Broadcast Yourself!

Broadcasting yourself...I don't think that this is something that I could do for a living! Kudos to the folks who do this and do this well. :)

I chose to broadcast myself and kept the content light. I picked something to talk about that I love and  am passionate about: kitchen tools! I love to cook and love to find neat kitchen gadgets, and can talk to you for hours about why the Wusthof Nakiri knife is the best knife you can add to you chopping arsenal. I often talk to my coworkers at school about kitchen "stuff" when they are in the market for something new. I enjoy reading, pricing, and experimenting with kitchen stuff, so for me this was a no brainer.

I used the website uStream (because of the wonderful free trial) to broadcast myself. I thought that I would log on and just wing it, and it would turn out wonderfully. What a joke that was! I am not a nervous person, but found myself stuttering over my words, not focusing on the webcam, and making no sense of my thoughts. Epic fail for me!

I had enough of making mistakes and decided to try again, but this time with a list of talking points. I made a list of fun kitchen tools and their uses. I chose to discuss 5 different tools and how vital they are to your kitchen. They are:

• Cutlery: Wusthof Nakiri Knife- 7 inch.
• Cast Iron Cookware: Le Creuset Dutch Oven- 7 quart. 
• Cutting Board: John Boos Wood Grain Cutting Board 
• Tools: Lamson Sharp Slotted Turner
• Pretty & Fun: Mason Cash Mixing Bowls- 4 qt. 

These are all things that I can live without in my kitchen, and wanted others to know how durable and wonderful they are too. So, I placed them all next to my laptop and made sure to highlight them and what I loved most. Having something to really focus on that was tangible was very helpful, because it took the stress off of the camera and helped me not focus on myself so much. I found that once I did this, I felt much more comfortable and ready to broadcast. I also imagined that my tools that I used were the today's specials on the Home Shopping Network. This may sound funny, but it helped me to really think about what I was talking about, but without the selling pressure. 

I really enjoyed this broadcasting assignment, but do realize that a Youtube Cooking Tools Channel may not be in my immediate future. I definitely see how this is helpful in educational situations especially if you were to hold a live help or tutoring session for students. It was an interesting experience, but I am not sure if I will be broadcasting again anytime soon :)