Richard  00:01

If you're heavily invested in your future as a fitness professional, developmental is a step that you need to take. Increasing your ability to coach and communicate, and improve the level of the standard of your training is really important, because one of our mutual friends, Shannon Fable, said something really important on a podcast once and she said, "When you qualify, that's the minimum standard that's required to coach. You should be building on that now, right?" And I always talk about camera confidence. But then the next step up from camera confidence is being production ready.

Will:  00:36

Hello, and welcome to Group Fitness Real Talk, where we get real about the things instructors need to know in 2022 to drive their business. So this is part two of a podcast with Richard Playfair from sweatlife films. Now I want you to go back and listen to episode one where we talked about the marketing and business elements of running a digital fitness business as an instructor. In this episode, we're going to talk about the technical side. Now before we get into that, I want to point you to two early episodes of this podcast, which is episode 8, and episode 10. So scroll right back, we did them in late 2020, Richard appears on one of them. And that gives you all the basics for if you're just getting set up. So if you're listening to this, and you haven't been teaching, virtually, you haven't been teaching digitally, that's your first place to go. Because this is a little bit of a refresh and an update. So Richard, how are you?

Richard  01:26

I'm good, I'm good, I'm good. I'm looking forward to a bit of a break. Because it's been a busy year in the digital space.

Will:  01:32

It has indeed. So what I wanted to get from you is your hints, tips, products, ideas about what instructors should be using to deliver virtual classes or to create their on demand libraries in 2022. Obviously, when we kicked off, we were doing it a little bit scrappily. So we were using iPhones, we were using zoom, we were using Facebook. And I know that a lot of people have seen how big the space has become creative products that are much more specified to what we are doing as instructors creating digital content. So can you give me a rundown on what you think are the essential items for a instructor teaching digital classes?

Richard  02:13

Okay, so there's a couple of things here technical, as well as developmental, I should say. In the last episode we talked about, well, I spoke a lot about the opportunity of going online with digital because people have dropped off. So the space has opened up a bit more. That ties very much in with how you present yourself now and the quality of your content. I think way back two years ago, people were happy with the way it was kind of bootstrapped together with the way that people paid for stuff, and the quality and the sound that people experience and the workouts too. Now the first thing we all know we should invest in is a mic, radio and mic of some sort. So if you've not,

Will:  02:54

Like this is the golden rule. And you can correct me if I'm wrong, but the golden rule is that people will put up with slightly smudgy video, but they will not put up with shitty audio.

Richard  03:05

Exactly, yeah, they're more tolerant of less than perfect video than they are at the sound experience. And so getting that mic is the first thing you should save up for, you know, and do it. And I know that a lot of people are on the fence going like, Yeah, but what if I don't like doing on demand after all, and I've spent all this money, you can sell it. The second hand market is good for this type of equipment, you can sell it, you can get some money back, it's not a huge investment.

Will:  03:30

Okay, so number one, buy a mic, you have a recommendation on the type of mic that you use, or you recommend.

Richard  03:37

The Rode Wireless Go version one is pretty good. So if you've got that great. If you haven't, you can get that one or you can pay a little bit more for the rode wireless go, version two.

Will:  03:48

And I have the one.

Richard  03:51

Yeah, so the difference is that that it's great, actually, because the two allows you now to record directly into your receiver, your transmitter unit that sits on your collar you connect a mic to it will record for you as well, which is great. If you've ever experienced what are called dropouts when you're filming when the radio signal drops out a little bit because you would

Will:  04:14

want links to these these products that we discussed, we will put links to in the show notes. So don't worry about taking notes down. So okay, cool. So that's your recommendation for a microphone, and that's microphone...

Richard  04:25

Let me just say on that mic as well. You can also plug this much more easily into your computer. So if you're doing streaming through a webcam or whatever, it's a much better solution. And you can plug it straight into your phone or tablet. Or you can use it as a podcast mic because it's connected to your computer. So I know podcasts are you know big deal for the fitness space and people are thinking which one do I buy first? This Oh, this is so different with this you can do both? Yeah, so it's it's a big money saver.

Will:  04:55

Okay, perfect. And that is the so that's the little receiver. Do you have a recommendation? Norma Hedmark that will go with that. Now I know that those rode mics, you can actually just lapel clip them, and they'll pick up the noise. But would you recommend that people do it that way? Or should they be using a head mic connected to it?

Richard  05:11

Right, well, bit of background insider knowledge to the way we do the shift filming. Because we use a couple of different mics. We use the Rode HS 2, which is a head mic, which is worth about 250 pounds, so pretty expensive on the higher end of things. And the other one we use is the Trantec HM 66. It's less expensive. It's about 100-118 pounds, depending on where you buy it from. But this is a proper instructors mic. So it'll do well for you in a studio. And it'll do well for you. When you record with other devices.

Will:  05:43

This is the black one with the fluffy.

Richard  05:46

Yeah, that's it. So it's a bit more chunky, bit more sturdy,

Will:  05:49

The Rode I have to wear because my beard catches on the other one.

Richard  05:52

And you have a loud voice.

Will:  05:55

I don't have a loud voice. How dare you.  How dare you.

Richard  05:59

So the reason if anyone's wondering why I use the Rode one on on the shift workouts as well, we use that more for M1ND, because it's a more sensitive mic. During the mind workouts, no one's really, you know, shouting, you'll feel great. It's a lot more calm is a lot more considered the weather is delivered. So we use that mic just because it's a bit more sensitive with sound and can can pick it up a lot easier. Yeah. So that's that's kind of head mics. There are lots of different head mic solutions. In fact. I test some occasionally. So this one's

Will:  06:35

This is not a visual medium Richard.

Richard  06:39

Oh, yeah. This is not going on. This is not on Youtube? Well, I've got a subzero one here, which I bought. It was about 50 quid. Yeah. And I tested it out. It's actually pretty good. Not bad at all. For a head mic and then another one was his little brother, which was 18 pounds. And it was actually really good as well.

Will:  06:56

Really? Not as good, but good enough.

Richard  07:00

Absolutely good enough. Anybody who needs a mic solution, and doesn't want to spend a lot of money, that will do you just grand. And the best thing I saw on this other cheaper mic was that the cable is short, you know, everyone's fed up with having reels of cable there. This one is like the perfect length is brilliant. I don't know why anybody hasn't done the same sort of thing. Anyway, okay, that was

Will:  07:24

So mic pack and mic, what's next?

Richard  07:29

It's time to upgrade from the webcam. Okay, it really is. It's time now, to let that go. There is a company which does like the stream boxes and streaming devices for gamers. I can't remember what it's called now off the top of my head, it begins with E. And they've got a website. Well, I'll find the link and we'll put it in the show notes. They've got a website, which allows you to look up all the different cameras, which currently exist, which allow you to use you know, for filming and recording, but also for streaming, because when you stream you don't want like the date in the top corner with the record button going like this. So when you have

Will:  08:13

Is it designed for like people that are filming themselves playing computer games.

Richard  08:20

So what we call it, we call it a clean HDMI out. HDMI is the cable right, you've got one in the back of your telly. So but yeah, so clean HDMI out means that it has no graphics on. And the camera allows you to turn everything visually on the screen off. So nothing comes through the HDMI, and onto your TV screen or your computer, whatever. So if you're looking for a camera that has a clean HDMI out, which I recommend you do, go to this website, which will put the link in the notes. And you can check out and see what's available in your price bracket. But to give you an idea, I'm using one right now. This is my preferred webcam. And it's a Sony RX Mark Three, I think and I bought it secondhand for 200 quid.

Will:  09:01

Wait, it's a webcam, you said no webcams.

Richard  09:03

Well, it's not a webcam. It's the one that I use for my webcam.

Will:  09:09

So it's a camera that connects into your computer rather than a you know a little bauble that you stick in the middle of your screen and connect by USB.

Richard  09:18

Exactly. So basically I've got an HDMI cable that comes out, it goes into my computer, and I've got clean HDMI, no graphics, so I can use this for video calls and that sort of stuff. And it's got a really good autofocus on it as well. So, as a solution, it's certainly worth looking at. If you're looking to take the next step up. Now they're up to like Mark nine or something of this camera like they've released a new one every year. So this is probably six or seven years old, but it's fantastic.

Will:  09:44

And it's something you can pick up secondhand, I imagine.

