1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,960 Don't be afraid of video. You will be surprised about the power that it 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:07,720 can bring, the efficiencies that it will give you and the time that you'll get 3 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:11,120 back if you make it an integral part of your tools. 4 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:16,520 Good morning, good evening, good afternoon, wherever you are and wherever you're watching from. My 5 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:19,840 name is Matt Pearce, host of the Visual Lounge, and today we are going to 6 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:23,280 be talking with Christopher King. Chris or Christopher? Chris is fine. Chris. 7 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:26,200 Perfect. And we're going to be talking about something. We're going to try something new 8 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,090 on the show. We're gonna be talking about tell me about your job and the 9 00:00:29,090 --> 00:00:32,570 problems that you have. We need a better title. It's already too long, but tell 10 00:00:32,570 --> 00:00:36,050 me about your job and let's see how visuals and video 11 00:00:36,050 --> 00:00:39,570 apply to what you do. So Chris, thank you for being here. Tell us a 12 00:00:39,570 --> 00:00:43,329 little bit about yourself. Thanks, Matt. So I am, uh, Chris King. I've been in 13 00:00:43,329 --> 00:00:47,010 the business for a long time, uh, since the late 20th century. 14 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:51,770 Um, yeah. So, um, I've done a little bit of everything, but I find myself 15 00:00:51,770 --> 00:00:55,570 these days doing a lot of project management. So, um, I got 16 00:00:55,570 --> 00:00:59,420 a PMP. Certification some years ago, and it was probably 17 00:00:59,420 --> 00:01:03,100 the best career move I ever made because I've 18 00:01:03,100 --> 00:01:05,940 never met an instructional designer that can actually meet a deadline. 19 00:01:07,700 --> 00:01:11,260 I love them, those creative types. But so, so it, it, I found my 20 00:01:11,260 --> 00:01:14,700 niche really is what it was. So I can speak instructional design, I can speak 21 00:01:14,700 --> 00:01:18,300 design and development. But I also have that heads 22 00:01:18,300 --> 00:01:21,900 up kind of here's the schedule, we gotta stick to this, communicate, 23 00:01:21,900 --> 00:01:25,220 communicate, communicate. So that's really where I spend a lot of my time these days 24 00:01:26,020 --> 00:01:29,420 working on some projects for, for different clients. So I'm going to ask you a 25 00:01:29,420 --> 00:01:32,540 little— I want to ask a little bit about project management and, and you. 26 00:01:33,020 --> 00:01:35,780 Did, did you find, even before you're a project manager, are you kind of the 27 00:01:35,780 --> 00:01:39,620 analytical, really break things down? Were you, were you the party planner 28 00:01:39,620 --> 00:01:42,620 that you like, yes, I have to have everything in all the boxes in the 29 00:01:42,620 --> 00:01:46,460 right place, check, check, check? So party planner, yes. 30 00:01:47,580 --> 00:01:51,300 Uh, OCD, no. Okay. So I am a gist kind of guy, not a 31 00:01:51,300 --> 00:01:55,060 details kind of guy, which is very interesting because like as a project manager, 32 00:01:55,060 --> 00:01:57,720 you you have to have the gist down, 33 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:02,680 you can always get a partner who is the details person. So I find 34 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:06,120 that my best pairings has been— or the best, the best 35 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,880 contracts that I've been on, or, or, or projects that I've worked on have been 36 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:13,600 where I've been paired with somebody who is detail-oriented. So 37 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:17,280 having a team to work with actually helps, as always, to fill 38 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:21,040 out the, the weak spots and knowing your weak spots. So now I, I will 39 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,720 say that Under pressure, I get into the details. So 40 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:28,320 when, when push comes to shove, I do get down into those details. And so 41 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:32,160 I find when we're starting up a project, the pressure is on to get everything 42 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,640 up and moving, to make sure we have the schedule straight, make sure we know 43 00:02:35,640 --> 00:02:38,640 where we're going. So that's where I really do focus in on the details. But 44 00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:42,480 as the work starts, and, and in PMP land we call it monitoring the 45 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,160 work, moving from starting to monitoring, now I can just kind of 46 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:49,680 relax and just let the flow go. And it's all about communication. I mean, 