Questions for Viewers of Coffee With Kish

[Kishkumen]

Hey, all:

If you have been watching Coffee with Kish, thank you very much! I appreciate your interest. It means a lot to me that you would take the time to watch these videos. If you have watched or have any interest in watching, I have some questions for you:

1. What is the optimal video length you can reasonably watch?

I ask because YouTube judges the success of a channel by the aggregate time in a year that people have spent watching the channel.

2. How many videos a month or week would you be interested in watching?

I ask this for the same reason. I don't want to pump out too many videos in an inefficient way. The idea is to hit a sweet spot where people feel like they want to watch all of the video (right length) and don't feel like there is a flood of too many videos to watch (right frequency).

3. What do you want to see?

This ought to be the first question, but the above order is how the topics came to me. I want to cover all kinds of things connected to Mormonism that interest people: popular culture, news, history, my story, etc. My eventual goal is to discipline myself to do something like turn out three or so ca. fifteen minute videos a week. So far, I am going over time and producing a lot of videos. I have started to upload them and schedule their release in advance.

Any tips or suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated!

[drumdude]

I was listening to the changes in the temple endowment episode and found that halfway through the discussion wandered quite a bit off track into Roman stuff. I like a little bit of wandering but for an hour long video I usually expect something a little more focused.

I think the number one thing for me is how focused is this video? RFM does a really good job at this, and no matter how long his video is they flow very well and are pretty cohesive. When he does take a tangent he marks it very clearly and book ends it for the listener. It’s a nice touch to keep the listener in the loop on the direction of the rest of the podcast.

So that would be my constructive criticism. Other than those little nit picks I love the podcast and can’t wait to hear more!

[Kishkumen]

I was listening to the changes in the temple endowment episode and found that halfway through the discussion wandered quite a bit off track into Roman stuff. I like a little bit of wandering but for an hour long video I usually expect something a little more focused.

I think the number one thing for me is how focused is this video? RFM does a really good job at this, and no matter how long his video is they flow very well and are pretty cohesive. When he does take a tangent he marks it very clearly and book ends it for the listener. It’s a nice touch to keep the listener in the loop on the direction of the rest of the podcast.

So that would be my constructive criticism. Other than those little nit picks I love the podcast and can’t wait to hear more!

Thanks, drumdude! I appreciate the feedback and will try to keep it in mind. I do have a tendency to go on tangents.

[Doctor Scratch]

Hello, Reverend.

I’m not sure that I fit within the demographics of your ideal audience, but I’m happy to weigh in on your questions. I would say that 15 minute episodes once a week would be great, though if you have good reason to go longer, then you should.

The main thing I would be interested in seeing you comment on, of course, would be Mopologetics. But I would also tune in for interviews with DM stalwarts such as Dr. Shades, Dean Robbers, Tom, Everybody Wang Chung, Dr. Moore, Res Ipsa, Dr. Cam, Marcus, Moksha, or any number of other folks.

[msnobody]

Maybe 30-45 minutes, to go along with my commute to work. If it were 45 minutes, that would cover my whole commute. Longer if needed for a particular subject that needs more time. My preference is to listen/watch the entire thing at once. It is rare that I’d ever go back and finish once I had to stop.

I do like learning about people and their life experiences. I kind of like the mix of things you’ve done so far.

[Moksha]

Interval of Episodes - My favorite series is Little Chinese Everywhere. That is more of a travel adventure/geography educational program and features the best cinematography and editing on YouTube, so it only comes out once a week on Fridays.

Talk programs can come out more often. Once you get your audience established viewers from around the world can tune in whenever convenient.

Length of Episodes - It would depend on the guest and topic. At least 10 minutes and no more than two hours.

Guests - Don't think you could find someone more well-spoken than Dr. Scratch. I think you would really hit it off with Steven Pynakker of Mormon Book Reviews. He is kind and thoughtful like you. Sort of the opposite of Cardon Ellis.

[drumdude]

He is kind and thoughtful like you. Sort of the opposite of Cardon Ellis.

“The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.”

[hauslern]

I tried to tackle a former Deputy Prime Minister who has a blog and sometimes engages with a Biblical scholar on issues of the Bible I have been reading as much as I can the books by Bart Ehrman and some by Peter Enns. Misquoting Jesus, Forged and Lost Christianities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-toSkBn1omI

Is there really a revival of God? Millennials have been leaving religion in droves. Would love to have a discussion one day about Song of Solomon which a Old Testament lect told me was an erotic Hebrew love poem. I think in the Inspired Version (Smith) it was considered pornographic?

In the resurrection accounts of the IV Smith inserts TWO angels sitting on the rock.

[Kishkumen]

Hello, Reverend.

I’m not sure that I fit within the demographics of your ideal audience, but I’m happy to weigh in on your questions. I would say that 15 minute episodes once a week would be great, though if you have good reason to go longer, then you should.

The main thing I would be interested in seeing you comment on, of course, would be Mopologetics. But I would also tune in for interviews with DM stalwarts such as Dr. Shades, Dean Robbers, Tom, Everybody Wang Chung, Dr. Moore, Res Ipsa, Dr. Cam, Marcus, Moksha, or any number of other folks.

Dearest Doctor Scratch,

First, I want to thank you for dragging me out of the shadows a bit on this. I was reticent to promote this as it is a work in progress, but I appreciate someone else nudging me to be a little bolder.

Thank you for the advice on length. I think shorter is better, although I do have a tendency to yammer on a bit. Once a week would certainly be easier for me, and it may be that I even have trouble doing that. That said, YouTube tends to be nicer to those who post videos more frequently.

Commenting on Mopologetics will be tricky. I want to comment on it, especially in the vein of just historical discussion. On the other hand, I do not want to do what is done here by getting adversarial about it. Obviously, there is a place and time to hash things out with sharp elbows, but the central idea of this particular effort is to hit a perfect balance of neither advocacy nor criticism. I call it "geeking out"--curiosity and interest without favor or malice.

I will definitely be inviting people from the board to do interviews. We have so many people with fascinating perspectives and stories here.

Thanks again!

[Kishkumen]

Maybe 30-45 minutes, to go along with my commute to work. If it were 45 minutes, that would cover my whole commute. Longer if needed for a particular subject that needs more time. My preference is to listen/watch the entire thing at once. It is rare that I’d ever go back and finish once I had to stop.

I do like learning about people and their life experiences. I kind of like the mix of things you’ve done so far.

Thank you, msnobody! I may do a mix of longer and shorter things. It is hard for me to do things that are really, really short, but it seems that there are a number of people who prefer 15-20 minutes.

My favorite camera channel, which is more of a comedy thing, keeps most episodes between 10 and 20 minutes.