How to Trim Training Costs — Hollywood Style
January 15, 2010
For many of us in corporate learning, 2009 will be remembered as the “Year of No.” Can I hire that amazing instructional designer who’s finally become available? No. Our employees need SharePoint for informal learning to take off. Not right now. How about flying in our sales force for some much needed business acumen training? Not on your life.
But among the frustrations of cost cutting and the limited opportunities for creativity so many of us crave, something exciting happened. Video finally became affordable to learning professionals, and IT no longer had a coronary when the words, “streaming media,” were whispered cautiously at a staff meeting. Video technologies that five years ago would have bankrupted a Fortune 500 training department were not just affordable, your grandparents were shopping for these video gizmos at Wal-Mart.
But it’s not just the price of audio visual equipment that keeps falling; video saves valuable production hours and allows us to deliver more powerful learning experiences at a lower cost than crafting custom e-learning. And we’ll be seeing a lot more video. If I want to learn how to cast a fishing rod this weekend, chances are, I’ll do a quick search on Youtube for tips (in addition to good old-fashioned practice). Youtube is the world’s second most popular search site; it will have a real impact on employees’ learning expectations and practices for a long time to come. The Youtube generation is here, and it cuts across workers ages 20 to 60.
So how do we leverage video in corporate training without a film truck showing up in our staff parking lot and an army of clipboard-wielding production assistants taking over the office? First up, remember that the video required for most learning projects is magnitudes simpler than your average TV commercial, we’re talking a few more production hours than filming your kid’s weekend soccer match.
Your First Project—Documentary-Style Interview Clips
A great place to start is unscripted interviews with your subject matter experts (SMEs). A series of well-thought-out questions posed to an SME and captured on camera represents an awesome opportunity for the expert’s passion to come straight through to your learners. People relate to informal dialog and are forgiving when experts generously share their candid insight. By comparison, the effort required to write a traditional e-learning storyboard (plus review and animate it) can be grossly inefficient and result in a dull learning experience. For your next product training module, what would you rather do? Play “document ping-pong” while laboring over another e-learning script or get comfy in an armchair for the afternoon and interview your company’s top product guru on camera? Just don’t get too fixated on your video equipment; most consumer camcorders will be more than capable of producing compelling documentary-style footage. Just keep these simple tips in mind:
• Position the camera far away from your subject and zoom in for a more flattering composition.
• Think about your lighting: A couple of $30 fluorescent lights from your local hardware store can add thousands of dollars to your production values.
• Do get hung up on your audio: Nothing will kill your video learning faster than your camera’s onboard microphone. So spend $100 on a wired lapel microphone, and people will be lining up to star in your next video learning project once they see (and hear) the quality of your productions.
Professional Green Screen Filming on a Shoestring
Want to go to the next level? Video intros add polish to your e-learning modules and don’t need to cost a Brad Pitt- sized appearance fee. An onscreen mentor played by an actor, or an enthusiastic member of your training department, can add a much-needed human element to dry subjects such as systems training or financial calculations. This approach adds impact and can be cheaper to produce than a custom Flash opening. Just make sure your script is conversational and your onscreen talent is fully prepped. Course presenters are best shot using a green screen (the same technology that puts the weatherman in front of his map); this opens up whole new creative opportunities for the onscreen actor to interact with your content.
A broadcast-quality green screen studio, with professional lighting and a teleprompter can be put together easily for less than $10,000; and soon will pay for itself. When setting up, get some help with your lighting (your local university’s media department likely will be happy to get involved and may even provide some keen volunteers—the ratio of budding and qualified film talent to job opportunities is truly terrifying). Want to dip your toe in the water first? Consider organizing your first green screen video shoot at a photography studio. The cost will be half that of a dedicated filming space, and that lapel microphone mentioned above will take care of an imperfect audio recording environment.
Video for Electronic Performance Support
As a generation raised on TV, we’re about a decade behind in our thinking and still conceptualize video as a linear event: We sit down, choose our channel, and are entertained for an hour or two. Holding someone’s attention for 60 minutes is fine with a TV-sized budget. But for us folks in training, the sound bite is king. Think in terms of the magic 30- to 180-second window, and you open up a whole new world of video-driven performance support.
Imagine you’re a new financial advisor preparing for your first meeting with a real client. Beyond the classroom role plays, expensive e-learning simulations, and regulatory workbooks, what’s the learning opportunity you crave more than anything? To take a peek behind the walnut door and see how your firm’s top talent handles a difficult client meeting.
Forget multiple-choice questions and staged classroom role plays. What we really want are examples of best practices we can review and emulate in privacy until we have confidently mastered the new skill. Shooting a video library of perfect behaviors, whether they’re steps in a sales call or a performance review meeting for new managers, is one of the most powerful learning assets you can develop for your organization. Video clips can be used for just-in-time support or incorporated into self-study programs, classroom training, and informal coaching sessions. Film real employees who best demonstrate the perfect behaviors in lieu of acting talent and the program’s credibility will speak for itself. Don’t worry too much about your new video stars leaving the firm; this sort of acknowledgement of an employee’s expert status makes people stick around. And if they do leave, you’ll likely want to update your best practices next year with a fresh crop of talent.
Lights. Camera. Action!
2010 is the year to pick up your camcorder and interact with your company’s experts and learners alike. SMEs should be excited to see you rather than dreading another e-learning script-writing session. Video is a lot of fun and offers the creative outlet our industry has been waiting for.
And the most important tip? Beyond the numerous blog articles and books on video that you can educate yourself with, getting in front of the camera is where you’ll learn most. You’ll feel the nerves, understand what preparation is needed to succeed onscreen, and experience the exhilaration of sharing your first video project with pride. Just don’t be too surprised if you enjoy being the star of your video learning projects more than the producer of them.
Oringinally Published By Training Magazine, January 13 2010
http://www.salesandmarketing.com/msg/content_display/training/e3if944e88734e00aa327063407f1d84311
Tags: cost cutting, elearning, green screen, training magazine, video
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