Learning & Development Archives | Vyond https://www.vyond.com/blog/category/learning-development/ Mon, 05 May 2025 21:14:18 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 https://www.vyond.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/vyond1-150x150.png Learning & Development Archives | Vyond https://www.vyond.com/blog/category/learning-development/ 32 32 11 Examples of Successful Employee Training Videos https://www.vyond.com/blog/employee-training-videos/ Wed, 08 Jan 2025 23:56:22 +0000 https://www.vyond.com/?p=8765 Get inspired by these 11 examples of successful, real-life employee training videos, created in a range of formats and styles.

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Compelling training videos help L&D and HR teams share knowledge across the organization and help employees build the skills necessary for your company to thrive.

In this guide, we’ll share the ingredients to a successful training video–and share 11 examples of employee training videos covering some of the most common training topics, all made with Vyond’s versatile all-in-one video creation platform. Specifically, we’ll cover:

Table of contents 

What is an employee training video?

create employee training videos banner image

An employee training video is a visual instructional tool designed to educate employees on specific skills, procedures, or policies within a workplace. It often includes demonstrations, examples, and explanations to improve understanding and retention of the material.

Whatever their purpose or vibe, training videos come with a distinct advantage: high-quality engagement that translates to 95% retention (compared to only 10% retention for text-based learning). 

There are three primary reasons why an organization may want to make an employee training video, including:

  • Knowledge transfer: Video delivers essential information efficiently during the onboarding process and over the employee’s tenure with the organization. 
  • Skill development: Training videos help employees at all levels acquire new soft or hard skills or update existing ones.
  • Compliance and risk mitigation: Video helps organizations meet legal and regulatory requirements by delivering content on topics like workplace safety, anti-harassment, data protection, and other compliance issues.

Regardless of which of these purposes an employee training video may fulfill, there are infinite ways to make it come to life. Let’s look at some of the most common. 

What are some common types of employee training videos?

Employee training videos come in many forms, but these are some of the most popular:

  • Explainer videos help viewers learn a concept or an idea. 
  • Scenario-based training videos show examples of situations and how people should respond.
  • Tutorials/how-tos show learners processes step-by-step and may include screen recordings or mixed media. 
  • Presentation-style videos bring your slide deck out of the meeting and into the team brainstorming session. 
  • Interactive videos allow learners to make decisions, answer questions, and explore various paths within the video. This hands-on approach enhances the learning experience by making the content more personalized.
  • Microlearning videos break down complex topics into smaller, easier-to-digest nuggets of information. 
  • Talking head videos feature on-screen presenters–either subject matter experts themselves, or hosts relaying information the way a TV anchor does. 
  • Hybrid or mixed media training videos include multiple elements from the types listed above. For example, you might use screen capture, tutorials, and interactivity to keep viewers engaged with highly technical skills training. 

Whatever type of training video you choose, it’s essential to understand what makes these instructional tools effective.

Qualities of effective employee training videos

Here are the crucial elements that make training videos stand out and drive successful learning outcomes:

  • Goal-focused: What are your objectives, and how will you measure those results? Your video should be laser-focused on your primary aims.
  • Right length for the subject matter: The traditional wisdom is that users prefer videos of only a few minutes in length. However, Techsmith’s 2024 research shows that respondents cited 10- to 19-minute-long videos as their preferred duration. Bottom line: a video should be as long as it needs to be to get your message across clearly.
  • Engages employees: Effective videos make employees pay close attention and get emotionally invested in the material. Use specificity wherever possible and humor when appropriate — and don’t forget to make the content as relevant and personalized as you can. 
  • Clarifies complex ideas and concepts: Use simple language, appropriate use of text and images, and metaphors to help ideas stick.
  • Helps drive new behaviors or actions: These videos aren’t just about learning for learning’s sake. You want people to be better equipped to handle real work situations and make better decisions.
  • Supports your company’s growth and retention efforts: When people are well-trained, they become more skilled. This makes your company better, which in turn makes employees want to stick around longer. 

Most importantly, focus your video on a particular audience and the specific skill or process you want to teach.

11 examples of successful training videos for employees

Here are some examples of training videos in a range of styles and topics for inspiration. 

1. New hire orientation video example

Using videos to onboard your new hires boosts the chances that they’ll digest and retain critical information about your company culture, their new team, and their role. (Research shows that people are more likely to remember information that they receive in a video format than text alone — even after six weeks.)

Note how this video adds a human touch by incorporating characters representing members of the new hire’s team, along with their actual voices. 

2. Workplace safety training video example

Nearly three million people are injured on the job each year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Safety training videos can cut down on accidents by ensuring that workers understand the safest ways to use tools and equipment on the job. 

Note how this video both engages and educates by presenting a real scenario, blending photorealistic, whiteboard, and animated characters, and breaking down important steps in a clear, visual way. 

3. Department onboarding video example

Need new sales reps to get up to speed quickly? A series of short animated onboarding videos is a perfect fit. 

 
Of note in this video (which is one of a series): By using an animated narrator like this, you don’t have to worry about onboarding content become dated if sales leadership changes. It’s evergreen, with a fun human touch. 

4. Compliance training video example

As this video demonstrates, clever storytelling and humor can help make even the driest compliance topics seem compelling. It may seem counterintuitive to add lighter elements to content about serious topics. But it works. 

5. Cybersecurity training video example

This cybersecurity training video is a great example of how to use lively animations, voiceover narration, and music to engage learners.  

6. Sales training video example

In sales, the difference between a missed opportunity and a closed deal often comes down to a single phone call.

This sales training video sharpens the essential skills reps need to succeed over the phone — listening, asking the right questions, and enunciating, to name a few. Notice how the friendly vibe of this video fits the message, too. 

7. Technical training video example

Adding animated elements (arrows, motion lines) to a visual of a machine or system is a simple but powerful way to help learners understand how it works, as this video demonstrates. 

8. Soft skills training example

In a recent survey from Wiley, two-thirds of the employees surveyed said that the soft skills training they received had a positive effect on their job performance. This video, “Empathy in the workplace for remote teams,” uses animation and on-screen text to demonstrate how remote colleagues can work to understand and accommodate one another more effectively. 

9. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) training video example

This diversity training video expertly uses animated characters acting out very short scenarios to highlight examples of ageism–and show learners how to avoid falling prey to it. 

10. Product or service training video example

This engaging example takes a mixed media approach, combining live footage of a “talking head,” screen capture footage, animation and text to demonstrate two ways Vyond makes it easy to make training videos on any topic. 

11. Leadership training video example

This leadership training video equips remote managers with actionable tips to navigate these hurdles and build stronger, more cohesive teams, no matter where they’re located. The combination of minimal text and colorful visuals makes it easy for the viewer to follow along and retain the information. 

Build effective training videos for employees in minutes with Vyond

No matter what kind of employee training video you’re hoping to create, Vyond’s all-in-one AI video creation platform makes it easy. 

Create videos in a variety of styles, including animated, photorealistic, mixed media, and everything in between. Generate a video script and draft in less than a minute by entering a simple text prompt into Vyond Go. Or use our Text to Image AI tool and deep library of templates to make something quickly in Vyond Studio. 


Want to check out Vyond for yourself? Sign up for a free 14-day trial: 

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How to Make a Tutorial Video: A Step-by-Step Guide https://www.vyond.com/blog/how-to-make-a-tutorial-video/ Fri, 20 Dec 2024 18:50:43 +0000 https://www.vyond.com/?p=8496 If you can make a PowerPoint deck, you can make a video tutorial. Here’s what you need to know to get started, even without production experience.

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Video tutorials accomplish something that no other learning content can do: show users, step by step, how to complete a specific task or process.

Whether you’re teaching veteran sellers how to use new customer relationship software or helping new hires figure out how to add an email signature, a video tutorial will help. These how-to videos, which are typically only a few minutes in length, have applications for employee onboarding, customer engagement, internal communications, and eLearning programs.

The good news is that you don’t have to have any video production experience to make a tutorial video that achieves your goals. All you need is the right preparation, video tools, and approach.

In this guide, you’ll find out how to create tutorial videos that are clear, accurate, and, above all, easy to digest. You’ll also learn how to ensure that your videos are effortless to update as needed, which will save you time and money and guarantee a longer shelf life for your content.

Table of Contents
What is a video tutorial?
Benefits of video tutorials
How to make a tutorial video in 8 steps
Tips for making an effective video tutorial
The best software for making tutorial videos
FAQs

What is a video tutorial?

Making a tutorial video example image

A video tutorial is a type of training video. Also known as a how-to video or instructional video, a video tutorial a recorded, step-by-step guide showing how to perform a specific task. Video tutorials are especially useful for self-guided learning because viewers can see exactly what to do at each step of the process.

Video tutorials are incredibly popular: in the first quarter of 2024, over 25% of internet users watched how-to videos at least once a week — on YouTube and other websites. Learning tasks through video is more effective, as well. Users retain 95% of what they learn from watching a video compared with 10% from reading text.

Popular video tutorial styles include animated videos, live action videos, and screen recordings accompanied by an instructor’s webcam commentary.

Benefits of video tutorials

Video tutorials are more effective and engaging learning tools than lengthy text content. Benefits of video tutorials include:

  • Flexibility: Video tutorials are uniquely suited to asynchronous learning, allowing users to view content on their own time — and as many times as they need. Unlike live instruction, users can adapt how-to videos to fit any schedule.
  • Engagement: Users prefer video to instructional manuals by a 3-to-1 margin. Video tutorials meet users where they live, providing easy-to-digest information in a format that they prefer.
  • Retention: Users retain more information when watching a video than when reading a static script. The main reason for this is that videos engage multiple senses simultaneously. The combination of visuals, sound, and animation provides a more immersive experience, helping to clarify and reinforce concepts.
  • Personalization: Video content is simple to update, customizable for various audiences, and easy to translate into multiple languages. You can add elements like text pop-ups, onscreen footage, or screen captures as needed.
  • Accessibility: Features like language translation, captioning, and text pop-ups make it trouble-free to ensure accessibility for all audiences. Because video content is convenient to update, you can even make changes on the fly as you receive feedback from your users.
  • Pacing: Learners can return to video tutorials as needed. No more scrambling through notes or taking up power users’ time with easy-to-answer questions.

Tutorial videos are effortless to digest, engaging, accessible to users, and encourage self-directed learning and problem-solving. They’re also quick to make — even for creators who don’t have video production experience.

How to make a tutorial video in 8 steps

8 steps to making a tutorial video infographic

If you can make a PowerPoint presentation, you can produce your own tutorial videos. It’s as straightforward as following these steps:

1. Define the purpose

What do you want your video to achieve? To nail down this first step, you need to decide on a few factors:

  • The topic of your video tutorial: This is the easiest part of the process because (hopefully!) you already know what you want your how-to video to teach your users. However, it’s a good idea to state this outright. It will help you double-check the scope of your tutorial to ensure that you’re sharply focused on one particular task, skill, or process.
  • Your goals: What do you hope users will get out of this? Be as clear as possible.
  • Your target audience: Depending on the scope of your video tutorial, you may be speaking to one user type or many. For example, everyone from the newest intern to the most seasoned executive needs to know how to make an email signature, but only content marketing folks need to understand how to upload documents to your content management system.

If you can’t name it, you can’t measure it. Defining the purpose of your tutorial video ensures that you target certain goals, such as learning discrete tasks, developing skills, and training new staff.

2. Make a storyboard

A storyboard is a visual framework for your instructional video. It demonstrates how your video will tell the story, frame by frame.

A typical storyboard contains rough sketches of each shot and a brief description of the action, dialogue, and special effects in each frame. Each panel of the storyboard represents a shot in the completed video.

Storyboards are typically hand-drawn, but you can use software to speed your process (especially if you’re not a great artist). The important thing is to focus on what each frame needs to convey: the visuals, the action, and the text or verbal dialogue.

Writing a storyboard also helps make the next step easier: writing your script.

3. Write a script

The script outlines the action and content of your video tutorial. Everything that happens in your video will be included in this text-based document.

A good video tutorial script follows a simple structure: the beginning, middle, and end (otherwise known as the intro, body, and conclusion). It should begin with a clear call to action that sets up the goal, scene, and characters.

The script outlines the journey your characters take to achieve the goal. For example, if your tutorial video shows how to write a cold sales email, you would start with a call to action — writing an email that builds customer relationships and ultimately converts to a sale. Then, you would show, scene by scene, how to write each part of the email and how it results in hitting sales targets.

4. Determine your recording approach

Next up is figuring out exactly how you want to bring your ideas to life. When it comes to recording your video tutorial, you have three main options:

  • Record real people. Opt for real people, either as talking heads or experts explaining tasks, and record them against a backdrop or location. Or, consider using a realistic AI Avatar to serve as the host of your content.
  • Share your screen. Record yourself or an expert doing the task with screen capture, either with voiceover or an inset video. Ensure that you’re appropriately zoomed in, that your mic works well, and so on.
  • Use animation. The animation option enables you to zoom in, zoom out, and create any environment you want, from your office to the surface of the moon. Use your own or another expert’s voice, or opt for a realistic-sounding AI voice narrator. Regardless of your choice, animation lets you save money on a video shoot.

Versatile AI video creation platforms like Vyond enable all three options. You can even upload real video footage to the platform and customize it from there.

5. Rehearse until you’re confident

Just as when you’re giving a presentation or conducting a job interview, the secret to sounding confident is practice. Start by reading your script out loud to ensure that your language sounds as smooth when spoken as it looks when printed on the page. Tweak as necessary and continue practicing until you feel comfortable.

If you choose to record yourself live, pay attention to your body language. Watch your posture, hand movements, and gestures. You’re looking for an open, confident, positive vibe. If you opt for a voiceover, make sure your language is simple and clear.

(Note: Just as there are AI alternatives to a host, there are now AI voices you can choose to narrate your script. One benefit of using AI voiceover is that you don’t have to rehearse as much or worry about your presentation to the same extent. However, you will still have to ensure that your written words translate well into speech.)

6. Record

Regardless of which approach you take — live action, screen capture, or animation — the recording step begins by making sure you have the appropriate equipment. Ideally, use a high-quality microphone and camera (or video creation software that replicates both in-screen). Video creation software can also make it easier to integrate multiple sources like audio tracks, visual assets, and text pop-ups.

Be sure to double-check requirements for your video-sharing platform. For example, if you’re uploading your video to YouTube, you’ll need to shoot in landscape mode to ensure the content fits your viewers’ screens appropriately.

7. Edit

Editing is the stage that will make or break your video. A well-edited tutorial will look professional, engage viewers, and convey your message effectively.

The exact steps you take during the editing process will depend on your equipment, medium, and goals. If you use a video creation platform, you may even be able to create, edit, and share from one dashboard, depending on the product you choose.

Regardless of your tools and goals, your editing process will include some of these to-dos:

  • Cutting scenes: With your message in mind, look for opportunities to tighten transitions, improve cuts, add zoom shots, or otherwise improve the narrative flow.
  • Adding text: Decide where you want text to appear in your video. Common uses of text are titles, subtitles, captions, and pop-up text. Make sure your font choices are consistent and legible.
  • Balancing audio: This step will be especially important if you’re using live recording, but even if you opt for AI narration, you’ll need to decide on background music, sound effects, etc.
  • Boosting interactive elements: Add arrows, callouts, shapes, and highlights to draw attention to important points.
  • Toning down excessive Fx: As a last step, rewatch your video with a critical eye. Are the bells and whistles getting in the way of your message? If so, cut anything that seems distracting or unnecessary.

8. Share and promote your video tutorial

Save your final product and share it to your internal eLearning site, YouTube, or social media as appropriate. Pay attention to file requirements and test your video before announcing it to your users.

When you’re ready to roll out your tutorial, make sure it’s easy to find. Consider pinning it to appropriate Slack channels, making it searchable in internal systems, and linking it to related content.

Also, keep in mind that users need a good reason to click — and “it’s mandatory” isn’t as persuasive as we might like to think. Remind your learners why it’s in their best interests to watch this tutorial and engage with it. How will this content help their career?

Tips for making an effective video tutorial

So, now you know how to make a video tutorial. But how can you ensure your how-to video really lands with its intended audience? Keep these tips in mind:

  • Invest in the planning stage. Do your research before committing to a vision. Ask for input from multiple subject matter experts and stakeholders — don’t just go with one expert’s vision of how to do a task.
  • Think in images. Users will be more persuaded by what they see, not by what you tell them. Resist the temptation to overwrite your script.
  • Provide road signs. During the storyboarding phase, signal where your story is going with visual cues such as facial expressions and actions.
  • Keep it simple. Don’t overload your viewers with multiple stimuli at the same time.
  • Vary shots. Simple doesn’t mean boring, however. Take full advantage of the video creation software’s capabilities by mixing up shot types and angles.
  • Consider a video host to boost engagement. Whether you go with AI avatars, animation, or real people, having a host for your tutorial helps people connect with the content.
  • Inject moments of humor. Funny moments give your viewers a chance to pause, which will help them re-engage with the material.
  • Consider multiple distribution streams. Incorporate your video tutorial into onboarding, pin to appropriate Slack channels, or distribute through the company eLearning platform.
  • Set metrics for success. What do you hope to achieve with your video? Know what success looks like, whether it’s a certain level of engagement or increased retention for employees who interacted with the tutorial.
  • Update your video tutorial as needed. Perform regular audits, updating steps when necessary. Animation makes this process easier because there’s no need to reshoot with live participants.

Remember that your video tutorial is a living document. Be ready to listen to and incorporate feedback and make changes when appropriate.

The best software for making tutorial videos

Learning how to make tutorial videos can seem overwhelming, especially if you don’t have much (or any!) video production experience. But today’s tools make it easier than ever for users with all levels of knowledge to produce effective, engaging videos quickly and easily.

Vyond’s all-in-one AI video creation platform is uniquely well-suited to help both new and experienced video creators make effective tutorial videos, easily, in a wide range of styles. With Vyond’s versatile set of tools, you can create animated explainer videos, mixed media tutorials that incorporate live action footage you upload, webcam and screen recordings, and dynamic text and animations — and more.

Also, with the Document to Video feature in Vyond Go, you can convert PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, as well as .doc and .txt files into tutorial videos in less than a minute. And our selection of over 90 AI Avatars offers you a quick and easy way to add an instructor’s commentary to any footage you want to explain.

To find out how Vyond can make tutorial video creation effortless, sign up for a free 14-day trial.

FAQs

How long should a video tutorial be?

There’s no ideal length for a video tutorial, but keep in mind that it’s usually best to break down tasks into smaller steps. Users are more likely to engage with learning in small bites.

What is the best software for making video tutorials?

Vyond is the best all-in-one platform for making video tutorials because it enables users with no production experience to create professional videos in a wide range of styles quickly. Use Vyond Go to create a quick script and video in minutes. Or use Vyond Studio’s library of templates, styles, scenes, and characters to make engaging tutorials with just a few clicks.

Can I make a video tutorial for free?

You can find free video tutorial tools as easily as performing a simple Google search. However, if you want top-quality videos with customization options that are tailored to your needs, you’re better off paying for a video creation platform that really works. Professional video generation tools come at a variety of price points, and even the least expensive tier will provide you with significantly better results.

What equipment do I need to make video tutorials?

You can make video tutorials using your webcam and a decent microphone as long as you have the right video production software. There’s no need to pay more for studio-quality equipment.

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10 Best Training Video Software in 2025 https://www.vyond.com/blog/training-video-software/ Thu, 05 Sep 2024 19:00:46 +0000 https://www.vyond.com/blog/training-video-software/ Explore the best training video software for educating staff and persuading customers to choose your product over competitors.

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Want to create engaging, effective training videos on any topic imaginable with just a few clicks? You’ve come to the right place.

In this guide, we’ll share the top ten training video software tools based on our thorough research and customer reviews. We’ve also split them up by category (best overall, best screen-recorder, etc.), so stay tuned to see which tool may be the best fit for your organization.

Overview of the best training video software in 2025

Here’s a peek at the training video software we found to be the best:

Best overall: Vyond

Best for screen capturing: Camtasia

Best for interactive videos: LearnWorlds, Vimeo

Best for editing: Final Cut Pro

Best for mobile devices: Videoshop, iMovie

For animation only: Animaker, Powtoon

For creating AI-powered talking head videos: Synthesia

Best training video software overall

Video video training software image

1. Vyond

Vyond is the most comprehensive, user-friendly, and versatile training video software on the market. Ideal for business professionals with no previous video-making experience, it features a drag-and-drop video interface (Vyond Studio) and an AI-powered script and video generator (Vyond Go). Together, these tools help you create high-quality scripts and training videos much faster than traditional video production methods.

