The 2016 Wistia Rap-Up

2016 brought with it a second office building, a bunch of talented new teammates, a collection of game-changing product developments, and a new dog park across the street (complete with tunnels and ramps).

Each December, we make a rap-up video to commemorate the past year. If you’re confused by any of the references, feel free to ask us questions in the comments.

Past Recaps: 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011

Below, you’ll find a rundown of some of our 2016 highlights, including our “Videos of the Month” (VOTMs).

December

• We launched integrations with ConvertKit and Zendesk and made the Stats page one click away from any video embed.
• Our creative team made their weirdest video yet to remind people to save the (literal) date for WistiaFest 2017.
• Ezra learned that visitors spend 2.6x as long on our pages with video than pages without video, and Chris sang about it.

VOTM: Save the Date (Literally) for WistiaFest 2017

November

• We launched two new tools in Customize: Chapters and Password.
• Jenny taught us all about using captions to enhance your video marketing strategy.
• Dee Dee and the Wistia team hosted our very first Agency Field Day.

VOTM: Nachos, Wings, and Product Updates

October

• Phil cautioned people against autoplaying homepage videos.
• The video team mastered overhead videos and showed us some handy tips and tricks (hint: mirrors).
• Margot DC taught us all about the power of video email signatures.
• We welcomed Gourd Stemson to the team (Aaron’s hair smelled like pumpkin for a day).

VOTM: Story Time: A Reading Adventure with Chapters and Champs

September

• We teamed up with Infusionsoft to talk about how to improve emails with video.
• Trevor taught us about using dollies and sliders to create smoother shots.
• Chris welcomed the 5D Mark IV into our camera collection and made a video about it.

VOTM: Sliding Shots of Sliders, Slides, and Sliding

August

• The winners of StartPup were announced. Woof woof!
• Our team sang goodbye to our favorite camera. We highly recommend singing together as a company if you haven’t tried it yet.
• The video team taught us all how to shoot video of a laptop screen and direct non-actors. Both are trickier than you’d think!

VOTM: Wistia’s Emotional Rendition of Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me”

July

• The Wistia Community moved to Slack, and Margot began sending out sweet weekly newsletters.
• We interviewed Cara Harshman, content marketing queen, on the blog.
• Ezra answered the question that everyone wants to know: How Long Should Your Next Video Be?
• We celebrated our fifth annual Pondfest.

VOTM: Pondfest: An Annual Celebration of Dehydration

June

• We launched Vulcan, our sleek, speedy new player.
• The Wistia Chrome extension was born.
• WistiaFest 2016 was the best yet, thanks to all of the amazing attendees, speakers, and workshop leaders.
• We came up with six quick tips for how to look good on camera. Naturally, that involved some face paint.

VOTM: And the Tony Award Goes to… Ben Ruedlinger!

May

• Naike and the team unveiled our 360 player with 360 heatmaps, and our native iOS app — Wistia 360.
• Ann Handley taught us about integrating video into your content strategy, and inspired content creators everywhere to try harder: “It’s time for Content to be taken seriously. We’ve got this.”
• Chris and Trevor played around with drones… for business purposes, of course.

VOTM: Meet Lenny, the Wistia Office Dog

April

• Phil talked about the difference between Wistia and YouTube.
• We interviewed Nathalie Nahai, web psychologist and WistiaFest speaker, about the science behind website design and marketing.
• Chris taught us all how to shoot video with digital SLR camera… in 43 minutes!
• We released the Uploader.

VOTM: Trevor in a Trash Can: Small Play Count, Big Heart

March

• We went behind-the-scenes to learn about Slack’s effective walkthrough video.
• Swami Kumaresan, a CEO and one-person video team, told us about his video marketing journey.

VOTM: Do You Have Eight Minutes? Learn How to Animate Your Logo

February

• Community member, Jeremy Wick, shared his After Effects template with us. If you are making product videos for software, you should definitely check this out.
• Chris stitched together some 360 footage from a GoPro rig, and explained the play-by-play. Thank goodness for newer (easier) solutions, like Nikon’s KeyMission 360.
• Andrew, king of tests, wrote about the importance of A/B testing your marketing videos.

VOTM: 800mm Lens: So Close, Yet So Far Away

January

• The Wistia Agency Partner Program hit the ground running.
• We introduced some major updates and new features to our Stats tools.
• Chris explained why our side projects tend to fail: “In order for your side project to succeed, it needs to become more than a side project.”

VOTM: The Dawn of an Agency Partner Program

See you in 2017!