New Book Helps Business Users Produce More Effective Webinars and Videoconferences

front_small.jpg

Book by streaming expert Jan Ozer provides media and technical training to help non-media professionals produce top quality audio and video.

Galax, VA, June 2, 2015. Doceo Publishing announces a new book entitled Mastering Webcam and Smartphone Video: How to Look and Sound Great in Webinars and Videoconferences: Webinar Edition ($24.95), by streaming expert Jan Ozer. The book provides media and technical training for non-media professionals producing webinars and participating in videoconferences. The book is available now on Amazon.com and other online bookstores.

With cameras incorporated into all notebooks, smartphones and tablets, and an inexpensive option for desktop computers, business users are increasingly using video for marketing, training, and sales, whether via webinars or with conferencing programs like Skype or FaceTime. Most users lack media and technical training however, often resulting in poor audio or video quality, and diminished effectiveness. Readers of the prerelease version of the new book confirm that it quickly helped them optimize media quality.

For example, Susan Gleason, Department Chair at Landry Academy, which offers over 150 live online classes for homeschooled students, commented, “This book has been invaluable to me in attaining sharp, professional webcam video and clear audio for my classes and webinars, which is critical to the learning experience and to project a professional image for the company.”

Providers of conferencing and webinar services agree. Sabrina George, Vice President of Marketing for webinar provider Onstream Media, stated “Jan’s knowledge of webinar technology and presentation skills provide a sound foundation to enhance the delivery of online events with superior sound and visual impact.”

Ari Bixhorn, VP of Marketing at Panopto, which provides video content management systems to businesses and educational institutions, added, “ In an industry increasingly plagued by webinars with mediocre video and audio quality, Jan Ozer shows you how to rise above the masses and look like a pro.” Significantly, Panopto has commissioned a custom version of the book to distribute to their customers, which Doceo will publish in June, 2015.

Another reader of the prerelease version was Dan Roche, VP of Marketing at webinar provider TalkPoint. He commented, “Jan’s book should be required reading for anyone presenting online. Here he has created an accessible way for anyone to create professional grade video events.”

About the Book

After a QuickStart chapter describing fixes for six common gaffes made by newbie producers, the book contains four major sections. The first, Looking Great, includes chapters on positioning the webcam, choosing a background and clothing, simple lighting techniques, and how to optimize webcam settings for quality.

The next, Sounding Great, includes chapters on choosing and using external microphones on Windows and Macintosh computers and iOS and Android mobile devices. The third major section, How it Works in the Programs You Use, includes chapters describing how to optimize audio and video quality in Apple FaceTime, Skype, Onstream Webinars, TalkPoint Convey, GoToWebinar, WebEx, and Google Hangouts.

The final section, Getting it Right on Game Day, contains multiple checklists to ensure the best possible event. The book is complemented by supplemental materials available on www.thewebcambook.com.

About the Author

Jan Ozer is a streaming and production professional with deep experience on both sides of the camera and with webinar production. An accomplished author, Ozer has written over 25 books on streaming, production, and editing.

Ozer decided to write Mastering Webcam and Smartphone Video after watching several webinars where experienced presenters made seemingly rookie mistakes. “It was obvious that many experienced presenters lacked knowledge of basic techniques that could dramatically up the quality of their audio and video. So I wrote a book that illustrated those techniques.”

The first edition of the book is the Webinar Edition, which contains the product-specific chapters identified above, and is available now on Amazon and other online bookstores. A Retail Edition ($21.95), which contains product-specific chapters on FaceTime, Google Hangouts and Skype, will be available by the end of June. For more information on the book, visit www.thewebcambook.com. For additional info, or to request a review copy, please contact the author at [email protected].

About Doceo Publishing

Doceo Publishing is the publishing arm of The Streaming Learning Center, which has published two previous books, Producing Streaming Video for Multiple Screen Delivery, and Video Compression for Flash, Apple Devices and HTML5. Both books have averaged five-star ratings on Amazon and have been adopted by multiple colleges and universities as textbooks in streaming-media related courses.

Contact Information:

Jan Ozer 276-238-9135

[email protected]

About Jan Ozer

Avatar photo
I help companies train new technical hires in streaming media-related positions; I also help companies optimize their codec selections and encoding stacks and evaluate new encoders and codecs. I am a contributing editor to Streaming Media Magazine, writing about codecs and encoding tools. I have written multiple authoritative books on video encoding, including Video Encoding by the Numbers: Eliminate the Guesswork from your Streaming Video (https://amzn.to/3kV6R1j) and Learn to Produce Video with FFmpeg: In Thirty Minutes or Less (https://amzn.to/3ZJih7e). I have multiple courses relating to streaming media production, all available at https://bit.ly/slc_courses. I currently work as www.netint.com as a Senior Director in Marketing.

Check Also

Upcoming Training for Streaming Production

Here are descriptions of the two courses I’ll be teaching in a few days on …

Online Training for Streaming Production, Cloud-based Streaming, and FFmpeg

Streaming media production and delivery has become even more critical over the last few months; …

MediaMelon’s SmartPlay Cuts Bandwidth Requirements Without Re-encoding

We’re all aware of the sudden need to reduce streaming bandwidth to alleviate congestion. MediaMelon’s …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *