Looking to increase employee knowledge and productivity without a significant sacrifice in resources? Online training videos are the answer you’re searching for.
Implementing online training videos can yield over a 200 percent increase in company revenue per employee. For many, the return is definitely worthy of the investment.
If you’re looking for niche topics or tutorials, you’re probably wondering how to make a training video of your own. The good news is, it’s a lot simpler than you think.
Keep reading to learn our best video training creation tips.
1. Look Online For Inspiration
There are a ton of online training videos on the web. Before you start working on yours, do some research on the others.
As you’re watching the videos, think about what makes them work and what could be improved. What would you do differently? This should give you a better idea of how to make training videos.
2. Create an Outline
Don’t adlib it: write down a full outline of your talking points and work off that while you’re creating your training video. It can be a simple bulleted list or in paragraph format. Do whatever works best for you.
It helps to actually perform the task you’re creating the online training videos for. Then, carefully note each step as you do it. When you’re finished, rehearse your outline a couple of times before you start recording.
3. Be Brief and On-Point
People tend to have pretty low attention spans, so the briefer you can be, the better.
Depending on the complexity of your topic, the length of your videos will vary. For simple how-to’s, try to keep the time below five minutes. If the topic is more involved, try to make it 30 minutes or shorter.
Longer videos can be broken up into smaller segments to allow your viewers to take a breather. Anything longer than 30 minutes should be divided into multiple videos.
4. How to Make a Training Video Entertaining
If you’re having trouble getting into the flow while recording, pretend you’re giving a formal speech. How will you entertain your audience while you educate them? A flat reading of your outline simply won’t do the trick.
Consider slipping in short anecdotes into your online training videos, providing real-life examples for your audience. These are often entertaining and can make your topic seem less mundane.
Also, use gestures and tone to emphasize certain parts of your tutorial. No one likes listening to monotone lectures, so do your best to avoid it.
5. Invest in Good Audio Equipment
The last thing you want for your online training videos is bad audio. This will make your product unprofessional, difficult to follow, and generally unsuccessful.
Be sure you’re using a separate microphone to capture your voice recording. Computer or camera speakers will have a lot of background noise, making your audio incredibly difficult (and painful) to listen to.
You may consider using an audio PC tool, like EchoRemover2, to remove echo and other unnecessary sounds to improve the quality of your online training videos.
6. Include Helpful Graphics
Another important step in how to make a training video is this: create graphics to superimpose onto your content.
Visual aids, such as numbers, measurements, and definitions will reinforce your training content, making it easier for your audience to remember. Plus, it will make it easy to take notes.
7. Do Multiple Takes
If you’re wondering how to make a training video interesting and successful, you won’t get that by doing it all in a single take. All-in-one takes tend to be tiring to watch, so you’ll want to edit different angles and takes together. This will help break up your content and keep your audience interested.
8. Use a Simple Filming Setup
If you’ve got bad lighting or too much going on in the background, this can distract your audience from your training content. Your best option is setting up a well-lit space with a basic backdrop.
For the background, you can use a large piece of fabric (such as a bedsheet or cut of raw fabric) in a neutral color. When choosing a color, think of the product/items you’re including in your demo. Be sure you’ll be able to see them against the backdrop.
Generally, white is a poor choice for backdrop color, as it tends to look too bright or overexposed.
Once you’ve got your backdrop, set up two lights to the right and left of your filming area. The lights should shine at about a 45-degree angle to your area.
9. End on a Call-To-Action
Once you’ve figured out how to make a training video, decide if you would like to promote other content at the end. Creating a call-to-action (CTA) will inspire your audience to do more once they’ve finished watching.
If you’re posting publicly, you can use your CTA to promote other content (think: “check out my other videos if you’d like to learn more about X topic”).
If you’re creating video training tips for your employees, then tell them where they can find additional information. This will end the video on an inspiring note and encourage them to learn more.
10. Share Your Content
Decide how you will be sharing your online training videos. You can record video on Mac or PC and easily share it amongst colleagues via cloud or email.
Or, if your topic is general enough, why not make it public? You can post to an online learning platform such as Skillshare, LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, or Udemy. Then, in addition to your boost in employee productivity, you might even make some extra cash by selling your online training videos on the web.
Start Creating Your Online Training Videos Today
Learning how to make a training video isn’t too difficult. In fact, with the right setup, equipment, and know-how, almost anyone can do it. Now that you know our top tips for creating online training videos, start working on your content today!
For more business topics, check out our other blog entries.
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