Look at me! I'm going to be a star.

Meet Max.  Actually, we don’t know this dog’s name.  But he has potentially become the new dog star in an up and coming training video for the Country Fire Authority (CFA).

We are currently working on a training video on Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) awareness among volunteers and paid workers (all 65,000 of them!) for the CFA.  It’s a great program that supports members that are emotionally affected by an emergency event.

As part of the video, we are developing a brain animation to show how stress effects the brain and therefore, the body.

I’ve written the brain animation script from a story perspective.  This includes showing a man driving a car and then a stressful event occurring.  My initial idea was for a dog to run out while he was driving.  However, the client and I realised that this would involve hiring an animal actor agency and this got really complicated.  So I re-wrote the scene to have a ball instead.

So last week, we went down a quiet, country road to film a ball flying in their air and the car stopping quickly.

But amazingly, when we got to the road to film, a lovely, fat brown labrador came over to see what we were up to.

I suggested that we befriend him and get him to chase the ball.

To our delight, Max loved playing with the ball.  So Norm Bowen and Paul Tangey, from the CFA, both discovered hidden talents as dog wranglers.

And you wouldn’t believe it, but Max did a perfect take in the first shot (of course, he wasn’t harmed and seemed to be enjoying it all so much, we did a couple more goes) .

We then filmed other shots and Max went off and had a rest.  The weird thing was when he saw the camera being put away, he started barking and growling.  It wasn’t until we got the camera out and got him to pose that he was happy.  Seems to me like Max was just waiting to get his picture taken.

Isn’t it lovely when animals just know what you want and help?  Really looking forward to seeing the finished result.

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1. Match the visuals, titles and voiceover – This is a common mistake of amateurs.  Sadly, even  some experienced editors have difficulty with this one.  This is one of the reasons why training videos are so powerful, but so many production houses get it wrong.  Remember, don’t skimp on editing time.  It is worth the time and effort to use lots of titles and to match the vision accurately.

2. Focus the training video on instructional design principles. Producing a training video is more than just editing and filming.  The script must be written in a way so as to enhance learning.  Avoid working with directors whose main desire is to be a Hollywood producer.  While you are getting a training video made, remember it is just another communication tool like a poster  magazine ad.  It is not about amazing pictures with  stereophonic sound.  How it is put together is a necessary requirement, but it is the instructional design principles behind it that make all the difference.

3. Entertaining videos usually don’t work.  Avoid effects that do not add to communicating your message.  Do you really need the paint splash effect title when your company has nothing to do with paint?

4. Change what’s on screen every 5-7 seconds. Use a variety of communication methods – titles, different voiceovers, numerous camera perspectives  and a change in music.  Keep people engaged.

5. Show people as much as you can. People like looking at people. Again, amateurs don’t get this key principle.  I have seen amateur videos where a blank wall has been an unnecessary feature point while the narrator rambled on.  No joke.

6. Linear sequence (Step 1, Step 2 etc) avoid Step 2, Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, Step 5 etc).  Our conscious brain absorbs information in a linear fashion.  Information must always be given from start to end with no confusing jumping back and forth.  With any type of training the structure is crucial to success.  This is the same with an educational video.   In a video, it can be quite boring and annoying to see things twice or in the wrong order.  Makes it difficult to understand.

7. Script - This is crucial.  It must be friendly and  conversational.  Use short words and sentences.  This is not a time to make out your clever because you know some big words.   And don’t get lazy and refer people to a book (yes, some training videos do that!)

8. Segregate the training video into chapters and make these clear. Just like a book, structure the training video into a range of titles and subtitles and make these easy to skip to.  By using titles in the video on the next topic, it helps to focus viewers on what they are going to learn next.

Training videos are an incredibly effective method of training people quickly and thoroughly.  More importantly, they help viewers to retain the information much more than if they were to read the information or even hear it.  But they have to be made right.  By spring boarding off what makes training videos so great and including these components in you training video, you’ll get fantastic training outcomes.

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Companies often tell us that they are frustrated by how hard it is to engage staff with training.

