YouTube Kilt Channel

[mattbeaty]

Hello friends!

In cruising the world's second-largest search engine, I have come up with surprisingly *few* good videos about kilted life, kilts, and general kilt-y goodness.

As part of my Year of the Kilt, in which I will be wearing a kilt every day for the year, I am considering creating a weekly video series on YouTube.

EDIT: It has begun! Videos will be posted each week at www.adventurekilt.com

Current plans include covering:

• Product reviews from as many manufacturers as I can get my hands on
• Kilt-related movies and music
• Fun (and ridiculous) kilt stories from my every-day experiences
• How-to's of modern kilt wearing
• The process of converting at least one person each month into a kilt wearer for a day - and their experience in the kilt.

In order for me to come up with enough content to get this thing going, I NEED YOUR HELP!
What would you like to see in a weekly series about a Year of the Kilt? What YouTube videos do you wish were out there? Which topics should I cover? What other YouTube channels do you know of that include a lot of cool kilt content?

I welcome any and all suggestions for this project.

Cheers!

[MinusHD]

I'm sure a lot of your non-video content will be posted here, but since your YouTube channel will be accessible outside this forum, you may consider setting up a blog where all of your content (video and non-video) can be accessed via a single portal. Just a thought. Best of luck with it!

[piperchris]

Smashing idea, Mattbeaty! There are already some videos on Youtube dealing with the subjects you addressed and a central Youtube page would be an excellent idea! You might have a catagory for bagpiping since kilts are so much of a part of the bagpiping scene, etc. Please keep me advised on all developments on this! Have a great day today!

[Taskr]

What a great idea. The 'convert challenge' especially although your own journey for the year should also be quite interesting.

Although related to the subjects 'How-to" and "product reviews", perhaps the topics of:

- One Kilt, 10 outfits (as per the forum thread to highlight the versatility. Can that be related to utility kilts too?)
- An episode per type of kilt (we talk of swish n swagger, wash n wear, and other aspects of kilt types. Video could be useful visualization)
- Sporrans - types and why/when
- A guest kilt maker to discuss kilt quality - what to look for (for each of trad, casual, utility ...)


Good luck, happy YouTubing ...and I'm envious of your Year of the Kilt.

[mattbeaty]

Minus, Excellent idea with the blog! I spent most of today waiting for DNS to propegate. Looks like it has successfully done so. My blog is up at http://www.adventurekilt.com/ and will likely be updated once a week or so throughout the year.

Piperchris, I have zero experience with anything involving the pipes, but I have access to some local bagpipe players. Will see if I can rope a few of them into the experiment!

Taskr, I love your idea about using forum topics for posts. I hadn't thought of that! Will definitely include as many of them as I can. Things will probably start fairly simple, then get more interesting and more complicated as we go forward.

Thanks to all for your feedback! I look forward to more ideas and suggestions as we move forward. Stay tuned at adventurekilt.com as my adventure continues!

[uncle remus]

how about an episode devoted to highland games.

[uncle remus]

sorry forgot how about how to get started wearing your kilt and how to overcome the resistance of your significant other.

[The Wizard of BC]

Over the years I guess I've seen six or seven others who did much the same as you are attempting. They discover the kilt, become passionate about it, and decide that they will wear a kilt everyday for a year.

Well, in truth this is not anything special or unique. There are many here on X Marks, and many more out there in the world, who don't look at the kilt as a challenge to wear for a year. We already wear the kilt every day. I know of at least 12 or 13 guys who don't own pants at all.

I wear the kilt every day. It's my job. Yes, I was pretty passionate about it at first. I don't think I every thought of doing a youtube channel because I was trying to run a business. but I can tell you that I have grown, matured and changed in my perception of the kilt in the 10 years that I have been wearing one every day.

I don't want to come across as too negative but each time I see one of these "I"m going to wear a kilt for year" things, the first thought that crosses my mind is "Yea, OK, That's not really any big deal". My second thought is that "What are you going to wear after the year is over? Are you going to continue to wear the kilt or are you just going to do it for your year and then put your pants back on a re-join the 'normal' world?"

And, I'm sorry if it sounds harsh but many who have done much the same "I'm going to wear the kilt every day for a year" campaigns come across far more as enthusiastic newbies than they do as actual kilt wearers.

There is another guy in Europe currently doing the same as you. He has started a website and a blog too. I don't think he has a youtube channel but when I look at his site I see the same myths and misconceptions put forth that have been around for years now. In fact this guy is surfing the web and re-posting a lot of the articles that he is finding from others without actually doing his own research.

If there would be one thing I would suggest, it would be to wear the kilt for one full year. Every day. And then start your youtube channel about what you learned and what you will do differently in the second year of wearing the kilt everyday.

