I'm normally a patient person, but there are limits...

About an hour ago I read an email from AWS about a webinar that happened yesterday. I had signed up for it, but obviously had something better to do at the time; so now I could see the replay - click this link...

AWS, you may know, is Amazon Web Services; and I - for reasons to complicated and boring to mention - am interested to see whether they might be able to help me with a calendar website I'm helping to create: so Hosting, Calendars & Live / Web Events are the spaces I'm keen on.

My site is for events in the UK that involve Cosplay & Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Manga books, films and comics.

The key word there is 'events' because this webinar is "Strategies for Successful Live Event Streaming and How to Avoid Mistakes"

So I clicked the link. There was a big still picture of someone important, plus lots of text about AWS services. No video, nothing moving. So (I thought) perhaps I have to log in?

I entered my email address. Password?

Darn. I may have signed up to get more information, but I don't remember... clicks 'Forgot Password?' link.

I get an email with a link to a web page that wants my phone number to send on a 4-digit passcode. Where I get to a page that wants me to enter a 4-letter code from the fuzzily-written prompt. And I go on to a page where my credit card details are needed for a $1 debit to prove who I am.

(I only wanted a video...)

Somewhere in this haze of pages and codes I manage to reset my password and log in. That's when I get my AWS Dashboard, which doesn't mention videos anywhere.

Back to the email and click the link again. Picture of same nice man. In desperation start to read notes at the bottom of the screen... and after 10 or 20 seconds realise Static Man now has a 'Play' button!

OK - the actual video is not too bad. 30 minutes and lots of detail about check lists and making sure you test your setup thoroughly before the event.

Then the throwaway line at the end - there's a PDF of the presentation, and these checklists are available on the AWS Media Blog. But no URL mentioned. No link in the email or any replay (that I can see) in YouTube with some useful footnotes.

Plus it's now 90 minutes since I read that email, I have 5 open tabs with variations on AWS pages and I don't have the information that I want as a handy reminder checklist. I suppose I could go back through the video and make my own notes...

But the content was very basic - down to 'make sure you know where the power sockets are' (to plug in your laptop) and what I actually wanted was more managerial - if I was going to put on an event, where would I start?

I can always hire a video team (or two) - but what's popular when instead of sitting in a concert hall or browsing stalls, viewers are slumped on a sofa idly munching treats?

I'm fully convinced AWS can handle anything I can hurl at them; for the moment though I don't have anything to throw!