47 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:53,330 80% of a project manager's job is communicating. Yeah, I, I have 48 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:56,840 a, the benefit of working with this really fantastic project manager and 49 00:02:56,920 --> 00:03:00,520 he, uh, yeah, I mean, without him so much gets lost and 50 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:04,040 not moved forward cuz we are the creative types. We, you know, and we, it's 51 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,521 not that we don't try. So let, let, let's, let's talk about communication a little 52 00:03:07,521 --> 00:03:11,160 bit because I gotta imagine depending on the team, the project, 53 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:15,040 there's, there's all sorts of different communications. So tell me about your maybe 2 or 54 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:18,810 3 of your most common types of communication that you have to roll with 55 00:03:18,810 --> 00:03:22,530 on a regular basis? Reports, number one. I mean, 56 00:03:22,530 --> 00:03:25,330 we, especially on projects that are 57 00:03:26,290 --> 00:03:30,130 bigger, they've got more contractual deliverables. And so therefore people 58 00:03:30,130 --> 00:03:33,889 are wondering where we are on those deliverables all the time. So it is 59 00:03:34,210 --> 00:03:38,010 weekly reports, sometimes daily reports if we're getting down 60 00:03:38,010 --> 00:03:41,770 to the wire. And so reports, number one. Two, 61 00:03:41,770 --> 00:03:45,570 status from the team. So it's, that's a lot of listening, not so 62 00:03:45,570 --> 00:03:49,260 much talking. But you need to actually be able to hear what everybody's saying, 63 00:03:49,260 --> 00:03:52,780 hear where the stress points are, find out where the blockers are, and do your 64 00:03:52,780 --> 00:03:56,540 best to remove those. So it would be reporting and listening to the 65 00:03:56,540 --> 00:04:00,300 team, and then being able to articulate the 66 00:04:00,300 --> 00:04:03,900 vision, whether it's to the stakeholders, whether it's to the team, whether it's to your 67 00:04:03,900 --> 00:04:07,660 boss, whether it's to your, you know, whoever. You need to be able to 68 00:04:07,660 --> 00:04:11,300 articulate the vision of the project so that 69 00:04:11,300 --> 00:04:13,980 you have a really good understanding, or you're able to 70 00:04:15,380 --> 00:04:19,010 communicate that understanding of where we're headed. Because that's ultimately 71 00:04:19,650 --> 00:04:22,770 the best part because no plan survives contact with reality. 72 00:04:23,090 --> 00:04:26,610 Yeah. And, and so, you know, being able to pivot 73 00:04:26,930 --> 00:04:30,570 and roll with the punches, that's all, that's what project 74 00:04:30,570 --> 00:04:34,210 management is. So in that communication, what do you find 75 00:04:34,530 --> 00:04:38,370 is the typical format? Are you meeting with your team a lot? Are you 76 00:04:38,370 --> 00:04:42,090 doing email statuses? Are you— I'm assuming there's project management boards, 77 00:04:42,090 --> 00:04:45,730 whether Trello, Asana, all whatever tool that is of the choice. 78 00:04:45,810 --> 00:04:49,110 Yeah. Tell me a little bit more. What does that communication actually break down into? 79 00:04:49,270 --> 00:04:52,430 Yeah, so, so like for instance, the big project I'm on right now, we use 80 00:04:52,430 --> 00:04:55,870 a tool called ClickUp as our task management tool. And so 81 00:04:55,870 --> 00:04:59,390 ClickUp allows us to, to just assign 82 00:04:59,390 --> 00:05:02,789 tasks to people. So it takes some of the question about what am I working 83 00:05:02,789 --> 00:05:05,870 on this week that takes it off the table and just say, hey, go to 84 00:05:05,870 --> 00:05:09,510 ClickUp. And then we use a lot of 85 00:05:09,510 --> 00:05:13,351 Excel and a lot of PowerPoint. I mean, it's not— there's nothing fancy about 86 00:05:13,351 --> 00:05:17,110 this, you know. And I think, I think Excel is probably 87 00:05:17,110 --> 00:05:20,610 the most challenging just because it can get really complex. Yeah. 88 00:05:21,410 --> 00:05:24,290 So when you're, let's say you've got, you're working with a team member and you've 89 00:05:24,290 --> 00:05:27,490 gotta communicate something. How does, what format does that take? Does that, is that, do 90 00:05:27,490 --> 00:05:31,250 you use like, are you a lot of email, Teams, Slack? Like day 91 00:05:31,250 --> 00:05:35,010 to day, where, where's your, that regular conversation happening? 