THE TRAINER POINT OF VIEW
Can you also feel it?
The attention span getting shorter and shorter?
We are so used to dealing with smaller and smaller bits and pieces of information that it seems to get harder and harder to concentrate on reading a text or watching a video for longer than, say, 5 minutes. I realize that myself when I sign up for one of the webinars that are so frequently offered on different tools and new functionalities. After a few minutes, and especially when the presenter does not come to the point, but goes on and on with some marketing-heavy slides, I tend to get frustrated, bored, angry and sometimes I even leave the webinar then.
Always with the thought in mind that I can go back and watch the recoding any time I like.
I almost never do that. Or if I do, I tend to skip through the recording with the fast forward button.
What does that mean for the training industry? It means that we must cater to the needs of the users. That’s why I have tried to create 5-10 minute videos instead of a 1-hour recording.
But let me tell you, the smaller the information pieces get, the more focused you have to be as a trainer. It takes a lot of preparation. Would you believe that a 15-minute video on a specific topic can take up to 6 hours of preparation?
- Deciding on the topic / coming up with a concept of what you want to show
- Creating the sample files and settings (takes longer than you think)
- Running through the process to see if it works or if you forgot a setting / sample file / topic to mention
- Create a script of what you want to say
- Create some slides that can be shown as introduction or an image to be used as cover for the video/course/lesson
- Run through the whole thing again: showing slides and clicking through the tool while reading the script (I found that it can be easier to do these things one after the other, i.e. adding the voice after producing the video)
- Do the recording
- Go through the recording to eliminate any background noises or sections where you made a mistake.
- Produce the final video
- Upload, add a description
This was a full day of work for a 15-minute video.
I would love to hear how you are creating learning videos and what your experiences are on how long it takes and how long the videos should be to be useful and are really watched all the way through.
Angelika
(Trainer for translation tools since 1997)
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