Does your informational content take too long to create?

If you create visual instructions, like a job aid or a step-by-step guide, you’ll know that gathering the information is just part of the work. The other part is making sure that you display the information so users can effectively learn from it.

It can be time-consuming to design your informational content, especially when you might not need a whole new design.

Templates are a great way to optimize the way you create your informational content. With drag and drop functions, intuitive features, and customizable options, you can focus on providing great information without compromising the way you present it.

In this episode of The Visual Lounge, TechSmith’s Learning and Video Ambassador Matt Smith breaks down how to use Snagit and Camtasia’s template functions to help you save time and create more efficient workflows.

Learning points from the episode include:

• Why using templates simplifies creating your content
• How to use screen captures to make informational content
• The step-by-step process of creating visual instructions using templates
• How to make a video template

Important links and mentions:

• TechSmith’s YouTube channel
• Snagit
• Camtasia
• Trello

Learn more about the Techsmith Academy.

To read the blog post on the topic or watch the video, click here

What is help content?

You don’t have to be a technical writer to create content that helps people use your product. Your content just needs to help your customers help themselves.

Customer education content helps customers to solve problems and perform the tasks they need. Providing this content is an essential ingredient for ensuring the success of your product with your customers.

There are ways to create effective help resources, and in this episode of The Visual Lounge, Michele Wiedemer shares her twenty years of knowledge for creating, evaluating, and improving your customer-facing help content.

Learning points from the episode include:

• What customer education is
• Why everyone should know how to create helpful content
• What common errors people make when creating customer education content
• How to decide what type of helpful content to create
• Why Michele wanted to create the Writing Helpful Help TechSmith Academy course
• The three essential steps to creating effective help content
• Why you should prioritize access to your help content

Important links and mentions:

• Michele’s Writing Helpful Help TechSmith Academy course
• Michele’s website, Virtual Customer Learning
• Michele’s LinkedIn

Learn more about the TechSmith Academy https://academy.techsmith.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=visuallounge&utm_content=writing-helpful-help

To read the blog post on the topic or watch the video, go to: http://techsmith.com/blog/how-to-write-helpful-help-content-with-michele-wiedemer

Video is one of the best ways to reach an audience, but it's also one of the most intimidating content forms to create. If fear is holding you back, maybe you just need to “press the damn button.”

It's not easy to get started with video. It might feel daunting at first, but there are many reasons why that shouldn't stop you from creating video content.

If anyone has the best advice for creating video, it's Brian Fanzo. Brian has been sharing live videos since 2013 and is an entrepreneur and keynote speaker. In this episode of The Visual Lounge, he shares the best lessons he's learned for creating video, from how to get started to how to keep evolving.

Learning points from the episode include:

• What it means to “press the button”
• Why create live video?
• How to record videos with confidence
• The two golden rules of live video
• Brian’s ‘Rule of Five’
• How to adapt when video evolves
• Why you should utilize different platforms
• Why you should (or shouldn’t) find your niche

Important links and mentions:

• Connect with Brian on LinkedIn
• Visit Brian’s website
• Brian’s Amazon store 

Learn more about the Techsmith Academy.

To read the blog post on the topic or watch the video, click here.

If you're looking for a learning solution to help empower your employees, you might have considered investing in a training course or eLearning materials. But have you considered the benefits of job aids for your business?

Job aids can be instrumental in helping employees complete tasks effectively, and as business owners know, empowering employees with the information they need is an integral part of running a successful business.

In this episode of The Visual Lounge, discover how job aids could improve your business as Learning & Video Ambassador, Matt Pierce, interviews Dawn Mahoney, founder of Learning In The White Space and one of the leading authorities on training facilitation and instructional design.

Dawn has years of experience helping employees level-up, and we loved hearing her advice; from recognizing when your employees need a job aid to the top tips for creating job aids that will work best for your business.

Learning points from the episode include:

• When you need a job aid (instead of a training course)
• What makes an effective job aid
• How to create a successful job aid

Important links and mentions:

• Visit Dawn’s website
• Connect with Dawn on LinkedIn
• Follow Dawn on Twitter @DawnJMahoney
• Dawn's TechSmith Academy Course – Not Everything Is A Course: Job Aids
• Snagit

Learn more about the TechSmith Academy

To read the blog post on the topic or watch the video, click here.

With so much video content online, how do you get viewers to watch your videos? Once you've won that battle, how do you keep them watching to the end?

If you've ever seen your watch-rates plummet and wondered why, or if your videos are struggling to get traffic, brushing up on your video consumer behavior knowledge could help you find some solutions to your video-viewer problems.

Understanding video-viewer behavior can help you create more attractive videos that keep people watching longer. We know this because we’ve been collecting data about why people stop and start watching YouTube videos for nearly a decade!