Richard  09:46

Absolutely. Yeah, the second hand camera market is is you know, it's free for all at the moment. There's so much out there. And it's not expensive nowadays either because manufacturers put so many models out every year. You look at For a clean HDMI out if you're doing it kind of this way, cool.

Will:  10:03

Okay, so we've done microphone, we've done video, what is next?

Richard  10:09

Lighting is always a staple. Yeah, like, if you can invest in more lighting and invest in more lighting, even the price of lighting is like bottomed out, like it's going down.

Will:  10:19

Yeah, if you compare the prices and all of the stuff that we're talking about, if we had put together a list of this back in 2020, as part of the pandemic, not only was it more difficult to get, but it was so much more expensive. And now you can buy this stuff for so much cheaper.

Richard  10:33

Yeah, yeah. So lighting goes without saying really, isn't it? You know, the more light you can give your camera, the better your image quality is going to be? Yep. And then the last thing, actually, you know what, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm going to introduce something that you shouldn't spend your money on right now. Okay. And that's, and that's doing fancy intro graphics for your videos. Don't need it. It's a waste of your time and a waste of your money. Because if they're watching your video and doing your videos, they don't want the delay of your five second, or even 15 second intro because you've spent money on it and you want to use it. Yeah, right. They don't need to see it. But if you do want to enhance your workouts, and you want to put like a timer on your screen, because maybe you trim your workouts in Final Cut, or iMovie or whatever, afterwards, then a timer can be really useful. And I've got a pack of timers that we can give away for everyone listening to this. So I'll whack the link in the description again.

Will:  11:36

Okay, cool. We'll put a link in the show notes.

Richard  11:38

And if you want to venture into the world of editing, simple editing, whack it onto a timeline, then then you can do that. So that's something to include in something not to include.

Will:  11:47

And then lastly, what are your recommendations around storage, processing and storage?

Richard  11:54

Yeah, so a couple of things that know on this. If you're thinking I'm going to download all of my zooms and use them elsewhere, you're probably going to notice a massive drop in quality, because zoom compresses your audio, and it compresses your video to shrink the file size, so it doesn't take up masses of room. So quality has to be considered when we're looking at storage to write better quality pictures, the longer shelf life you're going to get the better and

Will:  12:21

Everyone who has bought the new iPhone and recorded something on it and then tried to switch it to Google Drive or put it onto a Dropbox is probably ran into this problem where it takes six hours because the iPhone camera is now so good that the the definition is so large.

Richard  12:39

Yeah, you don't need 4k, you don't need to film stuff in 4k, you really don't. HD,  Full HD 1920 by 1080 pixels is fine, check your camera settings, that you've got it set up for that even the bit rate that you're filming out, the higher the better. But if you're filming it somewhere between 10 and 12 megabits per second, that's absolutely fine. Keep it like that. Because if you need to edit it or transfer it, the data size is not going to be massive for storage. One thing I did say way back when at the start of the pandemic is that if you're recording your workouts, then rename the files afterwards, put the date at the start in reverse order. So 2022, then April or 04, and then the date, 014. And then the type of the workout it was so you can categorize categorize them and log them. Because relating to the point in the earlier podcast, if you want to try and regroup workouts together to sell in packages, it's easier to do it that way.

Will:  13:35

Instructors particularly who aren't necessarily the most organized and efficient file keepers in the world, it's so easy to not do it when you're thinking about other things and you know, getting it up onto your site and your platform. But yeah, if you don't you can very easily become just you know, that jumble of cords that just gets more and more cords attached to it that becomes complete liability to fix.

