Zoom

[fixeighted]

Well at least I guess they will all hear me clearly when I scream at them

[Pixelcon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgGm...ature=youtu.be

[glorybound]

I read that a successful business has little to do with talent, about 20%, and the rest is managing your business. I don't mind talking to people, and I know that you have to build relationships; however, people have issues with boundaries. Half of all my scheduled phone calls are missed and ZOOM is pretty close.

I had a guy try to get me on ZOOM for a month. I wasn't interested in his project, but he was relentless. He wanted me to do his work at 1/2 of my lowest rate and I said no a dozen times. I finally agreed to meet on-line and he assured me that he wouldn't miss the appointment. You guessed it, something came up and he missed it. Look, folks, I work from home, so I am not always camera-ready unless I have to be. We finally met online and it ended with me saying that I have no incentive to work on his project for 1/2 my lowest rate. I told him if his budget changes to let me know and I haven't heard back from him. A royal waste of my time.

People are shifty and you learn this over time. Years ago I had a client promise me a week at his report, all expenses paid if I agreed on his price. The project was completed, I delivered his images, and I never heard from him again. That was a lesson learned and I don't make deals anymore.

[fixeighted]

Yep, we have had a similar discussion before I think. There's a phrase..'Jam tomorrow' which a friend explained to me. Then almost immediately he tried the same low trick.
No deals. It's simple enough. He did eventually get it

[Joelaff]

If it didn’t merit a face to face visit before the pandemic then it doesn’t merit a video call now.

Producers are obsessed with this crap. I actually made it through 2020 with only one Zoom call. I tried to never install it. Everyone else I was able to just voice chat with.

Worthless time waster to make people who aren’t doing the actual work feel good about themselves.

I use the form of communication based on how quickly I need an answer, and try to get my clients to do the same.

1 Day.... Email
1 Hour... Text
1 Minute... phone

Zoom, et al. is only helpful when you absolutely need to share your screen.

[francomanko]

has anyone tried discord for screen sharing with clients?

[Joelaff]

has anyone tried discord for screen sharing with clients?

Yes, a couple were impressed. I think you have to pay to get > 720p, though.

[Neilg]

A meeting should be billed per hour, like a lawyer. I think people would double think about meetings if they knew it would cost them money; it costs me money.

You absolutely should have this in your contract. We billed for meetings, I'd just rather have been working on production.

once the job has started, all time you spend working on the job or towards the end result should be billable. Add it to your initial contract as an hourly rate with an estimated 1-4 hours (meaning you can add on anywhere in that range without prior approval), and a note that if you go over you'll inform the client and start adding more on.
Use whatever you think is appropriate for the job. For small pure CG jobs now we usually allocate 2-4 hours a week for zoom meetings, preparing for them and documenting comments.

[glorybound]

One thing I do is cut meetings at the time that was allocated. I have had a meeting scheduled for an hour and we didn't talk about the topic at hand for the first 45 minutes. My current client set up a ZOOM meeting for every initial brief for each room (6-rooms), a meeting for their comments (two sets of revisions per image), and progress meetings. Basically, they had a dedicated person to schedule meetings.

They actually scheduled a meeting yesterday to ask for more changes without being charged. Their exact words were, "we don't want to go through the hassle of asking for more money from the client". Say what? What the hell are you talking about! Really!

People! Some of these guys have fun trying to get something for nothing. Hell, I just paid for extra cheese on my daughter's cheeseburger. That 30 cent piece of extra cheese is what your whole burger cost to make. Everything has a cost and nothing should be free, so stop it!

[francomanko]

get one of those lifesize cardboard cutout of yourself and stick that infront of the camera.

[glorybound]

Sometimes I don't think they would even notice.

[dean_dmoo]

get one of those lifesize cardboard cutout of yourself and stick that infront of the camera.

Surely a screenshot would be easier?!

[Morne]

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

[fixeighted]

Very funny.
As he said, he did actually have to be there anyway and paying attention, in order to trigger clips....so it's only really useable in
a very few strictly formatted scenarios.
Good experiment though

[rusteberg]

I have not had enough zoom, but I’ve had enough of your bullshit newsletters. Good people died because of that storm. Maybe show a little sympathy. And maybe learn how to write a fucking newsletter!