After a bit of digging, we usually find out that training consists of:

1. A trainer talking a lot,
2. Some trainer made PowerPoint slides (learn how to improve your training presentations here) that generally consists of lots of words, or
3. A black and white manual that staff are expected to read.

What research has found is that is that passive/low engagement training is ineffective compared to active/high engagement training.   Passive training is when you get a trainer or lecturer telling lots of information or when lots of reading is involved.

So any training that is designed around a trainer reading through slides is not enough to create engagement.  Nor is producing a training manual and expecting workers to read it.

The Most Effective Training Materials

Educational researchers have found that 83% of human learning occurs visually.  The right brain prefers visuals and can process pictures hundreds of times faster than words.

When it comes to producing training materials, it’s a good idea to use as many visuals as you can.  And to really increase engagement, try and get trainees to touch, see and hear (obviously, taste and smell aren’t suitable to all industries, but they work especially well in food).  Use as many of the senses as you can during training.

And while having a trainer talking at students is passive training including lots of “Show and Tell” or demonstrations takes the training to a new level.  This is where the trainer demonstrates a process and gets the trainee to have a go.  This is integral to an active learning style.  Coaching is then given to improve.  Which brings us to assessment, which is also really important with learning.  It is important that trainees get face to face feedback on how to improve rather than information from a computer.

A Checklist for Creating Effective Training Materials

Several research studies have found that learners more easily understand and recall new material presented in video that allow participants to both hear and see the information.

This dual-encoding process reinforces information in multiple brain areas, thereby increasing the chances that the material will be stored in long-term memory.

To make use of this powerful memory booster, training materials need to be centred around a visually appealing training video.  By getting learners to see, listen and read important information you start getting higher levels of recall than just reading alone.  After all,  we remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear and 30% of what we see, so by addressing these three areas, recall is increased to 60% v 10% for reading alone.

But just having a training video is not enough.  Another important addition to your training kit is the Trainer’s Manual.  This guide needs to help the trainer know the best method to teach the material.  It needs to include a trainer’s session schedule that has advice on what segments of the training video to play, what questions to discuss, when to do a demonstration, when to get trainees to have a go, when to pass around relevant items and the questions and answers for the quiz (and how to test respondents and discuss the answers).

In addition, to really keep trainees engaged and to help them believe that the training is important, each trainee needs to receive their own copy of an Employee Handbook.  This is the document that they go through in class, it needs to have information on how to undertake tasks, as well as photos that will remind them of the training video that they have seen.  The booklet needs to also contain their quiz with space for them to write in their answers  (also gives them ownership rights).

By using these three main training materials, you end up with a self-contained training package that gives trainers the resources and support that they need to create an interactive and high engagement training session.  It will also ensure that training is taught consistently across numerous locations.

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When it comes to training staff on safety or procedures, one of the biggest problems many of our clients talk about is the difficulty of training staff consistently across numerous sites.

Often, staff are taught different information from one site to the next. And when you have hundreds or thousands of staff, this can be problematic.

It often results in different levels of productivity and a wild variation in safety records across the board.

Unless companies have a standardized approach to their training,  variations in the training message will create a workforce that is not aligned and working together to reach the same goals.

Buddies – Friends or Foe?

One area where this can be quite problematic is the buddy system form of training.

According to Wikipedia, the buddy system is a procedure in which two people, the buddies, operate together as a single unit so that they are able to monitor and help each other.  In training or the induction of newcomers to an organization, the less experienced buddy learns more quickly from close and frequent contact with the experienced buddy than when operating alone.

The buddy system is a good system that research has found provides optimal induction training.  However, the buddy system is only as good as the buddy doing the training.  What can sometimes happen is that companies assume that workers will train new staff the right way.  But what can happen if staff have had inconsistent training, is that they perpetuate more inconsistent training.  So new staff end up being taught different processes and safety information, which over time, can result in disastrous consequences.

The solution is to provide everyone with consistent training and the same stardardized messages.  Only then does the buddy system work effectively.  In fact, it will work extremely well and further reinforce messages and understanding.

