Many people are aware that I watch Casey Niestat’s daily videos as part of my morning routine before I start any work for the day.  It’s morning walk, breakfast, coffee, Casey, work – in that order. But why?

Ever since I saw his video called Casey’s Wildly Functional Studio a few months back, I was hooked. Here was someone who was using his craft (film making) to create short films every day.  He made a commitment to the public that he would create a daily film as part of keeping current in his craft of film making and he’s kept true to his world. He’s got many fans of all ages to prove it.  If you haven’t seen the video, check it out below.

Casey invites us into his world and life in New York City.  He openly shares his thoughts and reflections about what he’s working on, the projects and clients he’s working with, the people he meets and the places he goes.  However, what I particularly like about Casey’s videos is that he openly works out loud – he narrates his work, he practices his craft and he reflects on camera.  In the process, we watch how he works, how he “hacks” and recreates new functions for tools (watch his videos on the Making Stuff playlist or my particular favourite, How To Make Your Apple Watch Gold) and admire his audacity for giving things a go.  He’s generous with his own knowledge, insights and experience and provides support and advice to other budding aspiring young film makers.

He also has shown and demonstrated on camera the evolution of his ‘idea’ and see it to fruition over the months.  We’ve seen him question, doubt, reflect, risk, experiment, test, apply – we feel we’ve also been part of his journey to see the final product at the end.  As he’s made his journey public, which put more pressure on him to deliver. He’s gutsy, I’d hand him that. I don’t know if I could be so open but I do appreciate that his videos made me reflect on my own work out loud journey.  Would I have come to where I am today if I haven’t shared to others?

Over the last couple of months, Casey has been teasing out the concept of a new start up with his viewers and yesterday he launched it to market.  You can read more  and see the video here.  He has created a new app called Beme that takes 4 second videos however the difference between this and other video apps is that the phone becomes part of the body. By holding the phone to your chest, sets off the camera to record as you are seeing the world.  People can watch your short bemes and then send you their reactions.

I’ve signed on to register my username and try out the app (or you must be invited by someone who has registered) but otherwise the app will be made public in about 99 days but I’m eager to try out this app because it can be used in my work – especially where I need to narrate my work and work out loud.

The distinct difference between this and other apps is that when I film, I seem to be ‘disconnected’ from my audience.  There is time to set up my camera on the tripod, plan the shot, shoot and reshoot. At times, it feels contrived and the spontaneity is missing.  It’s not an authentic and true version of myself.  Also holding up a camera out with your arms or with a tripod seems awkward – and it creates different reactions in people around you.  The idea of simply holding the phone to my chest to narrate my work and for people to see what I’m seeing from my view point will, I believe, be a more authentic and less contrived experience.  In fact, Casey’s vision of Beme was that it would be an app that “Promotes Empathy By Sharing Perspectives”.

Of course, I’m just postulating as I haven’t got access to it yet and eagerly awaiting anyone to give me a code to register (hint hint: my username is: activatelearn)

I believe this app may have some excellent applications for work out loud activities for business and professional development applications.  If I can get access to it earlier, I’m thinking of how I can use this app at a Change Management Conference later this year in Sydney as part of my social learning presentation to the delegates. They would be able to use this app to capture their own perspectives, reflections and ideas from the conference for workplace applications.

Here is more about the app…(I’ve used a site called “YouTube Specific Time” to select the specific time in his video that explains the Beme app – in case you needed to know!)

If you have access to Beme and are willing to share your thoughts, please do so below!

************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
 Are you interested to learn a new tip, tool or app to activate your learning?  

On the first of every month, I email out a newsletter with four tips, tools and ideas that get you learning and applying these to your own work, personal or professional development called Activate My Learning. This month in July it’s all about “Telling Stories”.

Share what you create and learn from others on how they’ve used the tools through posting your creation on social networks using the hashtag #activatemylearning.  Subscribe here.