92 00:05:35,010 --> 00:05:38,830 The regular conversation on this team, on this particular project is Slack. Uh, 93 00:05:38,830 --> 00:05:42,330 I mean, but you know, anything, any of that asynchronous kind of 94 00:05:42,330 --> 00:05:46,010 chat. Um, so Slack is a lot of the conversation, which has its 95 00:05:46,010 --> 00:05:49,810 own set of challenges because it's really easy to lose the thread. Oh, it's 96 00:05:49,810 --> 00:05:53,550 so easy. Yes. I love, I do actually love Slack, but 97 00:05:53,550 --> 00:05:56,870 it's, that is the bane of my existence that someone said something and it wasn't 98 00:05:56,870 --> 00:06:00,390 in a channel where I can easily, it's in a conversation, but there was more 99 00:06:00,390 --> 00:06:04,150 than one person who was in the conversation. We could have a whole diatribe about, 100 00:06:04,150 --> 00:06:07,950 oh God, Slack. Yeah. So Slack, if you're listening, please buff up 101 00:06:07,950 --> 00:06:11,150 your AI search tools so that it gets better at that. 102 00:06:12,430 --> 00:06:15,790 So, you know, I think, I think one of the challenges we have is the 103 00:06:15,790 --> 00:06:19,580 weekly reports. So, I mean, we're this, this particular project that I'm on 104 00:06:19,580 --> 00:06:22,500 is a multi-million dollar project. So, and we've got a team of, 105 00:06:23,460 --> 00:06:27,260 I don't know, it's probably about 25 people. So, um, keeping 106 00:06:27,260 --> 00:06:30,700 all of the— keeping everything in mind is part of the 107 00:06:30,700 --> 00:06:34,380 challenge at my level. And so I, for instance, 108 00:06:34,380 --> 00:06:38,220 my details guy, the project manager— I'm acting as program manager, and the project manager 109 00:06:38,220 --> 00:06:41,740 is really a details guy. He's down in the weeds all the time, and it's 110 00:06:41,740 --> 00:06:45,540 great. And one of the ways he, uh, we, we keep in touch is 111 00:06:45,540 --> 00:06:49,180 a weekly report on, you know, what are the financials, what's the progress we're 112 00:06:49,180 --> 00:06:52,240 making, how many hours did spend, how many are left, those kinds of things. 113 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:56,240 And what's interesting, I think, for your perspective is 114 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:00,120 we've started doing a video of him walking through the 115 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,960 spreadsheet each week. And it can be anywhere from 10 minutes 116 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:07,520 to 20 minutes of him just talking about, here's what happened this week, 117 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,280 here's what's going on, here are our financials, here's where 118 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:15,120 we're spending more, here's where we're burning hot, here's where we're blocked. And 119 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:18,930 having that as a I can listen to it, watch it anytime, 120 00:07:19,250 --> 00:07:23,050 or I can go back and dig into it, and then I know exactly 121 00:07:23,050 --> 00:07:26,690 what kind of questions to ask him later. That's been a real boom to this 122 00:07:26,770 --> 00:07:29,610 whole thing. So let me— I want to ask about that because it is super 123 00:07:29,610 --> 00:07:33,089 interesting, and it's an approach we use often in my 124 00:07:33,089 --> 00:07:36,850 organization because of the tools that we make. But what is the 125 00:07:36,850 --> 00:07:40,490 requirement? Do you say everybody on that 25-person team, do 126 00:07:40,490 --> 00:07:44,290 they all need to watch that video? No, that particular 127 00:07:44,290 --> 00:07:48,060 video is really just for the project management office, right? So 128 00:07:48,060 --> 00:07:51,620 I'm using air quotes, right? So it's the program 129 00:07:51,620 --> 00:07:55,420 manager, the project manager, and then the instructional leads. 130 00:07:56,300 --> 00:07:59,900 So, and there's the design lead also. So the leadership 131 00:07:59,900 --> 00:08:03,660 team is learning strategist, project manager, 132 00:08:03,660 --> 00:08:07,300 program manager, dev lead, and then the 133 00:08:07,300 --> 00:08:11,020 boss. So in a practical sense, it sounds like this is 134 00:08:11,340 --> 00:08:14,940 whether you started this from the beginning or maybe you adopted it Why did you 135 00:08:14,940 --> 00:08:18,660 decide to go with video to solve that particular communication 136 00:08:18,660 --> 00:08:22,180 problem? It was a matter of, of that 137 00:08:22,260 --> 00:08:25,780 20-minute review of what we were talking about 138 00:08:25,860 --> 00:08:29,500 was eating up 20 minutes of our 1-hour leadership 139 00:08:29,500 --> 00:08:32,980 meeting each week. And that was definitely something that could have been 140 00:08:33,220 --> 00:08:37,020 outsourced so that everybody could watch it before the meeting and then you 141 00:08:37,020 --> 00:08:40,340 come with your questions there. So it was, it was born out of how do 142 00:08:40,340 --> 00:08:44,070 we make this meeting more efficient? Rather than spending a third of 143 00:08:44,070 --> 00:08:47,670 it going through the financials, right? Just, uh, as a— 144 00:08:47,670 --> 00:08:51,230 just kind of everybody sit there and listen isn't really effective when that 145 00:08:51,230 --> 00:08:54,870 leadership meetings are really great for decisions, right? Exactly, exactly. And getting down 146 00:08:54,870 --> 00:08:58,710 to, you know, where do we need to be paying attention? And that report, the 147 00:08:58,710 --> 00:09:02,030 video report, helps us understand where do we need to pay attention, what needs to 148 00:09:02,030 --> 00:09:05,470 be on the agenda for the leadership meeting so that we are spending that time 149 00:09:05,470 --> 00:09:09,290 and able to make more decisions. So with With that in 150 00:09:09,290 --> 00:09:13,010 mind, have you adopted video in other places of your communication 151 