How to process GoToWebinar video

Skip straight to the GoToWebinar video guide

I’ve had a busy run of webinars recently, based mainly around my most recent Giveaway event.

It’s been interesting to see how providing live coaching has improved the quality of the event, in terms of the people it attracted and the standard of the listings … so I’ll do it again in future.

However, what a hassle it’s been to process the GoToWebinar video, I can’t believe how difficult GoToWebinar make this process.

There is a webinar alternative called DimDim which costs $75 per month for 1000 users and this is excellent for processing video … it not only sends you a processed .flv file after the webinar, it also posts it to your account so that attendees can view it online straight away.

There are a few things that DimDim lacks at the moment – such as a private work area before the webinar begins to allow you to get ready before the attendees arrive and the reminder and follow up emails that GoToWebinar gives you – but it’s going to be a very serious contender in the webinar scene very soon once it addresses these basic issues.

The other really great option for easy processing is AnyMeeting.com, I’d use this all the time in preference to GoToWebinarif it only allowed contributors to speak and interact via microphone, it’s an excellent service.

So, in the meantime, we’re left trying to process our GoToWebinar file … and it’s not easy!

So here’s my definitive guide to processing GoToWebinar video … compiled through personal research and after conversations with people who have worked out how to do it themselves.

Guide to processing GoToWebinar video – Option 1 (best & cheapest!)

1) Save your GoToWebinar video in the basic format when you sort out your webinar settings (see below). It takes ages to encode after the webinar if you choose the ‘Convert to Windows Media Player file’ option:

2) Download Windows Media Encoder onto your PC.

If you need to know whether you need 32-Bit or 64-Bit check here.

Windows Media Encoder basically allows other users to view the video file that you have made using Windows Media Player.

It does what the second option does in the integrated GoToWebinar options (see image above) but it does it at a time of your suiting, probably not immediately after the webinar.

3) Next you need to follow these instructions, and my thanks to Malc who passed these on to me:

1. Select “Start”, then “Programs”
2. Choose “Windows Media”, then click “Windows Media Encoder”
3. Select “Convert a File”, then “OK”
5. Select “Browse” next to Source file: and find your GoToWebinar video
6. Choose “File Download” and click “Next >”
7. Select “Next >”, no changes
8. Select “Next >” again, no changes
9. Uncheck “Begin converting when I click Finish”
10. Click “Finish”
11. Select the “Properties” button
12. Click the “Compression” tab
13. Click the “Edit” button
14. Highlight whatever is in the Bit Rates box
15. Click “Edit”
16. Check the box for “Same as video input”
17. Select “OK”
19. Click “Apply”
20. Click “Start Encoding”

(Info provided by Malc from livingto150.com – thanks Malc!)

4) Camtasia  will throw up an alert message when you import this file type for editing, so you’ll need to go through another conversion stage!

5) I find AVS Video Converter a brilliant tool for changing file types between .avi, .mp4, .flv, .wmv and .mov as well as DVD and Blu-Ray formats … and it’s very cheap.

At this stage I convert the file to a .avi and Camtasia will then allow you to import it and edit it.

It’s a great tool to have around anyway if you’re working with GoToWebinar regularly, I highly recommend it.

Most converters of this type are browser based, so it’s useful to have a bit of software that sits on your PC that does the job quicker with big files.

Note: I do tend to convert my files from .wmv to .avi before processing in Camtasia.

Guide to processing GoToWebinar video – Option 2 (effective but expensive!)

1) Follow step 1 above.

2) Use Sony Vegas Pro (version 8.0 upwards) to render the file as .wmv or .avi (expensive, but a trial version is available!)

3) Import into Camtasia for processing to a .flv which will reduce the file size and make it more manageable.

Useful tools to use

It’s very cheap, very easy to use and means you can be processing files outside Camtasia so you’re not tied down while Camtasia is processing.

Tips

Edit and render in Camtasia if you can – especially if you have Camtasia 7 which is very good.

Use .flv files if you can, good quality, smaller files, easier to work with.

For posting your replays online, use ezs3.com in conjunction with Amazon S3 or Cloudfront … it makes it all really easy.

S3 and Cloudfront mean that your videos are hosted on Amazon’s servers in a way that means they will load quicker, you’ll get fewer stalls and less buffering … quicker, better video basically.

I struggled with Amazon S3 for ages, but got going really quickly using ezs3, it’s a great site.

I move between this and EasyVideoPlayer Pro which has the advantage of not having a subscription fee.

It also allows you do add HTML, a payment button or a URL redirect at the end of a video.

Difficult choice between the two … I still can’t make up my mind … but do use one of them for an easier life!

Any more GoToWebinar processing tips?

If you have any other tips or techniques to add to this GoToWebinar Guide, please let me know.

Check out this Webinar replay with Paul Teague and David Chamberlain

Read comments about previous webinars held by me in the article We got some amazing webinar feedback this week

How about you, what do you think?