First, let me disclaim why I am writing this article. It might appear as though I am being mean and that is not my intent. I wrote previously about accepting constructive criticism and if one is online long enough, eventually constructive (not necessarily mean but could be negative) criticism will come. I am fortunate that people care enough about me to express their opinion. That is why I am writing this. By giving my feedback, perhaps the show will improve.
I am not sure how I was informed about Wayne Sutton’s show last week but the end result was that I decided to tune into the live show. There were approximately 15 people in the room, that I could see, and a couple of people with cameras. He had a co-host, a woman that, unfortunately, I do not remember her name. They seemed to be just warming up when a gentleman entered the room; video camera hooked up, and had technical difficulties. Wayne and his co-host did not have headsets, creating an issue of sound feedback during the cast, resulting in them having to hunt for a headset. I was in the chat for about 40 minutes and I can honestly state that over 20 minutes was spent trying to resolve those issues.
Then a perplexing thing happened. The site they were using to host the chat allows for people to interact via video. Because the page does not automatically refresh the webcam area of the site, it seemed like Wayne and his co-host were talking to people that weren’t really there. Because they switched to headsets, the audience could not hear what the people using video (with microphones) were saying. It took me a minute to figure out who they were talking to. The problem still remained, they could hear everyone but the audience could only hear their responses. The audience would have to wait for someone we couldn’t see or hear pose their question, talk about the weather, etc. then try to piece together what Wayne and the co-host were responding to. I left before the show was over because I wasn’t getting anything out of it.
I understand…there were technical difficulties…
I am not a stranger to technical difficulties, being thrown off during a live “show”, etc. The Triad has a “show” we call the SuperStream. It’s really not a show though; we are having a virtual party. We have some drinks, perhaps play some music and have fun with the users from 9rules and our soon to be launched Chawlk.
We have our share of technical difficulties but, after recovering from the shock for a minute, we continue to, well…..party because that is the theme of our “show”. For example, we started the party at 11pm. When this clip was taken, Mike and I were locked out of chat (along with some of our users) and Scrivs’ camera died for a short while. Scrivs came back and about 30 minutes later, so did the chatbox. The clip below was taken after the technical difficulty:
Unfortunately, Mike’s internet connection died around 3am but the party continued until about 4am. I am not a stranger to problems; actually I am sympathetic to them.
Then what was your problem Tyme?
From a viewer standpoint, Wayne’s show was painful to watch because Wayne and his co-host were unprepared but most importantly, they had no control over the show. Wayne and his co-host are supposed to steer the audience in the direction they want their show to go. I am not sure if that was their first show, if the woman is a permanent co-host or if Wayne is going to do another show, but if they do I hope they remember the audience without the audience having to prompt them on what to do.
Come prepared. If someone is having technical difficulties the show shouldn’t revolve around one person, what about the other 15 people in the room? Perhaps have instructions pre-written on how to deal with audio issues and other technical difficulties on a page so, in the event this happens, they can quickly type in the chat box, “Here is the URL to our FAQ page. You should find your issue there” and the show can continue. I was tuned in to the show for 40 minutes and I swear I have no idea what the show is about. It was very painful to watch.
Wayne, I wish you the best of luck with your show, truly. You seem passionate about technology. However, if you are going to interview people, do a live show, etc. you are holding the reigns and you should be steering the show in the direction you have preset as a goal. The viewer should walk away knowing what your goal was and have a positive feeling about what they saw or heard. If you can, step back a bit and think about how a viewer or listener might be feeling during your show. Are you all over the place with your topics? Who is driving the car, you or your audience? Who is the leader during those situations?
Good luck!
Wayne, the advice Tyme gave you is great advice. I doubt I would have stayed as long as she did to watch you try to help another person. Good luck with your show.
That night was so hilarious, even though Scrivs was talking much trash to me due to my lack of audio. These videos are classic.
I understand that we are in some brave new media world these days, but people owe it to their users to take the time and plan, as well as test technologies before committing to hosting a show. A lot of things go down or don’t work for various reasons when it comes to the new services, but do your best to at least appear to be prepared, and roll well with the punches.
Live shows are going to be very important in the next 365 days. Services like Ustream, BlogTV, JustinTV, Yahoo! Live, LiveVideo, etc are bringing the audience closer to the on-air talent than ever before. If you’re going to go live, make sure you have an agenda. Make sure you have a gameplan as far as WHY people should tune in to your show and what you’re coming there to see.
Jonny Goldstein and I have tested out several services over the last year and a half, and the first thing you want to to is test it out. You certainly don’t want to test DURING your first show, because your viewers might get the impression that this is as good as your show’s going to get.
As far as LiveVideo/ Yahoo! Live, since they happen to be the EXACT SAME SERVICE, somehow… They need to implement a way for the host to LOCK the extra boxes for their co-hosts, so that they can create a panel like a talk show that everyone has to watch. The way it’s set up now, everyone gets to choose their own four people to watch, so often, the host looks like they’re talking to and listening to NOBODY, if they didn’t choose the same people you did.
Anyway, let’s keep an eye on the show schedule to see what happens on episode $2!