Listen to this episode to understand how viewers consume video, where they find value, and what makes them go elsewhere. 

Learning points from the episode include:

• How viewers find and choose videos
• Why viewers stop watching videos
• The factors that keep viewers watching
• The common elements that good instructional videos share

Important links and mentions:

• The TechSmith research report
• Let Me Google That For You (LMGTFY)

Learn more about the TechSmith Academy.

To read the blog post on the topic or watch the video, click here.

The pivot from face to face interaction to online interaction is happening across many industries, and nowhere is it more evident and universal than in education. As teaching continues to move online, how can you ensure that you’re continuing to provide an effective learning experience through this very different medium?

When it comes to available technologies, you must make sure that you’re both resilient to the changes they bring and accepting of them. 

There are ways that technology can enhance your online teaching, but it can be confusing to know where to start if you’re not sure how to adapt your in-person strategies to on-screen learning.

In this episode of The Visual Lounge, education and technology professional, Crystal DeJaegher, gives her advice for developing a virtual teaching practice that works for you.

Learning points from the episode include:

• How to smoothly transition to an online learning environment
• How to introduce new technologies
• How to design an effective online learning experience
• How to help your learners adapt
• The recommended tools for creating an online learning experience
• How to be resilient in the face of change

Important links and mentions:

• Connect with Crystal on LinkedIn
• EDUCAUSE
• Google Docs, Sheets and Slides
• Camtasia
• Kahoot!
• Poll Everywhere

Learn more about the TechSmith Academy

To read the blog post on the topic or watch the video, click here.

How can you write better video scripts, faster?

Scriptwriting can heavily influence the amount of time it takes to see a video through from conception to completion and while there are many different ways to write a script, having an efficient process to go from the blank page to the finalized video is the key to faster production. 

In this episode of The Visual Lounge from TechSmith, Dana Haines, a multifunctional content creator who specializes in video development and scriptwriting, shares her best advice for creating a scriptwriting process that can reduce the number of revisions and create more effective videos.

Learning points from the episode include:

• How to design a scriptwriting questionnaire
• How to encourage SMEs to engage with the content creation process
• How long your script should be
• How to turn your questionnaire into a script
• When to record and why you need a fast revision process

Important links and mentions:

• TechSmith Academy
• @thedanahaines

Learn more about the Techsmith Academy

To read the blog post on the topic or watch the video, click here.

Screen recording can be a very useful and powerful tool in your video arsenal, however, few people know how to utilize it well and, if you’ve never used it before, it can be overwhelming to know where to start.

Understanding how to start creating screen recordings is the first step to optimizing your screen recorded video process. Learn how to set your videos up for success and you’ll discover a faster workflow that gives you better quality screen recordings and more engaging videos.

Learning points from the episode include:

• Know what size you want to publish in, and stick with it
• Make your video smaller, or keep it the same size, and never make it bigger
• Limit distractions to keep the user focused
• Start by recording your audio first, and edit your video to fit the track
• If you feel ambitious, capture extra material, but use it only for context or a screen reset, not to distract the user’s focus
• Experiment and play with your screen recording software to learn how to make it work for you

Important links and mentions:

• TechSmith Academy
• The Basics of Screen Recording
• Josh Cavalier’s presentation for The Learning Guild
• Follow TechSmith on Twitter
• Connect with Matt on LinkedIn
• Try Camtasia for free

Learn more about the Techsmith Academy

To read the blog post on the topic or watch the video, click here.

What can you do to make sure that you design an eLearning course that delivers real results?

Tim Slade is a speaker, award-winning freelance eLearning designer and the author of the book, ‘The eLearning Designer's Handbook.’ Having spent the last decade working to help others elevate their eLearning and visual communications content, Tim has a wealth of knowledge on the subject of creating eLearning that delivers results. I mean, he wrote the book on it!

Tim was more than happy to share some of that knowledge and walks you through the eLearning development process, helping you to design eLearning that captivates your audience and delivers tangible results.

Learning points from the episode include:

• Use a blueprint or storyboard to plan your eLearning course
• One of the things that makes a good educator is the ability to empathize with someone who is brand new at something
• Focus less on what people need to learn, and more on what they need to know
• Stop worrying about the tech side of things and focus on the quality of your content
• You must understand how to create eLearning for adults and understand the theory of adult learning
• The goal of creating training that delivers results is to shift that moment of realization that you have of what is the right answer to the beginning of the project before you invest any time creating content
• Don't measure if you're not going to do anything with the measurement

… and so much more!

Important links and mentions:

• The eLearning Designer’s Handbook
• Camtasia

Learn more about the Techsmith Academy

To read the blog post on the topic or watch the video, click here