With Vyond, you can create training videos in a wide variety of popular styles, including animated, photorealistic, and mixed media, as well as videos that feature AI Avatars, screen recordings, or user-generated footage.

With Vyond Go, you can go from prompt to a complete, editable training video in seconds. And with Vyond Studio’s huge library of video templates, scenes, characters, styles, and new AI features, you can bring any video idea to life quickly — zero production experience required.

Vyond’s pros

  • Best all-in-one AI video creation platform
  • Editing and updating content is extremely easy
  • Allows beginners to jump in and start creating and editing videos with zero effort
  • Features a wide range of character styles and ethnicities
  • Offers more than 30 realistic, diverse AI Avatars to narrate and/or host your video content
  • Provides automatic lip-sync for AI-generated or pre-recorded audio
  • Supports over 70 languages for easier localization
  • Features straightforward sharing capabilities; for example, you can upload content to learning management systems (LMS) like Articulate
  • Consistently enhances its products with new feature releases

What to look out for with Vyond

Key features of Vyond

What makes Vyond unique is its versatility, ease of use, and cutting-edge AI capabilities.

You can create content instantly with Vyond Go, a text-to-video generator, a library of AI Avatars, and other AI functionality like Text to Image and Video to Action. Or you can use Vyond Studio’s vast library of assets, industry-specific templates, characters, and styles and easy drag-and-drop interface to create highly targeted (and effective) video content for any business audience.

Vyond pricing

Vyond’s pricing includes four plan options: Starter at $699 annually (40% savings vs monthly), Professional at $1199 annually (50% savings vs monthly), Enterprise at $1649 annually (contact us for multi-seat pricing, not available monthly), and Agency at $1999 annually (includes unlimited rights transfer).

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Best training video software for screen capturing

Camtasia video training software image

2. Camtasia

Camtasia is a screen recording and video editing software for educators, instructional designers, tech marketers, and other business professionals. It’s ideal for creating software demos, tutorials, and presentations using Windows and Mac computers.

Camtasia ranks #2 because it’s easy to use and more affordable than other training video solutions, without compromising quality or much-needed screen capturing features.

Camtasia pros

  • Good price point for small businesses and startups
  • Self-explanatory for newbies and pros to jump in and start screen capturing
  • Provides an all-in-one solution for screen capturing, recording audio, and editing

Camtasia cons

  • Lacks the advanced features and versatility of other software, and doesn’t have an audio editor (must use Audiate)
  • Only has an annual offer, but has a 30-day money-back guarantee
  • Must pay for Audiate (text-based editor that removes “um’s” and “uh’s”) and assets library separately
  • Larger projects may have lagging performance, choppy playback, and slow timeline navigation

Key features of Camtasia

The core features of Camtasia cover the basics of screen capturing while making the process faster for users. It offers video annotations, including adding text, shapes, and subtitles. To edit videos and enhance audio quicker, users can upgrade to the plan with Audiate. There’s also a multi-track timeline that allows you to add an unlimited number of tracks from your files or Camtasia’s library (again, requires a plan upgrade to use its assets).

Camtasia pricing

Camtasia offers three plan options; all are annual subscriptions. The individual subscription is $179.88, Camtasia with Audiate is $329.87, and Camtasia with Assets and Audiate is $479.86.

Best training video software for interactive videos

LearnWorlds video training software image

3. LearnWorlds

LearnWorlds is a training video software that strives to make education engaging. If you prefer to show, not tell, then you’ll enjoy the interactive features it offers. For example, you can build quizzes with clickable answers for employees. Or include CTA buttons to convert customers after viewing a product demo.

This training video platform made the list because of its unique approach to educational content. It’s ideal for instructors and business professionals and is accessible via your web browser.

LearnWorlds pros

  • Offers step-by-step guidance and detailed explanations to help you get started
  • Creates compelling videos using annotations, questions, quizzes, and more
  • Allows you to personalize learning by changing the flow of a video based on the viewer’s answers

LearnWorlds cons

  • Interactive video features are only available in the higher tier (Learning Center)
  • Prices jump significantly between plan upgrades (e.g., $24 to $79 to $249)
  • Platform is easy to use, but some may find it hard to learn in the beginning

Key features of LearnWorlds

LearnWorlds isn’t just an interactive video training platform; it also offers a table of contents and navigation buttons to quickly find content in longer videos. The tool auto-generates interactive transcripts from your videos, allowing viewers to click the text to jump to the section of the video.

LearningWorlds pricing

There are three plans with set prices: Starter at $29 per month or $288 per year, Pro Trainer at $99 per month or $948 per year, and Learning Center at $299 per month or $2,988 per year. There’s also a Higher Volume & Corporate plan that requires contacting their sales department to receive a quote.

Vimeo video training software image

4. Vimeo

Vimeo is another video training software with interactive features. It’s a great choice for those who need high-quality video hosting, streaming, and sharing capabilities. Since it’s a web-based platform, you can use it on any device with a browser.

Vimeo is an easy-to-use tool that creates professional-grade videos within minutes thanks to its AI-powered and drag-and-drop features.

Vimeo pros

  • Creates high-definition videos in 4K, 8K, HDR, and Dolby Vision
  • Allows you to trim clips, add music and effects, and build on top of pre-made templates
  • Simple to get started with its intuitive interface
  • Provides analytics to track completions and monitor progress

Vimeo cons

  • Customer support sometimes has slow responses and unhelpful resolutions
  • Free plan comes with significant limitations for storage, bandwidth, and privacy
  • Limited customization options for building tailored interactive training videos
  • Integration issues with tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, and Eloqua

Key features of Vimeo

Vimeo is an affordable interactive training video platform powered by artificial intelligence and drag-and-drop capabilities. Its AI features allow you to generate video scripts using prompts. Plus, its AI can transcribe video content into text, and allows you to edit the video by editing the text. The automated captions improve accessibility and make your training materials searchable.

Vimeo pricing

Vimeo offers four plans: The Free plan is suitable for one user needing no more than 1 GB of storage. Then the paid options include Starter at $20 per month, Standard at $33 per month, and Advanced at $108 per month. Annual plans are also available at a 40% discount.

Best training video software for editing

Final Cut Pro video training software image

5. Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro is Apple’s professional-grade video editing software solution. It offers many features, such as easy clip arrangement via magnetic timelines and high-performance editing on Apple devices.

Final Cut Pro is best for video editors, content creators, and editors looking for advanced video editing features. Unfortunately, this platform is only available for MacOS computers. However, it’s an excellent choice for those needing drag-and-drop features that create polished and ready-to-share videos with employees and clients.

Final Cut Pro pros

  • Offers professional-level video editing features for visual and audio elements
  • Allows beginners to get started right away, thanks to its user-friendly interface
  • Integrates with tools in Apple’s ecosystem, like Motion and Compressor
  • Provides a free trial to try before you buy

Final Cut Pro cons

  • Lacks consistent updates for improving current features and developing new features
  • Comes with a learning curve, especially for those familiar with other video editing platforms
  • Has limited audio editing capabilities and the inability to paste effects across multiple clips
  • Only available on Apple computers

Key features of Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro is an ideal software for training videos, thanks to its advanced video editing features, such as magnetic timelines that simplify snapping clips together. It also offers multicam editing for combining footage taken from different cameras, color grading to correct colors, and audio editing using pro-grade tools. The motion graphics and effects are handy for creating animations and visual effects.

Final Cut Pro pricing

Free trial for 90 days. Also, Final Cut Pro’s pricing is unique because it doesn’t require ongoing payments. Pay $299.99 once, and it’s yours forever.

Best training video software for mobile devices

Videoshop video training software image

6. Videoshop

Videoshop is a mobile video editing app that allows you to create training content on the go (or wherever you are). It’s ideal for beginners and busy business professionals who want to create quick tutorials as the need arises.

It’s easy to use and comes with basic tools to make high-quality training videos. Plus, it’s available on iOS and Android devices.

Videoshop pros

  • Easy to use for those new to video editing, thanks to its seamless drag-and-drop interface
  • Regularly updated for new features and bug fixes
  • Cross-platform compatibility for iOS and Android devices
  • On-the-go editing for busy professionals and pop-up tutorial requests

Videoshop cons

  • Free version comes with a watermark and limited export quality
  • Lacks advanced pro-level video editing features (e.g., multi-track editing, complex color correction)
  • No desktop version, so it’s limited to mobile
  • Limited transition options that are less professional-looking

Key features of Videoshop

Videoshop comes with basic mobile video editing features for trimming unwanted clips, merging videos and photos, and reordering footage. However, it offers text overlays and titles and numerous filters and effects. For audio, you can either import it (music and voice overs) or select some from the sound effects library.

Videoshop pricing

Videoshop offers monthly, annual, and lifetime plans for $3.99 per month, $23.99 per year, or $99 for life. But, there are other in-app purchases, such as watermark removal for $2.99, its Impose and Distort tools for $4.99, and a bag of tokens for $0.99 to buy in-app items.

iMovie video training software image

7. iMovie

iMovie is a free video editing software that comes pre-installed on Mac computers. Plus, it’s available for download on iPhones and iPads. It has a user-friendly interface with drag-and-drop features, making it useful for beginners and intermediate users.

It allows users to quickly import and edit training videos for employees and customers. Exported content is polished and professional-looking, which you can import to a private YouTube channel or Windows Live.

iMovie pros

  • Overall user-friendly and intuitive video editing interface
  • Auto-save feature is appreciated by customers
  • Easy on the wallet, since it’s pre-installed on Mac devices
  • Video editing features, like trimming, splitting, and adding transitions and other basic effects

iMovie cons

  • Adding music isn’t as straightforward as with other features in the app
  • Performance issues when rendering videos, such as slow processing and lag while editing projects
  • Only supports two video tracks, which hinders more complex projects
  • Lacks cloud integration, which means eating up local drive space
  • Available to Apple device users only

Key features of iMovie

iMovie has multiple features users love, such as its green screen and picture-in-picture overlays. It also provides speed controls for slow motion and reverse playback. Then there are iMovie’s automatic features, like Magic Movie and Storyboards, which auto-create movies using selected media (from iCloud) and templates. The tool’s built-in file management makes organizing projects easier, and prevents loss of files.

iMovie pricing

iMovie is available for free to MacOS and iOS users.

