As I was packing my bag in preparation for my session at WordCamp NYC 2018, I thought it would be fun to share what I am packing and why. So in this video, you will see exactly what I bring when I go speak at an event, and some things I bring depending on the event.
Transcription was done by Descript‘s automated transcription services which means it’s an AI-generated transcript. The transcript may contain spelling, grammar
If you have ever spoke in public at an event, a workshop or conference, whatever it is, then you might have been the situation where you’re not sure exactly what to bring to that event. In this video, I’m going to share what I bring when I go speak at events. Hey, this is Scott Wyden Kivowitz, a storyteller with a camera talking about all the things photographers like you and I are thinking about in this video we’re gonna be talking about a topic then up. All photographers are thinking about, but a topic that many photographers this, especially the ones who teach are always thinking about now I am in the process of preparing my class for wordcamp New York City, which happened well before this video went out and I’m in the process of preparing what I’m bringing and actually the, you know, the keynote slides and all of that stuff.
So today I want to share what I actually bring to conferences when I go speak and what I sometimes bring depending on the conference. So first and foremost, if I am speaking, I am bringing my laptop. I experimented with only bringing an ipad once and I will never do it again, and the reason for this is because all those keynote on the ipad is actually fantastic. It turns out that some conference venues, their technology to receive from an ipad is not that great. For example, I was speaking at our photography conference last year and at that conference, my first session, I had two sessions on two different days and the first session it went well, not so good. The ave system would not accept the video signal from the ipad in this particular room on the next day when I did the same exact session, but in a different room.
It took it perfectly fine. So over the first day I actually had to borrow a laptop, get the keynote file on that laptop, and then do my session. I had to rush through it and uh, I still got through it. I’d have much time for q and a and you know what the feedback I got was actually still pretty good. All things considered, all the technical difficulties, but I’m never gonna put myself in a situation like that. Again. I will bring a laptop even if it’s a hassle to bring the laptop now when going to conferences, I’m either driving or I’m taking a plane or I’m taking a bus or train or whatever. I always have my airpods. I’m actually in the process of testing out this case for the air pods is a sort of silicone case that actually has charging in it, so instead of buying a new case for my airpods, I just slipped the airpods into this, put it on my charger and now I’m recharging my airpods and of course I can always take the case off and he’s a lightning cable if there’s no charging available. A pen I always have with me a pen. This is actually one of those space pens. It happens to also be like a tablet touch screen thing, but I can pop it off, turn around. I got a nice way to penn that’s feels good in the hand and it’ll always work for me. Nice to have a pen handy, especially one that can write underwater and upside down and in space.
Now, depending on the conference, I will bring a camera like the one that I’m actually filming on right now, the Nikon D850. I would bring it with one lens, most likely a prime lens, not a Zoom Lens, a most likely a 35 millimeter so that I can vlog or I can record something and it’s just a good overall all around lens and with that, depending on the conference, I will bring a legit tripod, but sometimes I won’t. I will only bring a handheld small tabletop tripod. This tripod, this is actually from
It still feels good in the hand. It’s solid and it doesn’t flop over on. You just let it be. Now if I am not bringing my camera or if I am bringing my camera, I just want to also have something for my phone. I will bring this. This is the Glyphs, I think it’s the second version of the cliff, but basically it’s a got a tripod, a whole their tripod, a hole there to try and plot hole there. You put it on the top of the tripod and then you can get your phone in there very easily. Now one thing I am in the process of reviewing, and that is why I have this for this specific event, is this, this is actually the chem laps and this is basically an egg timer that my camera can go on. My big camera can go on or I can actually put my phone on using this and then I can turn this and I can get a time lapse that is one hour long.
I can go 360 degrees for an hour. So this will be really handy for uh, you know, just fun, sort of b roll time lapse type things. So for this particular event, I am not bringing my big camera. It is a wordpress conference. Uh, I am going fully mobile. I will be doing some video footage, probably some blogging, but again, I will not, I will not have my large cameras. What I will be doing is be bringing my moment lenses. So I’ve got both the telephoto and the wide angle mobile lenses, a moment lenses, sorry for my iphone 10 and I will most likely have the 18 millimeter wide angle on here. For the most part. That is what I find best for sort of doing just, you know, just cool videos. Now of course you gotta be prepared for the presentation, for the laptop, for just different sort of situations that you made not be, you know, aware of in the beginning upfront.
First is my travel surge protector. I always plugged into a surge protector, my computer. That is if there’s none available, I’ve gotten my own. I can plug in Usb, I can plug in three plugs. I am perfectly safe. I’ve got everything there. Get these ones are on sale. These are fantastic business cards. You got to have business cards. I have both my photography business cards and my work business cards for imagely. This. This is something that I cannot go to an event and present or talk without. This is my logitech remote. This has a built in USB dongle. You plug it into windows, Mac, whatever. It just works. It’s two AA batteries, two AAA batteries. Sorry, it’s two AAA batteries and let’s turn this thing on Jupiter. It vibrates. If my time is running out, if I set the timer, I can control the slides and it also has a green laser so I can point to the screen.
No problem. Don’t try this in your eye, so that is really useful because now I can control my slides from wherever I am in the room. No problem. Now the biggest problem with speaking at events and having to plug in your laptop is knowing, do I need Dvi, Vga, htmi, what do I need? Well, you got them all covered. When you have these dongles, these all going to the display port of the Mac book. Now there’s different ones and there’s now USBC one and whatever dongles, this will allow me to go into anything that is put in front of me. I don’t have to worry about any signals going to projectors or to smart screens or anything like that. Of course, when you go to conferences, you don’t always have the ability to plug into a wall. When you’re an attendee and as a speaker.
The only opportunity that you really have to plug into a wall for the most part is when you’re is when you’re presenting. You can plug in at the same time as your computer. That’s why I have these. You just saw a video about these. These are my ci chargers that are actually completely the is a battery backups for my phone so I can charge both my airpods and my phone with both of these. For many charges, the charger for my laptop. Now this is actually inside of a product. The Sidewinder basically it keeps your apple power blocks safe and lets you undo it like so, and then when you’re all done, wind it up. As we all know, as Mac owners all know the Kibo, the thin one is extremely flimsy, especially where it meets the actual power blocks, so this solves that issue. You do lose a little bit of the length of how long you can go, but it keeps your power block safe.
I got a little bit of a bonus tip for you. If you’re at an event where you do not know if it’s being recorded and you want to have your talk, your session, your class, if you want that recorded, I recommend getting something like this. It’s compact. Now, if you’ve got an extra camera that does video, by all means, I only have one at the moment, so this is the mevo. This actually can live stream my session if I want it to, and it can go on a tripod. I can hook it up to a wireless Lav. It will basically allow me to either record my session or live stream it or both. I can live stream it to youtube. I can live stream it to facebook wherever I want. Now, this particular event, I did not bring the Nivo because every word camp session is actually recorded and put online for free after the fact.
So there you go. That is what’s in my bag for a typical conference that I’m speaking at. It got, I got the essential oils, I’ve got some sort of bonus things that I like to bring with me. And then of course there’s some bonus items that I don’t always bring with me because, uh, I don’t always need it, but when I do need it, it’s quite handy. If you have any questions about any of the products that I have shared, just comment. Let me know. Happy to answer them. And if you like this video, click that subscribe button below. Now. I publish new videos every Monday and Thursday whenever possible. You don’t want to miss it and be sure to slam that bell.
