New Tools For A Hybrid World

Noticed the world has changed and we're likely not to see a return to what was the previous normal. Cheryl Plouffe here, video strategist with Camille Padilla from Vodium today, and we want to really bring this conversation around hybrid tools. The world has changed. We know this, but we still need to find ways to continue to have and use tools like Restream. And others to be able to keep that sense of connection that is ever important in, especially in the business world, right, Camille? So I'd love for us to just start that conversation there. Like, what do you think is the future of these mediums? Are we going to see a return to the old normal in your opinion, or do you think this is the new normal?

Sure, and thank you for having me on. You know, with my company Vodium, I do it with my best friend and co-founder Mary, when the pandemic happened, you know, she and I were in different places and I was conducting video shoots over Zoom for my past job. I was in advertising. I traveled across the country getting individuals set up on camera. And when I was conducting a video shoot over Zoom, I soon realized that there was no seamless application that sat on top of Zoom or any other video conference that allowed individuals to feel confident, to feel empowered, to still engage and have that effective communication that they were so used to having in person. And I was working with clients that were running for federal office or who were already elected officials. And these are individuals that are, are living such busy lives that they just swoop in, right? They swoop in, they're ready to shine. They have a teleprompter, they have something that can just help them piece together their day and they execute it with such excellence and poise. But when the pandemic happened, the fact that there was no application already like Vodium was super, super surprising. And then as we realized people needed it, they had no idea they needed something like this. But with virtual, what we've realized now almost a year and a half later is that there are a lot of benefits of virtual and/or hybrid communication. In my selfish way, I hope that it stays. I think a lot of companies and of the countless conversations that we've had with our customers and individuals, they have found so many benefits. For the parents who are at home, who have found a groove, for the individuals who love their dogs and want to fold some laundry during an annoying conference call. A lot of people's mental health did suffer. People do need stimulation. But what I want to engage and ask, were there any positives that you felt like you reflected on the assumptions that we had about our work life that the virtual world helped us question? And that's really what our mission is at Vodiam, is for you to be able to have a flexible work balance, be able to work from anywhere. But do not forget that with video, even though it's been super intimidating, it's technology, we have to relearn how to get an ROI and put impact to work. But can we make it work for us? So I hope it stays. I think we'll have trickles and people will reimagine. We have new technologies, AI, so many people and innovators are wanting to create stuff. But I think in the future we will see more condensed stuff. There's a lot of different applications that people are using. And so I hope in the future that there will kind of be single platform avenues that encompass all things. Including something like Vodiam.

Yeah, I love that. I agree with you. I think that the realization for a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners from having been forced into using the virtual modes of communication that we have, they have actually seen some advantages to that. I.e., especially events, you know, cost savings from the perspective of, you know, getting on a plane and going to a convention for 3 days and everything that that entails. And now, the possibility of doing those things maybe in a virtual world or maybe some type of hybrid, I think is going to be interesting, you know, to see how that plays out over the next decade or so.

Yeah.

But what doesn't change is the fact that if we, you know, we're going to be using these mediums. This is the reality of where things are and it's not gonna be going away. We have to find ways and tools like, and that's why I love Vodium and why we're talking because I think you're onto something in terms of allowing people to still have, and I showed it on the screen a moment ago, what Vodium is, maybe you could better describe it, but it's a box really. It's a box, an app that is placed— or you place it anywhere on your screen. But I like to place it close to the camera so that I can put notes in there or a script. I'm more about the notes than a script. But nonetheless, you can do it and you can use it as a teleprompter and set it so that it's scrolling or just using it as a notepad. But you're able to keep your eye contact with the lens, which is super important. Right. I'm talking about this all the time with people. And people ask, well, how do I keep eye contact with, you know, when I'm on an interview with Zoom, as opposed to doing this, Camille, where I could be looking at you on the screen right now? I'm not looking at the lens. I'm just looking at you on the screen. And sometimes, the screen is even further down on this. So now, how do we keep our gaze up and our eye contact intact so that we can really build those relationships and connections? And that's what I love about the tool that you and your best friend have created? Mary, right?