Training video software for animation only

The best animated training video software is Vyond. However, we didn’t include it in this category, since it extends beyond animations to include other styles like photorealism (see the Best Overall Training Video Software category).

Here’s a look at two animation-only software: Animaker and Powtoon.

Animaker video training software image

8. Animaker

Animaker is training video software that specializes in creating animated videos. It’s cloud-based, so you can upload and access your video files from anywhere. This tool is helpful for designing explainers and marketing videos, so businesses and marketers will find it handy.

Animaker is web-based, so it works on any device with an internet connection. It’s also powered by AI, allowing you to create animated videos using text prompts.

Animaker pros

  • Comes with 100+ million assets, like pre-made animations, characters, backgrounds, and props
  • Allows you to access your videos from any device without downloading software
  • Offers a free plan to test out its basic features
  • Provides robust customer support

Animaker cons

  • Free plan comes with limited features and customer support; also includes watermarks
  • Requires great internet speed to use and avoid lag or performance issues
  • Not as easy to use as other tools
  • Performance issues for large projects and videos with over four characters
  • Low cost, but some complaints about getting what you pay for

Key features of Animaker

Animaker offers all of the features needed to create engaging animated training videos. This includes an extensive asset library filled with backgrounds, characters, music tracks, and sound effects. Plus, you can customize characters’ looks, facial expressions, gestures, and clothing. There’s also automatic lip-syncing, adding realism and saving time.

Animaker pricing

Animaker offers a free plan and four paid plans. The enterprise plan requires you to contact for a quote. The other three paid plans offer monthly and annual subscriptions: Basic is $24 month or $150 per year, Starter is $37 per month or $300 per year, and Pro is $79 per month or $468 per year.

Powtoon video training software image

9. Powtoon

Powtoon is an online training video software that makes crafting animations easy. It’s a combination of PowerPoint and cartoon creation, making presentations and explainer videos fun to make and watch. It offers drag-and-drop functions and pre-animated assets, so it’s usefulfor beginners and intermediate users.

Since Powtoon is cloud-based, it’s accessible from any device using a web browser.

Powtoon pros

  • Easy to develop animated videos without experience, while still appealing to advanced design knowledge
  • Lots of professional template options
  • Creates professional-level animated videos fast

Powtoon cons

  • Asset library, AI functionality, and customization capabilities limited compared to competitors
  • Large projects become slow and error-prone, limiting users to small animations
  • Infrequent content updates for templates, assets, and features
  • Poor internet connection and speeds hurt the user experience
  • Some users may not find the interface to be very intuitive

Key features of Powtoon

Powtoon offers a user-friendly interface for users to jump in and create animations. It also has a vast assets library containing characters, props, backgrounds, and music. Then there are customizable characters and pre-made templates to add your branding. Powtoon also comes with interactive video features, such as quizzes, clickable links, and choose-your-own-adventure scenarios.

Powtoon pricing

Powtoon offers three plans with monthly and annual subscription options. Lite is $50 per month or $180 per year, Professional is $190 per month or $480 per year, and Business is $1,500 per year (no monthly option).

Training video software for creating AI-powered talking head videos

Synthesia video training software image

10. Synthesia

Synthesia is an AI-powered video creation platform. It generates videos featuring human-like avatars with lip-syncing based on your manual or AI-generated scripts. It suits marketers and business professionals looking to create basic training videos or product explainer videos quickly.

Synthesia belongs to a new training video category that focuses on photorealistic human avatars, making it a unique option. Also, since Synthesia is web-based, you don’t need to download software or use specific devices. All you need is a fast internet connection and a browser.

Synthesia pros

  • Over 160 high-quality AI avatars with lifelike appearances and diversity
  • Large voice selection in 130+ languages for localization
  • Continuously adds new avatars, features, and other improvements
  • Minimal learning curve for new users and beginners

Synthesia cons

  • AI avatars are limited to talking heads only, limiting the ways you can engage audiences
  • Limited customization options for AI avatars
  • Doesn’t allow for the diverse range of backgrounds and environments offered by vendors like Vyond
  • Some users claim AI voices sometimes have unnatural pronunciations or lack of emotional inflection, which negatively impacts engagement
  • Free plan is severely limited (36 min of video yearly, 6 AI avatars, 1 editor)

Key features of Synthesia

Synthesia offers AI avatars for businesses wanting to create talking-head videos without hiring actors. It also supports over 130 languages for script translation and uses text-to-speech tech to create voice overs. You can even transform documents, PDFs, and websites into videos using AI and pre-designed templates (300+ available).

Synthesia pricing

Synthesia offers a free plan and three paid options with monthly and annual billing options. The Starter plan is $29 per month or $264 per year, Creator plan is $89 per month or $804 per year, and Enterprise requires a call to get a quote.

What’s the best training video software?

The ideal training video software should be extremely easy to use, affordable, and versatile enough to let you bring any content idea to life in a wide range of visual styles.

While there are quite a few options that check some of these boxes, Vyond is the only solution that hits them all. Its cutting-edge generative AI makes it possible to create a first draft script and video in literally seconds with a simple text prompt. It’s competitively priced. And its deep library of assets, styles, and templates makes it easy to create content appropriate for any audience. Make animated videos, photorealistic videos, and everything in between all much faster than traditional video production.

Ready to give Vyond a test run? Sign up for a free trial today.

Try Vyond today

Frequently asked questions

What makes a training video effective?

Effective training videos should be clear, compelling, and as targeted to your specific audience as possible. Using video production software that offers a variety of ways to engage audiences and functionality that makes customization easy can help.

What’s the best way to make a training video?

We recommend using Vyond because it offers two easy ways to create great training videos:

  1. With Vyond Go, you can create an original script and video in seconds by simply typing in a text prompt and clicking a few buttons. You can also edit text and audio right in the platform.
  2. Or, with Vyond Studio’s huge library of pre-made scenes, templates, characters, and styles, you can bring any video idea to life quickly by dragging and dropping content where you want it to go, as easily as building a PowerPoint deck.

What software should I use to create training videos?

The best software for training videos should make it easy for anyone on your team to bring their ideas to life. If you’re looking for something that’s simple, versatile, and already vouched for by millions of other training video makers, Vyond is likely your best bet.

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“So Happy We Upgraded”: 2 Customers on Vyond for Enterprise https://www.vyond.com/blog/so-happy-we-upgraded-2-customers-on-vyond-for-enterprise/ Mon, 17 Jun 2024 21:53:02 +0000 https://www.vyond.com/blog/so-happy-we-upgraded-2-customers-on-vyond-for-enterprise/ Vyond licenses at any level will have you creating more engaging training and communications content. So if you’ve already got a Professional license, why might you prioritize upgrading to Vyond for Enterprise […]

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Vyond licenses at any level will have you creating more engaging training and communications content.

So if you’ve already got a Professional license, why might you prioritize upgrading to Vyond for Enterprise this year?

Two customers share why they’re happy they did.

Tanium

At cybersecurity company Tanium, Chaya Rao, Director of Training Development, and her team love using Vyond to help Tanium’s customers, partners, and employees understand their platform.

The team’s Vyond projects have gotten noticed across the company. Requests from other teams have flooded in: they want Vyond videos for sales enablement content, business processes and policies, compliance topics, internal comms, and marketing content. Tanium upgraded to an Enterprise license to meet the rising demand.

Whole Foods Market

A few years ago, Jason Ferguson, Principal Learning Technology Product Manager, and the Change Enablement team at Whole Foods Market purchased a few Vyond licenses. But quickly, they found Vyond so invaluable that they upgraded to the 35-seat Enterprise plan they have today and offered seats to the broader L&D team. 

Now, Jason wastes less admin time reallocating seats. And Enterprise features like Shared Spaces let them collaborate seamlessly — designers can swap custom assets and hand off projects with no lost time. 

Vyond for Enterprise is the platform you know and love — but with even more features to help you drive efficiency in your workflow and protect your enterprise data at the highest level.

Explore Enterprise perks

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Watch: Keys to Great Training and Engagement in Regulated Industries https://www.vyond.com/blog/keys-to-great-training-and-engagement-in-regulated-industries/ Thu, 13 Jun 2024 17:11:39 +0000 https://www.vyond.com/blog/keys-to-great-training-and-engagement-in-regulated-industries/ Vyond customers Sarah Diggs, senior instructional designer at Cognitably, a technical training consultancy, and Angie Kanak, training specialist at the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, joined our recent webinar to discuss […]

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Vyond customers Sarah Diggs, senior instructional designer at Cognitably, a technical training consultancy, and Angie Kanak, training specialist at the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, joined our recent webinar to discuss high-stakes content and regulatory requirements. 

They talked through some of the training and communications challenges their industries are facing today (strict standards, skills shortages, employee turnover — to name a few) and showed us how and why animated videos are helping their audiences retain mission-critical information better.

We got a mountain of audience questions and we couldn’t cover them all live. So we got Sarah and Angie to answer a few bonus questions afterward. Watch them each respond below.

Sarah’s top insights

  • On overcoming any skepticism about animated videos: “Before I even start to build the course I’ll pitch my ideas: why I want to use animation, how I want to use it, why I believe it gives the best opportunity for learners to learn the content. And then I’ll bring in a few people to test the prototype to get feedback from a learner point of view. So we’re all in agreement from the beginning. There’s very little pushback at the end.”
  • On getting knowledge from your subject-matter experts (SMEs): “Make sure that the experts all agree on what the learner needs to know. When that’s well defined, they’ll be able to send you the right images or video or previous training materials and identify information that’s relevant to the course objectives. And then: build small things, send it to your SMEs, and see if you’re on track. Busy SMEs can handle 5-10 minutes a review. As a bonus, we’ve found SMEs are much more engaged when we’re using Vyond.”
  • On keeping learners’ attention in asynchronous training: “I always explain the purpose of training and spell out what learners should pay particular attention to. And then I might tell them a story or use real-world examples that include challenges or situations that they’ll encounter while at work, so it makes it personal to them. I love to give learners stuff to do. So I try to make it as interactive as I can without it being weird or too clunky. And then a follow up with prompts that challenge the learners to reflect on what they’re learning. And the true test is, can they actually go out and apply that to what they’re working on?”

