Hey YouTube community: time out for a big THANK YOU!

To all of you who have watched, listened, posted, commented, rated, and wrote -- thank you so much for your support.

To date, one my videos cracked the half-million mark on viewership. It stands with over 1,000 comments -- and a 5-star rating with 999 people rating it.

(August 9, 2011 update: 1.2 million views.)

Here's the back story:

In August 2007, I took time out to post a quickie video on YouTube. The video answered a frequently asked audience question, "Hey, how did you get those YouTube videos to play in your PowerPoint presentation?"

Instead of answering an off-topic technical question during Q & A, I thought it might be polite to answer the question in another venue -- YouTube. By posting the answer online at YouTube, I had yet another opportunity to continue a conversation after the real-world presentation was over. I could take the person's card, and point them to the video later. This also freed up my audience from listening to a five minute response that had nothing to do with the presentation's actual content.

So, I took a half hour to shoot and upload a quick how-to video. No biggee.

Within a few months of posting the video, I started to get email.

Lots of email.

Lots of NICE, positive, email.

Turns out, quite a few people wanted to know how to insert a YouTube video into a PowerPoint presentation.

Many people who watch the video have been kind enough to send me thank-you notes. I don't suppose a day has gone by in over a year where I haven't received a thank-you note from somebody, somewhere in the world for posting this cheaply produced, quickie how-to video.

Guess how great it makes you feel to get a thank-you note every single day of your life. It's an amazing, positive feeling -- one that I never imagined I'd get to feel for the duration of an entire year.

A year ago, I was embarrassed. You see, my desktop microphone was not of the highest quality, and the audio of my voice over is pathetic.

It sounds bad. Real bad.

But nonetheless-- lots of people seem to like it...even though the sound is dreadful.

I've started to think -- maybe they like it BECAUSE the sound is dreadful!

I've often thought of re-recording the audio portion with another mike, especially since so many people are viewing it. I want to give viewers a better experience. And it might make me look a little more polished and professional.

But I've thought about it some, and unless I hear otherwise, I'm going to leave the cruddy audio as-is.

The viewership and rating of this video illustrates a few points about YouTube community:

1. People are interested in useful or entertaining content. They seem willing to overlook obvious glaring flaws -- as long as you're providing something of value to them.
2. People interact with content + personality. The YouTube community is vocal -- if someone likes what you have to present, they'll tell you. (If they don't it -- they'll also tell you. I've been on that side of it, too!)

I don't plan on creating viral videos. I'll upload stuff that I think is interesting or useful to people. And I'll rate stuff that other people post -- it's all a part of building community around ideas and content.

I'm glad I took the time out to participate and help where I could. And I'm glad so many seem to find the information helpful.

Thanks again for your support.

How else can I help you?