AP 0022: Which Pen and Tablet Do You Use for Your Electronic Whiteboard Videos?

AskPat 22 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: Hey, what's up everybody? This is Pat Flynn, and welcome to Episode 22 of AskPat. My name is Pat Flynn, and I'm here to answer your online business questions, five days a week.

And today I want to share a resource with you that I actually created three years ago that is still completely relevant today, that is AskPat.com/WhiteBoard. AskPat.com/WhiteBoard. If you go through that link, it will take you to a YouTube video where I teach you how to create an electronic white board. It's a really cool thing, actually. If you imagine a YouTube video, and it's just a white screen, and all of a sudden you start to see somebody writing something on top of that white screen, as if somebody was just taking a pen and writing and scribbling on the screen. That's exactly what a electronic whiteboard video is, and the effect that it has on your audience is amazing, and the way you're able to engage your audience, and teach stuff. You can even show parts of, you know, a website for example, and start circling things, and talking about things. I mean, the possibilities are endless. It's as if you had your own overhead projector for your audience. And if you don't know what an overhead projector is, you're probably very young, because an overhead projector is something that I used . . . or, not, I didn't use, but I saw my teachers use back in school. They would sit up at the front of the class, next to this chunky piece of equipment, with this glass screen with super bright light, like, if you looked in it you would be blind for a few seconds. And they'd put this sort of transparency, clear thing on it, and start writing with a dry erase marker. And then they'd teach you math, or whatever, on it. That's sort of the same effect here, and I get so many comments from my videos which use the white board, the electronic white board effect, and AskPat.com/WhiteBoard is going to help you achieve that effect.

And the reason I'm talking so long about this is because today's question has to do with the equipment that you need in order to do that. And so, today's question is from Jenn. Let's hear from Jenn.

Jenn: Hey Pat, this is Jenn Swanson, calling from CommunicationDiva.com. I'm calling because I was looking under your resources, and I bought Screenflow, but I was interested in the Bamboo tablet and the pen, and it's not showing available anymore on Amazon. I wondered if you had any other suggestions that I could use. I want to start doing some educational video capturing, and I really liked the white board that you did. And I'm wondering if you could let me know what other products would be comparable to the Bamboo tablet. That would be great. It's, again, Jenn Swanson at CommunicationDiva.com. Thanks.

Pat Flynn: Jenn, thank you so much for your question. And I have to thank you also, because Jenn, I know you've been following my blog for quite a long time, and you even sent me a happy birthday message once, and I thought that was really special. I do remember that, Jenn, so thank you, and it's really cool that I get to answer your question here on AskPat. And you also get a t-shirt. So I'm giving you back something, which is awesome, for having your question featured here.

But anyway, to answer your question. For a little bit of background for those of you listening, I used to recommend, to go along with this sort of white board video strategy, a tablet. A pen and tablet, which is the equipment you need, it's a little, sort of flat square, sort of pad you put next to your keyboard, with a pen on it. And that pen sort of moves your mouse cursor along the screen, and when you push down on this pen, it sort of is like clicking, and that's sort of how you can draw or write on the screen, that's your pen and tablet. I used to recommend one called the Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet, and apparently they don't make it anymore. And I get this question a lot, so this is why actually I wanted to feature this question, because it's a really easy answer.

So if you go to AskPat.com/Tablet, that will take you to the new one that I recommend. I've tried it out, it actually does work really, really well, in the same ways that the other one did. It's only eight inches by six inches, so it's very small, but it does the job. This is the Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch Small Tablet. Wacom Intuos . . . that's a weird word, Intuos, Pen and Touch Small Tablet. Again, the affiliate link for that, that goes to Amazon, which I do get a small commission for if you go through that, but it's a direct link, no extra cost to you. AskPat.com/Tablet, and that's there. [Full Disclosure: As an affiliate, I receive compensation if you purchase through this link.]

Now, I do want to mention for everybody else listening, who may not be familiar with this sort of strategy or method yet, some of the other tools that you're going to use along with this. Now, you mentioned, Jenn, Screenflow. That's a screen capture, or screen recording, software, and that will enable you to record yourself writing on the screen, whether it's on a white screen, you know, on Photoshop, or there's other tools out there that you can use to write on, like Gimp.org, or Pixlr, that's P-I-X-L-R dot com, and there's also GetPaint.net if you're on a PC. Those will allow you to create a screen, and then select the pen tool and start writing on that. And what you do using Screenflow, is record just that portion that you're writing on, and it just looks like a white board when you're writing on it. And then you just export that to YouTube, and boom, you're done, awesome.

Now, if you don't want to use Screenflow, if you have a PC for example, Screenflow is only for Mac. If you have a PC you can use Camtasia. Camtasia Studio is for PC. Camtasia also has a Mac version too. So, you know, any of those tools will really well. Now, the tool to use to start, you know, circling things on websites for example, or other things on your desktop that's not in that white board, the tool you want to use for that is, if you're a Mac user, is OmniDazzle. That's the tool, sorry, I thought there was maybe a dot com there, but there isn't. So it's just OmniDazzle, O-M-N-I-D-A-Z-Z-L-E. And that is what . . . you know, you can actually create a sort of hot key, where you press a couple keys on your keyboard and it toggles the pen, and you could start drawing on anything. And if you have Screenflow open, or Camtasia open, you could record yourself drawing anything. The OmniDazzle is actually picked up in the screen recording, and you can do the same thing. And I use that a lot when I'm showing parts of people's websites designs that I like, or think needs improvement. So I'll start the screen capture software, I'll pull out my OmniDazzle tool, and I'll start circling things and drawing arrows. There's also another hot key, once you learn the keys to it, to erase everything, to start over, and you can start drawing on other things. It's, like, different colors, it's pretty cool.

But when you're doing just the white board, the way I do it is, I record myself recording into a 1280 by 720 white screen, and I actually do it now with a little bit of a logo at the bottom right hand corner, or the upper left hand corner, I can' remember, just to brand it a little bit. So when it's on YouTube it's not completely white, but I've sort of imported my logo onto this 1280 by 720, which is the HD size for YouTube screen, and then I just start writing on it. And then when I'm working in Screenflow or Camtasia, I crop it down to that size, export it, boom, you're done. That's all I have for you guys today. Again, check out that video, AskPat.com/WhiteBoard. All the right equipment and everything, and all the instructions are there, a demo, all that good stuff.

Jenn, thank you so much for the question, I can't wait to send you the t-shirt for AskPat. And if you have a question that you'd like featured on AskPat, head on over to AskPat.com.

And of course, as always, I want to leave you with a quote today, and that quote is by Brad Henry, and he says, "A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning."

And so, I pulled out that quote because this white board effect is, you know, you're teaching, and we gotta remember why we're teaching. We want to ignite the imagination, and we want people to enjoy the process of learning, and I feel like this white board effect can help people enjoy learning things about your niche, while also helping you stand out of the crowd at the same time. Thank you so much, I appreciate you, I'll see you in the next episode of AskPat.