Video Per Day Experiment Explained

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Video Per Day Experiment

During the late summer of 2019, I happened to see a few posts about this thing called a Video Per Day Experiment. I really didn’t know anything about it but I was already Twitter friends with a number of the people participating. I decided to participate and am so happy I did.

Twyla Verhelst is starting a new session on January 1, 2020 and this is what you need to know.

What’s the Video Per Day Experiment

The Video Per Day Experiment is a month long experiment that was started by Twyla Verhlest during 2019. The premise is very simple:

  1. Record a 60 second video of yourself speaking,
  2. Post the video to your favorite social media site,
  3. Use the hashtag #VPDExperiment
  4. Repeat the process for 30 days.

There are no rules about the topic of the 60 second video. You can talk about anything that you want, or really nothing at all. The point is to get comfortable recording yourself and posting it to social media. You’re going to get comfortable hearing yourself and seeing yourself and, along the way, pick up on some of your unique communication skills.  You might like what you see or you might realize you need to practice improving your delivery.

Let’s breakdown the process so you can see how easy this really is:

Recording a 60 second video

Every day you’re going to record a 60 video of yourself speaking. Like I said above, you can talk about anything that you want. When I did it this summer, most of us who participated started out by explaining what we were doing and then moved on to explaining what we wanted to get out of the experiment.

Everyone who participated was new to this type of activity so we all were learning as we went. Some people talked about some pretty heavy stuff and their personal struggles, while others were pretty light and talked about how their day was going.

You can record your video just about anywhere. A lot of the videos were in people offices but most of us ventured out and tried recording in different places. I think all of us recorded some of the videos out in our yards and gardens, and even our cars. Here are a few that stood out to me:

As you can see from these examples, you can talk about anything, film from anywhere, and speak for as long as you want. At the beginning, 60 seconds feels like forever, but then as you get the hang of it, 60 seconds goes by way too fast. You realize you have to be concise if you want to have a well thought out message. Some days you’ll be under a minute and some days, you might go over. There’s no grade, and there’s no right or wrong. The biggest thing is to just do it!

Post the video to your favorite social media site

It seems like this is the hardest task (or was for me). You’re posting your video to the world and that always comes with the risk of criticism or judgement. I posted my videos to Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. However, most people just picked one site and stuck with it. One of the important things to do is include the hashtag #VPDExperiment so other participants can find you. This will help. Getting the support from everyone else is invaluable and you’ll learn a lot about them. By the time the experiment is over, you’re going to miss seeing and interacting with them everyday.

Use the hashtag #VPDExperiment

It goes without saying that posts on social media are easy to get lost. Using this hashtag helps you find the other participant’s postings and helps them find yours. During the experiment I was very OCD about checking out what everyone else was posting and trying to comment on them. This made it fun and interactive and I liked the feedback so I assumed everyone else did, too.

Repeat for 30 days

Participating for 30 days might seem like a lot of time, but believe me, it isn’t. When you first start out it will sort of feel like you’re floundering but then about half way through, you’ll get your groove. Then, all of a sudden, it will seem like the end is coming way too fast. The last week of the experiment I had to be selective to make sure I covered everything I wanted to and didn’t waste any of the time remaining.

When the whole experiment was over, we had a Zoom meeting where we could all get together and talk about our experiences.

This is most of the participants from the original group of Video Per Day Experiment.
This is most of the participants from the original group of Video Per Day Experiment.
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