Why I stream WordPress Meetups

I had this question asked of me a few times this past General OC WordPress Meetup, “Why do you live stream these events?” “Do you do every event that happens here?” “You should charge these guys when you stream these meetups”, “What other stuff have you recorded?”, “When did you start recording these and how did you learn to do it?”. So I thought I’d take a minute to answer each of these questions to the best of my ability.

Why do you live stream these (WordPress Meetup) events?

My response to this is typically “I hate taking notes” or “Most people are like me and hate taking notes”. I record these events for a few reasons really:

• I know that the majority of the people speaking here would love to have a copy of their talk.
• There is a chance that the person speaking is working on a talk for a future WordCamp and wants to brush up on public speaking.
• This talk may end up being so good that I’ll isolate it and submit it to WordPress.TV so others can view it.
• I like recording stuff.
• I like helping.
• I’m awesome.

Do you do every event that happens here?

No, I don’t record/stream each of the meetings that happen at Zeek Interactive’s offices. I do record/stream both of the OCWP Meetups (General and Developer) every other Monday. I don’t record any of the real estate meetups, the designer meetup or whatever other stuff Steve Zehngut is into now days. I’m married with 3 kids and a dog that loves when I’m home, I can’t be at all these events but I try to be at every OCWP meetup I can (I’ve only missed one or two since I’ve been attending).

You should charge these guys when you stream these meetups.

I totally should charge them, but I don’t. Why? Why should I? It seems that people think work = money for everything, that isn’t always the case here. I attend the meetups, spend 10 mins setting up, I get a (self) assigned seat in the couch in the back and I’m golden (Don’t sit in my seat, I need to be close to the projector because of my wires connecting to it). Recording these videos for the meetup is less about me getting paid and more about me building an archive of all the talks people do. They are freely made available on YouTube and cost me nothing to do them.

What other stuff have you recorded?

I record a lot of stuff actually. I’m a podcaster, father and lover of technology so my passions and love for tech so I capture many moments with various sets of gear. I’ve recorded the talks at the recent OC WordCamp 2013, WordCamp San Diego’s Business Track for my buddy Chris Lema and WordUP AZ for my other buddy, CodyL. Lastly I record two podcasts weekly WPwatercooler and The Passholders along with the various videos and photos I take from my face with Google Glass.

When did you start recording these and how did you learn to do it?

I started recording quite a few years back. I took a lot of time, money and effort in building up my gear, experience and ability to do what I do for OCWP. I’ve talked at WordCamp Phoenix about my journey of becoming the WPMedia.Pro and what gear I use and what software I run when making this all happen.

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.