On Learning New Things: Video-casting and “Text to Voice”

When my wife and I go on a February “working vacation”, we have just a few “rules”:

1. We select a quiet beach, St. Simons Island, Jekyll Island, Amelia Island, Savannah, Charleston, S.C.. or Jacksonville or Myrtle Beach. We are there to unwind and appreciate one another.
2. For at least 6 hours a day, I “putter”, online research, writing, projects, or video tutorials.
3. These are things that are hard to get to during a busy life; I have edited my book, renovated my website www.hunterlawfirm.net; or just “recharged my batteries”. I use professional meetings for such things, but it has been over two years since I’ve attended one in person, and online Zoom conferences are NOT the same.
4. After 3 years without much of a break, we slipped in a few days last fall at Ocean City Md. Great place, Dog friendly, so we took Cinca. This time, she’s at her favorite kennel.
5. There I learned Techsmith’s Snagit.
6. Just search YouTube for “Snagit” or “Snagit and Dotto”, or “Techsmith”, and you will find Steve Dotto and many sources to walk you through this amazingly simple screen capture tool and editor.
7. Using it and Powerpoint slides, I created a video on four very useful applications, below, the Pathagoras document assembly application, Microsoft To Do task list, Snagit Screen capture and editor, and  Evernote Web Clipper.
8. Today I have explored two other applications:
   1. Techsmith’s Camtasia. This is a big step up from Snagit, and it costs $250. With fewer than 10 years left in my career, I’ll probably pass, but if I were 40, I would master these Techsmith tools, as I did for those tools available  “back then”. Those were the tools that allowed me to keep my practice going for over 45 years. For me, Snagit should be sufficient, but perhaps if I retire, it will become a “go to” method for my memoirs and family genealogy research; and,
   2. Google’s “Speechify” App, $130/year, which reads out-loud e-mails and PDFs so you can “multitask” and “read” while you are walking or driving. Yep, another distraction in a distracted world.
   3. But, if you have a several-hour drive and a research paper or document or even book to read, it can be a Godsend. I selected Gwyneth Paltro’s voice as my narrator.
   4. Currently, I am listening to the 68 page “Manual for Guardians and Conservators in WV.”
9. Here below are some resources in case you care to get started. I recommend this for teachers, lawyers who have to present to courts or juries, bloggers, and “showoffs”.

1. I would think creative people, authors, artists, musicians, and tech geeks would find Techsmith’s products to be irresistible.
   1. Steve Dotto on Camtasia, Snagit, and Techsmith Video Editor, 18 minute video: https://youtu.be/J4qmgULureQ
   2. My first Snagit Video: “Four Cool Tools” on Pathagoras, Snagit, Webclipper, and Microsoft’s “To Do”: https://hunterlawfirm.net/four-cool-tool-october-2021-for-research-presentations-organizing-and-planning/
   3. My second Snagit Video; Grandpa Hunter’s “Our Amazing Solar System: 18 minute video (or fast forward to the 3 minute summary at the end) https://youtu.be/Dbx1LaBegAc
   4. Why Steve Dotto Switched from Screenflow to Camtasia, 18 minutes: https://youtu.be/J4qmgULureQ
   5. Google’s Speechify App Review: https://youtu.be/t2Q0ssAV3mQ 
   6. 46 Minute Camtasia Tutorial: Keven Stratvert: 🎬 How to use Camtasia 2021 – Video Editing Tutorial – YouTube
   7. These tools should help you become more creative, productive, and knowledgeable in our world of “accelerating change”.
   8. Remember: “Change has never been this fast, and it will never be this slow again.”

JBH

This post was written by Burton Hunter