Poll: What do you think of the guest episode introductions?

Hiya! Avdi here with a quick question.

Lately we’ve been hosting a lot of guest chefs in the RubyTapas kitchen. So far, each guest episode has begun with a voice-over introduction from yours truly. I’ve been thinking about whether I want to keep doing these video introductions for future videos, or whether to have the videos go straight to the guest chef. Either way, I’d continue to include a text version of my introduction in the episode post.

  • On the one hand, the video introductions give me a chance to tell you a little about the guest, why they are on the show, and give you some context for their chosen topic.
  • On the other hand, in a show that prizes brevity, the intros add as much as an extra 60 seconds to a video that’s only 5 minutes long. You have to wait through the intro to get to the “meat” of the episode.

An additional consideration from a production standpoint is this: the intros impose an extra bottleneck in the video creation workflow. My video editor has to wait on me to record the intro before he can proceed with a rough cut. Which in the worst cases delays delivery of the episode.

So what do you think? Here’s a poll where you can let me know what you prefer.