More On-Demand courses...

David BoccabellaDavid Boccabella Moderator
in Suggestions and FAQ
I can guess that having the  paid webinars is a good line.. But can we have more FREE web courses for those that pay the $50 subscription.

Approx one FREE course a month  compaired to about 10 paid webinar courses. Now it should not take that much editing to grab the footage that you take from the Webinar and then post it as a web-course. You have already done 95% of the work when you post it to You-Tube.

Or is the subscription becoming just a way to advertise your paid webinars.  I'm not asking anything for free - just a percieved value for money for the $50 I spend each month.

Marc

Comments

  • Andrew LeeAndrew Lee

    I would agree that the frequency of new on-demand material has definitely dropped off over the last couple of months, while the number of webinars is rapidly increasing. As of posting, I could sign up for 3 different multi-day webinars and 6 webinars have been completed since the last on-demand video was uploaded.

     

    The amount and breadth of on-demand material provided by SWS is really remarkable. There must be fifty different courses that you can watch whenever you want and a real bargain for the price of subscription. A bargain if you are new to SWS.

     

    I have been a subscriber for two years now and have watched nearly every video in the library, with those I have been really interested in and utilised in my own projects I have watched multiple times. I have also taken a number of the webinars as a watch and chat. I realise that it does not say anywhere in the terms and conditions that SWS promises to upload new training every other week. Maybe I have been spoilt by the early days of refreshing the video page and seeing new videos every week or so.

     

    As my subscription is due at the end of the month, I am now considering whether or not I wish to continue with the subscription model, or spend that money on the webinars that I am most interested in.

     

    Do I mind if a webinar that I have paid for becomes an on demand video? Not at all. It would be a real shame if the material contained in the webinars was locked away forever. I am still not sure why there is no option to purchase previous web courses. There is definitely a difference in watching an on-demand, edited version of a course. A lot of real pearls of wisdom is learned from the ‘profs’ when they are speaking off the cuff and it is not subject to editing.

    Now SWS is offering in-class option for the webinars – is this another direction?

     

    What I would like to see for me to maintain my subscription model:

    1.     A more regular transition of webinars to on-demand edited version. This does not need to be 1 webinar to 1 on-demand video. Many of the webinars that I have watched can be broken down into bite sized videos. For example the airbrushing webinar with Craig Fraser could easily be made into three separate on-demand videos. (Mechanics and airbrush cleaning, Airbrush effects and the Frankenstein demo)

    2.     A steeper discount for webinars for people that have had a continuous subscription for a year. Forgoing the 10% discount if I drop my subscription is a not a big incentive. I would need to watch 60 days of web courses to break even.

    3.     An option to purchase previous webinars. I would have thought that this one would be a no brainer.

     

    I think we need to start thinking about webinars as the first run at the movie theatre. Many people can’t wait if the content is what they are really fired up by, and will be happy to purchase a seat. Others can wait for the DVD. The content may not be specifically in their field of interest, but if they are like me, will watch an on-demand  video purely for entertainment and knowledge.

     

    By the way – love all you guys and what you are doing (Even if you have cost me a fortune in tools and materials over the last two years) and I am sure you have a solid vision of where you are taking the school.

     

  • David BoccabellaDavid Boccabella Moderator
    With the Webinars I find myself in a tricky situation. Being a non-US person (Australia) the time zone differences can be disastrous for me.. And I'd be watching at a time where my concentration levels would not really give me the benifit.

    Yes - I have sat down and watched the vid's later on YouTube but I could have easily waited.

    Again my plea.. Please - more on demand info.
    Dave


  • Chris EllerbyChris Ellerby Admin
    Some great points there Andrew!

    I'm sure the webinars will start being edited down into more on-demand videos like the latex mask painting webinar by Casey Love and Tim Gore, and the hair punching webinar by Deborah Galvez.  Both of those made amazing on-demand videos (I personally learned a lot from each of them).

    As we are starting to see more of the webinars appear in the on-demand list it would appear that SWS is on the same page.  I think we all just need to be patient, as editing down day-long (sometimes multi-day-long) multi-cam webinar shoots is a monumental task.  As we are learning, so are the folks at SWS, and I'm sure they will eventually get the release cycle of webinars and on-demand content more balanced.  

    As someone who is hungry to learn and can not attend most webinars due to scheduling conflicts I too am eager for more frequent on-demand content, and it looks like we'll start getting more soon.  That said, I really enjoyed the webinars I have been able to attend, and hope to attend more in the future when my schedule permits.  And as I'm based out of LA I really hope to attend some classes in person eventually, but the cost/time commitments of the current live lessons are just not feasible right now.


    /Chris
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