SkillCasting

Note: This post originally appeared at http://www.macscreencasting.com/skype-video-call-recording on 6.21.2010. Due to recent WordPress hacks, I’m consolidating my sites and I’ll be moving the MacScreencasting posts over to SkillCasting. Then I’ll shut down MacScreencasting.

Do you use Skype? Millions of people do. It’s a wonderful way to make free Skype-to-Skype calls all over the world. And you can really push the capabilities by using SkypeIn and SkypeOut to connect to regular phone lines too.

An often overlooked feature of Skype is the video chat (okay, so maybe it’s not overlooked, it is one of the most popular features.) It too is free and allows two callers to connect with one another and see each other. When done properly it’s a great way to conduct video interviews. You might be asking yourself, “Why video interviews?! ”

I’ve brought my friend Terry Brock over to help explain why we’d want to do this. He’s done dozens and can teach us all a few of his tricks. If you’re an entrepreneur, a consultant, or even a freelancer, you’ll want to see this.

You can see our Skype video interview below.

[View iPhone version]

To add an update, the newer versions of Skype allow group calls so you can see more people. This opens all sorts of doors for group interviews similar to news shows.

And if you want to learn more about Skype, check out my Skype Training!

Tech Dirt has a story about a Florida jurisdiction using Skype to accelerate the search warrant process. Now that’s a use of Skype mobile video I hadn’t though of!

One of the key features of Skype mobile video is that it works over a 3G network. This means you don’t have to be connected to why WiFi to share a LIVE video. This is truly the achilles heel of FaceTime’s implementation on AT&T’s network. But you see, it’s not just showing your mug on camera though. You can switch the camera perspective to be the front camera (your mug) or the back camera and whatever you see.

This introduces so many useful applications. Here are a couple of ideas:

• Share a live event as it’s happening. This could be anything from a school performance to product demonstration. Use live video to show a walk-thru of a new house for example. When do you need to share something live with other people far away? Compress decision cycles by sharing and discussing live video.
• Show situations in the field and get realtime support back at the office. If you’re a service technician and need help, you can show & tell the situation to a more experienced tech at a remote location. Think of it like affordable tele-medicine. What are the implications in your industry? Offer realtime performance support to your employees.
• Capture news as its happening and share it others. Record the video on the receiving end with a screencasting application, edit & enhance it, then share it. This is faster than trying to upload mobile video via 3G and the office can add additional elements to it. They they can distribute it with a faster connection.

I demonstrate mobile video in my Skype Training but I encourage you to play with it. I think it can become a real game changer. And not just for getting people arrested.

An often overlooked feature of Skype is it’s screen sharing capabilities. Here is a video from my Skype Training course.

When I help new Skype users by using screen sharing, they absolutely love it. It’s one of those features that once you understand it, you realize you can’t live without it. I use screen sharing primarily for technical troubleshooting and collaboration. So for example, when I work with a client on a presentation, we can see exactly how I’ve setup the slide. They can tell me any changes they’d like to make and we can discuss the imagery. This is so much easier than emailing presentations back and forth.

If you’re a coach, consultant, or solopreneur, Skype needs to be part of your toolkit.

I work with a lot of coaches, consultants, and solopreneurs. One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of them don’t fully understand how powerful Skype can be. In fact, some aren’t even on Skype!

Click to learn more about this Skype training course

I’ve taught several of my clients how to use Skype so we can collaborate more effectively. Now, they’re using Skype with their clients and realizing the full benefits of Skype. Are you getting the most from Skype?

I thought I would put together a course that would walk other new Skype users through all the key features of Skype. I’ll show you how to set your preference, manage your account, and then apply 10 core Skype features to your business. This includes Skype-to-Skype calling, video chats, instant messaging, screen sharing, mobile options, and more! It’s over an hour of video based training so you can get the most out of Skype.

And no, I’m not charging an arm and a leg for it either. Ready? It’s just $9.97!

For the price of a couple of lattes, you can have access to a video course that will show you how to use Skype and give you real world ideas on ways to apply Skype to your business.

So if you’re a coach, a consultant, or an individual who works for yourself out of your home (what I call a solopreneur), you owe it to yourself to learn and leverage Skype in your business. Click the image above to learn more about this new and exciting course.

Since I work with people all over the country and the world, I’ve found Skype to be invaluable. Since we can’t physically get together, I love being able to conduct Skype video chats with them. Video helps establish rapport because we can see each others eyes and smiles. In the end, Skype video strengthens relationships.

I recommend Skype to all my clients and more often than not, they wonder how they operated before without it. There’s just something about seeing other people. Oh, and lets not forget the screen sharing and file transfer features of Skype too.

I was interviewed over at the Skype Business Blog with my friend Terry Brock. Here we talk about how we’re using Skype video.

Update: I added a link to a new Skype course I developed to help people get the most from Skype. It’s over a hour’s worth of video training. It not only shows you “how-to” but also gives you creative ideas on how to apply the 10-key Skype features to your business.

If you haven’t tried Skype yet, you’re really missing out. You can download and use it for free. What are you waiting for?

Skype is a great service for making free & inexpensive phone calls. What a lot of people don’t realize is that you can also conduct video chats.

What’s great though, is that with screencasting software, you can record and enhance your video chats. This is a great way to conduct remote interviews, train, and collaborate.

For this presentation, I collaborated with my friend Terry Brock. Terry has conducted numerous business interviews with Skype and knows a thing or two about doing them. And of course we did this in Skype!

[View iPhone video]

This is the actual Skype video and was recorded from my desktop using ScreenFlow.

When I’ve talked to people about remote collaboration on training projects, I mention that I use Skype. I still get some puzzled looks and questions like “What is Skype?”

The team over at Say It Visually has put together a great little over video of what Skype is. I’ve embedded it at the bottom of this post.

When collaborating on training creation, we can have a free voice call over Skype. This enables all sorts of recording opportunities. I’ll go into recording Skype conversations in more detail on a later post.

Provided we both have good internet connections, our audio quality is surprisingly good. In fact, over the regular telephone network, voice is carried at 8-bits per second. Over Skype it’s 16-bits per second. That’s right, Skype audio (with a good connection) is twice as good as a regular telephone. Now make no mistake, a CD recording might be 192-bits per second so we’re not talking high-fidelity here. But trust me, it’s good enough.

Skype also allows us to have video chats. I like this because video is so much more effective than just audio. When recording PowerPoint & Keynote presentations, I like bringing in video of the speaker. Skype allows us to have that video conference and when using a screencasting tool like ScreenFlow, I capture both the presentation deck (PPT or Keynote) along with the delivery from the speaker.

Take a look at the Skype overview to get familiar with Skype. Think about how this could be leveraged when collaborating on training creation and I think you’ll see, Skype is one heck of a powerful tool.