Angie’s top insights

  • On overcoming any skepticism about animated videos: “Share research about the effectiveness of animated videos. (Note: Sarah referenced this study about instructional animation during the webinar.) Suggest doing a pilot with a small-group training to gauge response from your learners. Then evaluate your feedback: ours was excellent. I’m fairly positive if you try it out, yours will be too.”
  • On how to get started when there’s not much direction: “The best thing you can do to get through a murky, complicated procedure or policy that you are being tasked with breaking down is to figure out, what does your learner absolutely need to know to perform their job? Talk to your experts, get those learning objectives in writing, and then focus on teaching those.”
  • On bringing humor to dry topics: “I like to have one character that doesn’t know anything about the topic. They’re coming in and they’re like, what’s going on here? Why are you wearing that? What is this building? They add some comic relief because their natural ignorance lightens the mood — they can say funny things and make silly mistakes.” 

For more of Sarah and Angie’s insights and clever Vyond examples, watch the webinar replay.

Watch the Replay

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How to Make Effective Training Videos https://www.vyond.com/blog/how-to-make-training-videos/ Thu, 23 May 2024 21:32:02 +0000 https://www.vyond.com/blog/how-to-make-training-videos/ Are your employees nodding off during training sessions? Are you wondering how to create content that truly educates and motivates? Good news — you’ve come to the right place! Whether you’re trying […]

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Are your employees nodding off during training sessions? Are you wondering how to create content that truly educates and motivates? Good news — you’ve come to the right place!

Whether you’re trying to upskill current employees quickly, improve the value of your compliance and security training, or even increase customer engagement, creating effective training videos can help you achieve your business goals.

In this guide, you’ll discover how to develop engaging training videos your learners will remember, helping you operate more productively and efficiently.

Here’s an overview of what you’ll learn:

What is a training video?

A training video is a type of video that a company uses to teach employees or customers specific topics or skills. Impactful training videos often use lively visuals and audio to illustrate information. Common applications include employee onboarding, product demos, hard and soft skills training, mandatory compliance training, and step-by-step process tutorials.

With these basics in mind, let’s explore why training videos are important and how they can make training initiatives more successful.

Why create training videos? 

Providing efficient training at scale—especially for dispersed teams and clients—can be difficult. High-quality training videos can ensure your audience receives a consistent message that’s available on-demand and memorable.

Here are the top benefits of using video to educate your team and customers. 

Boost employee engagement

Distractions are everywhere—from constant Slack messages and calls to remote work interruptions (hello, pile of dirty dishes!). Traditional learning and development methods like in-person training and distributing printed materials simply aren’t as helpful or even as realistic as they once were. Add on top of that heightened expectations for fun learning materials thanks to YouTube and social media, and making wow-inducing training content can seem like an immense challenge. How can companies do it?

The answer: your training materials must evolve to meet your employees’ and customers’ high standards and capture their attention

A recent study found that 44% of consumers prefer video over any other format (manuals, calls, webinars, etc.) to learn. Training videos can deepen engagement and improve knowledge retention by presenting information in your viewers’ preferred format.

Another way to think about it is that training videos simply provide a more compelling experience. You can use a wider variety of visual and auditory elements and incorporate engaging narration, ensuring your learners not only see and hear the information but also retain it.

44% of consumers prefer video over any other format to learn infographic

Reduce training costs

Sitting down one-on-one with each employee or even hosting in-person workshops with entire teams eats up valuable resources. It requires scheduling and planning, which can be disruptive. Plus, costs like venue rental, flight and hotel reservations, and instructor fees can add up quickly. 

With training videos, you create them once and use them repeatedly, eliminating the need for expensive, ongoing live training sessions. And if you have an AI video creation platform like Vyond, you can create that content much faster than with traditional digital video tools—and make updates to your videos in minutes when needed.

Increase knowledge retention

Have you ever wondered why you don’t always remember information, especially when it’s essential but kind of boring?

This phenomenon, known as the “forgetting curve,” spotlights why using proven teaching strategies is so important for increasing knowledge retention. Training videos employ a multisensory learning approach, such as interactivity paired with eye-catching visuals and catchy audio, to engage different parts of the brain—an essential technique for improving learning retention.

Lastly, storytelling tactics used in training videos, like humor and character-driven narratives, can create an emotional response in your audience, which further enhance their ability to remember information. 

Maximize employees’ time

Learning is most effective when it’s delivered in short, digestible chunks—and when it’s easily available to employees in their moment of need, in the flow of work. Training videos are an effective way to check both boxes in that they provide:

  • Asynchronous learning: The beauty of video training is that everyone doesn’t need to be in the same place at the same time. Employees can watch the content on their own time and consume it in small doses throughout the week. 
  • Efficiency and concision: By condensing complex information into bite-size video segments, training videos help employees and customers grasp key concepts quickly without the need for long training sessions.
  • Scale and cost-efficiency: More training shouldn’t require more resources. Instead of bringing on more trainers, make a video and use it to train hundreds of employees at once—without spending more money. 
  • Personalized content: Every department has unique problems and solutions. Tailoring your videos ensures training applies to each employee’s needs (vs. watching general videos with information they’ll never use). And with AI video tools, updating content to ensure it remains relevant over time is incredibly easy.

Maximizing your employees’ time without maxing out your budget is a win-win. Let’s see how training videos can reduce employee turnover.

Decrease employee turnover

Employee turnover is challenging, especially in the U.S., where the average voluntary employee turnover rate between 2022 and 2023 was 17.3%. High turnover impacts productivity, morale, and, ultimately, costs. 

Thankfully, making effective training videos can actually help reduce turnover rates. Training videos provide continuous learning and professional development opportunities. Employees who feel that their company is investing in their skills are inspired to do better work, with 59% of employees saying training improves their job performance

Training videos also help employees understand available career paths within your company. They more easily see opportunities for advancement, which increases their commitment to staying with your business.

What makes a training video effective?

Creating a captivating training video requires strategic planning and creativity to ensure the content is engaging and informative. 

Out of the many tips for making entertaining, compelling training  videos, there are several core elements that you’ll really want to focus on:

  • It has clear objectives. Define the specific learning objectives for your training video so it’s focused and aligned with the desired outcomes. For instance, if you want to teach communication skills, concentrate on scenarios that show key communication strategies and their impact.
  • It’s not longer than it should be (generally). Keep your training videos concise—identify the core message and deliver it without unnecessary elaboration to maintain the viewer’s attention. For example, a video explaining a new software feature should directly show the feature in action, avoiding a lengthy introduction or unrelated content.
  • It’s highly relevant. Tailor your training videos to the specific needs and contexts of your audience. Use scenarios and examples that resonate with their daily experiences. For example, a customer service team might create a video that addresses common customer queries they encounter, using actual dialogue and solutions. And with AI-powered video tools, you can easily take customization further by incorporating job site photos as backgrounds and creating animated avatars of actual leaders and employees. 
  • It engages multiple senses. Use visuals, audio, and interactive elements in your training videos to engage viewers on multiple sensory levels, enhancing retention. A safety training video could include visual demonstrations of safety practices, accompanied by narrative explanations and sound effects that highlight key points.
  • It’s surprising or disruptive. Incorporate unexpected elements or creative twists in your training videos to capture and keep the audience’s attention. For example, to illustrate the importance of cybersecurity, start your video with a surprising statistic or a short story about a security breach, making viewers eager to learn how to protect themselves and their employer.
  • It prompts reflection and growth. Create training videos that encourage viewers to reflect on their current practices and identify areas for personal or professional growth. Interactive videos that prompt learners to choose what they would do in a particular situation—or reflect on a time when they encountered a certain problem—are two ways to prompt reflection during the video experience. .

If you need more inspiration, look at these examples of effective employee training videos.

You have the ingredients for an impactful training video. Next, let’s explore the types of videos you can create with them. 

What are the different types of training videos?

What makes one video more intriguing than the next? It’s all about the style, format and delivery. Let’s review the video types you can create to train your employees successfully. 

Animated training videos

Animated videos are a type of video where you bring static elements to life through movement. These videos may use characters, stock footage, photos, kinetic text, music, and sound effects.

Organizations often use animated videos to create scenario-based training materials that ask viewers “what would you do in this situation?” and to explain information that may be difficult to explain purely through speech, such as technical processes, data, or abstract ideas. 

Another benefit of animated videos is that you can make them easily without live-action shoots, actors, or elaborate sets. This reduction in resources makes them a cost-effective solution for delivering content that captures and holds your audience’s attention. Here are some examples of animated training videos for enabling a sales team

Presenter-style training videos

Presenter-style videos, also known as “talking head” videos, feature a person speaking directly to the camera. 

Common use cases for presenter-style videos include testimonials, event coverage, and corporate announcements. However, since they often lack visual variety and are more of a passive viewing experience, some audiences may find them hard to focus on. Even more so when the presenter is a humanoid avatar as they often lack the warmth and authenticity of a real human presenter. 

Despite their potential drawbacks, presenter-style videos are certainly still a useful tool for particular situations. 

How-to videos

“Show, don’t tell” is the best advice you can get as a trainer. And the ultimate format for this is the how-to video, also known as a tutorial or instructional video. It’s the “Here’s how you do it” of video types, turning viewers into doers, one step at a time. Common examples include step-by-step guides for assembling a new product or walkthroughs of a software update. 

Done right, how-to videos are practical and actionable, breaking down intricate processes into manageable chunks of information, which allows employees to follow along at a reasonable pace, take notes, or watch and try new skills simultaneously.

Screencast videos

Screencast videos, also known as screen-recording videos, are a common type of how-to video that businesses often use to demonstrate software or digital tools. They zoom in on the action, capturing every click and keystroke in real-time.

For example, a software company might use screencasts to demonstrate a new feature in their application. Adding animated elements can enhance the performance of screencast videos in that they can add visual variety, emphasize key points, and even help clarify complicated processes within the screencast.

Interactive training videos

Engage, click, learn—interactive training videos are the corporate world’s choose-your-own-adventure books. They invite employees to respond to information, making learning a two-way street.

Picture a scenario-based video where each decision leads to different outcomes, teaching through experience without the real-world risks. Interactive videos are playgrounds for critical thinking and decision-making skills.

