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Michele Kim Carter and Jay Carter on Great Day Houston

August Speakeasy: Pro Secrets for Making Powerful Videos

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Part 1 of our 2 part series of video secrets from the pros

Having just one video about your business or organization isn’t enough any more. Now you need a series.

At our next Speakeasy event, hear from the team at Beyond Measure Media.  Jay and Michele
Next Speakeasy - Pro Secrets for Great Videos Part 2
Carter are award-winning video producers that specialize in telling documentary-style “stories from the heart” for businesses and nonprofits.

Drawing from years of experience in front of and behind the camera, they share:  

  • The types of videos every organization needs right now, and why.
  • The most common mistakes businesses make when creating their first video(s), and how to avoid them.
  • How to turn a mundane video interview into a magic moment that viewers won’t forget.
  • The one production element that is even more important than video quality.
  • Creative ways to boost your organization’s video output, including how to turn your entire roster of employees into lean, mean, powerful video production and idea machines.

All across the web and social media, your future customers and raving fans are out there — waiting to see, hear and connect with your brand and your mission.  A series of clear, carefully crafted videos is the most powerful way to tell your story, build loyalty and grow your tribe.

Join us October 5th for Part 2 of Pro Secrets for Making Powerful Videos.

Sign me up!

About Beyond Measure Media & Michele Kim Carter and Jay Carter

Michele Kim Carter has worked on documentary films, most recently co-directing Southern Fried Fencing, now available on Amazon.  She was local producer for Beer Is Cheaper Than Therapy, which was broadcast on TV networks around the world.  She produced TV newscasts in Texas, and won the Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in broadcast storytelling.

Jay Carter is a former Texas TV news anchor and reporter, with numerous awards from the Associated Press and the Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence in broadcast storytelling. He has worked as a radio news anchor and voiceover talent. He also co-directed the feature-length documentary Southern Fried Fencing with Michele.

At Beyond Measure Media, Jay shoots and edits video, and helps craft the overall tone and narrative flow of video productions. Michele produces, handles logistics, conducts interviews and helps clients tell stories that resonate.

Keys to Making Your Business Presentations Sparkle

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Are you tired of giving stale business presentations that bore your audiences to the outer galaxy of Ad Nauseam and back?

ad nauseum

Well, we’ve got one hell of an innovative solution to get your company ahead of the pack. After all, you’re a talented, under-appreciated and underpaid genius that just needs to be recognized for your vision and contribution to the work force all these years!

Ahem, sorry. I was just test-driving a new technique I learned at a recent conference. The trick? Tell your audience how boring and uninteresting their present lives are, only to whip them up into a fervor by telling them how they’re part of an innovative solution for a better future!

Alexis and I attended the SOLD OUT Communicators Conference in downtown Portland sponsored by the Public Relations Society of America and the Oregon Columbia Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators of Columbia-Willamette. Scoring tix to this event was like the PR equivalent of getting tickets to the sold out Sasquatch Music Festival – only, instead of throngs of bleary-eyed teens eagerly awaiting their favorite rock bands, this event featured hordes of coffee-crazed communication professionals donning casual business wear and crammed into the main ballroom of the Sentinel Hotel. The focus was on becoming better storytellers to successfully convey messages to your target audiences.

Evita speaking to crowd

Evita Peron, an amazing orator and interesting case study in Nancy Duarte’s talk.

The conference featured great presenters, but the one who stole the show for us was Nancy Duarte, a successful entrepreneur whose business helps companies with oral presentations. She’s also the author of “Resonate: Present Visual  Stories that Transform Audiences.” Her presentation centered around her own empirical research gleaned from famous speeches in recent and distant history, using Steve Jobs, Ghandi, MLK, Evita and, even Jesus to exemplify her points. She says she uses her findings in her work to help companies develop better presentations during oral engagements, and did a fantastic job herself. But why take our word for it?

Check out a TEDx talk she gave on the very subject earlier this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nYFpuc2Umk

Here are some takeaways for an effective presentation, from Nancy’s talk:

        • The most effective way to communicate ideas is through storytelling.
        • At the beginning of any presentation/story you need to establish what is – the status quo.
        • Make the status quo and the normal unappealing. Next, draw them toward a better, brighter future using your idea as a catalyst – what could be.
        • Compare and contrast the  boring/unacceptable present to what could be – and make that gap as big as possible – amplify that gap!
        • Traverse between what is and what could be several times. The great orators did this, but their use of gaps and time varied for their desired dramatic effect.
        • Your presentation should support why your audience should want to get to that new great place.
        • The last turning point is a call to action, but at the very end.

For more:

Nancy Duarte demonstrating the what is/what could be technique.

Nancy Duarte demonstrating the what is/what could be technique.