This Lavacon 2013 presentation describes how the VMware Technical Communications team lead a cross-functional effort to produce video to address an important business need: helping users adapt to the new management interface for vSphere.

1. The vSphere Web Client Video Project:
A Case Study in Coordinated Content
Strategy
Wendy Shaffer
Confidential
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© 2010 VMware Inc. All rights reserved

2. About the Speaker
• Staff Technical Writer at VMware
• Coordinated initial phase of video
project
• Video “catalyst”
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3. What is the vSphere Web Client and why do we need videos about
it?
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4. vSphere
• VMware vSphere®
offers the world’s
leading virtualization
platform for building
cloud infrastructures.
• 350,000 customers
worldwide, including
100% of the Fortune
500
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5. 89% of all virtualized applications
in the world run on VMware.
Gartner, December 2008
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6. The “old” vSphere Client
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7. The new vSphere Web Client
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8. Comparing the Clients
vSphere Client
• Windows-only installed
application
• Tree-based navigation
• Familiar to users through
many years of vSphere
releases
vSphere Web Client
• Cross-platform Web
application
• Graph-based navigation
• Numerous interface
changes and
improvements for
users to get
accustomed to
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9. • Management at VMware identified video
as a key part of the strategy for helping
users make the transition to the new
client.
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10. Why Video?
• Video is visual.
• Video is ideal for short attention spans or
consuming information in small chunks.
• Video still has novelty value for some
customers.
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11. Who makes these videos?
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12. Who should make these
videos?
• A number of groups at VMware make
user-facing video:
– Support
– Technical Marketing
– Technical Communications
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13. • Management asked the Technical
Communications team to create video
to:
– Help users get accustomed to the new
interface.
– Teach users how to perform their most
critical tasks in the new interface.
– Highlight new features only available in the
new interface
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14. Video Content – It Takes a
Village
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15. A Global Village
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16. How do we decide what to make videos about?
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17. Generating Ideas
• Gathered ideas from developers, product
managers, quality engineers, and user
experience experts.
• Tech writers observed customers during
onsite betas.
• Tech writers participated in internal social
media discussions of the new interface.
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18. • Narrowed down to a list of 26 videos to be
scripted and produced by Tech Comms.
• Some additional topics were handed off to
Technical Marketing or Support to
handle in the videos they produce.
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19. How do we develop the script and the storyboard?
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20. Storyboarding
• Encourages visual thinking.
• The storyboard provides a way to specify
the relationship between voiceover and
visuals in the video.
• Writers produce storyboards in
PowerPoint, using a combination of text,
screenshots, and animation.
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21. V/O: Click an object to
display information
about that object in
the center pane.
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Screencapture: Show clicking
an individual host and
displaying the summary
screen.

22. Pitch Meeting
Writers present storyboards to other writers, as well as
representatives from tech marketing, support, user experience
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23. The Pitch Meeting
• Allows refinement of script before shooting
• Allows the development of a common
voice and set of stylistic conventions.
• Allows writers to leverage each others’
strengths.
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24. Review
• Ensure technical accuracy of the script.
• Proofread on-screen text to ensure correct
grammar and spelling.
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25. How do we do filming and production?
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26. The “Talking Head”
• Puts a human face on the product.
• Using actual VMware employees instead
of actors or voiceover artists increases
credibility.
• Increases viewer engagement.
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27. Examples of “Talking Heads”
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28. Filming and Video Production
• “Talking Head” is filmed reading script
from teleprompter.
• Writer captures video of the product UI
using Camtasia.
• Writers work with videographer to create
still graphics and animations.
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29. The Studio
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30. The Studio
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31. Review Round 2
• All stakeholders review the finished video
and suggest changes or edits.
• Final video must be approved by PM,
writer, and writer’s manager before
release.
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32. How do we get these videos out where customers can see them?
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33. Video Distribution
• Link from client home screen to videos on
vmware.com
• TechPubs Youtube Channel
• Social media
• At VMworld trade show
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34. Videos on vmware.com
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35. Videos on vmware.com
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36. Video on vmware.com
• Hosted by Brightcove
• Contains vSphere Web Client videos only
• More than 50,000 views in the first 7
weeks.
• Videos can be updated while maintaining
a stable URL for the video player
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37. Vmware TechPubs on
Youtube
• http://www.youtube.com/user/VMwareTechPub
• Has all tech pubs video content
• Youtube makes it easy to link and share
individual videos
• Can’t update an individual video without
changing the URL.
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38. Vmware TechPubs on
Youtube
• 5,534 subscribers as of 10/18
• 173,726 total video views
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39. Social Media
• VMware Support Insider Blog:
http://blogs.vmware.com/kb/
• VMware vSphere twitter account
• VMware Google+ community
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40. VMworld
• 21,000 attendees at VMworld 2012
• 4 videos were selected to run in a loop in
the demo booth during times when no
live demo was scheduled.
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41. Carrying the video project
forward
• Continue to produce videos between
major product releases.
• Carry on another coordinated effort to
create video for the vSphere 5.5
release.
• 15 videos published for this release; 12
more to follow in next 2 months.
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42. Lessons Learned
• Management support is critical.
• Not waiting for management buy in before
you lay the groundwork is also critical.
• Think visually.
• Small, focused projects can be great for
building collaborative relationships.
• Video can be a great way to demonstrate
what we do.
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43. It was excellent working from start
to finish with our script writers,
director and producer on the
videos. The key was having content
that is relevant to our users
presented in short, punchy videos.
Peter Shepherd, Senior Staff Engineer, VMware
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44. Credits
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45. Videographer
Chuck Potter
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46. Writers
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Dobrinka Boeva
Amy Bowman
Gary Gray
JoAnne Grey
Diane Huffman
Doreen Kasson
Renate Kempf
Iliana Kostova
•
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Michael Martin
Wendy Shaffer
Colleen Taggart
Ralitsa Tsoneva
Yordan Ugrinov
Svetlana
Voskoboinikova
•
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47. References
• Why Choose Vmware for Server
Virtualization?
https://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vmwar
e_advantage.pdf
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