Most of the time I blog about what I know - my life as a mom / seo specialist, funny stories about my kids, search engine optimization etc. Today I thought that I would take a step into the unknown and write about webcasting services at DDA. Sure I heard this term and have read it throughout our websites, but it is not something that I handle on a daily basis.

Now what is webcasting exactly?

 Web⋅cast⋅ing
–noun Computers. the broadcasting of news, entertainment, etc., using the Internet specifically the World Wide Web.

As a website design company that could also be classified as a webcasting company in some instances, DDA provides webcasting services for clients including healthcare professionals. Medical and surgical webcasting is utilized by healthcare professionals who want to increase the level of communication and education with both fellow professionals as well as patients. These webcasting services are discussed in detail on our medical website, DDAMedical.com.

Our corporate and medical video website, DDAVideo.com, lists information regarding our webcasting video and online video production services. Our capabilities include streaming internet video and webcast production. If you are interested in video streaming, live video webcasts or creating a streaming video, contact DDA today!

Yesterday, the business morning started with me answering the phone before eight am. It was a client, a little bit frantic, having email problems. What was unusual was the way he spoke. Being from the deep South, he had that magical tone that made his early morning emergency sound cheerful. Those of us who rush from one task to the next, or who drive like maniacs annoyed with anyone in our way, or who switch from cashier to cashier when we have a purchase because the line we are in is s-l-o-w, should learn the gentile southern manner. It would be good for our blood pressure, it would be good for our families and coworkers and certainly beneficial in our business relationships.

Remember the admonition “You get more with honey than vinegar.”

The work we do at DDA, often makes it hard not to groan in frustration or worse actually raise our voice or shoot off an email showing our annoyance. This could be internal, or client related or vendor driven. These last few weeks have been especially difficult ones for our programmers and our Director of Interactive Media because of our migration to new servers. Thankfully, there is a light at the end of this nightmare tunnel and our programming services have stayed intact. Throughout the ordeal of moving clients sites and email programs, it was amazing to realize that we have clients who do not read, or cannot follow instructions or (I hate to think this) do not care! We had to remind these folks over and over again that their websites would go down if they did not help us by doing what we requested.

PS, you could count the careless few with both your hands, but you know what happens to a barrel of apples!

So I would like to close this post by borrowing partially from an email I received in September 2006 from a dear friend and I quote, “A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4-8 year olds, “What does love mean?” The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.”

1.  “When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” Billy, Age 4

2. “Love is what makes you smile when you are tired.” Terri, Age 4

3. “Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” Bobby, Age 7

4. “If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.” Nikka, Age 6

Those observations can serve all DDAers well as we connect with clients and vendors. Change the word “love” to “care” or “kind” or “patient” in one of the four statements and use it as a mantra for the month of May.

“Try to make at least one person happy every day. If you cannot do a kind deed, speak a kind word. If you cannot speak a kind word, think a kind thought.” Lawrence Lovasik, American Priest and Missionary

Here at DDA, I am part of a team of creative copywriters. We handle everything from search engine optimized website content to print brochures and sell sheets. But, since we also have an on-side video studio and a team of experienced video specialists, we also get the chance to do some scriptwriting. I’ve written scripts for online training videos, informational videos, and other video productions. We can also provide scripts for any type of new-age video technology, such as the latest in live webcasting services, Internet webcasting, and live streaming video.

But this week, I worked on a script for an online video that we will be producing. I actually went on site to a New York City hospital to help film the footage a few weeks ago, and now it’s time to write the script.

Backwards, you say? Yes, it is. But in this case, I think it really works out well.

You see, the client had specific ideas of what they wanted to say, including messages from the chairman and patient testimonials. Originally, we planned on pulling these elements together with a voiceover — for which I would write the script. But once we gathered the footage, and took a few days to look it over, we realized that we had more than enough great footage, and didn’t need to clutter it with a voiceover. That’s where the backward scriptwriting came into play.

I broke down the footage we had from doctors and patients, and actually ended up transcribing most of it into a rough document (it was the only way I could organize my thoughts). Then I went to work creating a script for the video. But instead of “traditional” scriptwriting, where I created words from scratch to be filmed later, I used the words we already had on film to create a cohesive, informative, and (hopefully) interesting outline for the video.

In between (and even during) the statements and testimonials, I added notes about what “B-roll” footage would be good to splice in (since I’ve seen enough Hollywood movies, and was on-site with one of our video experts, I’m allowed to use cool video terms like “B-roll”). But those are merely suggestions for our video editors, and I’ll leave the final cuts and decisions up to them.

In the end, it was a very unique and different kind of challenge, and was a lot of fun to do. I think it will end up providing a great result for our client. It also proves (again) just how the many innovative minds here at DDA can work together to solve any problem. Of course, we like to have a plan when we begin any project, but we are happy to adjust on the fly and shift gears if we think it will result in a better finished product. And in this case, that meant turning the usual scriptwriting process around, and starting from the end.