Richard  13:57

Yeah, so I guess those are the those are the sort of technical aspects storage, have a have an external hard drive that you have all your workouts on. Have a place online that you can upload your workouts to for free for storage. Yep, if that means using YouTube and keeping them unlisted. Do that for free. If that means using Wistia as a free account or Vimeo's free account for five gigabytes of storage. Do that until you can afford to pay for the money. Yep. But that I guess they're the technical aspects. Now, the other side of things I think we really need to approach now, which is a massive opportunity is developmental, like everybody knows now that delivering classes online can be done. But it's a different experience to doing it in class. Right. And there's been a certainly a talent drought, because we've had masses of people who are part time in industry, leave it for good, because the opportunities weren't there or they didn't want to invest the time in going online. Yep. So and I know this now because I get people, brands work with me all the time saying we want to do these workouts we want to release this program. Do you know anybody who would be a good fit? Right? We've got people outside the fitness space brands that don't have any affiliation with instructor talent that are looking to do that and find the right talent for that. And the biggest stumbling block for them is they're finding it hard to get the right talent. The easy ways or the, the, the less friction ways of finding talent are difficult and slow scouring Instagram profiles on YouTube and messaging and not getting replies, or going through agents of popular instructors and finding out this contractual issues, or compromise. It's a massive headache for that. Yeah. So if you want, if you're heavily invested in your future as a fitness, professional, developmental, is a step that you need to take increasing your ability to coach and communicate, and improve the level of the standard of your training is really important, because one of our mutual friends, Shannon faible, said something really important on a podcast once and she said, when you qualify, that's the minimum standard that's required to coach.

Will:  16:10

Yeah, absolutely.

Richard  16:12

You should be buildingon that now, right. And I always talk about camera confidence. But then the next step up from camera confidence is being production ready. And brands are looking for people who are production ready now. So you're not afraid to step into the camera. But you also know how to work with a production crew. You know, what to do, what not to do, and you're willing to put the time, effort and effort into understanding the brand that you represent. Yeah. So rehearsing for them, reading their brand guidelines, understand what they're all about. And if you're prepared to do that, people will pay you for it, like handsomely, and they want people that they can rely on and can do it long term and can be contracted. So if you're thinking yeah, but I'm not a famous star, and I've got big Instagram following. They don't want people are big stars, they want to find the new talent, because they don't have to deal with the headaches of contractual agreements.

Will:  17:02

Or they're personally doing their own thing, because they've got such a big following.

Richard  17:06

Exactly. And, and there are so many problems that they have to deal with regards to that availability is one of them is they're being booked up all over the place, and you're free seven days a week, or you're willing to travel big distances, that's the sort of thing they want to know. And so I've been working a lot recently on developing guidelines for people to create show reels. And when I put the feelers out there, people are like, how do I do it? How do I craft show reel?

Will:  17:30

And by a show reel, you mean a like some content that shows your skills and what you can deliver in a in a way that you can send out for view.

Richard  17:40

Yeah, and I'm sure everybody has seen

Will:  17:42

Like an actor would have, right? Like?

Richard  17:45

Yeah, and that's exactly where it comes from any sort of,

Will:  17:47

A demo, like a singer would use to send out to somebody.

Richard  17:51

Yeah, yeah. So I mean, I come from a TV background. And when the TV company that I was working for, you know, was taken over all of the production, crew, cameras, editors, you name it, we're digging into the archives to pull together show reel. Yeah, because it's a demonstration of what their skills and abilities are. And that's what a show reel is to instructors, right. Yeah. And there's there's too much to go into for show reels right now. Yeah. But it's, it's like that bit on Big Brother, when they say let's show your best bits. That's what it is.

Will:  18:18

Exactly well, maybe that's, that's a future podcast that we can bring you back for,  how to create the perfect show reel. But in the meantime, if instructors do want more guidance from you on creating this, then I'm assuming that they can join your group, and there will be resources there or links to places that they can go.

Richard  18:35

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, the Facebook groups got loads of posts in, which tends to be more where I addressed technical questions and strategy questions. If you want to get the hottest stuff, and always the best stuff, then follow me on LinkedIn. And it's Richard Playfair, or search for Sweatlife Films. And you'll find me on there.

Will:  18:54

We will link to it in the show notes. Well, Richard, as always, thank you very much. You've dropped some knowledge on our listeners, we will put a list of all of the things we talked about in this podcast in the show notes. And thank you very much. So good luck for you having your, your holiday. I know that you need it.

Richard  19:11

I'm gonna go and eat crisps and chocolate.

Will:  19:14

Very, very good. Cool, thanks Richard. Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying the show, don't forget to subscribe for all the latest episodes wherever you get your podcasts. And while you're there, please drop us a review. You can also get in touch with me at will@sh1ftfitness.com. I'm Will Brereton and you've been listening to Group Fitness Real Talk.