A Cat’s Stamp of Approval

3 New Stamp Videos on YouTube

Omar Rodriguez, APS E-Xpress

In the last week 3 stamp collectors have added new short stamp related videos in YouTube. Below the links. Take a look and get inspired.

1. Fan Mail by Tom Richards
2. Where is my Teddy, by Janet Klug
3. Juarez, Maximilian and the Giadalajara Provisionals by Omar Rodriguez

When are you finishing  yours?

Mine took about 12 hours from beginning to end. But it is much longer than it should be…

Please let me know when yours is uploaded in YouTube so that the link can be posted in the APS website

Cheers, Omar

You may comment on this post (link is under the article title above).

How To Create a YouTube Stamp Video

Omar Rodriguez, APS E-Xpress

With a little patience you may be able to upload your video TODAY!!

If you use your PC a lot, this will be a breeze. If not, it might take a little patience on your part. But at the end of the road not only you will have surely contributed to our cause, but also you will have been empowered with a modern tool.

Janet Klug and Wade Saadi report they were able to complete the whole thing in a few hours. So don’t dispair. You can do it!!

What we are looking for:
We need many videos in the internet that will show non-collectors how interesting stamps are, and how they relate to topics that they are interested in. Your end product should be:

1. Short. Attempt to keep your video around 2 minutes long. The attention span of internet audiences is truly very short.
2. A simple storyline illustrated with stamps, covers or cancels. Not a detailed or exaustive account of the topic.
3. Targeted to non-philatelists of all ages. They will find your video when surfing in the internet while looking for information about the subjects they are interested in. So simplicity is critical. They will find your video because of the “tag” words that you yourself will enter when you upload your video in YouTube. (which is free). So think of words describing your subject that those non-philatelists will likely use to surf in the internet. You can use many different “tag” words. The more you use, the more likely your video will hit a potential future stamp collector. Wade explains very well how to focus your story in the Challenge.
4. Your video should not be just the pages of your stamp exhibit. Instead, it should be a storyline of a topic you care about illustrated with very selected stamp related items. It is key that the video has some form of narration.
5. Avoid images or music which are copyright. If in doubt, don’t use them. (e.g. Janet tells me that US stamps from 1970 on should not be used without USPS permission). She also recommends music that is specially available to be downloaded free of charge.
6. The closing of the video should give viewers who like the idea of collecting stamps where to start, such as the following APS links. This one, Learn About Stamps, is a new finding guide for beginner collectors that goes live this week. It is the result of a one year project with the collaboration of APS/NPM/PH to help grow our hobby.
7. If you have concerns about becoming anonymous when uploading your video in YouTube, do not include in your YouTube account any personal information you don’t want others to have on line. When you open your YouTube account (for free) you can choose whatever screen name you want. Janet has had so far 1,600 hits in her cats video and has not received any spam mail yet. She thinks YouTube does a good job of protecting privacy.

STEP BY STEP PROCESS
I recommend you first look at Janet’s and Wade’s videos before you start, Janet’s was created without a camera using scans of images on Powerpoint, while Wade’s added short video images made with a simple video camera. Their videos can be see in in the following links Janet’s and Wade’s.

Then look at the following detailed instructions. Look at Janet’s link below first, and then watch either of the other 3 links depending on the equipment you will use and the type of computer you have

‘How To’ Videos and Instructions

• Step-by-step instructions on how to create and post a video to YouTube without using a video camera — by Janet Klug
• How to make a video on YouTube with a camera or web cam
• PowerPoint to YouTube using Windows Movie Maker
• PowerPoint to YouTube using Mac iMovie

Sounds daunting? No, it is not. It is actually much simpler than you think. And if you are as inexperienced in the internet as I am, this may be a way to enter the new world in a fun, rewarding way.

By the way, if you upload your short video before June 30, you could even win the APS President’s Challenge YouTube competition, with a prize of a $250 gift certificate redeemable for APS products or services. More importantly, you will enter the internet generation and will help us reach new collectors!!!

Please let me know when your video is uploaded, so that we can add it to the APS website. Contact me if you wish to bounce ideas about your specific storyline or how to make it fit in a 2 minute limit. Hope to hear from you soon.

Invitation to Promote the Hobby

Omar Rodriguez, APS E-Xpress

While viewing all the extraordinary one-framers in Arlington, Wade Saadi, Janet Klug and I agreed that most of them could easily be great ambassadors of our hobby. By uploading them as short videos on the Internet’s video sharing website YouTube, an enormous viewership of internet users could see them. Since these great exhibits already have a story, told in only 16 pages, they are wonderful candidates for a short, sweet, to the point video. Clearly they have the potential to attract new collectors into our hobby.

