As a Professional Geek with Microsoft Australia, Nick Hodge spends part of his time convincing suckers like Laurel Papworth and myself to sit still for five minutes and bare our souls on camera. So, I thought I'd get my own back on Nick, by picking his brains about how to tell better stories through video blogs. Here are his top tips:

• You've got to start with a story. Don't just stick a camera in someone's face and say "talk". Come to them with questions and a purpose. Remember, this is not like writing, where you can simply add your own words to build a story out of random comments. You have to do much of the storytelling in the planning and the filming. One of Nick's storyboards can be viewed on The Geek Stories.
• Location matters. In fact, you can use location to tell a story that goes beyond the immediate subject matter. For example, consider Nick's use of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in another of his posts.
• Be animated. You have to move, according to Nick. I found this interesting, because back when I used to write most of the web programming tutorials for APC, I was encouraging spokespeople to sit still for web video, with plain clothing and substituted backdrops. That was when bandwidth was a major constraint. These days, it's attention that's in short supply, and you must use your body language in a video blog, Nick says.
• Remember the audio. Bad audio will kill a video long before bad video will.
  

Thanks Nick! I'll remember these tips.

Oh, and for anyone who viewed the entire video and wants to know more about garage rock, I recommend a trip to the I-94 Bar.