Orchestrate is a web-based scheduling tool for service and maintenance personnel.  Andy Wright (CEO) has built a great service that is beautifully designed, the site launched 7 weeks back.

Andy wanted to demonstrate the app to his site’s visitors so he created his own screencast.  Currently it is shown here (YouTube), Andy has engaged us to work on a replacement, now shown here (also see our write-up for the new screencast).  Here’s the original:

The Good

• Short video (1:42)
• Clear and well paced audio
• Even without zooms the video is very clear (thanks to YouTube’s HD option)
• Clear demo, the app looks easy-to-use
• Shareable (thanks to YouTube player)
• Transcript provided for extra Google Juice and accessibility

The Bad

• Andy sounds bored!  This leaves the viewer unengaged
• The video forgets to sell the main USPs of the product
• Lots of wiggly-mouse action when a zoom and highlight would make the point more clearly

The use of YouTube is interesting – the HD option keeps the video’s quality high and Andy has access to the Insigh analytics that YouTube provides.

I spoke to Andy about the audio, this was his first screencast and he narrated whilst recording the screencast which made it difficult to concentrate on the tone of what was being said.  A Twitter user remarked along the lines of “Could this guy sound any less interested?” (tweet since deleted), thankfully Andy saw the tweet and was able to start a conversation:

@nicepaul – I appreciate your candor regarding my voice-over at http://orchestrateapp.com/tour, I’m working on an improved track (twitter)

@andykiteman hope i wasn’t too frank! just seemed not to do the site (which is great, btw) justice. (twitter)

@nicepaul No, your honesty is greatly appreciated and was echoed by others. I was screen-casting & reading the script at the same time – v. bad idea (twitter)

The fact that the video doesn’t mention the Unique Selling Points (qualifications are constraints, locations are integrated, write-ups are required for Compliance reporting) is a big mistake.  From the inside, it is easy to forget that you have to spell everything out to the first-time visitor.

We are working on an improved screencast for Andy that addresses these issues and walks you through A Day In The Life of Orchestrate, I’ll link to the result once it is ready.

The Critique of Orchestrate, a Web-app for Scheduling Tasks by ProCasts' Blog about Professional Screencast Production, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England License.

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