Tag Archives: video production

Example: School Visit Video

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Hanging Off Jeffersons NoseHere’s a 1:20 minute school visit promotional video by Tina Nichols Coury that promises a star-spangled presentation.

 

Tina Nichols Coury is the author of Hanging Off Jefferson’s Nose: Growing Up on Mount Rushmore (Penguin USA). I like that she has produced more than one video, and that one of the videos — the Mount Rushmore Tour – wasn’t just about promoting herself or her book. It offered educational value for students. I can picture teachers and librarians using this to prepare kids in advance of her visit.

Here are my thoughts on her School Visit video:

  • This is a professional-quality video, produced by Tina herself
  • The length is just right — in the sweet spot of 1:20 minutes
  • The video mixes still images with live action
  • Images show Tina interacting with kids in the audience as well as on stage.
  • The kids are engaged – those in the audience are raising hands and those on stage are wearing costumes.
  • She clearly shows the cover of her book
  • The contact information including her phone number and email stays on the screen long enough (11 seconds) to copy down

Here are some tweaks she might consider making:

  • School librarians love to show author videos. Make this section easier to find. Make a button called VIDEOS. List all videos here – the school visit, the tour, the three book trailers.
  • I wouldn’t use the word “promo.” It’s too industry-chat / sales sounding. Instead of “School Visit Promo,” she might call it “A Visit with Tina” or “Star-Spangled Assemblies” or “Spend a Day with Tina”

Thanks, Tina, for the opportunity to take a closer look at your school visit video.

Does anyone else have a school visit video you’d like to share? Send it my way!

Make a Video Calling Card for School Visits

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After my last post, author Carrie Pearson invited me to take a tour of her website to see what I thought about her school visit pages. A brave soul!

The first thing I saw — and clicked on – was a video posted prominently at the top of her school visit page. In the next 2:16 minutes, I enjoyed images backed with pleasant music. From that brief encounter, here’s what I learned about Carrie:

1) She’s fun
2) She’s published science-related children’s books
3) She’s willing to travel
4) She’s presented programs for kids in Pre-K to 7
5) She’s done Family Night events
6) She conducts writing workshops
7) She has great testimonials from adults and kids
8) She is easy to reach (website address is posted at the end)

Carrie created this “video calling card” via Animoto, using a template. I’ve also seen them done through Vimeo as well.

While I think the sweet spot for this kind of promotion (including book trailers) is between 1 minute and 1.5 minutes, I think this works really well to introduce Carrie to potential hosts. Personally, I liked that it wasn’t a hard-sell, but I might have added a tag line that expressed what action I want the viewer to take:  “Invite Carrie to your school! www.CarriePearsonBooks.com”

According to a recent article by Teymour Shahabion Digital Book World, as of August 2014, Facebook has been delivering more video views than YouTube—by about one billion views. A video posted on Facebook is far likelier to be seen than is any other type of post. So, when you do make that school visit video, be sure to post it to Facebook as well as YouTube.

Do you have a link to a school visit promotional video you’d like to share here? Send it to me and I’ll post it for others to enjoy.