Recently, companies have started to invest a lot into training 
videos. But we cannot deny the fact that some people still view training videos as boring and ineffective. It’s really not surprising at all considered we’ve all seen horrible and cheesy training videos. At their core, training videos are meant to convey important messages and educate staff, but that’s not really an excuse for boring training videos, is it?
Having designed a number of training videos in Orange County for a plethora of clients, at 336 Productions we have some important tips that will help you make the more interesting:
Edit Aggressively
One of the common mistakes companies tend to make with training videos is poor editing: holding on a shot too long, choppy cutting, unorganized thoughts, slow pacing. This also leads to another mistake – focusing so intensively on one aspect of the video that it costs the effectiveness of other elements. The answer to both these problems is to edit extensively.
Various research studies claim that you have as less as 8 seconds to capture the attention of viewers, this means you can’t risk bogging your video down with extras.
We’re not just talking about editing in post-production either, start by editing the script. Ask someone to read it out aloud to you to get an idea of how it flows. Here are a few additional tips that can help:
- Do you put an introductory section at the start of every video? This can get redundant. Do you really need it?
- Is there a simpler way you could have explained something? Rewrite and re-edit.
- If you have as scene that only applies to a handful of employees, would it be better to have it in its own video?
Hire a Professional Actor
By actors, we mean both voice-overs and on-screen actors. Nothing quite says “we care so little about your training that we cut professional actors out of the budget” as having Bob from finance do the narration. If you need actors, go for professionals. They are more natural in front of the camera and help you save money in the end. Similarly, for voice-overs, there isn’t any other better way to do it than to hire a professional voice-over artist.
Extra Tip – Think Carefully About Humor
Unless you really know where you are going with humor in your 
training video, don’t use it. It might distract viewers, and trust us, if the joke doesn’t land, it’s all viewers will remember about your video. Humor can be a wonderful tool – it can keep the viewer interested and make for a more enjoyable training experience, but use it carefully and make sure it’s funny!
Using these tips, you can add a good dose of life to your training videos, making them highly effective at passing on the message they are made for. If you are looking for training videos in Orange County, feel free to get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can help.
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