How did your perceptions of the kilt change that first year? What are you going to do the second year because you matured during the first year?

It is all good if you want to wear the kilt every day. Welcome, jump on in, the water's fine. But please don't do a youtube channel just because you want to have your own youtube channel and think you found something that will make yours different.

Let your viewers know that you are doing it for some reason other than "I'm going to be different".
In fact, I think there is one thing that is true about the kilt wearers you will find on X Marks. Many of us are not trying to be different when we put a kilt on in the morning. We are, in fact, trying to be the same as others who also put the kilt on this morning. We have found a place with others who also wear the kilt. (For whatever reason) and have joined them. And it is this joining together, not the being different, that has made X Marks so successful.

Does the world need some more good videos of guys wearing the kilt well? Yes it does. So I say, go for it. Good luck. And if you need any help there are 19,000 X Markers here who have among themselves perhaps hundreds of years worth of experience you can pull from.

[kiltedrennie]

Good luck and I look forward to your posts/videos. I know of one other person who has done this. His blog changed from Year in a Kilt to Life in a Kilt.

[ratspike]

I think this is a rad idea and could be something really cool, provided that it's engaging and interesting, and it's done well. To lots of people - normal, non-xmarks, non-kilt nerd people in the real world - kilts and the guys who wear them are fun, crazy, sexy, super manly, interesting, mysterious things. Do it right and yeah, I could see a youtube show/vlog being pretty popular for sure.

My random thoughts:
I think weekly would be nearly impossible to do, and do a good job. I'd think a monthly show/vlog/whatever that's well thought out and has genuinely interesting content would be much more manageable. You'd of course supplement that with more regular blog/Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/smoke signals/whatever else to keep your audience engaged and interacting with you. Kilts are great and all, but I think to appeal to a broader audience you might want to branch out a little. Stuff that one might associate with kilts and Scotland and Celtic this-and-such, but that People Other Than Kilties will dig.

There are lots of directions you could go with a topic like music, for example. One show could be a review of a pipe band cd, next show a trad cd, then paddy rock, then repeat. Does your city have a pipe band and/or a trad music scene? Dance fits nicely here as well, Scottish or Irish. If there's any sort of regular ceilidh group that could be great fun as well. If you've got a local pub or venue that's awesome maybe you can arrange to record an episode there.

Review or talk about Scotch! Everyone loves Scotch, and there's lots to talk about. Not an expert? No worries, because you're taking your audience along on your learning adventure. As with music, a local Scottish/Irish/English pub could be a great place to shoot an episode, maybe even with a Scotch-savvy guest star.

Sportsing! There's the obvious heavy athletics during the summer but there's lots of other outdoorsy activities that you can do kilted. Running and hiking, events like GORUCK and mud runs, crossfit, shooting, stuff like that. I made a kilt for a guy who did the Three Peaks Challenge back in October, and I bet he'd love to talk about his experience. Since you picked adventurekilt.com as your domain name, definitely include some adventure.

Man candy. Women appreciate a man in a kilt so give them what they want. Men at work, men rescuing kittens from trees, men doing housework, whatever. Keep it light and keep it fun, but I can practically guarantee it would be popular. You could have people submit photos through Facebook, tally up likes, and show off the top 3 or 5 or whatever at the end of the show. This is a good way to get people engaging with you outside of Youtube as well.

Kilt specific stuff!
Do have a point of view. I think it's good for your audience to know where you're coming from, and I think it's completely fine to have the show slanted one direction or the other. If you identify as utilikilty then do your show from that place, and likewise if you're very traditional. Do explore the other side of the fence though. Talk about tartan weavers and sporran makers and Burns Night and canvas kilts and combat boots and Burning Man. This is also a good opportunity for interviews/Q&A sessions with legit people who know their business and, more importantly, love to share what they know.

Some kind of regular thing featuring kiltmakers - people who actually make the kilts they sell, not resellers - would probably be very interesting, though maybe more for kilt nerds than normal people. You could have a standard set of questions, or make each feature unique. There aren't a whole lot of us around but it'd be enough to keep you busy for a while at least.

Day to day stuff!
This is good blog fodder but certainly worth some vlog time as well. How you started wearing a kilt, Your First Time, embarrassing or funny stories, things like that. The blogs/vlogs I follow are ones that I feel connected to, like I'm really along for the ride and getting to know the person on the other end, so IMO the personal part of all this is important. Share the good AND the bad experiences. Tell us about the guy who digs your kilt because it reminds him of his Scottish grandfather or that hot soccer mom who tried to pick you up at Starbucks. Also tell us about the grouchy old fart who tried to tell you what you are and aren't allowed to wear, or the redneck who called you a man in a dress and threw a beer bottle at you. They're your personal experiences and they're real, and they're things people can relate to.