I agree live shows are going to be important. The competition will get stiff. Listen to Tyme and Bill, have some control over your show.
Those videos are insane! Enjoyed them! When is the next stream?
LMAO ass on those videos. Was that Mike singing?
Very good advice Tyme. I don’t think you were mean at all. When does the show air?
Bill, do you think live shows are more important than video that can be put on TV? That is where video is going right?
@Marquee (6): Definitely. Live is where you get an idea of what the “actor” in a show is like in real-time, not reading scripted material or getting to do several takes.
Live is going to be extremely important for character development in the near future. Whomever’s not with the program’s going to get left behind.
You guys did a show from 11PM to 4AM and there were people still around? That says a lot. That’s 4 hours! You guys looked like you had a great time!
Wayne, the words might be hard to hear but listen to Tyme and Bill. Video is probably the next medium to take up. Step up to the plate or get off the field! Good luck!
Great points! Tyme, you do a great service by giving your opinion. You make valid points Wayne can learn from to improve. If Wayne sees this, who was the woman?
Here is an archive of the show so you guys can see it for yourself. I was just made aware that the archive existed.
It’s going to be an internet technology show he says. Looks like it was in a classroom? It’s a slow download ya’ll. He reminds me of someone and I can’t place it.
Well, here’s some constructive feedback for reviewers:
It wasn’t a show.
I’m glad y’all have fun when the bunch of you get together on webcam and “party,” but not everyone thinks that every time they fire up a web application it’s a show. I was at the 7-11 the other day to buy a slurpee, and I started watching this show they had on the little black & white TV behind the counter, because it was SO weird: there was a guy on there that looked JUST like me, and he was copying everything I did. And then when people in line behind me started complaining, so did the people in line behind the guy on this show. I couldn’t figure it out but the plot sucked.
Wayne and Ginny work for a television station that is bold enough to be experimenting with the ever-blossoming field of new media applications on the web. It’s their job to try out new things and evaluate them for how they might prove useful to the station and the community it serves. Wayne is Twittering so much I don’t know how his thumbs still work, and he constantly solicits input from his Twitter network who in turn point him to nifty new gadgets. He found LiveVideo.com, sent a quick note to his Twitter friends (myself included) saying that they were messing around with this website to see if it was less glitchy than Yahoo! Live, and we showed up to see what was going on. That was it. We were all just a bunch of little kids pushing shiny buttons to see what did what.
Bill Cammack had it right in his comment: it’s a shortcoming of LiveVideo.com that the hosts don’t have complete control over the panel of videos you see. In fact, as far as I know, they don’t control what other participants each viewer sees at all. When I signed on, it only took me a couple of minutes to figure out that in order to see and hear the other participants, YOU as a participant have to look at the user list, see which ones have webcam icons, and then drag the names you want to see into the little empty video player boxes. I quickly had all 5 or so people with webcams up and playing on my screen so I was in on the conversation.
So, next time you visit a livevideo.com chat, now you know how to tune in! Hope that helps.
Thyme,
I am writing to clarify some things about the video Wayne Sutton and I participated in on Feb. 21
First and foremost, this was not a show. This was merely Wayne and I trying out a new Web site and having fun live chatting with some of our Twitter friends.
Wayne and I were taking a video blogging class at a training facility in Charlotte. The Macs we were using in our classroom had built in video-cams, so we thought it would be fun give one a try. Additionally, livevideo.com was just featured on Techcrunch as a new live streaming video site, so we thought we’d give it a whirl.
All we were doing was experimenting with a different computer and a new Website.
Thanks for tuning in though, and I hope you’ll watch future videos we make.
Here it comes, his friends are going to try to defend him. Let me give you a piece of advice:
DON’T DO IT!!!
I saw the Twitter notifications. They didn’t say TESTING anywhere, did they? If you’re testing, say that.
Yes, he posted the following things on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/waynesutton/statuses/741059412
http://twitter.com/waynesutton/statuses/741257282
http://twitter.com/waynesutton/statuses/741034662
So ok, you want to get picky about the words, fine. It wasn’t a show, he invited people (like 1300) to come watch him live while he tested? He didn’t say he was testing, then it would have been very clear. The people in the room didn’t know they were testing….because…they were interacting like a semi-tech show that went off-track.
If he had said, while I was tuned that it was a test, I wouldn’t have written my article. If he had said in his Twitter updates that it was a test, I wouldn’t have written the article. But thank you for further proving my point.
Because I should have known it was a test.
Hello Tyme, when I first saw your tweet that you did a blog post about me I was like cool but it’s off a little. I must say your advice on live streaming is true and thanks. But it wasn’t a show. We were just testing out livevideo.com after a video blogging class in Charlotte and invited a few of our twitter friends to join us. The audio lags were due to the classroom
If I remember correctly, Tyme, I think in your first few superstreams you guys clarified that it would be a test, and that you had a backup spot to go to in case of jankyness (ie retreat to mogulus). I think it’s cool to test things out on an audience…..but uhh, let people know you are testing it out. If you twitter something to over a hundred people, anybody could be watching….what are people who don’t know you to assume?
