Training videos are one of the best ways to deliver information to your employees. In fact, 76% of staff members working in organizations of different sizes in various sectors believe that instruction videos ensure the retention of new knowledge.
However, it’s not always the case where every training video you produce catches on. Some get the job done, while others may not. For a video-based training program to work, it requires instructional design expertise and significant upfront planning. For Digital Training Managers with limited experience, that’s a real head-scratcher.
If you ever find yourself in such a case, our guide on how to make training videos for employees below might brighten up your day!
What is A Training Video?
Simply put, a training video is a video-based material that showcases information or the way to do something like skill and knowledge. In a company, a training video can be used for many purposes such as reskilling/ upskilling, compliance training, health and safety training, onboarding/ preboarding training. Video is the perfect media template to deliver how-tos and training content because you can show and tell viewers what they need to know at the same time.
Finding more ideas to make the best of educational animation in your training? Download this.
Animation Application in Employee Training - Preparation Guide
Why Are Training Videos Effective?
Here are the reasons why training videos are more effective than traditional text-only or lecture-based methods:
- Training videos are more compelling and engaging: Video combines elements of sound, picture, and motion to involve more of our senses. It makes training more vivid and easier to visualize.
- Training videos improve knowledge retention: According to a study conducted by SAVO, presenting learning materials with clear visuals increases knowledge retention by up to 65%.
- Training videos are flexible: With only a smartphone and a few minutes, employees can access the training content anytime and anywhere. Training videos offer much-needed flexibility in our current way of life. This ensures that employees can learn from the comfort of their home or private workspace by accessing videos on smartphones, tablets, or computers.
- Training videos are cost-effective: Using videos in corporate training can reduce costs. They allow companies to transfer knowledge to a large demographic with just a few clicks. For large international corporations, this is a real-life-saver. Training videos cut down on repetitive instructor fees and other training costs. There will be no need for hiring venues, traveling, or booking accommodation.
How To Make Training Videos For Employees More Effective?
Here are our 5 easy steps to create fun and effective instructional videos:
- Step 1: Extract The Core And Useful Information
- Step 2: Divide Your Content
- Step 3: Make It Fun
- Step 4: Pick The Right Video Format
- Step 5: Choose An LMS To Deliver Your Video
- Step 6: Go For A Relatable And Consistent Design
An example of Training Videos For New-hire Employees:
1. Step 1: Extract The Core And Useful Information
To answer the question “How to make great training videos”, the first step to creating any useful training videos is to determine what information to present. Based on our experience with past clients, we understand why it’s so easy to get distracted by the main idea. Digital Learning Managers always want to fit every single piece of information into the training videos. That’s counter-effective. Instead of making the video instructional, you’re diluting it with way too much irrelevant content.
Before getting to know how to make videos for employees, make sure the knowledge meets the actual needs of your employees. You can conduct a survey or do a little research beforehand to develop training materials.
If you’re not certain about the quality or the correctness of the content, bring in some experts. But remember, extract the core information only. The thing with experts is that they often use big words/terminologies to explain what they know. It may be a roadblock to employee’s comprehension.
Your task as a Digital Training Manager is to provide accurate and easy-to-understand information from your subject matter experts to your employees. The solution, interview experts, pinpoint the main messages, determine the key points, and simplify them.
2. Step 2: Divide Your Content
For maximum employee engagement and training proficiency, produce a series of microlearning videos. Microlearning embraces our modern way of life; It’s short, sharp, and focused. Employees will learn exactly what they want to learn with no distraction. Furthermore, microlearning videos only take a few minutes, so the training won’t consume your staff members’ time.
To prepare the materials for microlearning, split up the content you have into digestible bite-sized bursts of information. Each training video should be three to five minutes in length at most. If different episodes contain relevant information to one another, group them into a separate reel/series for easier access. That’s the best way to upcycle your old training materials for microlearning.
3. Step 3: Make It Fun
To make great training videos for your employee, don’t forget the fun. It engages learners, takes away the stress, and makes information delivery more natural. On top of that, corporate training videos often deal with complex processes that can be hard to remember. No matter how many times your employees watch the videos, they can’t seem to pick up the knowledge you impart.
Hence, make your videos stand out and more memorable by slipping in a funny phrase, a song, or a joke every now and then. Better, add animation! Everyone loves cartoons, right? They toss aside the rules of reality, defy the law of physics, and take us into the imaginative world of endless possibilities. In the same sense, adding animation to training videos will make them more entertaining and fun for your employees.
