My "Make it Work" Moment

This week I was assigned the task of preparing videos for our school's board presentation.  Staff members sent me their videos so that I could edit them and add them to the presentation. This is something I've done before and thought the work wouldn't be too difficult.  Boy, was I wrong!

My plan was to use YouTube to edit the videos.  I've used it before and found it pretty easy...especially since the editing I needed to do was simple (I only needed to trim some videos, merge others and add a title page to each).  YouTube is not something I use on a regular basis so each time I open it, I have to refamiliarize myself with the tool.

I successfully uploaded the videos, but when I went to find the Creator Studio, I realized things were different since my last visit to YouTube.  After several minutes of trying to navigate the changes, I decided to ease my frustration and elicit the help of an expert...I asked Google (a frequent line of defense I use when there are technology questions)! 

My Google search led to a short video instructing me on how to merge videos.  The instructor was an elementary aged kid!  He clearly walked me through the steps, but when I got to the step for merging I realized the button I needed was missing.  Upon further research, I learned that YouTube recently changed it's editing tools and are launching a new Creator Studio January 2019...great, but that won't help me with the presentation due Monday, December 3!!

So...I downloaded the videos to my laptop and launched Windows Movie Maker...a reliable tool I've used MANY times before.  After several hours of work the videos were successfully edited, re-uploaded to YouTube and linked to our Google Slides presentation!

The moral of the story...when things don't go as planned make it work and take the steps to figure it out.  Ask for help, search Google and if all else fails, go back to the basics.  Now, let's cross our fingers and hope for a successful board presentation!