00:09:13,010 --> 00:09:16,690 with that, your, your team or within the organization to do similar 152 00:09:16,690 --> 00:09:20,130 things? So, similar to making the 153 00:09:20,130 --> 00:09:23,770 meetings more efficient, when we do a kickoff for one of 154 00:09:23,770 --> 00:09:27,570 the sub-projects on this project, and by sub-project, I 155 00:09:27,570 --> 00:09:30,930 mean, of course. So, yeah. Yeah. So, we're, we are, this project, we're building 156 00:09:31,090 --> 00:09:34,690 46 e-learning modules. Not very many. Not a lot at 157 00:09:34,690 --> 00:09:38,150 all.. But each one of those has a certain 158 00:09:38,230 --> 00:09:41,310 lead subject matter expert. So we got to get our lead SME up and, and 159 00:09:41,310 --> 00:09:45,110 some of them have never done e-learning before. And so we actually 160 00:09:45,110 --> 00:09:48,150 created a video that says how to be a good SME. I love that. Right. 161 00:09:48,150 --> 00:09:50,949 And so that was one of those things that was born out of, well, we've 162 00:09:50,949 --> 00:09:53,950 got an hour with this lead SME. We got to get them up to speed. 163 00:09:53,950 --> 00:09:57,150 Hey, let's send them a video that talks about what our expectations are and then 164 00:09:57,150 --> 00:10:00,470 they can come with those questions to our meeting where we get them launched and 165 00:10:00,470 --> 00:10:04,110 get them pointed in the right direction. So, I'll 166 00:10:04,110 --> 00:10:07,670 just interject here that I just actually did a video on the podcast 167 00:10:07,990 --> 00:10:11,350 about what I as a subject matter expert want to hear from my 168 00:10:11,350 --> 00:10:14,710 instructional designer. Oh, because often we, you know, we talk about, oh, you can have 169 00:10:14,710 --> 00:10:18,510 your SME record their stuff, but like, what do I need to know? So 170 00:10:18,510 --> 00:10:22,310 interesting that you are actually doing that. And I, so I love that you're 171 00:10:22,310 --> 00:10:26,150 providing that information in the, in the video communication, you know, 172 00:10:26,150 --> 00:10:29,810 obviously great idea. It makes a lot of sense. Is there, are there challenges 173 00:10:29,810 --> 00:10:33,530 that you find, like by using video, things that you're like, oh, 174 00:10:33,530 --> 00:10:34,970 I wish I could do this or 175 00:10:37,370 --> 00:10:41,050 that? The screenshot, I mean, being able to capture the screen, I think is 176 00:10:41,050 --> 00:10:43,730 the biggest thing. And, and we are lucky that we have some of your tools 177 00:10:43,730 --> 00:10:47,330 in-house already. So thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Um, but that makes it 178 00:10:47,330 --> 00:10:51,090 easy. So it's, it's really interesting actually, because I don't have those loaded 179 00:10:51,090 --> 00:10:54,220 on my machine. I know, I know. 180 00:10:55,180 --> 00:10:58,820 So, um, so it's interesting when I want to make a video explaining something or 181 00:10:58,820 --> 00:11:02,540 talking about some challenge that we're up against, I have to go to my 182 00:11:02,540 --> 00:11:06,320 standard set of Windows tools, which are not as good as yours. And, 183 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,580 uh, you know, I've got those kind of challenges. So having the right tools 184 00:11:09,659 --> 00:11:13,380 for everybody to use would make this process a lot easier. Yeah. 185 00:11:13,380 --> 00:11:17,060 And well, we appreciate the, the comments, but the reality is like 186 00:11:17,060 --> 00:11:19,900 having a good tool is the important part, right? Right. And so if it makes 187 00:11:19,900 --> 00:11:23,700 you able to, to communicate, do you think, um, Do you 188 00:11:23,700 --> 00:11:27,460 think people are down? Kind of, that's so hip of 189 00:11:27,460 --> 00:11:31,100 me. Are you down with this, guys? Are you down? Are 190 00:11:31,100 --> 00:11:34,620 people like, are they liking having the video communication or are there challenges on 191 00:11:34,620 --> 00:11:38,340 the receiving side? Because I know I'll just be 100% blunt 192 00:11:38,340 --> 00:11:42,100 here. I work at a company, we make so many videos. At 193 00:11:42,100 --> 00:11:45,460 one point, especially I think kind of mid-COVID, we're 194 00:11:45,460 --> 00:11:49,260 communicating asynchronously so much. I'm like, I can't watch any 195 00:11:49,260 --> 00:11:52,870 more videos because that's my job now. It's just to watch videos about 196 00:11:53,030 --> 00:11:56,190 things. So there's a balance there. But I'm curious, like, how people are responding to 197 00:11:56,190 --> 00:12:00,030 that. Like, how did the SMEs respond to being, saying, hey, 198 00:12:00,030 --> 00:12:03,790 here's a video? Yeah, they, they actually loved it because same reason that 199 00:12:03,790 --> 00:12:07,470 I love being able to review the weekly report on a video, they 200 00:12:07,470 --> 00:12:11,230 were able to stop it, pause it, rewind it, um, 201 00:12:11,230 --> 00:12:14,590 listen to it at 2x. You know, that's what I do with our weekly report. 