Is it too late to start a university degree? And is there any point?

Great job Elliot! :headbanger: I think the tips others have suggested are very good and will help improve the quality of the video and content. I would add to lainey's suggestion about telling people at the beginning what they will know can further taken advantage of summarizing 3 or 4 key points at the end of the 'section'.

So for example, if you tell people 'today we will learn about x, y x' and after talking about x, you review the material with a short (eg, under 1 min) summary, then proceed to y, repeat then z etc. In your description, you can put time stamps to the summaries. I think that will help get more of the information out there and appease the TL;DW (too long; didn't watch) crowd at the same time.
 
Nice and informational! I think the slides that had a lot of biochemical names and diagrams weren't up long enough to read. Also on what to do about excessive oxalate you mentioned citrate, but no protocol of treatment or testing. But maybe that is in the following videos?
 
Great video, Keyhole. Very informative. As others have said, I'd ditch the clock (it looked like your hair was moving at the beginning :-)).

You also might want to consider jazzing up the title. Plant toxins: Oxalates, Kidney Stones and Brain Fog as an example. So if peeps don't exactly know what oxalates are they may click the video if they have a certain condition that relates to the topic. Make the title an attention grabber.
 
At the risk of bragging on myself a little bit :-), I am set to complete a post-graduate certification in Data Science in April, (accelerated course). I have not been to school in nearly 20 years and my programming skills have gotten soft. I wanted to prove to myself that the old noodle was still working. Also, beefing up the resume in order to get a better job in the probably scant time left to make hay while the sun shines is probably not a terrible idea.

I am tempted to go another 9 or 10 months to get the Master's, but that would involve studying a lot of machine learning, and AI. Applied sciences and math is neutral, right? But this sort of technology is being used in a lot of, shall we say - entropic applications these days. Anyways, I am 61 years old, and I did what I did. Probably enough, but I must admit some curiosity. But the C's said something about computers overtaking us, and computers would eventually attain some sentience, which makes me nervous and queasy...

[edit:clarity]
 
Wow! Thankyou all for so much feedback on this. I don't think it would be appropriate to reply to every single comment, but I have tried to take all of it into consideration. In the past week, I made another video on a similar topic and did my best to incorporate some of the advice (although I did not manage to remember everything at the time of filming). It is a work in progress, and each time I do it I think I can improve.

Here is the latest video, and my responses to the previous comments are below the video. As always, if anyone gets the time, I would again appreciate some feedback on whether the changes were in the right direction or not. Thanks:


In response to lighting recommendations:

- I purchased a new set of budget lights after reading these comments and they seem to make an improvement, although they make my face look a bit washed out, so I am also using another light which is "orangey" in color to bring some warmth. Unfortunately, because my office is a darkish beige, it tends to make everything look orange. I am going to experiment with some editing to bring some balance to the color for the next-next video.

Background:

- I removed the clock!
- I am not sure how I could improve the background. I do have a desk, and so I can experiment with sitting behind the desk and filming with that format. I will have a think and try some things out in future, and then check it out here for some feedback.

Summary, video length & timestamps:

- I have made a new video, where at the start I make a bullet point summary within the first two minutes of the video. I hope that this is sufficient. I didn't get round to doing a full summary at the end, although I tried to "round off" the points midway through the video at the end of each section. I tried to remember all of the recommendations whilst filming for this one, but I forgot some of the things to implement. I will continue to improve this with each video, and aim to do a summary at the end (as lainey suggested).

- The new video is now 13 minutes, instead of 23 minutes - which is an improvement! The next aim is to reduce this to under 10 minutes.

- I added timestamps to the new video to improve learner experience (thanks, fabric!)

Clarity

- Not making assumptions about the listeners background knowledge is something I need to improve on. Instead of throwing around terms like "dysbiosis", I will explain what these mean and how they are applicable to the audience.
- Not repeating phrases unless they are in summary points should help to cut down the video time and improve signal/noise ratio.

- I would have full face hair or no face hair at all
It would be great if I could grow a proper beard, but that is not an option that is available to me just yet! Maybe when I am older it will thicken out a bit :lol:. In the meantime, I shaved it right down.
Pierre said:
Along the way, you might want to define more precisely your targeted audience (beginner, nutrition professional, nutrition enthusiast,...) and design the content (particularly levels of complexity and details) of your speech accordingly.
I forgot to do this on the most recent recordings I did, but I will do this in the future videos.

You also might want to consider jazzing up the title. Plant toxins: Oxalates, Kidney Stones and Brain Fog as an example. So if peeps don't exactly know what oxalates are they may click the video if they have a certain condition that relates to the topic. Make the title an attention grabber.
I agree. I tried to do this on the most recent video, although I am not sure whether it is still "jazzed up" enough.

Nice and informational! I think the slides that had a lot of biochemical names and diagrams weren't up long enough to read. Also on what to do about excessive oxalate you mentioned citrate, but no protocol of treatment or testing. But maybe that is in the following videos?
I will probably stay away from providing specific protocols because it can differ greatly from person to person. Although I did have another video in mind for the future to detail some specific practical strategies regarding what people can do.

Good job! Overall I agree with the suggestions, although it can be a matter of personal taste sometimes.
Making them shorter would be a plus, IMO, and also, perhaps getting a better microphone? You sound a bit like you are shouting, instead of being a "relaxed authority". ;-) From remembering how you sound in real life, I suspect you had to raise you voice quite a bit in order for the microphone to pick up the sound.
I am not sure it relates to the mic, although it might do. I actually think it relates to a tendency of mine to shout or overly project. I have noticed that when I do videos, I go into "lecture mode", which is the way I give public talks/lectures to a room full of people. On recording for my latest videos, I tried to pay some attention to this. Unfortunately, listening back to the audio... I did it again :umm:!! I need to nip this in the bud for future recordings. This will be one of my main focuses next time.