Two examples of e-learning platforms that enable interactive training are NearLife and Articulate. They make it possible to create courses featuring virtual reality, animations, graphics, Google Slides, simulations, quizzes, and drag-and-drop interactions. 

Text-based training videos

Text-based videos primarily use text, motion graphics, and purchased materials like stock footage and music. Organizations may use them when they have a minimal budget or when they don’t want to have to introduce a speaker, presenter, or characters.

These videos focus on relaying information efficiently through dynamic on-screen text and graphics. They’re useful for delivering quick updates, providing a straightforward way to communicate important messages. However, they may not be as visually interesting since there’s less variety and can even require more work on the viewer’s part since they have to read the text rather than simply watch or listen to the video.

How to make a great training video

While you can create a training video the old-school way using professional filming and audio equipment, AI-powered video creation software is an easier, faster, and more affordable option. 

In this tutorial, we’ll walk through the step-by-step process of crafting an effective training video using the popular AI video generator, Vyond.

1. Determine the topic and goals of your video

Before you start crafting your training video, first define the topic and goals of the video. This step sets the foundation for your entire project.

Pinpoint what you want your employees to learn and why. For example, if your goal is to enhance customer service skills, your video may focus on empathetic communication techniques.

Or, if you’re addressing a global team, your content may aim to standardize processes across different regions.

To zero in on your topic and goals, consider these questions:

  • What is the key message or skill I want to convey?
  • How does this topic align with our company’s broader objectives?
  • What does my audience already know about this topic—and what’s new information?
  • What actions do I want viewers to take after watching the video?
  • How will I measure the success of this training?

Within Vyond’s platform, you’ll find tools to bring any topic to life, including a huge asset library, 700+ video templates, and AI tools that let you create new assets from scratch with a simple text prompt.

2. Choose the appropriate type of video

Selecting the right format or video type is critical for communicating your training material successfully. Consider the nature of your content, your audience, and the desired learning outcomes to determine the most suitable video format.

As a reminder, the types of training videos include:

  • Animated
  • Presenter-style
  • How-to (includes screencast videos)
  • Interactive
  • Text-based

For instance, an animated video can explain abstract concepts, while a how-to video may be more ideal for providing step-by-step instructions.

choose an appropriate type of video example image

Vyond offers a range of styles, characters, and scenes to match your desired format, whether you’re creating an animated explainer or talking head or something else. With Vyond, you can tailor the format to your audience’s needs, ensuring your message hits home.

3. Create a training video storyboard and write a script

Crafting a storyboard and writing a script can help ensure your training video communicates your message clearly.

For example, a storyboard for a compliance training video can illustrate key scenarios, while the script clearly communicates legal points.

Here are a few tips for writing a great script:

  • Keep it conversational to maintain engagement
  • Use storytelling to make the content relatable
  • Be concise to respect your audience’s time
  • Include calls to action to prompt the desired response

However, with Vyond Go, you can bypass the traditional storyboarding and scripting process. Just give it a prompt, and it’ll generate a script and rough-cut video that you can edit as you see fit, streamlining your content creation.

4. Produce the video in an AI video generator

If you were creating your training video the conventional way, this is where you’d set up your cameras, lighting, microphones, etc. Since AI is much faster at creating professional-looking videos, we’re going to show you how to do it in just two steps using Vyond’s AI-powered script and video creator, Vyond Go.

  • Enter a text prompt. Make sure to enter at least 50 words and no more than 700. Try to keep your prompts highly structured and not simply a stream of consciousness as this may produce a lower-quality result.
  • Choose layout, vibe, format, and language. At this step, you can select how many characters you’d like in the video (up to two) and location (warehouse facility, law firm office, etc.). You’ll also be able to pick the vibe you’re going for (formal, informative, playful, etc.), format (anecdote, debate, overview, tips, etc.), and language.

Vyond’s platform makes the production phase smooth. With intuitive tools and a user-friendly interface, you can generate your entire video without sourcing any external assets.

5. Edit the video

Editing is a pivotal stage in creating training videos, allowing you to refine and enhance your content to maximize its performance.

From Vyond Go’s Quick Edit screen or in Vyond Studio, you—and any other stakeholder or reviewer on a video project—can make any final adjustments to get your video just right. Things you may edit include:

  • Narration: If you’re adding a voiceover, you’ll be able to fine-tune the timing and delivery to match the visuals.
  • Visuals: Add or adjust animations, graphics, and text to reinforce key concepts.
  • Transitions: Use seamless transitions between scenes to maintain a smooth narrative.
  • Sound Effects: Add, remove, or adjust sound effects to add depth and realism to your video.
  • Music: Adjust background music that complements the tone and message of your video.
  • Length: Ensure your video is concise and focused, trimming any unnecessary elements.
  • Accessibility: Include subtitles or captions to make your video more accessible to a wider audience.

Vyond’s editing tools allow you to make precise adjustments, ensuring your video meets your high standards before serving it to your audience.

6. Share your training video

At last, you’re ready to share your video with your target audience! 

The most important thing to remember with this step is that training videos are only effective if they’re available when and where people need them. Ensure you deliver the content in the appropriate channel(s) so it’s easily accessible to your viewers. 

Here are some common ways companies share training videos:

  • Internal Training Portal: Upload your video to your company’s internal training portal.
  • Learning Management System (LMS): Integrate your video into your organization’s LMS for easy access and employee engagement tracking.
  • AI Chatbots: Use AI chatbots in your organization’s communication channels to deliver training videos based on user prompts or discussions.
  • Email Campaigns: Send out email campaigns to employees highlighting where they can find the video and how it will help them. 
  • Social Media: Share snippets of your video on social media to generate interest and drive traffic to the full video.

Vyond makes sharing simple. Once your video is ready, you can export it in various formats and share it across multiple platforms.

Produce memorable training videos with Vyond

Training videos shouldn’t take days or weeks to produce. Nor should they put your team to sleep. There’s a better way to conduct video training sessions at your company. 

Selecting the right video type and using engaging elements to keep your team’s attention is key. But you need the right tools to make the process fast and affordable. 

Vyond makes it possible to scale training video production faster than ever before. With its AI capabilities, you can dramatically speed up your video production as compared to both live-action projects and traditional digital video creation methods. What once took hours or days now can take as little as a few minutes.

If you’re looking to create highly engaging, easily editable training content quickly, in more than 70 languages, Vyond is the solution that brings it all together.

Ready to elevate your training content and build better teams? Experience the difference with Vyond’s free trial.

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4 Leaders on the Business Value of Vyond https://www.vyond.com/blog/4-leaders-on-the-business-value-of-vyond/ Tue, 21 May 2024 18:53:25 +0000 https://www.vyond.com/blog/4-leaders-on-the-business-value-of-vyond/ Sure, Vyond is beloved by video creators at thousands of companies around the world. But the leaders our beloved creators report to love Vyond too. Why? Four leaders from across L&D, compliance, […]

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Sure, Vyond is beloved by video creators at thousands of companies around the world.

But the leaders our beloved creators report to love Vyond too. Why? Four leaders from across L&D, compliance, sales enablement and internal communications break it down:

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How Better Visual Communication Can Help Your Company Win: Benefits, Tips, and Examples https://www.vyond.com/blog/how-better-visual-communication-can-help-your-company-win-benefits-tips-and-examples/ Tue, 14 May 2024 22:53:57 +0000 https://www.vyond.com/blog/how-better-visual-communication-can-help-your-company-win-benefits-tips-and-examples/ In this article, we’ll explore how better visual communication can help you connect with employees, customers and prospects—and share expert tips on how your company can level up. What is visual communication? […]

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In this article, we’ll explore how better visual communication can help you connect with employees, customers and prospects—and share expert tips on how your company can level up.

What is visual communication?

Visual communication is the art of using visual elements strategically to grab an audience’s attention, clearly convey important information in a way that sticks, and usually spark behavior change. Common components of visual communication, especially when used in digital communications, include text, images, data, and video content.

Here are some common examples of visual communication for business communications.

Visual communication examples

Animated videos

Animated videos are a rich multimedia format that can include visual elements like human and animal characters, kinetic (moving) text, and motion graphics.

Styles can vary widely, from a simple, black and white “whiteboard” look to colorful and detailed.

AI-generated videos

Today’s AI-powered video tools can now create videos for you in seconds based on text prompts or static images you provide.

GIFs

GIFs are looping images that often sometimes include a short tagline overlaid on the image. They’re often used to communicate funny content or as a reaction to something. They’re used regularly across social media channels, in email, and on internal communications platforms like Slack.

Example animated GIF

Screen recording

Screen recordings are videos showing your desktop or a software’s user interface, helpful for demonstrating workflows and processes.

Images

Images are visual representations of something, like a doodle, a photograph, or a diagram.

Infographics

Infographics are visual representations of information designed to make data easily understandable at a glance. They combine graphics, charts, and minimal text to convey complex information quickly and clearly.

Data visualizations

Data visualizations are graphical representations of information and data, meant to provide an accessible way to see and understand trends, outliers, and patterns. An infographic is a popular example of data visualization.

Stock footage

Stock footage refers to photorealistic images and videos that are broadly available for widespread use.

Webcam video

Webcam videos are recordings created using the camera built into your computer. They’re usually “talking head” style, and can capture one speaker or many (like a replay of a meeting).

Benefits of visual communication in business today

Business communication is ultimately about convincing an audience to take action or change behavior: watch out for phishing emails, learn a new skill, enroll in a new benefits program, sign up for a free trial — you get the idea. And the keys to success change with the times.

In recent years, our experience as online consumers has created expectations for visual communication that spill into our professional lives.

We expect communications to be relevant to us (what else should I watch? What do other people like me buy?).

We expect content to be engaging and entertaining, thanks in part to social media — if it doesn’t draw us in, we can easily scroll on to something that does.

And because so much of our online interactions take place on smartphones, we favor more compact, visual forms of communication that pack a meaningful punch: like emojis, memes, and especially videos.

The great news is, you can take advantage of these general visual communication preferences to more effectively change behavior and inspire action in any business audience — whether they’re employees, customers, partners, or prospects. It’s already catching on: About a third of global business leaders surveyed (32%) have an increased desire for communicating using visuals, according to Canva’s 2023 Visual Economy Report.

When we use visual communication well, we get two major benefits:

Better engagement

Good visual communication content catches our audiences’ eyes and draws them in for reflection, because it’s relevant to them.

