Pratfall Spices Up Viral-Video Panel

Guy falls on stage during panel about viral videoSo I took a deliberate spill while hosting a panel at Streaming Media East called “Creating and Promoting Amateur Videos.” Paul Kontonis, CEO of For Your Imagination, screamed like a teenage girl, but was one of few people that realized it was a joke.

The fall is 1 minutes and 9 seconds in. Warning: Per my YouTube video today explaining this, when you do a pratfall that people think is real, you’ve backed yourself into a corner. If you say “I was just kidding,” you simple make it look like you’re saving face. So I didn’t bother to explain.

You actually may want to watch more of this video because it explores what makes a video viral, and how marketers and amateurs can promote their video using online video sites and blogs. It was an all-star cast (except me): Paul Kontonis, CEO, Co-Founder, For Your Imagination; J. Crowley, Founder, Black20; Ben Relles, Founder and CEO, BarelyPolitical.com (the guy who created Obama Girl); and Kip “Kipkay” Kedersha, Viral Video Producer, Metacafe Top Producer.Here are the rest of the Streaming Media Videos, including a session called “Young People’s Attitudes Toward Online Video,” which includes Dylan of Dylan’s Couch (CinemaFreaks on YouTube). And be sure to comment on the “For Your Imagination” blog. Something like “Nalts is a genius. I can’t believe you signed Xgobobeanx and not him.” And thanks to Jennifer and TubeMogul.com for help embedding this (I finally installed a “Raw HTML” WordPress plug-in so I can insert widget thingies and other Web 4.0 things).

16 thoughts on “Pratfall Spices Up Viral-Video Panel”

  1. I watched the whole thing after the Marquis posted the link. He did!He screamed like a little girl! Lots of other interesting stuff there too.

  2. Nice post. Thanks to the link to foryourimagination.com. I posted a comment. You may want to not read it.

  3. Whether or not I knew the fall was planned, the way your body got all Frankenstein, and you sort of drifted to the ground was so bizarre looking, I thought in either scenario, real or fake – this man needs to be checked out by a professional. That being said, it made it hilarious.

  4. Depending on the version of WordPress you’re using, there are different ways of embedding video to your blog. The simplist is to edit your post in raw html mode, which will let you put in the embed code from the various video sites. Or, WordPress has their own specific code which you can use, if the video is from a supported site.

    (eg. [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=_htsw3srrxI])

    You can find more info at WordPress’s FAQ:

    http://faq.wordpress.com/

    🙂

    Happy Falling!

  5. three words, cats and babies. did you pull people off the street for this? sorry. this was very educational. I still don’t understand why so many resources are being wasted? does a vision really take that much work? there’s something here and it’s being missed. I can’t be the only one who sees it. am I?

  6. I don’t think you fell on purpose. What an ass!

    That video is 45 minutes? I am going to have to lock my door at work to sneak this one in. It’s hard enough sneaking in a 2 minute video at work.

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