For the audio next time, look into a PZM microphone. Crown makes a very good one. This is a pressure zone mic that can be placed near the subject and will do a great job of picking up everything around. You don’t have to hang the mic on your subject. Just tape it to a nearby surface (NOT the workbench!!). I did industrial video production for 23 years and we always had one or two in our sound kit. I just had to record the deliberations at the synod of bishops for my jurisdiction and covered the room with 2 mics fastened to the ceiling.

And thanks for your efforts on these. There were some sessions I really wanted to attend but they conflicted with a session that I wanted to see more.

Cliff

Thanks for your comments – and you are welcome!
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Bob,
I appreciate your suggestion regarding the audio. I did have the remote microphone with me, but the circumstances were such that: 1) I had not discussed with him ahead of time, and b) Rushing from presentation to presentation is not conducive to hanging another wire from the presenters. What I will do next time: Contact the presenters, and make arrangements *ahead* of the conference.
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NOTE to all: It has been suggested that the audio is better if one uses a headset and adjusts the balance control. While true, the audio is still not as good as it could have been.

As an aside, I asked the conference organizers if they planned to film the presentations. They said, “maybe next time.” So, your “citizen journalism” is a good answer.

Your next step in the video arts is to add remote micrphone capability to your setup. Deneb’s presentation would have been very much better had a microphone been nearer to him. I don’t know if your camera has that capability (very likely), or whether the presenters would cooperate, but I suggest it as the next step in improving what you offer us.

My mention of “citizen journalism” comes from seeing more and more people pick up small cameras and publish their results. I saw a great interview recently, where C-SPAN’s Brian Lamb interviewed Michael Rosenblum, who is absolutely wired with enthusiasm for small camera journalism greatly exploding the amount of video available to us. You can watch that interview at: http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=281407-1 (Hit the red (f) button over there in the “Watch” box.)

Thanks again!