Preparing For Your Next Corporate Video Production

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Our clients constantly remind us that video is their most efficient and effective means of communicating their message in and out of their workplaces. It’s ability to provide consistency in the information it delivers, the engagement factor, and online accessibility, also makes it a very cost-effective solution.

But whatever your message that needs communicating, there are several things that should be considered before you embark on your next production.

What do you want the video to achieve?

First and foremost, you should have a clear understanding of the messages that you want your video to communicate.

There are a multitude of reasons why you or your organisation may decide to produce a corporate video.

It could be a new product, service or brand that needs promoting. It may be to communicate to your employees or stakeholders their value to your organisation. Or it could simply be for staff training and inductions.

It’s important to also be clear on the business objectives you want the video to meet and whether the key messages in your video will help you achieve these objectives.

For example, if you’re producing a video to streamline your induction process (to save on costs and time), you’d want to think about the specific skills you want the viewers to learn, and what specific information they need to have an understanding in. If it’s for compliance, will it be ticking certain boxes?

Who is your target audience?

In addition to establishing what it is you want the video to achieve is having a clear understanding of who your target audience is.

Once it’s clear who your audience is, you can then start planning on how to engage with that audience. For example, during the script writing phase, you’ll want ensure the language used is tailored to that particular audience.

Focusing on your target audience is essential

You can spend all the money in the world on paid actors and fancy editing, but if the messages in your final product don’t resonate with your target audience, it can end up being a fruitless exercise and ultimately a wasted investment.

How will the video be distributed?

Producing a corporate video 5 years ago you really only needed to think about how many DVDs copies of the final presentation you’ll need.

Accessing video online is now commonplace

With the evolution of the online world, nowadays we can share and access video almost anywhere, anytime.

So how will your audience access your video? Just DVD, or will your video be accessed online, either internally on your intranet, or will it feature on your website or perhaps other video sharing websites such as Youtube?

For example, a 10 minute promotional DVD showcasing your finest talents, which you’ll distribute to prospects, may also feature on your website’s home page. However, a shortened, more succinct, web-friendly version could get produced at the same time. Since there are huge scales of economy in video production, producing multiple versions of a video at the one time certainly works out more economical in the long run.

Do you have a budget in mind?

“Can you give me a ballpark figure?” is quite often one of the first questions we get asked, even before we know what we’re producing. In fact it’s a very difficult question to answer without knowing exactly what the requirements are.

This is akin to asking a builder to provide you a quote for a 4 bedroom house before the plans have been drawn up.

Whilst we can provide a rough ballpark costs with some basic information at our disposal, no two productions are ever the same.

There are many factors within the production process that can impact on pricing; How many days filming are required? Do we need to hire actors or presenters? What about locations? Are we filming on a green screen? Etcetera, etcetera…

There are certainly many ways to keep costs down without necessarily effecting the quality and production value of the finished product.  If budget is your number one concern, it can be a lot easier for us to discuss the various alternatives and possibilities and then come up with a viable solution together once we have an actual budget to work with.

Either way, an initial meeting to discuss your requirements is the only way to start!

Learning From Experience

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Sales TrainingHave you ever stopped to think about how much combined knowledge your team possesses?

This collective experience is often treated as a wasted resource in many organisations and training situations.

There are undoubted benefits of using videos and DVDs to train staff. They are a resource that can be used time after time, they can be modified to suit your situation and you can be assured that all staff will receive the same message in the same way.

Unfortunately however many training videos and DVDs simply only tell, they don’t ask. They don’t offer opportunities for experiential learning to take place.

Often training sessions don’t deliver the required outcomes because the focus is on the trainer or the training material rather than on the participants.

It has been proved that training is a lot more effective when the trainer facilitates learning by developing situations where participants:

  • Are actively involved
  • Discover things for themselves
  • Have their beliefs, attitudes and values challenged

This approach enables the participants to have ownership of their learning outcomes.

The Kolb cycle. Made up of 4 stages.

According to David Kolb, an American educational theorist, knowledge is continuously gained through both personal and environmental experiences (Kolb. 1984). In using experiential learning methods, he emphasizes the critical linkages that can be developed between the classroom and the ‘real world’ (Kolb. 1984).

Rather than strictly using classroom techniques which involve illustrations, explanations or demonstrations, the focus in experiential learning is really on involving the participants in active experimentation for the learning to occur.

“Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand.” – Confucius, 450 B.C 

However, a benefit of the training DVD and training video approach is where trainees can take over the roles of the main characters on the video.

Debriefing at the conclusion of the role play is a really important component as it will usually provide more information to discuss and it also makes the exercise more dramatic for the participants and the learning experience more powerful.

When conducting role plays:

  • Make sure the participants understand their role and have some time to prepare
  • Never force people to participate – always use volunteers (some may need coaxing!)
  • Never set participants up to fail
  • Always allow participants in the role play time to come out of the role

Following a role play participants need to be given time to load their feelings and emotions, that is to be DEBRIEFED. You can do this by asking questions such as:

  • You seemed to get angry when…
  • How did you feel when….. ?
  • What were you thinking when….. ?

If you are interested in this experiential learning approach, check out our latest sales and customer service training product, The Sales Challenge. See the below video:

 

 

Benefits of Video To Communicate Workplace Safety

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More than ever before, occupational health and safety has become a major priority in almost every Australian workplace. It has become the mantra for many government-advertising campaigns that “every employee has the right to return home safely” and how ” it is the responsibility of both employers and employees to ensure a safe workplace”.