Systemizing your Messages

The key to getting your workforce all understanding your safety and training messages in unison is the simple reinforcement of facts.  Repeatability and standardization of message are key.

And one proven way is to develop training videos for your company.  Even better if you can create other communication types that convey your core messages that hit all of the senses (see it, touch it, hear it etc).  Only then will you get message standardization.  And as a training video automates the messaging, it is a cost effective way to get consistent message understood by your workers no matter where they are located.

Helping Senior Leaders Lead

One further benefit is that when the CEO needs to visit different sites across the country, he or she will do a far better job communicating to all the workers who are all aware of the company stance on safety, the company vision and goals.  Rather than spend time writing different speeches to cater for the differing levels of safety awareness, the CEO can go and out communicate and engage knowing that everyone is on the same page.

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It’s smart for companies to be worried about staff training videos and how to tackle them correctly.  There are so many choices.  Quite frequently, training videos are produced that just don’t get used.  Now, working out what components to include in your training video just got easier.

Melbourne, Australia (August 26, 2010) – Digicast Productions, a training video production house, today released the “Best Practice Guide: How to Produce Staff Training Videos that get Results”.   Developing the right training video for your company isn’t easy.   This guide is a useful resource for anyone involved in the challenging and complex task of producing a company training video that performs.
In this 4 page guide, discover:

• The key components required for the best induction training program
• The causes of a poor performing training video
• Issues to avoid during the production of a training video

This guide is suitable for anyone wishing to produce a company training video that will be used for many years.  It is a companion guide for the Training Video Buyer’s Kit.

For a complete copy of the kit, visit http://info.digicast.com.au/best-practice-guide-to-training-videos

About Digicast Productions

Established in 1991, Digicast is an Australian vendor of customised safety and induction training videos.  Thousands of people each year worldwide are trained with Digicast training videos. For more information, visit Digicast at www.digicast.com.au or The Workplace Improver blog for training tips.

Contact Marie-Claire Ross

Digicast Productions
+ 61 3 9696-4400
mc@digicast.com.au

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According to Wikipedia, advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience  to purchase or take some action upon products, ideals, or services.  Advertising can change the values, attitudes, and actions of those who see or hear the message.

Think television commercials.  Advertising is a billion dollar industry focused on changing consumers’ habits and beliefs.   And while it is true that television might not be as effective as it used to be, this is only because fewer people are watching it now.  Nevertheless, Government organisations like WorkSafe and VicRoads have used television commercials to successfully change our behaviours and attitudes towards workplace safety and road safety respectively.

In order to market safety messages, it’s time that safety professionals started to think like marketers.  And this might be hard, as let’s face it, they are a strange group to more linear thinkers like engineers.  However, let’s put on our marketing caps and find out how they try to get into our brain.

Key advertising tactics to consider for marketing safety are:

• Consistent, clear messaging (includes branding) – Always promote the same standarized safety message and ensure that all departments are aligned with the message and do not send out conflicting information (eg: safety officer tells people to work safely and cautiously, but production manager pushes for speed).

• Consequences of poor safety – One of they key messages is to get employees really understand that poor safety behaviour puts their health and safety at risk, but also other employees, contractors and customers.  Let them know what effect this will have on the personal life and how it will effect their family.

• Multiple message placement – This means you have a consistent safety message or theme and you repeat it in multiple places.  It is like the glue that holds these tactics together and is essential in successful advertising.  In advertising campaigns, it is believed that people need to be exposed to a television ad six times before they will absorb the message.  This is why frequency of message equals success in the advertising campaign.

Most safety training programs fall short when it comes to frequency of message. Yet, there are many simple and cost effective ways to do this.

By getting workers to engage in your safety message in different ways (watching it, hearing it, reading it), supervisors can better ensure that more workers receive it.  Different communication methods include a training video that is supplemented with matching posters, email newsletter campaigns, key rings, employee handbooks and toolbox talks.

