Matt Pierce — November 21, 2018 — November 21, 2018
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It is no secret – training and video are a duo as iconic as peanut butter and jelly. In fact, recent research from TechSmith found that two-thirds (67 percent) of employees are better at completing tasks when communicated with by video or text with images than by plain text. As the ones responsible for creating training content — this is excellent news. We know our audience loves consuming and sharing video content, and that video is a remarkably useful training tool.
It’s up to us to discover different ways to incorporate more video into trainings as well as our daily workflows and processes. But don’t despair. Finding new ways to integrate video into your training content doesn’t have to be difficult. Instead, it should be relevant to your audience and fulfill a purpose. Let’s look at some different types of video that can help refresh your training and learning experience, as well as enhance communication.
Internal systems training videos
From day-one training and onboarding processes to rolling out new software and business tools, videos can be a real boon. Video is scalable, ensuring everyone sees and hears the same message, reducing the likelihood of misunderstandings. While there are benefits to face-to-face time during onboarding or new system implementations, getting everyone in a room takes time and can carry a substantial expense.
Consider what parts of your internal systems training you don’t want to repeat in the classroom, or what materials/content you want your audience to be able to review when they need it. These are great candidates for videos. You can also tie in the business value of the new system and why your audience should learn it. You could create a video with a key stakeholder (who is probably too busy to attend all of the classes or webinars) discussing the big picture value or strategy.
Technical support videos
As training professionals, we typically don’t view ourselves as technical support, but there are many valuable technical support videos you could create. For example, if you’re creating a new training program/topic and anticipate some frequently asked questions, you can handle them before they are asked by creating quick troubleshooting or FAQ videos.
Additionally, if you’re working through technical and complex processes that require a lot of set-up or are difficult to replicate in a training setting, technical support style videos offer the advantage of showing off the real environment and real situation. Then, you can share the videos with participants as part of your follow-up, so they can review it as needed.
“Meet the staff” videos
Whether you’re sending an email or chatting on a collaboration channel, text formats lack personality, body language, and tone. With video, you’re able to convey emotion more clearly and remove any ambiguity that exists in text communication because your audience can see your body language and hear the sincerity in your tone.
These types of videos can be highly impactful, especially within larger organizations, because they engage viewers and help form/strengthen the human connection between employees, and with the organization.
From onboarding and new-employee introductions to featuring internal subject matter experts, there are many ways to incorporate these videos into your culture. If you’re interested in learning more about the importance of visuals in the workplace, visit techsmith.com/visual-communication-research.
As the demand for video communication in business grows, so does the need for finding ways to integrate video. While these ideas aren’t rocket science, it helps us think about ways we can incorporate video into our workflows.
A version of this post originally appeared here.
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