There was a time in the not-too-distant past when employee training took place in a stuffy, windowless room and was led by a manager who read things out of a binder. With the media landscape everyone regularly accesses today - full of social engagement, vibrant photos, and brilliant video - is it any surprise that old methods of employee training are increasingly ineffective?
Not only do corporate training videos offer better engagement with their intended audience, but they are also great tools for ensuring the same information is delivered in the correct manner. Additionally, training videos can lower the overall cost of hosting training sessions - especially to employees that work remotely or take on after-hour shifts.
Creating Corporate Training Videos
Most video production starts with two simple questions:
● Who is the ideal audience for this video?
● What will be accomplished at the end of the video?
In this case, your ideal audience is whoever is going to be on the receiving end of the training. The goal, naturally, is that the trainee understands the materials being presented to them. This could be anything from producing an onboarding/ welcoming video for new employees - which is also an excellent opportunity for the trainee to be welcomed and get an idea of the company culture. Other training videos might go significantly deeper, such as training specific departments on new tools or methodologies.
Here is an example of welcome video I produced a couple of years ago. It's not a training video, but it sets the tone for new employees (training video examples below).
Establishing Style
Depending on the content and the audience, the style of training video can have a significant impact on how the trainees receive the information. Videos intended to train your customer service team might be best shown in a dramatic or role-playing style. If you are highlighting new software or programs you may want to work with animations and screen captures with voiceovers to instruct best uses.
Here are a couple examples of screen capture video tutorials:
Script and Storyboard BEFORE you record
While producing a video is an investment of time and money, you are ultimately creating content that will last. Take the time to ensure you are covering everything you need to cover for the audience who will view it. When storyboarding, consider creating capsules of scenes or segments of video that might be outdated. This way, you can shoot and swap in shorter segments in the future, ultimately extending the life of the training video.
After you have shot and recorded the video you need, use your storyboards to ensure the right information is being presented in the right way. Adding text overlays, annotations, and even capturing the speaker’s face on camera can all work together to create an engaging video.
The last hurdle of any training video is to ensure it is both viewed and comprehended. Depending on the distribution platform, you may be able to track when and how the video was watched, if any parts were skipped, and even create supplemental review questions to assess how well the information was retained.
Training videos have been proven effective at conveying complex ideas in a simple, more accessible format that can also be fun and engaging. Your employees will love having a new and creative way of learning what they need to know in an environment they are increasingly familiar with.