Improved information retention

Good visual communication imprints information on our audience, so they can recall it and apply it later.

Both of these benefits make it more likely that our content will inspire action and change behavior.

So whether you’re creating content for external communications — like landing pages on your company’s website or assets for social media — or internal communications — presentations, training videos, and GIFs — thinking strategically about how you can apply good visual communication practices will help you deliver better results. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Tips for better visual communication

Tailor visuals to your audience

Audiences today expect content and communications to be relevant to them, and visuals are no exception: they want to see themselves and their interests reflected. With the power of AI, it has become easier than ever to segment and customize your content by audience.

The extra time you spend getting to know your audience — through research, surveys, conversations — and tailoring content for them is worth it for the positive impact on engagement. Here are a few examples.

L&D

L&D teams can create content specific to employees’ roles or departments. The L&D and change enablement teams at Whole Foods Market created templates tailored to each of the roles at their stores, down to the uniforms and terminology, so employees see themselves represented.

Including recognizable figures or references from your organization is another powerful way to boost engagement and relevance. At the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, training specialist Angie Kanak likes to include characters she created for each of the Illinois Supreme Court Justices that her audience instantly recognizes.

And finally, corporate branding isn’t just for external audiences. Officially branded training content signals to employees this is valuable content, created especially for them.

See how Vyond’s new Brand Management Suite makes it easy to create engaging, on-brand videos.

HR

HR pros can reinforce an inclusive company culture and make visuals more relevant by taking care to reflect the full diversity of your employee base in your content. Choose imagery that suits your geographic footprint, like your office sites and regional landmarks. Build in time and budget to translate, localize, and caption materials like videos.

Similar to the training examples above, ask yourself: where could you tailor content by role and department? Where could you include stories from recognizable employees or leaders to help bring policies and processes to life?

Marketing

In marketing, demonstrating you understand your audience is the whole point. At the brand level, it starts with asking what your competitors are doing visually — how can you stand apart?

On your website, tailoring your visuals could mean ensuring your “ideal customers” see themselves reflected in the imagery: solving problems they relate to, in settings they recognize, with your products or services.

In your email program, tailored visuals might show up as messages and email banners segmented by industry or job level, speaking to each audience’s real pain points.

From a channel perspective, it might mean you’re including captions on all of your social media video content to help ensure viewers scrolling by with sound off can read along and still grasp your message.

Sales

When you’re presenting to a customer or prospect, it’s already standard to include their company name and logo in your materials (triple-checked for accuracy, of course!). And if you’re not already, creating custom demos that address specific pain points your audience has mentioned, or you’ve found via research, can be especially effective.

Even before you get to the meeting, during outreach you can introduce yourself and showcase your product’s value proposition with a personalized overview video. Keep yourself top of mind after your conversation by sending a video message starring your own custom, self-voiced character to help prospects and customers remember and honor scheduled meeting times.

Reduce your audience’s cognitive load

No matter your department, one of the biggest challenges with communicating visually is the constant strain on our audience’s working memory, according to Connie Malamed, author of Visual Design Solutions and Visual Language for Designers.

We’re flooded with sensory information. All. Day. Long. For any information to make it into our long-term memory, it has to make its way through our limited, temporary working memory.

Working memory challenges

Anything we can do to help ease this “cognitive load” for our audience gives them a better chance to grasp and retain the information we’re presenting, Connie says.

Here are a few of Connie’s suggestions for reducing your audience’s cognitive load when you’re creating presentations, videos, website pages and more.

Make your graphics and text easy to process

Your content’s readability matters. Overly intricate font styles and text with low contrast (like gray text on white background) put more strain on a viewer’s cognitive load.

Using simple fonts with high contrast makes information easier to process, reduces demand on working memory, and creates a positive affect in the viewer.

Remove visual distractions

Visuals can either increase meaning and understanding for viewers or distract and confuse them. A few simple ways to dial down visual “noise” in business presentations or videos:

  • Avoid placing a logo on every slide and putting text on busy backgrounds
  • Remove irrelevant text, like dates and slide numbers
  • Remove cutesy but irrelevant graphics

Reduce realism in your graphics

There’s a misconception that photorealistic imagery is always best, especially in learning, Connie says.

But research shows that often, reducing the realism of a graphic can help people learn more quickly: by decreasing the time it takes the viewer to visually scan, it minimizes load on the viewer’s working memory.

This means that an illustration, icon, or symbol might convey information more effectively than a photo or 3D rendering.

This is one reason animated videos — which by nature reduce realism — are such a powerful form of business communication.

Don’t split your audience’s attention

When you force your audience to process two or more different sources of information at the same time, neither of which can be understood in isolation, you’re falling prey to the “split-attention effect.”

In HR, this might show up, say, in your benefits overview video: showing an explanation on one part of the screen and a visual, such as a diagram or animation, on another. Your viewer’s attention can’t be in both places at once.

Deliver information piecemeal and guide your audience along

According to Mona Chalabi, Pulitzer Prize–winning illustrator and data visualization expert, effective visual communication delivers information bit by bit and guides your audience along, from start to finish. Applied in different business areas, this lesson could mean creating content that builds gradually (think presentations that change on a click or interactive websites) to give audiences an opportunity to digest what they’re seeing and let insights build upon each other.

Get creative about visualizing data

Data can be an influential part of your business content, helping you tell a powerful, memorable story. But a wall of numbers isn’t helpful: it’s crucial to point out why your audience should care and put numbers in context.

  • Rather than writing out data and insights as text, get familiar with different types of charts and graph options available beyond the typical pie and bar.
  • Consider where you can use dynamic charts and graphs to bring your data to life and let your audience interact with it at their pace.
  • Take care to ensure you’re not misleading with data — even the most reputable sources have some data-viz lessons learned.
  • Per Mona‘s earlier advice, consider revealing data in steps, whether in slides you click through, or by adding clear visual markers that lead you through a static collection of information.

Bonus tip: Mona swears by the power of doodling when you’re ideating on how to communicate something — whether it’s a data set or a big idea. It doesn’t have to look good, she says: in the act of doodling something may come out — even if it’s just a more accessible title for your Excel chart or a different analogy for your presentation.

Refresh visuals regularly

In sales and marketing, it’s a common refrain that audiences need to hear the same message seven times before it starts sinking in. But on the flip side: if your content is forever static, it fades into the background. How can you get the best of both worlds, especially with content audiences may only see annually?

Try repeating the same message with different visuals and examples.

For L&D, eLearning expert and Bloomsburg University Professor Karl Kapp suggests annual compliance training is a perfect candidate for a regular visual refresh.

“The more pathways in our brain we have to a piece of content or information, the faster and more efficiently it will be retrieved,” Professor Kapp says. “By investing in changing your most important training on a regular basis, it makes that training more meaningful, more relevant, and sends a message that you care about this.”

In HR, you might think about this for benefits videos: what tweaks would help set them apart year over year? In marketing and sales, what go-to visual assets — like website images, ads, and social media assets — are your customers and prospects seeing regularly that you could update (or even A/B test) to stop them in their tracks?

How a visual communication platform can help

There are tons of helpful tools out there to help you act on these tips and step up your visual communication strategy. But many of them have a learning curve, even for beginners. Look for tools that are easy to use, but versatile and powerful enough that teams across your company can use them to deliver different formats and styles, all within your brand’s look and feel.

Vyond is beloved by 65% of the Fortune 500 for helping them communicate better visually and making a stronger business impact, while making their lives easier, whether they’re working in L&D, HR, marketing, or sales.

If you haven’t tried Vyond yet but want to see what the buzz is about, get your free two-week trial. (The trial includes access to Vyond Studio and Vyond Go, our AI-powered script and video generator.)

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“Holy Moly, This is Hard Stuff”: Sarah Diggs on Training Highly Technical Workforces https://www.vyond.com/blog/holy-moly-this-is-hard-stuff-sarah-diggs-on-training-highly-technical-workforces/ Mon, 08 Apr 2024 20:08:18 +0000 https://www.vyond.com/blog/holy-moly-this-is-hard-stuff-sarah-diggs-on-training-highly-technical-workforces/ Your mission, should you choose to accept it: train new employees on a machine so complex, it once required 100+ pages of documents and diagrams to explain it. And, oh yeah, you’ll […]

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Your mission, should you choose to accept it: train new employees on a machine so complex, it once required 100+ pages of documents and diagrams to explain it. And, oh yeah, you’ll also never see it up close — it’s covered in stainless steel, and fully enclosed in glass.

Welcome to an average day for technical training expert and Vyond customer Sarah Diggs.

Sarah Diggs

A laser physicist by background, Sarah Diggs has devoted over 20 years of her career to designing and developing technical training programs for various industries, such as pharmaceuticals, lasers, aerospace, weatherization, and automotive manufacturing and operations.

It started while she was serving as a laser manufacturing manager in Silicon Valley. With fierce competition for new laser technicians, she proposed her company could fill the huge demand by training recruits from San Jose City College and “right off the street.” In partnership with San Jose City College and with her newly developed computer-based and hands-on training program, she was right. Since then, Sarah has worked with firms like San Francisco International Airport, Boeing, and KLA-Tencor to onboard, upskill, and reskill their workforces.

We sat down with Sarah to talk about how she’s reimagining technical training for high-stakes, high-tech industries like pharmaceutical manufacturing. Here’s what she had to say.

Vyond: What role do you see technical training playing in today’s economy?

Sarah: Technological disruption is happening at a pace and scale we’ve never seen, especially in high-tech manufacturing industries. They’re introducing advanced technologies and looking to automate and digitize as much as possible. Companies more broadly are scrambling to figure out how to keep up, how to train their workforces, and where they should invest in training so they can benefit from tech advancements.

quote mark

Skills shortage is the biggest barrier preventing industries like manufacturing from scaling up their technologies.

Skills shortage is the biggest barrier preventing industries like manufacturing from scaling up their technologies. There’s intense competition across especially the semiconductor, pharma, and laser industries for technical talent. The work can’t all be done by engineers and PhDs. The question becomes, how do we create a pipeline of people who can perform this work and move them into these industries? Technical training is crucial for ensuring there’s people with the necessary skills to perform the work.

V: You’re doing training work now with a pharmaceutical manufacturing company. Who’s your audience, what are the goals, what are the stakes, and who are the experts you work with?