I’m about 30 minutes into whatever this is and if I had not seen the very beginning I would not have known it was a test. Maybe you shouldn’t have Twittered it then it would have remained between you and your friends.
shelbinator: Here’s some constructive criticism for you. Come here correct or don’t come here at all. Wayne made a mistake by not saying it was a test. But it seems like you’ve pissed Tyme off, rightly so, because she did Wayne a favor.
Her feedback was graceful and accurate looking at the archive and the Twitters. She IS in the position of giving Wayne some serious props because Tyme has a large audience. I’d be more sympathetic if I wasn’t looking at this myself.
I’ve used that site and it sucks. You can’t drag and drop what you can’t see. If Tyme had a similar situation as I did, only 1 or 2 were showing up, Nothing to drag and drop. The page has to be refreshed.
Wayne, I respect your response but I disagree. I think you Twittered it, people came you and started talking to them. You did not say it was a test when you greeted them. Perhaps it was a test, but you didn’t say it was. Whether it was episode 1 or not really does not matter. The main point is valid. A large amount of people were invited to see you live and looking at the archive I can see where anyone would think you were unprepared.
Especially since you said you did it before.
I agree with Tyme’s comments looking at the archive but I am curious why you Twittered it. ANYONE could show up so the point of it being a couple of friends isn’t flying. I’d be VERY interested in Wayne doing some sort of interview with Tyme because now I’m curious.
Yes we both have a large following online its best we work together and communicate on blog post and projects. Both of us are easy to find and get in contact with online, my number is 919-816-2230. The funny thing is I’m doing a talk on live streaming in March at the next social media club meetup in the Triangle.
You can see some of my better video interviews here at my station blog: http://blogs.wncn.info/wsutton
I must say I’m a little sad over the post and yes next time I’ll put testing when I’m testing out a live stream video and post to my 1,350 twitter friends. I hope we can work together in the future as I’m working on a social media diversity project and Tyme will be a great person to be a part of it.
I don’t do flame comment’s it’s just not me, I’m about agreeing , building up and not putting one another down, I’m not saying anyone did but when you see a blog post with your name it like that I was just a little surprised.
Take care and hopefully one day we all can jump on a live stream together and say this is not a test.
Wayne Sutton
Why are you sad? I wouldn’t be. Embarrassed maybe but not sad. It’s good you were on her radar and that she did write about you. She’ll probably come to your first episode if you let her know about it.
Don’t be sad man, it’s good. It would have been worse if she said nothing. I respect your answers. Maybe you, Tyme and Bill can do something together!
i’m not a friend, only know wayne via twitter (and the 1k other socnets now lol)
looking at the tweets that were referred to, i would never have taken it as a show.
i guess i get so many other tweets saying someone is live (even from y! live video’s twitter) that i don’t even have many expectations, but to say what’s up, live, to folk i know online.
j.
Felicia, you are right. He does look familar. It will come to me.
Wayne, I’ll look at them tomorrow. I’m sure others will watch them too. What is your social media project about?
Maybe you, Tyme and Bill can do something together!
That’s a great idea. Excellent.
What is the project about? Do you have a website for it? Seems like everything was resolved. If you let Tyme know when you’ll be doing something else, I’d be game to check it out.
Yes, everything is resolved. If you have a moment Wayne do you have information on your project? There seems to be an interest in it.
If I had known it was a test I wouldn’t have written the article. I wrote the article then as a courtesy sent you a Twitter about it so you’d know I wrote it and respond if you’d like. Glad to hear from you and I’ll talk to you soon.
I’m glad this happened because I learned something. Anyone can write about you, do a video about you and you might not know. Tyme informed you but what if there was a conversation. I’m in the Seesmic beta and there wasn’t a conversation but what if there was? You couldn’t even respond to it. That’s something to think about.
Can there really be a test on the internet, when it is archived? When you are live, you’re live. I did not stop to think about it before but the first thing you do is an expectation for what will come in the future.
Bill, since you are into video what do you suggest people do when they want to get into video? Tyme, feel free to share about your show!
That’s a good question about transitioning into video. Haha, I’ll share when I have it more together. I’ve been up since 4am so I’m going to chill for a bit.
4? That’s early. Go to bed lol. Juanita good question. Don’t most people buy a cam and jump in? Might not be the right way.
The Triad has a different approach. You guys said you talk shop all day so at night you want to relax. At the stream I view it as a personal get together. Five hours, that’s a long time so people must have been having a good time.
I’m tired of the news being reported. I assume Wayne’s show is like Chris Pirillo’s? People ask question or educate people on technology?
I’m glad things are smooth sailing, and it looks like Tyme and I are going to chat tomorrow about a few upcoming projects. The social media diversity project is in the works, and I’m going to be announcing how others can participate soon. Right now I have the domain names and I’m going to start a ning group, but I really want this to be a collaboration project like the data portability group, so I’m going to host a campfire chat so we can get things started. Just follow my twitter stream for updates.
And by the way some people say I look like Martin Lawrence but I don’t think so.
Take care
Wayne
@24 – Depending on WHEN I started looking at the live whatever I would have thought it was a show. Reminds me of what Chris Pirillo.