Well this is exciting…

Denizens of Wright History - do please sit down so that you don’t hurt yourself should you faint at the shock.

Are you sitting safely? Then I shall begin.

Hoover the red carpet!

Let the brass fanfare instruments be polished!

Get the drum-rolling hound on stage!

Because, laydeez and gentlemen…

We are about to offer recorded sessions!

No really.

Want to join a course, but have prior holiday/wedding/operation/rugby match/whatever commitments, which mean you’d have to miss a session or two?

Well here’s a solution, should it be of interest.

Let me know at point of booking, and your chosen session[s] will be recorded, and available to watch online for two weeks, so you won’t have to miss out!

So that’s the headline news. But for those of you who may be interested, a little more background and some practicalities.*

*[As my mother has long said, why use ten words when you can use a hundred? This apple ain’t fallen far from the tree…]

As some of you know, this is something which has been oft-requested. We’d like to think that you know by now that we are ever-eager to respond to your requests and suggestions whenever and however we can. We have, however, been chary of biting this particular bullet. With good reasons, I hasten to add…

There are, of course, legal and generally-not-being-A-Bad-Person concerns, such as privacy, data protection, and intellectual copyright, which naturally we take seriously.

There are, however, additional practical concerns. As many “content providers”, including others offering learning for pleasure, built their online activity during Lockdown, so we all got used to things being available in new ways - and of course hurrah for that!

But as a fledgling business, we don’t have the resources in terms of technology, money, and Joanna-hours* to match what larger businesses and institutions - even those with charity status - have been able to offer.

*[Don’t worry. I am, of course, fully aware that no other business/charity/institution thinks in terms of Joanna-hours per se. But you know what I mean.]

Furthermore, Robert was not comfortable with the idea of being recorded - not least because he was concerned that he’d feel self-conscious and lose spontaneity. This will be surprising to some of you, but as others of you will know, it’s remarkably common amongst good performers! As I’ve often said, however, when asked about recording until now: never say never. He was similarly reluctant to venture into the world of zoom at first, and look at him now! But it had to be when the time was right.

The catalyst was having to reschedule courses the other week due to illness, and we both felt that recording a rescheduled session would be not only appropriate but also a useful experiment. All at the session in question kindly agreed to be guinea pigs, and feedback thus far has been positive (many thanks to all!)… and so … here we are!

I've spent a lot of time researching how best to do it, with particular focus on GDPR and storage/access logistics. In terms of data protection and privacy, I’m as sure as I can be that I've found a way of recording and editing with no inconvenience to those who are at the session itself, without displaying you, your names, or any personal data.

Alas, we don’t have the bandwidth to record every session ”just in case” (unless you’ve done it, you’d be amazed at how long it can take for a recording to format and upload, and we can’t risk delivery of any live session being scuppered because the previous session is still hogging all of our internet elves’ attention). So we shall record only those sessions which are specifically requested at the time of booking.

Our current technology and storage subscriptions also preclude being able to offer indefinite access or the option to download a recording. Who knows? It’s possible that the prospect of recording will generate sufficient extra bookings for us to consider upgrading our tech and storage (never say never, remember!).

We hope that the model we suggest will be of use to those of you who have requested recorded sessions over the last 18 months or so. We propose using the coming term to see whether/how it works for you, and we can take it from there and tweak it if necessary/possible thereafter!

Right. I’m off to dig out my corset and see if I can find a tartan scarf, so that I can channel Mary Pickford’s confidence with a camera in the photo above. I’m certain that there’ll be something tartan in Robert’s wardrobe…

Robert, meanwhile, will be digging out his grandfather’s best plus-fours, in homage to Cecil B. DeMille.*

*[I know. You don’t really know whether I’m joking on that last bit, do you…?!]

So. What do you think of our new ability to record selected sessions? Do please let us know - by comments below, email, or plus-foured carrier pigeon.

NB For a reminder of our upcoming courses, now that you know you won’t have to miss out due to prior commitments, please click here.