In response to BobDylan: the videos were not aimed at the layperson - although I agree that I should do some videos aimed at the layperson. I appreciate your recommendations here and will consider making much shorter and simplified versions for the audience who are not interested in the details.

Scottie said:
Don't try to predict that something will be popular. You'll be wrong. It's organic, so just do your thing and see what happens. Adjust course when it seems like a good idea. NEVER skip a certain topic because other people have done it. Do your own, and do it better in some way.

Keep in mind that every 24 hours, 45 YEARS of video is uploaded to YT (I'm not kidding). But there is always something you know that no one else does, or a way you can explain things that no one else can. Just do your thing and let the chips fall where they may. If people like something, give them more - but only so long as you don't sell your soul or sacrifice talking about other things.
luc said:
So, as tempting as it is, don't allow your mind to wander in the "how can I become popular? What will generate clicks? How can I earn more money?" direction. It's damn hard because the whole system is designed to make you think in that direction! I've fallen into that trap a few times and it doesn't even work and just makes me feel empty. So IMO the best approach is to always ask yourself: "How can I help this person sitting there, watching this video? How can I improve his or her life in a meaningful way?"

Thank you both for sharing your experience, as you clearly have a lot more experience in this area. It certainly is damn hard not to fall into a mindset which is geared towards generating views and customers. Since I am currently in the 'early days' stage of my business, the worries and stresses associated with generating income are high. A lot of my mental/emotional energy feels like it is taken up by trying to find ways to promote my service and appeal to customers.

This tends to take the focus away from "how can I help this person?" and places the focus on "how can I make enough money to sustain myself?". I know that the two are not mutually exclusive, but I am finding it hard to find a balance between them and to hold the two aims in focus at the same time (if that makes sense). I have a lot to improve on, but out of everything, I will do my best to make this one a priority.
You know, I'm really proud of you! I got a huge chuckle when I read the title of this thread started in 2014, and where everything has ended up at this point!!!

Thankyou, Laura. To read this from you is very encouraging and actually makes me feel proud of myself. If it wasn't for the advice that you and many others gave me in this thread (almost 5 years ago!), then I am not sure where I would be at this point.
 
At the risk of bragging on myself a little bit :-), I am set to complete a post-graduate certification in Data Science in April, (accelerated course). I have not been to school in nearly 20 years and my programming skills have gotten soft. I wanted to prove to myself that the old noodle was still working. Also, beefing up the resume in order to get a better job in the probably scant time left to make hay while the sun shines is probably not a terrible idea.

I am tempted to go another 9 or 10 months to get the Master's, but that would involve studying a lot of machine learning, and AI. Applied sciences and math is neutral, right? But this sort of technology is being used in a lot of, shall we say - entropic applications these days. Anyways, I am 61 years old, and I did what I did. Probably enough, but I must admit some curiosity. But the C's said something about computers overtaking us, and computers would eventually attain some sentience, which makes me nervous and queasy...

Don't worry about "AI". The more you know about something the better. I've studied ML and DL (these are nothing more than fancy curve fitting) recently and it's a lot of fun with a few applications that could be useful. Computers have already overtaken (or are in the process of overtaking) us, just see how people are wired to their "smart" phones.
 
Don't worry about "AI". The more you know about something the better.
Yes, and thanks for the reminder. The structured classroom environment is what I needed to get started. Some sort of self-study program that helps me get proficient in what I have been introduced to is also important. What Keyhole has done is very inspirational as an example of that.

I guess I just need to be careful that if I do get a job offer I can do what is required with a clear conscious. Other than that, gaining objective knowledge is a positive and creative aim.
 
Caught the second video and thought it really good (a lot to take in as a layperson and yet there were examples to help the process). Overall, this is launching off well and will only strengthen in time. Good job!
 
Thankyou, Laura. To read this from you is very encouraging and actually makes me feel proud of myself. If it wasn't for the advice that you and many others gave me in this thread (almost 5 years ago!), then I am not sure where I would be at this point.

In the immortal words of Mark the Infrared Sauna Guy: "Can I say something? Can I just say something?" (he prefaced everything he said by one or both of those phrases. It was simultaneously humorous and annoying, which isn't easy to accomplish).

The last time you UK peeps visited, we had a lot of good talks. We also had a lot of fun.

At the end of your visit, I mentioned to several people here how impressed I was with everybody. It's like you were all "blossoming" in your own way.

Frankly, it gave me a lot of hope - at a time when "hope" is basically a 4-letter word.

I've noticed lately that this also applies to many group members, not just the UK group. It REALLY makes me more optimistic about the future. I don't know how else to put it.

So, whatever ya'll have been doing over the past years, keep doing it, I say! I'm sure everything will work out for the best in the end.

:flowers:
 
I made another video! This video-making is getting quite addictive! This time it is under 10 minutes :grad:

The content is about how oxalates in the diet cause candida to go from being a "good guy" to a "bad guy", how it screws with the bacteria, and how it can cause leaky gut independently.

 
Agreed! The information in the description is more helpful and I found it more engaging. There is one more suggestion: you might want to put a piece of tape or somehow mark both the camera tripod position and your position. In some shots your head is fully in frame and others you are closer to the camera and the top of your head is cropped off.
 
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