202 00:12:14,590 --> 00:12:17,430 So that 20-minute report only takes 10 minutes for me to listen to. And it's 203 00:12:17,430 --> 00:12:21,270 pretty funny to hear my project manager talk it that fast. You just had some 204 00:12:21,900 --> 00:12:25,260 helium Here's a fun tip. Slow it down to like 205 00:12:25,580 --> 00:12:29,420 0.5. I have a call. I do not drink, but my colleague does. 206 00:12:29,660 --> 00:12:33,060 Like, when I give a video, he's like, I slow you down. You sound 207 00:12:33,060 --> 00:12:36,380 really drunk. I'm going to try that when I get 208 00:12:36,780 --> 00:12:40,300 back. If you want to hear your colleagues in a whole different light. Yeah. Not 209 00:12:40,300 --> 00:12:43,980 efficient, but fun. Fun. Fun. I 210 00:12:44,380 --> 00:12:48,060 think what you were describing is more a volume issue 211 00:12:48,060 --> 00:12:51,860 and just being overwhelmed with the volume. We're definitely not there. And so 212 00:12:51,860 --> 00:12:55,710 I think video still for us, for our team, for the subject matter 213 00:12:55,710 --> 00:12:59,110 experts, still has a little bit of novelty to it. So it's not a routine 214 00:12:59,590 --> 00:13:02,670 thing. And I think that helps. That helps make people want to listen to it 215 00:13:02,670 --> 00:13:06,350 or watch it. So we've talked a lot about communication, and I 216 00:13:06,350 --> 00:13:10,070 think that, like you said, that's 80, 90% of your role. Are 217 00:13:10,070 --> 00:13:13,790 there other places in your job where images and videos 218 00:13:13,790 --> 00:13:17,310 come into play? So, I mean, I'm here at 219 00:13:17,310 --> 00:13:20,950 a conference. I'm going to be presenting tomorrow. So I have to do 220 00:13:21,350 --> 00:13:25,090 video or images on my slides all the time because 221 00:13:25,090 --> 00:13:28,730 nobody wants to see just words on a, on a slide. What? I know, I 222 00:13:28,730 --> 00:13:32,530 know, it's weird, it's weird. Just try this, try this once, Matt. Okay, um, 223 00:13:32,530 --> 00:13:36,090 I'll try it. Yeah, yeah, put some pictures on there. So, um, so yeah, I, 224 00:13:36,090 --> 00:13:39,410 I'm constantly trying to find other ways to 225 00:13:39,410 --> 00:13:43,130 get images, um, you know, and, and without saying 226 00:13:43,130 --> 00:13:46,530 the word, the, the letters that everybody is saying here, I mean, there are some 227 00:13:46,530 --> 00:13:49,650 tools out there that will let you get there, but I'm finding 228 00:13:50,590 --> 00:13:54,310 that finding the right prompts for to create the thing that 229 00:13:54,310 --> 00:13:58,150 I have in my mind is not easy. And so it takes a 230 00:13:58,150 --> 00:14:01,310 lot of iterating to get there. And I'm starting to wonder 231 00:14:01,710 --> 00:14:05,310 if, yeah, I finally get to where I want, but was that actually more efficient 232 00:14:05,310 --> 00:14:09,030 than just going to the, you know, to the library of 233 00:14:09,030 --> 00:14:12,670 images and, and we're browsing through the image library. So, so 234 00:14:12,670 --> 00:14:16,190 for you, are there criteria in your 235 00:14:16,510 --> 00:14:20,110 images that you, you gravitate towards? So for a long time, I know I was 236 00:14:20,110 --> 00:14:23,930 looking for very real, kind of photos, and then I would do this whole 237 00:14:23,930 --> 00:14:27,570 masking thing kind of. And now I've kind of gravitated to maybe not 238 00:14:27,570 --> 00:14:31,370 so big, full cinematic pictures and smaller kind of some things. 239 00:14:31,450 --> 00:14:34,210 But so is there something that you are trying to do in your style, and 240 00:14:34,210 --> 00:14:37,930 does that change over time? I think my style is more icons, 241 00:14:37,930 --> 00:14:41,570 and it's less, less big pictures like the cinematic pictures 242 00:14:41,570 --> 00:14:45,370 that you're talking about. Um, for me, it's icons, it's arrows, 243 00:14:45,370 --> 00:14:49,110 it's paths, it's helping people kind of connect the dots. 244 00:14:49,110 --> 00:14:52,790 With the, with the thoughts on the slide. And so for me, it's more 245 00:14:52,950 --> 00:14:56,230 about, you know, how can I get something that doesn't look like it's 246 00:14:58,310 --> 00:15:02,150 Wingdings? What? Why not? The inventor of Wingdings would like to have a 247 00:15:02,150 --> 00:15:05,950 word with you, Chris. He's standing offstage right now. No, I 248 00:15:05,950 --> 00:15:09,590 mean, I think that makes sense, especially if you're talking process and, you know, 249 00:15:09,590 --> 00:15:12,990 project management and those kind of flow. I'm, I'm guessing you're dealing with a lot 250 00:15:12,990 --> 00:15:16,710 of flow in what you're talking. Yeah. Yeah. What, I mean, what I, what I 251 00:15:16,710 --> 00:15:20,510 present on generally is about process improvement. It's 252 00:15:20,590 --> 00:15:24,110 about performance support. It's about workflow learning. It's 253 00:15:25,230 --> 00:15:28,230 about, like, the presentation I'm going to give here is about helping 254 00:15:28,590 --> 00:15:31,630 L&D managers dig deeper into 255 00:15:32,430 --> 00:15:35,950 the course request so that you're not just saying yes to the course 256 00:15:35,950 --> 00:15:39,110 because training doesn't fix everything. I know this is going to be a shocking thing 257 00:15:39,110 --> 00:15:42,950 to your audience. No, I don't think so. I think most people know it doesn't 258 00:15:42,950 --> 00:15:46,540 fix everything. It doesn't. But when we say yes, when somebody comes and says, I 259 00:15:46,540 --> 00:15:50,340 need a course. We're just helping people think that L&D doesn't do a 260 00:15:50,340 --> 00:15:53,780 good job because we're telling them we're gonna give you a course even though we 261 00:15:53,780 --> 00:15:57,180 know it's not gonna fix the problem. So for those kind of 262 00:15:57,420 --> 00:16:01,220 slides, this is all process. It's all, you know, it's all, here's 263 00:16:01,220 --> 00:16:05,060 the flow of the conversation that you need to have. So it's not a 264 00:16:05,060 --> 00:16:08,900 lot of big pictures or, or cinematic images or waterfalls 265 00:16:08,900 --> 00:16:12,300 or rainbows or whatever. What's wrong with rainbows? 