Because Everyone is talking about it, we start off talking about Man City vs Tottenham, Once that's out of the way, we get to discussing Donald Glover and Rhianna on Guava Island, Stanley Tucci and Kiernan Shipka being in the unfortunate wake of A Quiet Place, David Harbour in Hellboy. And Shaun makes some shocking admissions of well loved actors who do nothing for him.

Once a year, some of the most celebrated literary minds descend upon the sailing town of Cowes, specifically on the historic building Northwood House and the Isle of Wight literary Festival happens. Fours days of celebrities turned authors, authors turned celebrities, scientists turned both and a heap of punters lucky enough to get a ticket.

My wife loves books and last year we were lucky enough to get tickets to a talk by Sheila Hancock, the twinkly eyed legend of stage and screen, and after it was over this is the only video I remember seeing of this amazing event.

A few years ago, I was filming at a digital futures event for Digital Annexe, making the video below. I heard Will Sansom of Contagious magazine say businesses always want  to jump on the latest band wagon and develop their strategy for it so they ask questions like: What’s our Pinterest strategy, what’s our Instagram strategy, what’s our YouTube strategy….

As I spend a lot of my time convincing people about how video would be good for their business, It should come as no surprise that I wholeheartedly agreed with businesses asking themselves the last of those three questions. Especially when I am close by with business cards at hand.

But then, Will said: "THAT IS THE WRONG QUESTION TO ASK."

"Instead of asking how can we jump on the latest social media platform/fad/ flash in the pan," He said, "businesses should ask ‘What is it that we do? What do we specifically offer? Who are we trying to reach? and which of these outlets are best poised to help us out."

I found myself agreeing with him even more.

In my travels spreading the “online video gospel”, I’ve run into a wide range of people, from those who have heard of this YouTube thing and want a piece of that action right now, all the way through to people who think it has nothing to offer them and its just what these kids waste their time with nowadays.

When I meet up with potential clients, my standard line is that "Video is how a lot of the world takes in information nowadays and the old maxim of 'I won’t read the book, I’ll watch the film' now extends to websites, and any  message you might care to put out there."

Now this true. But still it might not be obvious where to begin, and the truth is that there is no one size fits all approach to video. Here are some questions and considerations that you can ask that will help you decide, as Will put it, how and whether video will best work for you.

FIRST THINGS FIRST ... WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE?
Make sure you have something definite to say, even if it’s just BUY OUR PRODUCT. if you are already in business I’m hopeful that you’ve already got this down. I’d recommend you having a look at your Welcome and About Us pages on your website. That is probably the beginning of a video script right there and a healthy refresher for you. If you still find yourself going, 'Yes, that’s exactly why we do this’ you’re in good nick.

So since January this year (2014) I have started touting my self as a "video producer". Something I have essentially been doing for the past 5 years (with increasing levels of competence) and now find myself in the perfect opportunity to start as a business.

I've recently moved to the Isle of Wight, following my recently acquired wife who obeying the all powerful order of the NHS, has gone where they've told her. I gave up my job as a Campus minister in London and made a move that prompts a lot of people to say "oooo, that's a bit of a change" to which my stock reply is "yes, but a welcome change". More of that as we go along. But being here has given me some opportunities I might not have otherwise had such as the radio interview above. Went rather well, they invited me back for a film phone in.

I'll be chronicling what I get up to on these pages as time goes on and showing examples of projects that I'm working on. I'll also be rambling on about insights I've gained from going through the aforementioned "bit of a change". Hope to see you in a later post.