TwitterFacebookLinkedInYouTubeEmailRSS

Estimate Your Costs

Submit our easy Estimate Form or call (301) 339-0339 to plan and discuss your video needs.

Healthcare Video Changes Lives

Posted on

512px Doctors stethoscope 2 Healthcare Video Changes LivesThe Atlantic Monthly recently ran a very engaging article about end of life care that documented the truly transformative power of healthcare video. As writer Jonathan Rauch describes, Dr. Angelo Volandes, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, is setting about to use the power of video to address a vexing problem—the difficulties families face in making decisions related to end-of-life care.

As part of their TeleCaring program, our client Capital Caring is also exploring the power of healthcare video.  Their plans calls for using healthcare video to connect doctors with hospice patients and their families, in cases where the hospice patient resides at home:

With video conferencing technology made by the company LifeSize, Capital Caring will be able to connect doctors with patients and their families via laptops or tablets. This enables doctors to check in on many times more patients each day, and creates the opportunity for delicate patients to receive care at home rather than having to travel from doctor to doctor.

Dr. Volandes’s healthcare video takes a different approach, but with similarly impressive results. He realized the power of healthcare video when he discovered that people need to see what medical interventions look like when a patient of his witnessed an emergency administration of CPR. His patient, a retired English professor dying of cancer, had been unable to decide whether she wanted to authorize this measure if her heart stopped beating. When his impulse to show her the ICU unit led to her seeing the doctors handle a “code blue,” she said that though she had understood his explanation perfectly, nothing could substitute for seeing the resuscitation in action. The patient opted for comfort care at home, and Dr. Volandes came to wonder if healthcare video could help more patients and their families make good decisions.

Dr. Volandes then conducted a randomized trial with his first healthcare video, which showed a patient with advanced dementia. He contrasted a group of patients who only heard a verbal description of advanced dementia with a group that heard the same description and viewed the healthcare video. Their doctors offered the patients the choice of life prolonging care (in which they’d be kept alive by any measure possible), limited care (an in-between option), and comfort care (in which care focused on keeping them comfortable). Eighty-six percent of the patients who watched the healthcare video selected comfort care; only 64 percent of patients who didn’t made the same choice. A subsequent study of a video showing a patient dying of cancer had even more striking results.

Dr. Volandes said, “Videos communicate better than just a stand-alone conversation. And when people get good communication and understand what’s involved, many, if not most, tend not to want a lot of the aggressive stuff that they’re getting.”

We think that end of life care is one of the most important aspects of healthcare, and find this research striking. We also believe that healthcare video may revolutionize doctor/patient communications in more ways to come. It all goes back to the transformative power of video.

What do you think is the new frontier in the use of video? Let us know in the comments!

Comment on this topic Healthcare Video Changes Lives

If MiniMatters can help you with business video, fundraising video, association video, or other video production needs, we’d love to provide an estimate through our online form, talk with you at 301-339-0339, or communicate via email at videos@minimatters.com. We serve associations, foundations, nonprofits, and businesses primarily in Washington, DC, Maryland, and northern Virginia.

Video Storytelling Creates Great Fundraising Videos

Posted on

As promised in last week’s post, which gave a preview of our plans, click below to view the prezi that accompanied “Stories of Passion: Tips for Capturing and Communicating the Stories of Your Member-Donors,” our presentation about video storytelling.

AFG 25th conference logo Video Storytelling Creates Great Fundraising VideosWhy was video storytelling such a popular subject at the Association Foundation Group (AFG) 2013 National Conference?  It starts with the fact that attendees are largely association foundation professionals. This means they work for foundations affiliated with associations. These associations and foundations often have different interests and structures, and getting them to work well together takes experience and strategy.

The groups face a common central problem: low awareness of the foundation and foundation activities among  association members—even though the foundations  support causes dear to members’ hearts.

Mary Bet Dobson of the American Chemical Society (ACS), our wonderful co-presenter, realized that video storytelling could address this problem at her association, the American Chemical Society, and the prezi above highlights four of the story-based videos we created for her association. These indeed had the purpose of raising awareness about ACS philanthropic programs or, in another oft-mentioned expression at the conference, promoting a ”culture of philanthropy.” 

