SkillCasting

I was meeting with a client the other day. I think he is a perfect candidate for SkillCasting. He has the credentials, the experience, and the “street cred” to turn what he knows into his own training products–but he’s not doing it.

I shared this mindmap with him as I discussed why & what he could be doing. You can download a PDF here.

I suggested a membership site where he could host his training modules and sell access to them. In addition, I suggested a forum where members could post questions and he could answer them. When I said this could all be passive reoccurring monthly income, that’s when the lightbulb went off.

Let me ask you, after working all these years, what specialized knowledge do you have? Would other people find it valuable? Are you currently working but find yourself spread too thin? What if you supplemented your “time for money” consulting model and created online products to sell? How does this passive revenue stream impact you?

There are so many ways to productize your knowledge these days. My mindmap mentions a few of them. I know, I can almost hear you saying “yeah but Scott, I don’t know how to manage a website and build all those things.”

I’ll tell you the same thing I told my client. You partner.

Google Alerts is a really useful tool to stay abreast of all sorts of information. Instead of having to search for information, it can come straight to you.

This is really useful if you need to stay on top of your industry, competitors, products, or even hobbies. It’s also a great source of new ideas for blog posts or new training products.

This quick video will walk you through Google Alerts.

[View iPhone version]

Over at the JibberJobber blog, Jason Alba asks “Is there an expert in the house?”

He raises a very good point in that it’s time to build your expert status. It resonates with me because that is exactly what I’m working to achieve. His subsequent post “How to be a recognized expert“goes on to say the best way to establish yourself as an expert is to write a book. This is very true and parallels Robert Bly’s thoughts in his book, Become a Recognized Authority In Your Field.

Writing a book takes time though. Are there other ways to establish yourself as an expert without you having to wait months or years for a book? I believe in a word, YES!

Creating videos, online training, or short tutorials establishes credibility and builds momentum. These tools help get your name out there. They help you build a following and increase your exposure. Feedback from these efforts help you refine your message. They allow you to put a face on your brand, to establish rapport, and perhaps most importantly, they compliment a book by leveraging new media that printed text on paper just can’t touch.

No doubt that writing a book can really kick-start your expert status. But while your prose is waiting to be published, don’t overlook these other productions.

Mark McGuinness over at Lateral Action had an interesting post about how Dragon Naturally Speaking (affiliate link) can make you a better writer. I couldn’t agree more.

When it comes to creating content for SkillCasting, a transcription tool is a cleaver way to get more things done. I’ve used my iPhone combined with iTalk Recorder and Dragon Naturally Speaking to create remote transcriptions.

The video below shows you how I do it.

The pocket-sized camcorders on the market today are great for SkillCasting. These are a great way to collect content while on a job site, while meeting with a customer, or even for sharing your thoughts on YouTube while at home.

The Flip Mino HD is far and away the market leader. But is it the best?

In this video, I compare the Flip Mino HD to the Kodak Zi6 side-by-side and share my perspective on which I think is better for SkillCasting.

On Tuesday, March 10th, 2009, Tony Karrer led a webinar on using SharePoint in corporate learning environments. I recorded and edited the presentation for him and it’s available from the LearnTrends site.

Why would you want to record your webinar? Or perhaps a better question is, why would you want to record your webinar when the webinar companies often provide this service themselves?

There are two main reasons why you should record the presentation yourself.

1. Re-purposing can only be done if you have an original. Often times the file the webinar companies provide can’t easily be modified because they’re designed for streaming. They have reduced detail to cut down on the file size – they’re basically a lower quality. This is important to them if they end up streaming thousands of views. You want the highest quality available so you can optimize the file for different types of players and screens. So for example, if you want to make a portable version that’s available on iPhones, you’ll need a high-quality original to start.
2. You may want to edit the file first. So for example, you can include opening music, credits, or simply cut out any mistakes. You can add pans and zooms to the video so it’s easier to view as well. All this give you more control over the final product – the final product that represents you.

I’ve embedded the Flash player version below but you can download the higher quality, navigation enabled QuickTime version (244Mb .mov) or the iPhone/iTouch version (93Mb .mp4) as well. To download the file, right-click the link and choose Save Link/Target As…

For years, perhaps even decades, the only option to really consider when trying to productize your knowledge has been a book. It’s still the defacto requirement if you want to launch a speaking career but it’s not the only option out there.

This interactive diagram explains some additional solutions you can use to turn what you know into a product.

I saw this article from C|Net about the Manchester United championship soccer game. Okay, a British soccer (futbol) game, what’s that got to do with technology? It appears plenty.

With the game tied and heading into the penalty kick shoot-out phase, The goalkeeper came to the sidelines for a quick refresher. He watched previews of the opposing kickers on his iPod and noticed one of the kickers had a tendency to go to his left. Sure enough, the goalie leveraged this information, got a jump on the shot and deflected the kick. Manchester won the game.

Just-in-time video training was a contributing factor to the victory.

This leads me to ask the following questions for your business:

• Are you using video in your business?
• How would you benefit from enabling just-in-time, field based delivery to your customers/contractors/employees?
• How does a portable video player, with chapter navigation installed, compress cycle times or increase customer satisfaction?

Imagine having an entire video library on an iPhone or iTouch that allows the user to view just the necessary information. This type of technology exists today and is relatively easy to produce with something as simple as iMovie.

Incorporate just-in-time training videos to get a jump on your competition.

I’m often asked what exactly do you mean by SkillCasting. I thought I’d put together a little presentation to outline what I consider to be SkillCasting. Before we view it, here is my definition:

You’ll have to share with me your thoughts on it.

So just what is SkillCasting all about? This quick video gives you an idea.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.