266 00:16:12,300 --> 00:16:15,940 Nothing. Nothing. Okay, Chris, I wanna ask you, so you, you obviously got some 267 00:16:15,940 --> 00:16:19,680 great workflows, you got some great use cases for, for video and 268 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:23,360 images. If you could add into your, whether it's you or 269 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:27,200 your colleagues doing something else that used images or 270 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,960 videos, is there something you would want to do or want them to do to 271 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:34,520 make your guys' work more effective, more efficient, or maybe 272 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:35,640 just a little 273 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:41,600 easier? So I think the area where we're really kind 274 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:45,440 of experimenting with video right now is, uh, a practice 275 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:49,070 module that we're building for our client. That is going to be, 276 00:16:49,070 --> 00:16:52,750 it's basically a chatbot practice. So there's 277 00:16:52,750 --> 00:16:56,430 AI behind, you know, ask a question, the AI asks 278 00:16:56,430 --> 00:16:59,630 a question, you respond to it, and then the AI gives you feedback on how 279 00:16:59,630 --> 00:17:03,389 your response was. For that, we have video. We have 280 00:17:03,389 --> 00:17:07,110 video of someone, like you knock on the door, the door opens, somebody's there, 281 00:17:07,110 --> 00:17:10,790 they say the script. And right now it's AI-generated video. What would be 282 00:17:10,790 --> 00:17:13,600 really interesting to me is if we 283 00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:17,280 could procedurally produce that AI 284 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:20,800 video so that it is actually responding to the 285 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:25,200 response and therefore changing the emotion, changing the 286 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,800 facial expressions, changing those kinds of things. So having the ability 287 00:17:29,360 --> 00:17:32,720 to, to kind of craft that on the fly, that I think that's the 288 00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:36,800 future for, for the kind of work that we're doing in this industry. So yeah, 289 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:40,320 so it's like the old days of the responsive, like you kind of choose your 290 00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:43,440 own adventure, right? Like, yeah, but it would be dynamic enough to be able to 291 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:47,100 say, well, this person responded poorly. So this is how they— right. So now 292 00:17:47,100 --> 00:17:50,220 the person on the door is going to get mad because you just call them 293 00:17:50,220 --> 00:17:54,060 fat or whatever. Oh boy. Yeah, yeah, right. So, so these are 294 00:17:54,060 --> 00:17:57,740 the kinds of things where, where video in the actual deliverable, I 295 00:17:57,820 --> 00:18:01,500 think, has a real place because the— we're 296 00:18:01,500 --> 00:18:05,020 visual creatures. So having that video to respond to, being able to see the 297 00:18:05,020 --> 00:18:08,700 micro expressions, being able to read facial expressions, I think that's 298 00:18:08,700 --> 00:18:11,990 really important for the learner. On the back 299 00:18:12,870 --> 00:18:16,710 end, being able to do these video reports, I think, or even just, 300 00:18:16,710 --> 00:18:20,470 hey boss, here's the problem that we have, you know, hey boss, 301 00:18:20,470 --> 00:18:24,270 we're, we've, we've already burned 300 hours of our 3,000 hours and we 302 00:18:24,270 --> 00:18:27,830 haven't even, we've only done 60 hours of actual work, so where are we going 303 00:18:27,830 --> 00:18:31,550 to put these extra hours so that we don't burn up, right? So that 304 00:18:31,550 --> 00:18:35,230 kind of explanation, here's what's going on, here's 305 00:18:35,230 --> 00:18:38,790 my recommendation, and being able to just produce that and send it off to the 306 00:18:38,790 --> 00:18:42,230 boss like an email will make things a lot easier 307 00:18:42,550 --> 00:18:46,230 for everybody to kind of get on the right page and be able to make 308 00:18:46,230 --> 00:18:50,030 those decisions. Well, I want to get kind of 309 00:18:50,030 --> 00:18:53,790 towards wrapping up here, but I do want to