S: We’re building training programs for machine operators working on automated machines and processes. Some of these machines can be the size of a room, fully enclosed in glass, with stainless steel sides and limited access to see inside.

We have two major goals: get operators up to speed quickly and efficiently, and standardize the training process so we know all operators are starting at the same level.

This is a heavily regulated, “sterile pharmaceutical product” environment, where the FDA mandates that contamination rates of finished product can be only one in one million. Mistakes mean a patient could die. Or big money can be lost when production has to stop. Operators are the greatest source of contamination, so we focus on reducing that risk throughout the production process. The hardest part might be the lack of access to the machines we’re training on: even though we’re developing training on the machines, we’re not allowed onto the production floor except for special times when the machines are shut down.

To create this content we partner with trainers, product owners, manufacturing quality control, automation engineers, and equipment manufacturers. And we supplement with lots of our own research. For one project I learned all about depyrogenation (a process to remove any substance that can cause fever) from an awesome doctor in the UK who posts short videos online about pharma manufacturing. We used some of those snippets in the course. I learn something new on every project and I think, holy moly, this is really hard stuff.

Sample of one of Sarah’s training videos on a manufacturing process

V: How do you like to use Vyond for technical training?

S: Working in the pharmaceutical industry, our audiences have all different education levels and some speak English as a second language. And most of us are visual learners. With Vyond, being able to put something together that visualizes these complex machines and processes has been a game changer for technical trainers.

quote mark

With Vyond, being able to put something together that visualizes these complex machines and processes has been a game changer for technical trainers.

With my earlier pharma project as an example: previously, aspiring machine operators might’ve been handed a hundred-page document describing and showing a machine’s components in diagrams and asked to memorize them, come back, and draw the diagrams from memory. It was mostly only engineers and PhDs that were successful.

We rebuilt the training program trying to simplify these complex ideas, processes, and machines to make them accessible. It has become a four-level course that increases in complexity, from an introduction to the machines and parts in Level 1, all the way through Level 4 on how to handle a shutdown or changeover, where every step is critical and every minute the machine is down is money lost. Vyond helps us bring 2D diagrams to life and helps operators get familiar with these machines even before they step onto the manufacturing floor.

The training program now takes weeks where it used to take months. Learners are making connections much faster. And it’s allowing a broader pool of operators to be successful, beyond the expected engineers and PhDs. Which means those folks can focus where they’re supposed to: on improving processes and launching new products.

Sarah on how Vyond fills important gaps for creating technical training

Get techniques for creating training on technical and tricky topics.

Watch the On-Demand Webinar

V: What’s your high-level process for developing a technical training project?

S: First we meet with product owners and stakeholders to discuss the project details, deliverables, and dates, and then gather all the relevant documentation, drawings, images and video we can get our hands on.

Next we get ourselves into the learners’ point of view: what do they want and need to know? What might they know already? From there we’ll research and work with experts to determine what’s critical for success with each topic. What should learners be doing?

After that we’ll decide the types of media that’ll be best to transfer the knowledge we’re including. We work with experts on any photo and video shoots of the machines and processes — this can be tricky, as we can only get onto the production floor in the rare windows of time when machines aren’t operating.

Then we get into designing and producing our course templates and structure, and add animations, video, and images. At this point we’re working in Vyond, and I like to use Articulate too for interactivity. From there we get into an iterative review and update process with experts: they review small chunks of the content and get us feedback so we can make tweaks.

Finally, when the course is fully baked, we send it for functionality testing with an outside team to ensure everything’s working as it should. Once that’s complete, the course is ready for release to the learning management system.

Flow chart for designing a technical training course

Sarah’s process for designing a technical training course

V: How do you measure success?

S: We look at application to work. Over time, is the company seeing fewer mistakes? Better throughput? Has quality improved? Are they experiencing fewer critical events that require processes to stop? This data takes months to gather, but when we start to see those stats, we don’t have to investigate whether learners were engaged or not — we know they were, because the training worked.

For one project, my client’s head of global manufacturing was looking at a quarterly performance report and throughput was so high, he thought there was an accounting mistake. When they investigated, the only thing that changed was training. That’s my definition of success.

V: What’s a lesson you learned the hard way?

S: Give subject-matter experts small chunks of content to review at a time — one video, one animation, one chapter or module. Most of our experts spend their time focused on new product development. Upskilling operators isn’t their main focus so it can be hard to get them engaged. When we work in an agile fashion like this, with small samples for review rather than huge documents or the whole portfolio, we’ve had much more success getting a response from experts and affirmation (or not) that we’re on the right track with technical content.

And we’ve noticed Vyond is giving us an unexpected perk here. Before, when training content was text and photograph-heavy, it took some prodding to get a response from experts, and even then it wasn’t always thorough. Now that we’re building content in Vyond, we’ve noticed experts are more interested. They’re responding more often and with more feedback. Vyond has helped us step up our game.

V: How has technical training changed in the past few years? Where do you see it headed?

S: Cloud-based eLearning development apps and tools like Vyond are an amazing innovation over the past decade. The old way was, we hired teams to develop courses: videographers, voiceover talent, flash animators. It was very expensive and time consuming. And by the time you delivered the content, it was on its way out of date. Not anymore!

AI will be a gamechanger, of course, once we all learn how to prompt it correctly. I think augmented reality is the most exciting thing on the horizon. We’ll be able to project 3D images and audio right into a user’s view. How exciting for a learner to be able to immerse themselves in an actual process in real time. The applications will be huge for technical training, especially in industries and environments where getting hands-on experience is challenging.

To learn more about Sarah and her firm Cognitably, visit their website or drop Sarah a line.

If you’ve been meaning to give Vyond a whirl, try it now, free, for two weeks. Want to get your whole team involved? Try it as a group! Chat with us about a team pilot.

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7 Strategies for Creating More Effective Technical Training Videos https://www.vyond.com/blog/7-strategies-for-creating-more-effective-technical-training-videos/ Thu, 14 Mar 2024 21:50:28 +0000 https://www.vyond.com/blog/7-strategies-for-creating-more-effective-technical-training-videos/ Technical training is nothing new. But it’s becoming a development staple at a time when all of our roles — whether they’re considered “technical” or not — intersect with technology in some […]

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Technical training is nothing new. But it’s becoming a development staple at a time when all of our roles — whether they’re considered “technical” or not — intersect with technology in some way, if only because of the systems and tools we use every day.

What is technical training?

First, let’s define what we mean by “technical training.” We like the definition from Training Industry:

“Teaching the skills needed to design, develop, implement, maintain, support or operate a particular technology or related application, product or service.”

So this might mean training on software or hardware — or other topics that are highly complex, where the specifics matter.

Why is technical training so important right now?

Evolving technology and market demands are changing the types of roles companies need and the skills required. In the next five years, 23% of global jobs will change because of how tech will transform industries, according to the World Economic Forum.

However, many industries — like manufacturing and tech — are struggling to find employees who can fill these new technical roles. So on-the-job technical training will be key for upskilling and reskilling employees to meet emerging needs.

Against this backdrop, Vyond customers and technical training experts Chaya Rao, Director of Training Development at Tanium, and Marco D’Abbraccio, Principal Trainer, DTS Learning Services at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, joined our recent webinar to share some of their key principles for developing technical training that sticks.

Meet the Speakers

Watch the Replay

Strategies for better technical training programs

Chaya and Marco have learned a thing or two about good technical training from their experiences working in cybersecurity (Chaya) and healthcare (Marco). Here’s what they and their teams keep in mind as they’re building training programs for their internal and external audiences.

1. Never separate art from science and science from art.

Highly technical subject-matter experts may put more focus on accuracy and details (the science) than storytelling and learner experience (the art). But both matter in pursuit of our goal to create engaging learning experiences.

“It’s up to us as designers to keep them in balance for the learner’s benefit,” Chaya says.

2. Pay more attention to what the learner needs to learn than what the product can do.

When you’re creating training about a product or service, it’s easy to start and stay in a product-first mindset. But that’s a trap, Chaya says.

When learning is the goal, learners’ needs need to be front and center. This might mean simplifying experts’ language and using analogies to help explain complex concepts.

“As you’re working with technical subject-matter experts, be an advocate for your learners,” Chaya says.

3. Explain the “why,” the “what,” and the “when.”

Taking the last principle even further: helping the learner understand why they should care to learn about this topic — the “what’s in it for me?” — is just as important as the information you share.

Chaya has found that stories are a great way to set the context and show learners what’s in it for them. Before her training videos get into “how” a certain product or service works, she creates a story with characters who can illustrate what’s happening, why a certain product or workflow would be necessary, and when this capability would be relevant.

4. Give your videos a core visual identity you can draw from.

Good training materials are cohesive and have a consistent look and feel. You can boost learners’ recall and reinforce key concepts by reusing imagery and visuals you present in your videos.

Beyond training videos, Chaya says she and her team have found that Vyond makes it easy to create standardized visuals of Tanium product features and to animate simple explanations of complex, product-related processes.

5. Keep your content relevant, focused, short and sweet.

Marco keeps in mind that his audience in healthcare is time strapped: they rarely get time for lunch every day. He regularly produces training on familiar systems and tools, where his audience already understands the “why.” When you’re communicating “need to know” content to busy people like this, he says, get to the point. 

“Remember that not every video needs scenarios — sometimes they add unnecessary bulk,” Marco says. Also, try to avoid interrupting workflow steps with scenario scenes, or you risk blocking the crucial information from really sinking in.

6. Use humor — but in small doses and only around contextual information.

Humor can engage learners when used strategically. But it can also derail a training when it’s overused or applied inappropriately.

“You’re not going for belly laughs here,” Marco says. “Just a chuckle or grin is a good goal, enough to keep learners engaged.”

Also, if you’re creating for a global audience, be mindful of how the humor may (or may not) land across cultures.

7. Design for longevity.

In a fast-changing world, Marco challenges us to think “evergreen” where possible with our content. Software user interfaces will change and require updating; that’s inevitable. But wherever else you can, avoid including elements in your video, like dates and cultural references, that’ll quickly mark your content as outdated.

For a deeper dive on Chaya and Marco’s principles, watch the full webinar replay.

And if you’re eager to try out these principles in Vyond, get into the platform now — free — for two weeks or chat with us about getting a trial for your whole team.

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