doesn't help, just let the headset sit around your neck instead of your head.

Use this headset-microphone combination if you cannot afford Plantronics. You may be able to buy it at Wal-Mart. Call to see if it's in stock. If it isn't, use Amazon:

While you're waiting for delivery, you can get started today with this tie-clip mic from a local radio Shack. It costs $5. It's not good enough for serious YouTube work, but you can get started practicing video-audio production today. Call Radio Shack to see if it's in stock.

Conclusion: You can do this. So can your competitors, but they won't.

By the way, if you are looking for a way to make your job history sheet look good, a blog site or a website with lots of Camtasia videos linked to YouTube is a good way to do it. This stuff is simple, but employers think it's rocket science. Take advantage of this misguided perception, get some videos posted in your field. You will soon become the video guru of that field in your office.

Bill has set up a page where he posts thumbnails of his videos (not screencasts) on low-cost "guerrilla video" production. These are shot in a very cheap studio -- a room in his home. He uses a camcorder that costs maybe $500. It's amazing what you can do on a low budget. They are great for teaching. To see how this looks, click here:

Finally, if you get serious about screencast/video production, you should join his website. The Q&A forum is surely worth the monthly subscription fee. www.bmyers.com