ANDREA RUNNELS
February 2016: YAY!! YOU DID IT!!! You jumped on Periscope and did your first broadcast. Bravo! Your courage is admirable and Mama Runnels is proud of you. Hold on. Someone reading this needs a pep talk. Excuse me? You didn’t do it yet??? Isn’t it scary how I know;)? Go directly to my Part 1 and Rinse and Repeat. It’s the post right under this one. Well, after you read this. I believe in you and I know you have awesome ideas to share!!! You can borrow my word of the year. It’s CONFIDENT!! I’ve got more inspiration for you to press that red button here!!
I have a few more general broadcasting tips that I’ve compiled from my own experience and tips from Sheila Jane Teaching and Jessica Martin aka The Whimsical Teacher and probably several others. You can find my sassy, redheaded self @socstudieswhisperer on Periscope.You can find a lot of my replays from katch.me on YouTube. There is a service called FullScopeTV that you can pay for to save scopes.
If you need help with the technical stuff let me know in the comments and I will be happy to help. Oh, tangent I just found this https://help.periscope.tv/! Lots of helpful stuff. Take a peek at all the help topics after you read this. Alrighty, I’m a girl with a short attention span so I’m going to tell you what makes me want to keep watching a scope and give you other tidbits, too.
More Beginner Runnels’ Real Talk (and there’s always more RRT)
1) If the broadcaster is humble and doesn’t sit there for 10 minutes waiting on people to join (awkward!), I will stick with them. Get started within 30 seconds to a minute or people are going to lose interest. Some people choose to have a song but don’t feel you need a theme song. I do because I’ve always wanted a reality show;). Runnels Real Talk: If you are a new broadcaster, it might take a few scopes to get viewers. Plus Periscope can be weird with notifications. During the school week, people are super busy and may pick and choose which ones they watch. In Part 1, I gave you a cautionary tale about a diva move I pulled when I thought I didn’t have enough viewers. Rookie mistake.
2) Speaking of during the school week, factor in timing when you scope. If you do a crack of dawn Periscope (don’t hold your breath for those from me haha) and you live in Georgia like I do, people on the west coast may still be asleep. Sometimes I will do scopes right after school and not as many people will join because they are still teaching at that time. Remember, you never know how many people will watch your replay!!
3) Make sure you introduce yourself and give us your niche or passion (Whimsical Tip!) so you brand yourself. I hope people think of me as a go-to person for Social Studies. I make sure I mention that at the beginning. At first, it can be a challenge to moderate comments and talk so you may want to mention that you are a newbie and you will watch the replay to make sure you didn’t miss anything. Make sure you thank the replay viewers for watching and tell them they can “tweet” you if they have any comments. Don’t feel you have to welcome every single person by name. A great tip from Sheila Jane is to have people put a “-Andrea” at the end of their comments so you can get to know them. People do like to be noticed in broadcasts but if you are new just do the best you can. There is a learning curve for sure! We’ve all been there, too! If people do share the broadcast, that’s wonderful but do not ask them to when you are a Periscope polliwog. Many Peri-experts say you should ask people to share. I disagree because I think it’s annoying. It’s like asking for likes on Facebook. If I like what you are saying, I promise I will let people know. As will others.
4) Tell people where else they can find you on social media. QUICKLY. Helpful to have a hyperlink to your blog (if you’re a blogger of course) in your profile. Lots of people use a business card or just a PowerPoint slide with their social media info as their opening shot. I made this on Canva. There are free social media icons on TPT that I’ve used. I got these from http://www.carrieloves.com/.
5) If you have a catchy title with lots of emojis, you are going to get people’s attention. Even if you cringe everytime you see a “winky face,” or you still call this # a pound sign, you have to factor in your audience! A trick I learned is to prep my title in the Notes app and copy/paste. Less nerve-wracking and you don’t want to accidentally hit broadcast now if you aren’t ready!!!
6) Think about that title and make sure you clarify “the lesson” at the beginning. I try to structure my broadcasts like I would a lesson with my 5th graders. A hook, meat of the lesson, and then a summary. Some people, probably 90% of other scopers, make notes for reference while scoping. Now I don’t do this because I’m one of those fly by the seat of my pants people. It’s kinda my shtick and it ain’t changin’ folks. This would be a great idea if you get nervous. You know you have a bazillion post-it notes. Well, there’s another use for them! If you’re scoping about a blog post, do not read it to the viewers. BORING. Plus, why would they go to your blog if you gave away the milk for free?
7) I saved the most important real talk moment for last. 2 little words. Be yourself. Nobody wants to see someone trying to be a copycat or going for an Academy Award. Imitation is NOT the sincerest form of flattery when it’s straight up trying to be someone you are not. Remember, you are trying to show your best self to promote your business or your wonderful classroom ideas. People will see right through cookie cutter carbon copies of another scoper and I bet the original person plays themselves better than you do. I refuse to watch anyone who comes off as fake, inauthentic, or overly “salesy.”
I know I’ve given to tons to think about but it comes from the heart. I’ve made lots of connections with some pretty outstanding people through the Periscope machine. I’ve laughed. I’ve cried. I’ve been fired up. I’ve been inspired. I’m just a person in the trenches right there with you. I hope I can be a source of confidence for you as you begin your Periscope journey:).
Part 3 of the Power to Periscope Primer is Pocket-Sized Prompts. Can you tell I maybe kinda like alliteration;)? It’s already in the planning stages and will be coming to a blog near you (well this one) very soon. Happy Periscoping!!
Part 1 Power to Periscope: Confidence!