How to efficiently create batches of engaging instructional videos

So I often get asked how to create a bunch of engaging training videos so that they look streamlined, professional and have a certain flow or consistency to them.

So there are two parts to this problem.

1. Creating effective visual aids, like PowerPoint presentations or slides.

2. Batching a whole set of videos (making a whole heap of them all at the same time) that combine engaging visuals, including slides, face to camera time, and stills.

So let’s take the first point, creating effective visual aids.

How many of you have sat there the night before a presentation is due, obsessing over the slides and wondering whether you’re going to pull it off or whether it’s going to be a big fat flop? The lesson below gives you a comprehensive overview of how to guarantee you’ll have your audience on the edge of their seats, and here’s a testimonial to prove it.

Maria! Just wanted to let you know how the workshop went … IT WAS AWESOME!!!! ….. They took notes! They asked questions! They talked to me and each other! They gathered together in the morning tea break and chatted to each other about their projects!

They all thanked me individually as they left. Then they posted a string of amazing testimonials for me on social media and the website … Woooohoooo!!! So now, of course, my brain is exploding with ‘what’s next’.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you …. just so glad I did this with you – it seriously made all the difference. To the content, to the benefit they got, to how I felt. The one thing I really felt from the workshop was just how amazing the interaction was….  I was blown away by how well the techniques and strategies you’d taught me worked, how much better and more confident it made me at delivering the workshop – and how much it improved attendee experience. I also love the butt kicks you gave me a long the way, and how our time together helped keep me accountable to creating this workshop methodically and intentionally (rather than last minute and in a panic!) Love your work!

Amelia Lee

Founder and Architect

Undercover Architect 

www.undercoverarchitect.com

If that has inspired you, the lesson below is what will show you the tips and tricks that Amelia used to get that success. For now though, let’s move on to what you’ll really need to focus on if you’re going to be creating more than one Presentation.

Batching.

This is the kind of thing that can and will drive you around the bend if you don’t know what you’re doing. Creating batches of instructional videos – effective ones, that look polished, professional and have a style that runs through them all and that make YOU look like you’re organised, tech savvy and at the top of your game. Yikes~!

I’ve been there.

It LOOKS so easy.

Yeh SURE I can whip up some content, not sure what all the fuss is about – piece of cake!

The reality, is often quite different.

If you’d like to see the blooper reel that proves it (and that’s just the taking the VIDEO part) then watch the video below. Guaranteed giggle snorts. I promise.

But seriously, that video just pokes fun at all the stuff that you need to think about when you’re filming – not to mention then trying to edit, download, upload, import, add, cut, you name it, all the components into a seamless instructional video that has a beautiful intro, fades into a perfectly trimmed video of your good self talking, which then morphs into your video in the corner explaining the graph on screen. It’s exhausting just thinking about it.

No one wants to be seen as that boring, flat ‘professional’ who creates content that is disorganised, lack lustre, and hit and miss in terms of the quality or outcomes it will help you achieve. Right? 

So. When I was creating my first online course, I spent literally months trying to pull them all together and GEE did I learn the hard way. I do remember one day literally picking up my laptop and in a particularly Bridget Jones-esque fashion (in my head only) hurling it slow motion into the tranquil pool in front of me.

The key, is having a good system in place.

Whether you’re just trying to produce a single sales video, or whether you’re trying to do them all at once (known as ‘batching’), it’s all about having a system you’re comfortable with.

Once you’ve done this once, and established the software, hardware and mental fortitude required, you’ll be well on your way to creating videos efficiently. The best is when you’ve got a stack to produce, and you know you’re going to focus, then set about it in a systematic fashion.

So what are the parts of the system you need to have established before you can effectively batch instructional videos that contain and combine video footage, images, text, slides or audio clips?

Well you need to look at the:

1. Purpose first of all (first column), then the
2. Elements required (first two rows) in the Create and Edit phase, and then you can look at the
3. Software and hardware needed to capture those elements.

My suggestions for low cost and more than decent quality options, are in the table below, and the major questions you’ll need to ask yourself explained in the summary below that. Please keep in mind that technology changes faster than I can keep these articles updated – my new favourite piece of software (better than Screencastomatic in some ways!) is Loom – and – it will automatically upload your video/screencapture/audio to a page online so you can share, download, do whatever you want with it! (Disadvantage is that you can’t separate the video from the screen recording but anyway, this isn’t a tech review article! Onwards!)

Keep in mind that of course, there are Learning Management Systems that can automate a lot of this process for you (record your videos and upload them directly into the learning platform so you can edit them before hitting the publish button), but doing it this way usually means you compromise on the quality of either the video, or the components you can add to it (hopefully this will be very different in a few years’ time when better technology has been created!).

At any rate, before you start:

1. Consider the purpose of the video:

•  is it a presentation (lecture) that includes slides or a tutorial (step by step showing you a process)?
• what elements will need to be captured? (on screen, images, powerpoint slides, audio clips, video of the presenter)

2. Consider the quality and flexibility you need within the final product:

• quicker to create but lower in quality?
• high quality with high flexibility in terms of adding and editing extra components (like adding slides, or images or switching between video of presenter and content on screen)?

3. Consider your time, money and energy budgets:

• time: how much you want to learn how to do each of the component parts of creating, editing and publishing
• money: the existing software you have, and your budget for buying more efficient software,
• energy: your ability, aptitude and carefactor involved in doing the editing and producing yourself (creating the content is one thing, making it look good and getting it online is something ELSE. Seriously consider hiring a video producer – mine has completely changed my outlook on creating videos thanks to taking away so much of the stress of trying to DIY the production part!

Ready for some more help?

I’ve got a 9 page PDF that walks you through what’s above but in much deeper detail, then also takes you through the following procedures, step by step.

Guide for Creating Video Presentations that have embedded PowerPoint slides (inside the video of the Presenter).

1. Higher Quality Version involving merging two separate, editable videos (slides and video of presenter)
2. Lower Quality Version which is much quicker but very limited ability to edit the individual streams (slides and video of presenter)

Recommended order to processing raw footage if batching a number of videos at one time.

1. including doing an efficient test run where your ‘system’ is tried, tested and proved to be worth your time, energy and effort (I know it takes a bit more time but it will literally save you DAYS of editing if you get that first video right. Believe me #ilearntthehardway
2. best practice for batching efficiently which includes the preparation, creation, editing, merging and publishing stages.

Please note: this PDF lesson gives you a list of actions that should be taken in the recommended order, to create, edit, and add elements efficiently – doing these steps in the wrong order wastes a lot of time and creates a lot of grey hair! The PDF lesson does NOT include the full tutorials on how to actually perform each step (which are widely available on YouTube and will be different depending on which software you’re using).

Ready to learn how to avoid death by PowerPoint by creating visual aids that enhance and help you while you’re presenting?

I’ve prepared a tutorial, a checklist and bonus worksheet on how to batch produce videos effectively (make lots of videos at once so that you’re saving yourself a lot of time and preparation).

The lesson is available here.

It’s located in the FOUNDATIONS Level of the Library, in the Delivery Skills course:

Lesson 3.2: Engaging Visual Aids

Click on the above link to be taken directly to the Lesson. If you’re already a member of the Delivery Skills course, make sure you’re logged in! If you’re not, you’ll be redirected to the page where you can become a member.

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