Key take-aways about video storytelling from the presentation included:

1) Video storytelling might be the next step for your video program

Many of the association foundation representatives and consultants in the audience had had some experience using video.  One of the attendees, for instance, mentioned that her foundation had recorded stakeholders on a flip camera, as they gave brief testimonials, and that people had really enjoyed participating in this. She came to the presentation seeking information to take her video to the next level. Later she remarked that the presentation had prompted her to envision not only higher technical quality, but also deeper, more persuasive stories as the next step—and that she would be using some of the techniques we discussed to achieve this improvement.

2) Great video storytelling requires good story-gathering techniques

To assist our audience with their video storytelling, we provided two handouts focused on good story gathering techniques.  The first, what we call our Video Marketing Matrix, provides a planning template.  It facilitates understanding and exploring your interviewee and their story, the key messages they can deliver within their story, the interview questions that might elicit these messages, and visual images to support their story—a crucial element in the powerful video medium.

The second, our Capturing Stories Handout, covers key “on the spot” techniques for gathering stories. Areas include choosing a setting, preparation of the interviewee, tips for good interviewing, and the technical production aspects that affect your ability to tell a story.

Techniques for interviewing particularly interested the AFG audience, and one audience member asked us about scripting versus interviewing. MiniMatters uses interviewing more than scripting and, interestingly, ReelSEO, one of the most well-read video marketing blogs, recently said in a post on video storytelling that they favor interviews as an effective—and cost effective—technique.

Throughout the presentation, we emphasized the importance of crafting interview questions to bring out the key sound bites and messages for an effective story.  Mary Bet focused in especially on our process for honing the initial interview questions; she advocated for time spent at this juncture as crucial for getting effective video clips and great stories.  If you haven’t already, view the prezi above, for some sample interview questions that led to the authentic, on-message clips for the series of videos we created with her.

3) The best fundraising video in the world still needs distribution

It’s a sign of a great audience that central questions get raised—like a question about video distribution. We emphasize distribution early on in our process with our clients, because distribution determines more than anything else the value of a video campaign. Mary Bet spoke to this issue in relation to the American Chemical Society’s experience, in which they requested a full video marketing plan so that they could integrate the distribution of the six videos with their annual campaign and planned giving newsletters.

We also discussed the importance of online video platforms and social media for video distribution.  And, as we’ve written about before, we advocated for email as one of the best ways to distribute video.

One of the most gratifying moments came from a fundraising/strategic planning consultant who came up to us later in the day, smiled and said: “I’m putting ACS in my will.” Then he proceeded to tell us that he didn’t actually have a connection to ACS, and that this wasn’t really true, but that the videos had really convinced him of what great things were being done by ACS.

What are your thoughts about using video storytelling to raise awareness of the great work you are doing? Let us know in the comments.

Comment on this topic Video Storytelling Creates Great Fundraising Videos

If MiniMatters can help you with business video, fundraising video, association video, or other video production needs, we’d love to provide an estimate through our online form, talk with you at 301-339-0339, or communicate via email at videos@minimatters.com. We serve associations, foundations, nonprofits, and businesses primarily in Washington, DC, Maryland, and northern Virginia.

Association Video Thrives on Storytelling

Posted on

MiniMatters’ Elissa Leif will be presenting about association video–and particularly that for association foundations–together with Mary Bet Dobson of the American Chemical Society at the Association Foundation Group National Conference. Their subject: “Stories of Passion: Tips for Capturing and Communicating the Stories of Your Member-Donors.” If this is a hot topic in your world, we really hope you’ll come say hello.

Great association video starts with storytelling

We’re excited to be making this presentation because we believe that storytelling is so important in association fundraising. Storytelling storiesofpassionsnip Association Video Thrives on Storytellingis what can get people to focus on the “why” behind all the meetings, trainings, and guidance your association provides year-round; further, it can translate the heart of your purpose into a moving video that will really aid an association fundraising campaign.

Members who have never heard of your association foundation or the association’s philanthropic initiatives? Awareness-raising about the wonderful things your association does for society is one of the first things you can accomplish with video.

