Training videos – tips and examples

Training videos are a great way to educate employees, customers, or anyone else. Easily share knowledge and expertise in an effective, engaging manner. Training videos can serve as a valuable component of your learning ecosystem. Below, we’ll dive deeper into why you should create training videos and go over step-by-step instructions on how to do so.

 

Why Should You Create Training Videos?

While there are many benefits of using training videos, some of the most noteworthy ones include:

• Improved engagement and knowledge retention: If you’d like your employees or customers to engage with your training, you need to keep things interesting. Compared to lectures, handouts, and books, videos are far more likely to keep their attention. When your audience is more engaged, they’ll retain more of what they learned. This means the time and money you allocated toward training them will pay greater dividends.
• Lower costs than in-person instruction: There’s no denying that in-person training is expensive. You have to account for expenses for the space, parking lot, and any staff, as well as potential travel and housing costs. With training videos, you can eliminate this overhead and meet your training goals in a more affordable way.
• Enabling blended learning: Blended learning involves educating others through a mix of training strategies. It usually combines face-to-face teaching with online instruction to give students the flexibility to learn at their own pace. If you’d like to implement blended learning, training videos can be one of your greatest assets.
• Greater flexibility for learners: We live in a fast-paced world. With online training videos, employees can enjoy the flexibility of going through your content as quickly or as slowly as they’d like. They can also learn when and where they prefer, as long as your videos are asynchronous and you’re delivering them using a platform that supports mobile learning.

How to Create a Training Video in 5 Steps

If you’d like to create a training video, here are some tips on how to start. We’ve outlined the steps involved in bringing your ideal video to life.

1. Define Your Goals

Each training video has its own specific purpose. Before you dive in and create content for your video, clearly define your objectives. What do you hope to accomplish with it? To help you zero in on what you hope to communicate with your video, here are some common use cases for online training videos:

• To show employees how to use new software
• To introduce a new product feature to customers
• To help employees resolve a common problem
• To give customers information on what they can expect from a service

While you’re in this discovery stage, it’s a good idea to consider the perspective of the learner. Ask yourself what your employees or customers would want to know. What type of training will benefit them and make everyone’s lives easier? Put yourself in their shoes for a bit and really think about how an online training video can meet their needs.

2. Craft Engaging Content

When it comes to creating an effective training video, content is king. Carefully crafted content can make the difference between connecting with your audience or tuning your message out. To ensure your content delivers impact and supports your unique goals, be sure to follow these tips.

Choose the Right Format

Selecting the right format for your video is critical. Here are some of the most common:

• Screencast: A screencast is a recording of your computer screen. It’s a great option if you’re training your audience on how to use a new software or application. You can make your screencast informal or very polished, depending on your audience and goals.
• Microvideo: A microvideo is a very short video, usually between five and 15 seconds long. It typically demonstrates a single idea or process. If you’d like to teach several simple processes that don’t warrant the need for a longer training video, a microvideo may be the way to go. It can teach the skills you want to impart while keeping your learners from losing interest.
• Presenter: In this type of video, you act as the presenter and guide your audience through the training. It’s ideal if your video involves a product demo or hands-on activities.
• Role play: During a role play video, you’ll act out a scenario so that your audience can get a better understanding of what they should do if they find themselves in a particular situation. A role play video may be a good fit if you’re training your employees how to take sales calls or support customers with technical issues.

Make it Concise

The longer your video, the more likely it is that you’ll lose your audiences’ attention somewhere along the way, so keep it as short and punchy as possible. Not only will more concise videos keep your learners engaged, it will allow them to easily jump in and out of your training whenever their schedules allow.

Generate Excitement

Make things exciting to maintain your learners’ attention. To do so, think about how you can make your video unique. Add interesting visuals. Invite special guests. Incorporate a giveaway or prize. Get creative and think about what would engage you as a viewer.

You should also remember that your goal isn’t to impress people with your expansive vocabulary. You should communicate with easy-to-understand language that comes naturally to you. Avoid sounding like you’re reading an essay or script.

View the Video as a Narrative

Everyone loves a story. You should create narrative content to pique your viewers’ interest and make them anticipate what’s to come. To create a narrative, think of an emotional hook in the form of an interesting statistic, powerful anecdote, or thought provoking question. Here are some ideas of emotional hooks:

• Recently, this company increased sales by 75% by implementing a new marketing tool. Here’s how we’re going to follow in their footsteps.
• How would your life change if you could boost your closing rate and earn more in commission?
• Our new app is unlike any other on the market. It’s specifically engineered to save you time and money with minimal effort. We’re here to show you exactly how to use it.

Create a Holistic Experience

If you’re creating multiple online training videos, make sure they’re all consistent and align well with your unique brand. It’s also a good idea to include your logo and a link to your website in each video you create.

3. Tackle the Technical Aspects

While content is important, the technicalities of your online training video are just as vital. These considerations will vary based on whether you’ll be screencasting or will be filming outdoors, in a studio, or at your office. For instance, this affects the tools you’ll need to create your video. These may include a reliable computer, microphone, screen recorder, camera, and video editor.

You should also produce an outline or script for your video. Planning what you’ll cover in your video beforehand will save you significant time and result in a higher quality product. You may even want to create a storyboard so you’ll be able to refer to a handy visual representation of how your video will unfold.

4. Refine and Build on Your Training Videos

It’s important to look at your training videos as works in progress. Once you create them, it is in your best interest to constantly improve and add to them. With video editing software, you can bring all your shots into a cohesive, engaging story. You can also ensure your video is clear, crisp, and flows properly.

You’ll also want to obtain metrics to evaluate the results of your videos and make sure your training initiatives are on track. Consider taking advantage of a learning management system (LMS) with robust reporting and analytics capabilities.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to solicit feedback from your learners. They are the ones that have experienced your training firsthand and can inform you of its strengths and weaknesses. You can direct learners to an online survey at the end of your video and incentivize them with a gift card. Another option is to send them an email once they’ve completed the entire training and ask them for their insight.

5. Deliver Your Training Videos Using an LMS

While training videos can do wonders for your eLearning initiatives, they are only one part of the learning ecosystem. In addition to videos, you may want to incorporate interactive assessments, collaborative online projects, support tools, infographics, case studies, and games.

All of these learning activities can be paired with your training videos through an LMS. An LMS makes managing your videos — as well as any other eLearning offerings — and delivering them on any device simple. It also greatly improves the learning experience through an intuitive user interface customized for each learner. An LMS also allows you to deliver tests and assessments, track and report the progress and performance of your learners, and even implement compliance training and certification management.

If you have a substantial catalog of training videos — or if you want to automate how yuor video content is delivered — an LMS is a necessity. It can simplify your entire training program and save you endless administration-related headaches.

You want an LMS that offers the capabilities you need but won’t charge you for features you don’t. That’s exactly what you’ll get with Learn by HireRoad. It provides an exceptional user experience, supports blended learning, and addresses every challenge of implementing eLearning in your organization — or selling your eLearning content online. Compatible with SCORM and xAPI, Learn by HireRoad offers multilingual support for over 14 different languages. The experienced team behind the LMS can even help you craft a video or course that’s sure to delight your learners.

Learn is used by more than thousands of organizations who provide training to millions of learners everyday. See how, request a demo.