But how do you develop workplace safety communication?  Read How to Develop a Workplace Safety Messages Campaign (Part 2)

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It’s smart for companies to be worried about staff and customer training videos and how to tackle them correctly.  There are so many choices.  Quite frequently, training videos are produced that just don’t get watched.  Now making the right decision has just got easier.

Melbourne, Australia (August 11, 2010) – Digicast Productions, a training video production house, today released the “Training Video Buyer’s Kit”.   Developing the right training video for your company isn’t easy.  Nor is choosing the right company to help you.  This kit is a useful resource for anyone involved in the challenging and complex task of deciding upon producing a staff or customer training video and then how to go about it.

Using a four step process the buyer kit includes:

• A list of questions to decide whether or not a training video is right for an organisation.

• The critical questions to determine what the training video needs to achieve, in order to write the brief and how to best manage the project internally.
• A valuable checklist to evaluate the suitability of a video production house.
• An additional checklist to measure the effectiveness of training videos already produced by production houses.

For a complete copy of the kit, visit http://info.digicast.com.au/things-you-need-to-know-before-buying-a-customised-training-video
About Digicast Productions

Established in 1991, Digicast is an Australian vendor of customised safety and induction training videos. Thousands of people each year worldwide are trained with Digicast training videos. For more information, visit Digicast at www.digicast.com.au or The Workplace Improver blog for training tips, www.digicast.com.au/blog.

Contact Marie-Claire Ross

Digicast Productions
+ 61 3 9696-4400
mc@digicast.com.au

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Getting Training Messages to stick can be Tricky. This New Report reveals the Key Factors behind Successful Staff Induction Training and how to implement them.

Melbourne, Australia (July 26,2010) – Digicast Productions, a safety and induction training video production house, today released a new white paper “Optimising Induction Training: Reduce Costs, Improve Quality and Talent Retention”.   Around the world, many companies train new starters and contractors ineffectively often finding it difficult to get training messages to stick inside people’s heads.  This paper outlines the impact of poor induction training, the high cost of face to face training and the growing importance of including visuals in training materials.

Eighty-three percent (83%) of human learning occurs visually, yet the majority of companies produce text based induction training materials that have a 10% effectiveness rate on recall levels.

Smart organisations who regularly need to train contractors and new staff are looking for a more streamlined, engaging and cost effective way to ensure staff absorb training messages.

This exclusive white paper addresses the various pitfalls of a poorly designed induction training process and what can be done about it.  The report looks at:
•    What current induction training programs are really costing companies
•    The importance of avoiding a poor safety culture
•    The emerging trend of using more visuals in communication
•    How to make training messages sticky
•    A little mistake that cost a Quarry $20,000 a year

For a complete copy of the whitepaper, download it now.
About Digicast Productions

Established in 1991, Digicast is an Australian vendor of customised safety and induction training videos.  Thousands of people each year worldwide are trained with Digicast training videos. For more information, visit Digicast or The Workplace Improver blog for training tips.

Contact Marie-Claire Ross
Digicast Productions
+ 61 3 9696-4400
mc@digicast.com.au

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In a recent AFRBoss article, it was cited that an important trend over the next decade will be the shift from words to images in communication.

Rather than bombard people with an avalanche of reading material, people will prefer visual representation of data.

This isn’t a surprise given our time-poor, attention-scarce, give-it-to-me-now lifestyle.

So to future-proof and update training materials, now more than ever, there is growing importance for companies to use visuals to aid in learning.

After all, we remember:

• 10% of what we read
• 20% of what we hear
• 30% of what we see
• 50% of what we both hear and see

In fact, studies by educational researchers found that 83% of human learning occurs visually.   Visually rich training materials keep the eyes busy and therefore, the brain more alert and active to learn information.

Yet, I often get amazed when I go through company training manuals how so few of them include pictures or even colour for that matter.  And of course, very few of them use video as part of training.

“Something is happening. We are becoming a visually mediated society. For many, understanding of the world is being accomplished, not through words, but by reading images.”

Paul Martin Lester, “Syntactic Theory of Visual Communication”

What can you do to start making your training materials more visually appealing?

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