The way we write these days is all wrong.

There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with the 5 paragraph essay — that old standby from 7th grade english class. It really can be an unparalleled tool for making a case.

But dense paragraphs of text fail to meet the need of how we most often consume information today — on the screen, on the go.

The very first rule of writing anything is to write for your audience. And by now there’s more than ample data to prove that when people are reading on a screen — and no matter the content, from trivial blog posts like this one to essential documents like corporate memoranda or benefits explanations — they are almost physically incapable of reading word for word.

Instead, people skim. They look for formatting. They really look for short lines of text (although how much information can you really communicate in a bullet point?)

Most importantly, if they’re there, people look first for pictures and videos. Research suggests that where a web page has video, 60% of visitors will click to watch the video before ever reading a word.

The old “intro-body-close” approach may structurally be the best way to make a point — but if you’ve lost your audience, there’s no point to be made.

If you’re going to get your message across, you need to start by considering what your audience is willing to listen to. And when 90% of communication is nonverbal, it’s easy to see why video presentations have grown so quickly as a supplement or an outright replacement for the traditional written proposal.

With video presentation recording software like Panopto, you can go beyond the old memo structure and past the formatting tricks, and actually make a full and complete case that people will still pay attention to.

Video engages an audience in a way no static text possibly can. And as recording devices become easier to use, presentations easier to format and share, and video files easier to watch anytime and anywhere a viewer wants, it’s easy to see why more and more people are choosing to teach, share, and communicate with video.

This week we saw more and more people taking advantage of the power of video to share ideas, send messages, and make a statement. And in the spirit of passing it on, these are just a few of the ideas shared this week with Panopto.

 

ShondaLand — the Symposium

Webcast live from Duke University, ShondaLand the Symposium brings together a group of women scholars working in the fields of History, Women’s Studies, Law, Cultural Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Black Diaspora Studies, and Media Studies to explore the broad implications of the work of Shonda Rhimes, television screenwriter and producer of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder. At the core of Rhimes’ productions are richly drawn, complex, contradictory Black Women and Women of Color who eschew traditional notions of Black and Female respectability. With her breakout success, Rhimes has helped revolutionize the use of social media in the promotion of television and helped galvanize an unprecedented community of Black Women viewers that recall the groundbreaking work of critic Jacqueline Bobo a generation ago.

 

Global Road Safety: Individual, Policy, System

The University of Iowa introduced a new course on Global Road Safety this semester, introducing students to the common issues of road safety, the measurement and data resources public officials rely on, the research methods used in the field, and the general practice for how intervention and prevention programs are developed and evaluated. And to start this new study off on the right foot, the school has invited Elizabeth Alicandri, Director of the Office of Safety Programs at the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, to share this detailed look at the history and current state of road safety.

 

The Right to Education: Oxford Human Rights Hub Webcast

Join the Oxford Human Rights Hub for it’s first ever live-streamed seminar! Professor Sandra Fredman, Director of the Oxford Human Rights Hub, explores the right to education around the world, asking the complicated questions of what responsibility the global community has for any given state’s ability to meet this need, whether cross-subsidised education leads to inequality, if school fees in and of themselves are a breach of the right to learning, and if in the case that parents choosing education leads to segregation, whether that creates a legitimate motive for the state to limiting it. A must-see for anyone interested in supporting access to education around the world.

 

From Crisis to Reform: Social Work, Child Protection and the Emotional Politics of Child Rescue and Commemoration

For several decades, social work and child protection systems have been subject to accelerating cycles of crisis and reform, with each crisis involving intense media and political scrutiny. In understanding the nature and causes of this cycle, little attention has been paid to the importance of collective emotions. Join Dr Jo Warner, Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Kent, for this recorded lecture on the findings from research involving the documentary analysis of responses to the deaths of children from abuse and neglect. Three of the processes that characterise ‘emotional politics’ in this domain are described: collective remembering, the myth of political control through reform, and emotional interest representation.

 

Creativity and Fun: Core Strengths

Join the Institution of Structural Engineers for this keynote event, as new president Tim Ibell concludes his inauguration with his hopes leading the organization for the coming year. Ibell presses the group to embrace the values of teaching and appreciating creativity in design and execution as an integral part of developing future generations of structural engineers.

 

Salmon Demonstration – Hospitality Food Enterprise

Watch as Chef Richard Kirkwood shares the secret to creating a perfect fillet of salmon with the students at Bromley College’s hospitality food enterprise course. In this recorded demonstration, Chef Kirkwood starts with a fresh, whole salmon and shows his students how to cut precisely and get the highest quality results.

 

LIVESTREAM Live Lounge featuring Krrum

Finally this week, sit in at the Leeds College of Music for this performance by Krumm — streaming live from Studio 1 at LCoM.

 

 

Try It For Yourself!

Panopto makes it easy for anyone, anywhere to record presentations and share them online, both as live streaming webcasts and recorded on-demand video. To see how Panopto can help you share your ideas, contact our team for a free trial today.