Follow these steps to ensure that your next training video production really does its job.
1. Keep it short
We live in a world of immediacy these days, of text messages, tweets and Facebook updates. People – not just employees – don’t want to sit through half an hour of video. They find it much easier to consume short bursts of information, with the most memorable videos often being just 3-5 minutes long.
2. Steer clear of the gimmicks
Inventiveness has its place in training videos as much as anywhere else, but be wary of naff sound or visual effects, or distracting diversions from the main point of the video. Aim for a purposeful, direct and workmanlike tone – you’re here to train people, after all.
3. Choose the right music
Linked to the above point, corny or otherwise inappropriate background music can be a terrible distraction, taking away from what should be a focussed message. You don’t want your employees to be chuckling as they watch your training video – you want them to be concentrating fully on suitably punchy content.
4. Avoid jargon and buzzwords
Remember that your training video isn’t supposed to be about impressing or bamboozling your employees with difficult to understand terms. It’s not a specialised scientific document – it’s a means of quickly and directly teaching your staff the steps of a particular process.
5. Provide engaging narration
The fuss over Phil Neville’s monotonous commentary of the 2014 World Cup shows that people really notice a boring, robotic voice in footage that is supposed to be engaging for other reasons. The same lesson needs to be learned with your training video – inject personality into your voice, much as you would if you were training your staff in person.
The final step to successful training video production is, of course, choosing the right production company. South Florida Video Productions has an excellent reputation for filming the most effective and professional training videos, often on a tight budget.