Yeah, she's my best friend. She's my sister. We've always joked— we've been roommates for years— we've always joked like, when are we going to open up a company? We have no idea what it's going to be. And in the pandemic, personally, we were going through such hardships. And she's 30, I'm 29, almost 30. We were working very intense jobs, you know, amountless of hours, truly going over and beyond for something that we didn't know we had a passion about. And the pandemic, like the 2008 crash, right? People are forced in a corner in so many ways to reimagine how to better assess and approach the world. And this was something— I was in Los Angeles at the time, she was in Memphis and DC. I called her immediately. She was the first person I had to chat with because she has an intensive product marketing background and she's absolutely brilliant. But I knew that with my background, like you said, a teleprompter, that's exactly what Vodium is envisioned with, a teleprompter. But with the countless of conversations that we've had and our customers, like you said, Cheryl, a majority of our customers use Vodium for their notes, to take notes, to relay notes. So we really stress that Vodium should be used every single day. Of course, it can be very uncomfortable to know that if you really wanna make an impact on the other side of the screen, you'll have to be looking at the camera. That was something we had to teach people. And that's something that Vodium does. And you also mentioned the specific size. That's so people's eyes don't go too far left or too far right. Vodium is super simple. We definitely still consider ourselves a startup and we're super excited to keep on growing and see what we can put in action from all of the feedback that we've gotten. Because what people are finding, right? It was super funny. People in the beginning of the pandemic, of course, their mind wasn't here. Their mind wasn't like, we need something like VODIUM. I need something that sits on top of my video screen. It would be amazing if I had transparent technology. I don't know how to control this. Can I do it automatically for more formal videos and scripts? But is there a way that I can also control it manually? Font size matters, speed matters. Yeah. All of that stuff we're still teaching people. And we like to encourage individuals to chat with us because I think the biggest thing we want individuals to understand is that this is totally shaky ground. We're here with you. But if you do want to take the advantages of understanding that if I have a 30-minute meeting today that I really have to make an impact, and, but I've been doing so many other things, I've been so busy, and I can just type exactly what I want to say in front of me. Oh, and no one on the other side knows that I'm— that's the key.

That's the key. And because only you know that you're using that tool, right, to be able to keep on track with your notes or the order in which you want to do it. And I'll give you a case, a use case, like how we've used it. And because we do this show, it's a live stream podcast. We do a live stream video like we're doing here, and then we repurpose it to a podcast. But when we're doing the live stream portion of the show, you know, we've had it so like we put the screen, you know, just below the camera, and then I can just have my notes there. And what's— what it's really great for is things like, especially for me as a show host, I might have statistics that I want to share, numbers, dates, details, and things like that. That's what I personally love to use it for because I'm not as dependent on a teleprompter, or I don't really use scripts, but that's just me. There might be people who do need to have a script and I'm okay with that. Of course, you have to do what you have to do. But for me, it's about that keeping those details. Another good example would be a URL. It's like remembering a URL. Speaking of, I'll put yours up, which is vodium.us. And I would just say this. And I know Camille, you'll speak to the generous offer that you're making for our audience today who may want to get Vodium, I'll let you explain what it is that you're willing to do.

Of course. So because Cheryl has been so gracious and we love her platform and how you are truly helping so many individuals in this time right now, if you want to email me, and it's super, super simple, it's my first name, camille@vodium.us, and just email me. Let me know that you watched this or heard through the grapevine via Cheryl. That you heard about Vodium and we'd love to offer you 2 months free. And I would also encourage you to hop on a 15-minute video chat with me because I think the biggest thing with technology, and the funny thing is Cheryl, with the pandemic, I was, I'm definitely living that very true entrepreneur lifestyle and I love it. I let my lease run out in Los Angeles, I moved back home and I lived with my parents. Now I'm in Nashville, but when I was living with my parents, my dad was also going through a huge transition with work. And he became president of a university, which is such a big deal, so proud of him. But he needed Vodium in those very down-to-the-wire meetings. He's so, so busy, and then he would have to prepare for something or memorize something. He'd be like, "I just wanna have it right in front of me." I think the biggest thing that Vodium has showed up is being reliable and accountable, and we truly promote that. It's going to be a walk-run scenario. There are individuals that are coming in here that have experience with speaking in front of the camera, speaking in public. It clicks with me, but with technology, it can be intimidating, and we don't want people to get discouraged that it doesn't work right for them, because Vodiam is supposed to work for you. There's so many ways that you can manipulate it and adjust it for your comfortabilities. So when I say hop on a video chat with me, I know we are all so busy. I know we're meeting to meeting and we're sometimes stuck in our homes and consumed, but we are learning something new, and Mary and I are so happy to chat with people. To alleviate any anxieties that are truly so, so curable with just some time with us.