As you may have read in the March edition of American Philatelist, Wade and Janet (neither of whom had prior YouTube experience) each put together a short video illustrated with stamps, about a personal topic they feel passionate about. Wade’s video is about toy trains, Janet’s is about cats. The results were amazing and have gathered hundreds of viewers on YouTube. The best part is neither spent money nor much time in making them. You can help the hobby by doing the same thing. It is a win-win proposition.

So here I am, inviting you, on behalf of the APS, to help us make that a reality: Let’s bring many of Arlington’s one framers to the internet! Spend a few hours to translate into video the story you created for your one frame, illustrate it with your stamps and covers, and upload it in YouTube. We will help you navigate the technical side of this.

Sounds daunting? No, it is not. It is actually much simpler than you think. And if you are as inexperienced in the internet as I am, this may be a way to enter the new world in a fun, rewarding way. Your children, nieces and nephews could probably help you with making a video and you get the benefit of learning from them and making them feel a commonality with you!”

Are you at least curious about the possibility?

I am Omar Rodriguez, (contact me at APSYouTubeOmar@aol.com), a fellow collector (Mexican stamps) and APS member. I will personally respond to every email I get. We will send you more information on how to do this, and share with you hints on how to focus your theme so that it gets lots of internet viewers. In the meantime check out Wade’s and Janet’s 2 minute videos at the APS YouTube page.

By the way, if you upload your short video before June 30, you could even win the APS President’s Challenge YouTube competition, with a prize of a $250 gift certificate redeemable for APS products or services. More importantly, you will enter the internet generation and will help us reach new collectors!!!

Hope to hear from you soon.

What is YouTube?

Janet Klug, WE Think

YouTube (youtube.com) is a video upload website that allows users to place their own videos and share them with, well, the entire world. The Pope has a YouTube channel. So does President Obama and Queen Elizabeth. And so does yours truly. It doesn’t cost anything to view videos; and it doesn’t cost anything to upload your own videos.

Millions of people have uploaded millions of videos. If you have an interest in something, you enter your search into the search box on YouTube and you will be offered suggestions. I love the author Neville Shute, who wrote, among other things, On the Beach and A Town Like Alice. I keyed in Neville Shute, thinking there would be nothing about him or his books on YouTube. Wrong! Fifteen selections were presented to me, including one chilling tribute to Shute’s On the Beach novel. But I digress.

With millions of people accessing YouTube on a daily basis to be educated and entertained, this is an Internet technology just waiting for stamp collectors (that means US/WE) to exploit.

I’m on a committee called “New Initiatives” of the National Postal Museum’s Council of Philatelists. This committee is chaired by APS President Wade Saadi and I chair a subcommittee called “Building New Collectors.” The “Building New Collectors” subcommittee has several initiatives in various stages of development, and one of them is the YouTube initiative.

In order to kick-start this initiative, Wade and I both prepared video presentations that we hope will show non-collectors how interesting and exciting stamp collecting can be. Wade had his son video him talking about his toy train collection and trains on stamps. You can see Wade’s video here: Trains on Stamps.

YouTube screen shot of the introduction of APS President Wade Saadi’s video “Trains on Stamps.”

My contribution to the effort was done without using a video camera. Although we do have a video camera, I wanted to be able to show others that you don’t need expensive equipment to do this. If you have a computer, you have what you need.

It helps to have a broadband connection, as viewing video on dial-up is exasperating.

My video is called “A Cat’s Stamp of Approval.” It shows lots of colorful cat stamps and the story is told ostensibly by my cat Bandit, who sounds a lot like me.

The whole idea is to put together a video “exhibit” that will attract non-collectors. Our two videos together have over 1000 viewers, so in the 2+ weeks they have been up, they have reached people we would never have been able to reach before.

And that is what WE should be doing!

Now I can hear your excuses: “I don’t have a video camera.” You don’t need one. “I don’t have the time.” Who does? If it is something we really want to do, we always find the time. “I don’t have the computer knowledge.” No problem. written instructions, will follow in another article.

“I don’t know anything I could put on the Internet.” Hey, you have an exhibit, don’t you?

YouTube may or may not be the future of our hobby, but it is here now and we are not using it. I implore you: Use it! Make a video. Promote our hobby. Recruit new collectors. Be creative. Consider the “President’s Challenge” to expand the hobby. Consider this may be the future of exhibiting, and WE can lead the way.