Organisations must, by law, ensure that their employees are adequately trained to perform at their job in the safest way possible and that particular occupational health and safety policies are adhered to. Depending on the organisation, the employees involved, the information that is to be communicated, there is a multitude of different communication pathways that can be taken to deliver a message of workplace safety. It can be as simple as an OHS trainer standing in front of a group, or perhaps a group discussion, or role play. Technology such as powerpoint, video or e-learning programs can be used as either the main training tool or as an aid to reinforce the spoken message.

Unfortunately, a topic such as workplace safety can quite often fall on deaf ears. For some people, the thought of discussing manual handling risks or reporting near misses with a manager or colleagues would be about as exciting as watching paint dry. In many cases, it may take a serious injury or fatality, to ultimately alter the mindset of an individual or even the culture of an organisation.

However, incorporating video into a training session on safety can provide a range of benefits:

  1. Continuity of the message – Whether it is the induction of new staff, or conducting refresher training for existing employees, using video to deliver the message will ensure that every trainee receives exactly the same message, the same way. That way everyone is on the “same page”, which is an important component to an organisation’s ability to to comply with legislation and achieve a health and safe environment.
  2. A picture tells a thousand words. In most instances, video can deliver a message far more efficiently and effectively than the spoken word alone, especially when trying to describe a particular action or technique. Time is a precious commodity nowadays. Any opportunity to communicate a message more efficiently will always have a positive effect on the workplace.
  3. Most importantly, video does an excellent job of conveying emotion.  If the intention is to send home a message of great importance, the ability to tap into people’s emotions can be an excellent strategy. A message or idea is more likely to be remembered if it has impact. As witnessed now on many TV advertising campaigns – whether it be for safety at work, anti smoking, or safe driving – “shock value” is an approach used to not only ensure the audience receives the message, but it sneaks its way into their subconscious.

Whilst video enjoys a number of benefits in communicating safety, it is still important to realise the target audience and the actual content of the video itself. Is it relevant? Will it connect with the target audience? Does it suit the rest of the training/course material? Does it sell the message?

If you can produce or find a video that ticks all these boxes, we suggest you have just found yourself and your workplace a great investment!

 

What’s In Store for 2012

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It’s hard to believe that we’re already into the second month of 2012. There is a lot happening at Channel 1 land that we’re excited about, both now and in the pipeline, so I thought I’d dedicate our first post of the year to sharing with you some of what we have in store for the year ahead.

A big 2012 ahead at Channel 1

Apart from a range of corporate video projects we’ve embarked on already with various clients (whether it be promotional, marketing, training or instructional), we’re also excited about the prospect of new additions to our suite of training DVD titles, as well as further developments in our offerings in e-learning.

In regards to new titles, we’ll be adding several new workplace safety topics to our range such Food Safety, Lockout Tag out, Fatigue Management, Hot Work, Working with Gas, just to name a few. In addition to these, we’re also looking at the release of a new Management Series, covering a range of topics such as Conflict Resolution, Negotiation Skills, Leadership, Working with Teams, and more…. so stay tuned!

One of the more exciting developments at Channel 1 this year will be our offering of both off-the-shelf and customised e-learning programs.

The most warmly received feature of this product, is that we’re able to offer our clients both prepackaged training programs as well as the “clean canvas” approach – paint any picture you like in regards to your training needs and we can pretty much fulfill those needs.

Also in the coming months you’ll also see some major website redevelopment taking place… it’s been a long time coming!! Don’t worry, it will all be in the name of a more enjoyable and user-friendly browsing experience.

Off course, if you have any training DVD, video production or e-learning requirements that need tending to or burning questions that need answering, we’d love to hear from you.

Staff Training & Induction Videos: Custom Produce or Off-the-shelf?

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The type of production chosen will inevitably come down to your specific training requirements

Many clients call in wanting a training video that can be shown to new employees when they begin work or to existing staff as refresher training.

There are significant advantages of incorporating video into your staff training and inductions; such as a continuity of message, higher engagement, and the saving of both time and money.

But quite often companies need to weigh up whether they go down the track of producing their own training video or whether a generic off-the-shelf training video will suffice.

Each and every workplace will have specific requirements that need to be addressed with the induction of new employees and training of existing staff.

We have essentially 3 options that are available, each with their own advantage:

1. Off-the-shelf training videos

Choose from our large range of “off-the-shelf” training video titles. Either set up a DVD showing particular topics of interest, or you may wish to incorporate the video into an online training program. The video content may complement or support other training material that the trainees are required to learn. Whether it’s offline or online, this can be an extremely cost-effective way of training new and existing staff with audiovisual content. However, the generic nature of the off-the-shelf variety may not suit every training requirement.

2. Custom produced staff induction video.

Engage us to case manage your training or induction video project. This would typically involve script work to your precise requirements, on-site filming and complete in-house editing. Whether the video is produced for your employees, contractors or visitors, our experienced production team would work with you through each stage of the production process to ensure that your specific safety messages and other important information is communicated in the most effective way possible.

3. A combination of both.

Induction Training

There are significant advantages of using video in staff training, more so if the audience relates

Whilst the benefits of a tailor made training program where employees can see themselves at their workplace, going about their particular work, would be immeasurable, the price tag for this can sometimes be prohibitive.

Why re-invent the wheel, when Channel 1 have already produced highly acclaimed training packages on various workplace topics and can quickly and simply adapt them so that they look like your very own productions.

Several of our clients have incorporated our modular style safety training toolbox video series with a customised introduction and conclusion, filmed at their workplace with their script.  In doing this, they have ended up with an expensive induction program that looks like their very own but at a fraction of the price.

Further information on off-the-shelf videos or video production can be found at our website.