How to get me to watch your YouTube tutorial video
Sometimes I watch youtube videos for things besides crazy beatboxers and kids getting attacked by ninja cats.
Sometimes I like learning things. The problem is you people who teach on youtube waste a lot of my time with ineffective tutorial videos. Instead of just complaining here is my mini guide to effective youtube tutorializing.
1. Keep it short, like under 4 minutes. This ensures that I learn stuff in small consumable steps that I can repeat until my practice makes perfect and I can move on the next step. Not ideal for all situations, but it probably is for yours.
2. Start with the end result. This way I know whether your video is worth watching.
3. If the sound cuts off, if your camera breaks, if anything goes wrong, please don’t post it with excuses, just rerecord. Seriously, quit being lazy, it wastes my time.
4. If your tutorial involves screen capturing and I can’t read your screen, don’t post it.
5. Talk. I think cameras come with microphones for a reason, maybe.
6. Learn to talk. Write an outline or script beforehand so you’re not ‘umming’ and ‘erring’ your way through the video. My friend will make fun of you when I link him to your video if you don’t.
That covers it. Thanks!
Tech Support Sadness
Below are some of the sad scenarios my friend Alex has had to endure while providing tech support to a city office that shall remain unnamed.
E-mail Fail 1
Customer: “I haven’t got an e mail in 2 days, fix it.”
Alex: “Have you tried sorting by date and not subject?”
E-mail Fail 2
Customer: “I haven’t been getting email”
Alex: “Your groups are collapsed.”
Computer Dyslexia
Customer: “My CDs don’t fit in the tray. They fit for everyone else but not me.”
(Alex doesn’t know what to do, thinks maybe she has a zip drive or is trying to put a CD in the floppy drive, even logs into the machine remotely)
Alex: “I’m going to send a tech to look at your box.”
(Alex goes with the tech to investigate. She had her computer upside down.)
Keyboard Dyslexia
Customer: “My screen is upside down”
Alex: “Okay, we need you to log in to your computer”
Customer: “I can’t, I can’t read upside down”
Alex: “Is your keyboard upside down?”
Customer: “No”
Alex: “Then type it like you normally would.”