Cisco CEO John Chambers on Healthcare
Did you look at the video above?
It’s John Chambers, CEO of Cisco.
He is no dope. And what he has to say is both intelligent and important.
Did you watch the video. Did you make it to the end of the video? Come on…. Anyone?
It was only 1:37, but it’s hard to watch.
It’s hard to watch because talking heads online are death.
Death.
No one wants to listen to them.. .hardly anyone can. And in this case, it’s particularly hard because he isn’t even making eye contact with you. He’s kind of staring off slightly to the right of the camera, no doubt reading off a teleprompter.
You have to want to watch. And apparently no one does, because the video has only gotten 803 views and four of them are mine.
I would also bet that 90% of them never got to the end of the video.
So making the video and posting it are pretty much a waste of time.
The irony here is that John Chambers is not only CEO of Cisco (and owner of FlipCam), he is also a great believer in the power of video to transform, and as the coming lingua-franca on the web.
And here he is, on his own site, saying just that.
The problem is that video, particularly online video, is more than just having some corporate in-house video squad set up a camera and some lights and a teleprompter and record what you have to say.
It may be video and it may be online, but it is unwatchable. And if no one watches it; if no one can even get through to the end, what is the point in having done it at all?
Online video is different.
It is a language, and like any language, there is a subtlety to using it to communicate ideas. If John Chambers were writing a paragraph to explain and communicate CISCO’s take on healthcare, you can bet he would spend plenty of time crafting the writing so that it had a flow and held people’s attention. In online video, this is even more important, because it is so easy and indeed commonplace to simply dump out of the video before it is over.
I watched a lot of videos on the Cisco site. They are all the same. A corporate talking head in a suit, reading a teleprompter.
Terrible.
And tragic.
Because Cisco is one of the good guys in the online video world.
They OWN Flicam.
It’s in their interest to show that online video can be compelling.
What they are doing instead is killing their own business by showing that online video that has important content is death.
Over and over.
But there is a small measure of hope…. small.
Buried amongst Cisco’s almost mind numbing and unwatchable talking heads in suits videos is a small gem.
It’s CEO John Chambers demonstrating his duck calls.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuDnm77wb0M[/youtube]Ironically, it’s not only the most watchable thing he does… it’s also done on a flipcam.
You see, he’s not nearly so stiff in real life as he is in his corporate videos.
Now, if only he could deliver important information as well as he does duck call info.
Not that duck calls are not important.
8 Comments
Rob Gulley September 14, 2010
A little late to this comment board, but I just have to say “Dang, how I wish I could have articulated this brilliant thought myself!”
I run a video production company near Detroit. I re-read this blog entry from time to time to remind myself of what I’m doing and how to convey this important to message to my own clients.
Great work, Michael.
Pingback: Talking heads online are death? : The Video Reporter
Matt June 01, 2010
I agree – very boring. So where does our just finished corporate video rank on your scale? http://www.abercap.com/youtube_captioning.html
We don’t produce, just do the back-end captioning to videos so we are novices when it comes to production. I had an in-house guy shoot the video and his style was to do the handheld option. I know I’m getting old so I let it go but it doesn’t seem professional to me. Thoughts?
Michael Rosenblum June 01, 2010
jeez Matt,
The video is a mess. And that telegraphs that Abercap is also a mess, which may or may not be true, but it’s the impression one is left with.
The video should be as tight and disciplined as the business, or as the business wishes to appear.
This says ‘we are messy’.
The irony is that the Matthew Cook (is that you?) is a very good and articulate spokesman for the company. You’re in the offices, at the facility. Put a radio mic on Mr. Cook and walk him around the place. Let him show us all the stuff that you do. Lose the cut aways to the stills – very bad. Show me the racks and the equipment and people at work. Show me some examples of what you do there. Create an arc of story – follow a video through the process. Show me what you do!
It’s all there in front of you, and so simple to do. But above all the video must be perfect. The shooting and editing must be perfect. This is not. This is a mess. Just my opinion. People have spent their lives watching TV and movies and have an expectation of a very high standard for video. And its easy to achieve. But this is not it.
Ron McCoy June 01, 2010
Michael:
I’d shoot the director or staffer who let him mug into prompter before you toss out this technology. At least he had a lav mic, a little low, but still better than the flip cams camera mic. (see Kodak Zi8).
It’s always a toss up with “prepared approved scripts” vs wandering eyeballs showing the gears turning in their heads. I agree talking heads are bad, medium shots against busy logo walls are worse. Video storytelling with conversations are preferred over monologues. I like to engage executives in conversations that get the to their passion. They often are great persuaders, but lousy TV personalities w/o considerable training.
Thanks for pointing out the obvious, hopefully more corp communicators will pick this up and start thinking about interest vs convenience.
Eric B June 01, 2010
Good posts. Producing video is much different than the typing a press release. It is easy to type – and communicate – but video literacy is more complicated. More dimensions to work with – words, audio, video, shooting, editing, storytelling, creativity, lighting, etc…
Rachelle June 02, 2010
Very well said … “video is much different than typing a press release.”
I also find that companies are treating social media like 1990’s PR too. They’re trying to “control” the message and make it a one-way information stream.
Problem is, social media is … well … social. It’s a two way conversation.
I’m looking forward to seeing how online video and social media evolve and merge.
Vanessa June 01, 2010
Ahhh, the dreaded talking head. Believe it or not, I actually watch it all ONLY because YOU posted it on YOUR website. Yes, I am still shaking my head in disbelief…..or am I shaking my head LAUGHING MY ASS OFF because I watched it just for that reason……LOL