Brainshark for YouTube: Conversation with Andy Zimmerman

(No Ratings Yet)

Loading...

Andy Zimmerman, is the vice president and general manager for myBrainshark – Brainshark’s free site for creating, sharing and tracking multimedia presentations. He oversees myBrainshark strategy, marketing, partnerships and sales.

In this conversation, Andy discusses “Brainshark for YouTube”, a new capability announced today that lets myBrainshark.com users and Brainshark enterprise customers turn PowerPoint decks into YouTube videos.

Geetesh: YouTube has an audience that spans millions. However, it does not provide the ease of use and simplicity that Brainshark does in creating voice-enabled online content from PowerPoint presentations. What do you expect to achieve by combining YouTube’s reach with Brainshark’s simplicity?

Andy: Great question. As you mentioned, Brainshark is all about ease of use, and on myBrainshark.com, any Internet user can upload a PowerPoint deck and narrate the slides, using the phone or computer microphone, to create a multimedia presentation. You can add video clips, additional background audio, photos and more within presentations, too.

Now that we’ve launched Brainshark for YouTube, our users can take their narrated presentations and have them play as video files on YouTube’s site. We think this is a great match, as it enables anyone – with only slides, the telephone and an Internet connection – to engage in online video marketing… no camcorder, complicated video editing software or even video expertise required.

By pairing Brainshark/myBrainshark’s easy content authoring environment with YouTube’s vast community, our users can create and share high-quality business content with an even larger audience and with greater potential for viral adoption. We’ve eliminated many of the cost and technical barriers to online video creation, and think that this new capability will help spur users – at small companies, in particular – to engage in online video marketing.

Geetesh: What are the prerequisites? Do users need to have an existing YouTube account? How much will this cost – and do you have any sample YouTube movies created from Brainshark content?

Andy: As I mentioned, we’re making it so easy to create a YouTube video – with a PowerPoint deck and the phone, you’re on your way. And you’re right in that in order to post the video to YouTube, you do need to create a free account on their site first.

Since it’s also free to register on myBrainshark.com, there’s really no cost involved in using Brainshark for YouTube, beyond the time spent in developing your PowerPoint presentation. So, myBrainshark.com users can use the capability at no cost, and it’s also included within myBrainshark Pro and Pro Trainer subscriptions. For Brainshark’s enterprise customers, Brainshark for YouTube is included within the core platform at no added cost, as well.

We’re enjoying Brainshark for YouTube ourselves and have already used it to create YouTube videos, like the one below, which demos and introduces myBrainshark features, and the other titled “The Brainshark Story.” We’re looking forward to seeing how users successfully leverage the Brainshark for YouTube capability for maximum business gain.

Categories: brainshark, elearning, interviews, online_presentations, powerpoint, youtube