ask, so 310 00:18:53,790 --> 00:18:56,430 we've kind of talked about like what you would like to have. We talked about 311 00:18:56,430 --> 00:18:59,830 what you're doing. What advice would you give to 312 00:18:59,990 --> 00:19:03,750 someone maybe in a similar role? You know, they're maybe they're 313 00:19:03,750 --> 00:19:07,550 hesitant, maybe their organization's a little shy or, you know, they're 314 00:19:07,550 --> 00:19:11,270 like, ah, we don't know about video people, you know, cuz it's, cuz the reality 315 00:19:11,270 --> 00:19:15,070 is even though you can watch it 2x speed, it's still time. There's still commitment 316 00:19:15,070 --> 00:19:18,750 there. So someone's gotta make that video. That's time, right? So what, 317 00:19:18,750 --> 00:19:22,390 what advice would you give to others about using images and video in the work 318 00:19:22,390 --> 00:19:26,030 that type of work that you do? So from a project management perspective, Matt, I 319 00:19:26,030 --> 00:19:29,670 think, I think the, it's, it's the Nike approach. You 320 00:19:29,870 --> 00:19:33,550 gotta just try it once. So just do it and see what happens. 321 00:19:33,550 --> 00:19:36,430 It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't, you can do it all in one 322 00:19:36,430 --> 00:19:40,250 take and all the ums and ahs. It's okay. It's even okay if you 323 00:19:40,250 --> 00:19:43,650 lose the bubble in the middle of explaining people to that. Makes it kind of 324 00:19:43,650 --> 00:19:47,450 human. It makes it a little easier to, to watch, and it certainly 325 00:19:47,450 --> 00:19:50,690 grabs attention if people's attention are wandering, if you, if you lose the bubble in 326 00:19:50,930 --> 00:19:54,610 it. So I would just say try it. If you, if you are a 327 00:19:54,610 --> 00:19:58,330 little hesitant about it, just put it out there and see what happens. And 328 00:19:58,330 --> 00:20:02,010 I think you'll be surprised about how, how people respond to it. You 329 00:20:02,010 --> 00:20:05,800 know, we're going through a system migration going from one tool 330 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:09,480 to another tool. And our, uh, I guess he's technically a program manager as 331 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:13,120 well, but he just made a video talking about some changes that were going to 332 00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:16,920 be happening. And it was so helpful because we weren't going to have a 333 00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:20,560 team meeting, all, you know, all 30 of us to talk about that one 334 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:23,680 thing. Yet he could get that information to us. We could see what it was 335 00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:26,400 going to look like and how these two things are going to be different, but 336 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:29,280 yet the same. So I agree with you that you got to try it and 337 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:32,050 it makes a big difference. But with that said, we're going to have a little 338 00:20:32,050 --> 00:20:35,090 fun here. We're going to go into what I call our speed round questions. All 339 00:20:35,090 --> 00:20:38,050 right, here we go. So we're going to— I got 12 questions. Normally I have 340 00:20:38,050 --> 00:20:41,450 a 12-sided die that I roll, but I didn't bring it with me because I've 341 00:20:41,450 --> 00:20:45,050 tried to stop being that kind of nerd. I have in the past, 342 00:20:45,530 --> 00:20:48,730 but— Where's Rachel Arpin when we need her? She would have one for 343 00:20:49,450 --> 00:20:53,130 sure. So I'm going to let you pick randomly between— let's start 344 00:20:53,130 --> 00:20:56,420 with 1 question first. So between 1 and 12, pick a question. 345 00:20:56,980 --> 00:21:00,780 11. Number 11. Okay, this is perfect on topic. If you had to pick 346 00:21:00,780 --> 00:21:04,020 an image that represents you, what would it 347 00:21:08,340 --> 00:21:11,820 be? Gosh, it would be a backpacker. A 348 00:21:11,820 --> 00:21:15,620 backpacker? Yeah. Why? Carrying heavy loads all the 349 00:21:15,620 --> 00:21:19,380 time, Matt. What can I say? No, I love 350 00:21:19,380 --> 00:21:23,020 being outside. I've been backpacking a lot, and so it 351 00:21:23,020 --> 00:21:26,820 is a happy place for me. So, favorite backpacking trail, place 352 00:21:26,820 --> 00:21:30,460 to go? I've been out to Philmont, which is the Scout Ranch in 353 00:21:30,460 --> 00:21:34,220 New Mexico, and spent 12 days in the backcountry there, and that 354 00:21:34,300 --> 00:21:37,980 was life-changing. I imagine. I hear great things. Okay, 355 00:21:38,380 --> 00:21:41,900 now, 1 to 12, but not 11. 