This post as well as the video below is intended for attendees for the 2012 Family Medicine Education Consortium meeting in Cleveland, Ohio. If you're reading this, you're considering helping out to video document the meeting. Thanks so much for your consideration!
There are tons of complicated articles out there to help you record great vids. But, if you're using a flip video camera or your smartphone, there are two simple steps that you have to remember when you are recording video interviews at meetings:
1) Adequate Lighting: The most common error that is made is a dark picture because of not enough light. Try to make sure that there is almost a light focused on the subject. You'll see in this video interview that I recorded at the 2010 FMEC meeting - that there was not enough light. In another example from a 2012 meeting, you'll see in this video, the lights initially off, and then magically turn on during the interview. Kinda funny.
2) Little Background Noise: It's very convenient to catch someone just after a session ends, and before they leave the room. The 2nd most common error is not knowing just how much background noise will interfere with the interview. In this first example, here is an interview of me last year that was recorded on a smartphone. You'll hear that breakfast has been going on with the background noise. Would've been easier (but less convenient) to go out into the hall. In the 2nd example, I conduct an interview "behind the scenes" at a meeting in an empty room, with only some music in the background. It's kind of a spoof video, so enjoy that.
There are a lot of other tips that I could give you, but I wanted to keep it simple, Also check out my "tips video" below, and I hope to see you in Cleveland for the FMEC meeting!