Turning YouTuber, rapid adoption of innovative technology in hospitality and tourism education

This autoethnographic paper presents the challenges, tactics and technologies utilised to adapt and adopt YouTube into a force for good in the classroom.The covid-19 scenario has made planning classes extremely difficult and bringing industry speakers into the digital classroom with varied WIFI connections issues and scheduling issues from the professionals themselves calls for a new fluid approach that can still allow for some certainty in planning educational experiences. Amid unprecedented constant change and uncertainty, a simple idea turns into a pedagogic tool. A mini-series of interviews of tourism and hospitality evolves into a full blown series that escapes the classroom and is shared with hundreds of viewers across the world. Welcome to the era of the YouTube tourism and hospitality Academic. From hardware to software to live experiences the author shares lessons learned and pitfalls to avoid.