356 00:21:42,060 --> 00:21:45,580 3. Number 3. What piece of 357 00:21:45,740 --> 00:21:49,180 advice do you wish you could give your younger self? So think, 358 00:21:49,180 --> 00:21:52,230 picture younger Chris. What do you need to tell 359 00:21:56,470 --> 00:21:58,870 him? That girl that you're really interested in? 360 00:22:01,190 --> 00:22:04,990 Don't. All right, so professionally, I would say— That's fine. I 361 00:22:04,990 --> 00:22:08,710 would say it's— oh gosh, I'm gonna sound like a dad here, 362 00:22:08,710 --> 00:22:12,270 but pick the thing you love and do that. So it took me a while 363 00:22:12,270 --> 00:22:16,110 to find L&D, and once I found it, 364 00:22:16,110 --> 00:22:19,690 it was a perfect match for me, but it took me a while to get 365 00:22:19,850 --> 00:22:23,450 there. So listen to what you have the energy 366 00:22:23,850 --> 00:22:27,290 behind and follow that energy. Love that. Okay, one more 367 00:22:28,090 --> 00:22:31,810 question. One more number. Oh, lucky 7. 368 00:22:31,810 --> 00:22:35,610 Lucky number 7. Oh, what's a hobby or interest you've always wanted to pursue 369 00:22:35,610 --> 00:22:37,450 but haven't had the chance to 370 00:22:41,610 --> 00:22:45,170 yet? Obviously not backpacking. Blacksmithing. 371 00:22:45,170 --> 00:22:48,530 Blacksmithing? Really? Yeah. What would you make if you could blacksmith something? What would you 372 00:22:50,530 --> 00:22:54,330 make? Wrought iron fences that are really fancy. Oh, like the curved 373 00:22:54,330 --> 00:22:58,130 and they're pouring into sand. Yeah, that would be super cool. And I don't 374 00:22:58,130 --> 00:23:01,930 know that it would save you time or money, but it would be cool. 375 00:23:01,930 --> 00:23:05,570 That's right. This would be just doing the thing. Well, Chris, 376 00:23:05,570 --> 00:23:09,250 I super appreciate you coming on the show, talking with me and going through the 377 00:23:09,250 --> 00:23:12,930 chaos that is a live event. We're so glad that people are here and at 378 00:23:12,930 --> 00:23:16,580 Training Magazine allowing us to do this, all this on an awesome 379 00:23:16,580 --> 00:23:20,300 podcasting stage. So if people are interested in learning more about what you do, maybe 380 00:23:20,300 --> 00:23:23,820 connecting with you, obviously you got some great sessions going on. Where can they find 381 00:23:23,980 --> 00:23:27,660 you? The easiest place is LinkedIn. So, uh, look, look me up, 382 00:23:27,660 --> 00:23:31,500 Christopher King. I'm in Arlington, Virginia. So that's probably the— there's a 383 00:23:31,500 --> 00:23:33,700 lot of Chris Kings out there. Matter of fact, I went to high school with 384 00:23:33,700 --> 00:23:37,460 Chris King. It, it drove the pharmacist in town crazy cuz his 385 00:23:37,460 --> 00:23:40,220 middle initial was different than mine. That was the only way he could tell us 386 00:23:40,870 --> 00:23:44,670 apart. Never mind. So Christopher King is out there. That's why I use the full 387 00:23:44,670 --> 00:23:48,470 Christopher King. And just look me up on LinkedIn. 388 00:23:48,470 --> 00:23:52,270 Okay. And I'm sure if they want some advice on program manager for L&D, they 389 00:23:52,270 --> 00:23:55,750 can connect with you and get some great, great information. Yep. Well, 390 00:23:55,990 --> 00:23:59,270 one, one way we like to end the show, like every single time, is we 391 00:23:59,270 --> 00:24:02,990 ask people, Chris King, we don't say that to everybody, but we say 392 00:24:02,990 --> 00:24:06,640 it for you, Chris King, what is your final take? 393 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:10,480 My final take is don't be afraid of video. You will be 394 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:14,320 surprised about the power that it can bring, the efficiencies that will, 395 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:17,800 it will give you and the time that you'll get back if you make it 396 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:21,440 an integral part of your tools. Fantastic. Well, thank you, 397 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:25,320 Chris. Thank you, Matt. All right. For everybody that's listening either on the podcast or 398 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,600 watching the video, we've been at Training Magazine. It's a great conference and they've given 399 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,900 us a great space to be here on a podcasting stage. So I wanna thank 400 00:24:31,900 --> 00:24:35,180 Chris King, Jeff Weaver for helping put this all together. And I just want to 401 00:24:35,180 --> 00:24:38,740 say, whatever you're doing out there, you heard Chris talk about doing this thing about 402 00:24:38,740 --> 00:24:42,300 just try it, right? See what video can do for you. You'll be surprised at 403 00:24:42,300 --> 00:24:46,140 the many varied uses that you can find for video, including 404 00:24:46,140 --> 00:24:49,740 the status update, team communication. I mean, even just showing somebody 405 00:24:49,740 --> 00:24:53,500 that something's going wrong in a system or tool can be amazing. There are 406 00:24:53,500 --> 00:24:56,270 so many uses for video. I want to encourage you to continue to find those, 407 00:24:56,270 --> 00:24:59,950 explore those, And if you've got one that you've done or want to talk 408 00:25:00,430 --> 00:25:04,110 about, let me know. I'd love to hear it. You can email me at 409 00:25:05,230 --> 00:25:08,630 thevisuallounge@techsmith.com. We'd love to hear from you guys. Leave comments and questions and things in 410 00:25:08,630 --> 00:25:12,150 the comments below. And with that said, we hope you take a little time to 411 00:25:12,150 --> 00:25:14,440 level up every single day. Thanks, everybody.