The six association videos MiniMatters created for the American Chemical Society (ACS) illustrate the breadth and diversity of the Society’s contributions to society. They also support a set of useful fundraising messages, many of which can be easily translated for other association foundations:

  • “I wanted to provide opportunities for the next generation to experience the passion for chemistry that I have.”
  • “Once I became aware of the opportunities, it was a natural for me to take the step of planned giving.”
  • “Become a Legacy Leader is a great way to demonstrate leadership in ACS philanthropy.”
  • “ACS is well-managed and a good place for a gift that will have impact.”

We really hope you’ll be in the audience, but if you miss it—or want a recap!—watch this space, because we’ll be posting about the conference next week and the full prezi.

Association video will have an impact

As Mary Bet will attest, the series of videos we provided for ACS seem likely to have an impact on the organization’s future. ACS is using the series as a part of long-term campaign that includes sharing videos on ipads, in enewsletters, and at events. By using passionate stories, the ACS has created a set of compelling association videos that engage the interests of their diverse membership.

What are the stories of passion in your organization? Let us know in the comments!

Comment on this topic Association Video Thrives on Storytelling

If MiniMatters can help you with business video, fundraising video, association video, or other video production needs, we’d love to provide an estimate through our online form, talk with you at 301-339-0339, or communicate via email at videos@minimatters.com. We serve associations, foundations, nonprofits, and businesses primarily in Washington, DC, Maryland, and northern Virginia.

Event Video Will Set the Tone You Want

Posted on

MiniMatters recently had the pleasure of attending Women in Technology’s Fourteenth Annual Leadership Awards Banquet, an event that kicked off with an event video we produced to add pizzazz and a note of humor to the evening.

Like the “Kids React to” videos we wrote about some months ago, Women in Technology’s event video trades on the appeal of kids’ unvarnished reactions. In this case, the girls’ views of technology, math, and leadership really complemented the serious aspect of honoring women who show leadership in a field where men still hold the majority of jobs.

Event video done right enhances an evening

A number of the speakers and awardees at the banquet improvised call-backs to the event video, which kicked off the evening on a big screen prior to dinner service. They really had fun with referring back to one of our young commenters’ use of “AWESOMENESS!” to describe female leadership and to the “whoop whoop” arms over the head gesture one of the girls in the event video said she would make if she won this kind of award. The exuberance of the young girls who will be heirs to the progress of the women in the room made the evening truly poignant.

We so enjoyed watching the way the event video was able to bring together the generations and make women in the technological fields laugh out loud as they began a well-deserved dinner.

Have you thought about the “fun” part of your upcoming event’s underlying message? Let us know in the comments below what could be fun and complementary!

Comment on this topic Event Video Will Set the Tone You Want
If MiniMatters can help you with business video, fundraising video, association video, or other video production needs, we’d love to provide an estimate through our online form, talk with you at 301-339-0339, or communicate via email at videos@minimatters.com. We serve associations, foundations, nonprofits, and businesses primarily in Washington, DC, Maryland, and northern Virginia.

Digital Storytelling Using Your Organization’s Photos

Posted on

As video producers, we’re very conscious of how much moving pictures enable digital storytelling. Yet as this video shows, dynamic digital storytelling can feature still photographs and be beautiful, moving, and eye-catching (click the image to see this video on the BBC):
2dancers Digital Storytelling Using Your Organizations Photos

Digital storytelling will bring home your message

Do you have a cache of archival photographs that articulate your organization’s message? You may be able to use digital storytelling to create a video from those photographs without spending money on creating footage. This approach allows Cathy Greenblat’s video, Love, Loss, and Laughter to showcase a much larger number of faces than footage would; it really shows the scope of her project and represents a very appealing approach to digital storytelling.

As the video above illustrates, a voiceover really brings together a slideshow. MiniMatters can help you use the voice of someone whose voice represents your organization–or a professional voiceover. Cathy Greenblat’s own voice is warm and inviting; you can feel the love in her voice, for Alzheimer’s patients, their caregivers, and their families.

Do you have high quality images that say just what you want them to say? Let us know in the comments!

Comment on this topic Digital Storytelling Using Your Organizations Photos

If MiniMatters can help you with business video, fundraising video, association video, or other video production needs, we’d love to provide an estimate through our online form, talk with you at 301-339-0339, or communicate via email at videos@minimatters.com. We serve associations, foundations, nonprofits, and businesses primarily in Washington, DC, Maryland, and northern Virginia.