Learn more about how to engage your employees:
4. Step 4: Pick The Right Video Format
Different formats fit different types of content and audience groups. Consider employees’ preferences and materials to pick a suitable video format.
Here are a few available to consider:
- Screencast: Screencast videos are recordings of your computer screen. This format suits both informal and highly polished productions. It’s best for training employees on how to use new software or operate a computer system.
- Microvideo: Microvideos are only five to fifteen seconds long. They demonstrate a single process or idea only. You can choose to incorporate narration, visuals, or text on the screen. This format will be great for simple processes that don’t require creating a longer training video.
- Presenter video: Presenter videos record trainers specifying the information suitable for live training.
- Product demo video: This is a very popular video format on YouTube. It demonstrates how a particular product, service, or process works.
- Roleplay: As in a roleplay, you enact a scenario to help viewers picture the way a particular interaction should go. It’s particularly helpful to train employees on how to handle specific things like social interactions.
- Animation: Animated explainer videos use motions and graphics to get their message across. Creating them will take great technical and artistic know-how, but they’re extra-effective for engaging your audience.
- Interactive video: In interactive training videos, viewers can interact with the content. For example, they might be asked to respond to situations and then see the results of their decision.
5. Step 5: Choose An LMS To Deliver Your Video
A Learning Management System, or an LMS for short, is a platform that allows you to create, deliver, and monitor eLearning courses. This is where you upload all of your content, including the training videos. However, not all LMS platforms support video-based materials. You, as a Digital Training Manager, will have to pick and choose the one that matches your needs. Consider the type of your content, your video format, your business scale, your goal,… And most importantly, make sure your employees can access the LMS and learn at their own pace.
6. Step 6: Go For A Relatable And Consistent Design
It’s crucial to understand how to make videos for employees more unique and memorable, and of course, connected. That creates the consistency to drive the messages home easier.
To achieve this, try using familiar faces or elements in the company. Things like the brand colours, corporate working space, or company uniforms may be where to start. By presenting these factors in your videos, you can trigger a sense of comfort in your employees. It makes training videos less about compliance but more about entertaining.
Still cannot wrap your mind around the idea? Let’s take a look at the One QBE Case Study for reference!
One QBE is an international corporation that employs 14,500 people from 37 different countries. The company plans to develop a consistent internal training course for all employees. It has to be consistent, flexible, and easy to access. F.Learning Studio incorporated animation to create a consistent style that meets One QBE’s demands. Our video helped transform the corporation’s internal training and bridge the knowledge gap among its employees around the world.
- More great examples of brilliant training videos
Tips: How To Make Great Training Videos for Employees?
- Incorporate Other Trainng Materials
- Keep It Simple
- Partner Up
#1 Incorporate Other Training Materials
Training videos aren’t the end-all-be-all for internal training. It needs support from other activities and materials to ensure knowledge is transferred to your employees. You can accommodate the training content with workbooks, transcripts, or additional files that further the information. Also, find a way to test the knowledge acquisition at the end. That allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of your training course and make necessary changes.
#2 Keep It Simple
Don’t overwhelm your employees with too many flashy effects and eye-popping animations. We understand that it’s easy to get carried away when creating your training videos. But keep it subtle. Make sure your videos are edited professionally: simple yet not boring.
#3 Partner Up
The steps and tips we mentioned above sound simple enough, right? Yet sometimes, simple things are the hardest to perfect. Creating training videos that your employees would want to watch again and again takes a lot of know-how and years of experience to master. The process is intensive and time-consuming.
But why worry yourself with such troubles when you can partner up with a trusted training video production and have them do it for you? Focus your time and reallocate your resources to other tasks and leave your training videos for the professionals like F.Learning Studio.
F.Learning Studio is an experienced provider of many successful eLearning courses and training videos. We were once in the shoes of Digital Training Managers, wondering what makes training engaging and fun. If you’re building your path towards the answer to that question, we’re more than happy to share our journey with you.
Keen on learning more about F.Learning Studio and our services, contact us right now!
Make Training Fun Again!
How to make training videos for employees? Well, to sum up, keep your materials concise, useful, and memorable. Always put in the extra effort to create entertaining training videos. It will save you a great deal of time holding in-person training sessions or cleaning up after your employees’ mistakes.
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