And that's, and that's the thing, that these tools exist because you and Mary, in this case, have created— this is your baby. You've created this tool, and the tools are available. And that's the thing I love about technology. And I often say to people, you know, and I'll often talk about different pieces of technology that I love and use. And I've tried a lot of different things because I want to be able to impart to others the technology exists. It's out there. Half the battle is knowing it exists.

I know.

And then with your help, with my help, we can give some examples of how might that thing be useful to you, you know, so that you can do a better job or be more organized or have your points in front of you and be professional and and keep eye contact. And you know, I think about when I was a broadcaster. One of the most important things that we did in the studio was looking at the— you have to look at the lens. You have to look at the lens because you have to think in your mind and personify that lens as a person. Personify it. Make it a person that you're speaking to. One singular person even though it's reaching the masses.

Yeah.

You're reaching the masses but you have to speak through to one person in order to make a connection to the masses. That's the thing I love about this tool. And are there any other tools aside from the one that you've created? But are there any other tools out there that you're excited about that you use in your own business, you know, inside of Vodium?

So there are two tools. One is Otter, right? It's a transcription service. I think there are many transcription services. Otter, O-T-T-E-R, .ai, I believe. It's just super affordable. And you know, when we would have conversations specifically with sales individuals, they were like, well, I need to take notes and I like looking up and down and I get that. But when you are trying to persuade someone on the other side of the screen who may have had already 3 Zoom calls before you and is wanting to check out, They're super distracted. They have every distraction in front of them they could easily act upon. So you like literally have to suck them in. And with your broadcaster days, right, with your voice, with your inflection, you really have to put on a bit of a performance. So Otter transcribes your notes for you so you don't have to be anxious that you've missed something, right? It's just recording, obviously, depending on what state you are, but you should always be upfront to say, hey, do you mind? I'm using a transcription service. Service to take down our notes. And then another service that I truly love, it's called Loom, L-O-O-M, if you're familiar. So like I've mentioned before, and I really pride myself in this, Mary does too, we like to record easy videos to customers of— or anyone who is having an issue with Vodium, of, you know, being a little flustered with the technology because they are just super overwhelmed by anything anything new. And of course we can email, of course we can get a meeting on the books, but Loom gives us the ability to personalize a quick video message for them to immediately meet Mary or I and understand that on the other side of Vodium, it's she and I, it's two founders who are just trying to survive and crush it and give you something that we truly built because we thought it could help. So, Loom is super amazing if you don't want to type out an email and you'd rather just chat. Because I like to talk versus type something out. It's just how my head computes. Loom has been super helpful.

We use Loom as well. It's funny. One of the things we do on Cash In On Camera is we have a little segment near the end where we call it, 'Stop marketing like it's $19.99.' So, I'm gonna put those two tools that you've just mentioned, Otter AI and Loom into the category of stop marketing like it's 1999 because those are great tools to share. We use Loom as well. I especially love using it for team videos where I'm like, I'm working with my assistant and we need, like, I need to show something and I'll record a quick Loom and send it to her, um, as, you know, task-related things, you know. And, and Otter, I'm familiar with it. I don't use it. I use Descript. But, you know, they're like you said, so many different tools. You have to find And that's really a great place for us to land this plane today is to say, you have to find the tools, the hybrid tools that are going to work for your business. And you might need to explore a little bit and do call, have a call with Camille and certainly take advantage of the 2 months free. You have to email camille@vodium.us to get 2 months free of the service. But try it. What is the harm in giving it a try for a couple of months and seeing how it works for you? As a hybrid tool amongst all of the other tools that you may use to run your business. So thank you so much for sharing those tools. It's awesome, Camille. And congratulations to you and Mary on the launch of an amazing tool. I'm really impressed. And I really wish you and her all the success with this. So thank you so much for being here on Cashing on Camera today.

Thank you so much. Have a great rest of your day. Appreciate you.