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Announcing New Training Video Best Practice Guide

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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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How to Develop a Workplace Safety Messages Campaign (Part 1)

Written on August 23, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in OHS safety messages, OHS videos, communicating OHS messages, company induction training, health and safety messages, how to communicate workplace safety messages, improving safety standards, safety communications in workplace safety, safety messages, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace safety communication, workplace safety messages

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The main objective of any safety communication is to change behaviour.

But how does a safety or human resources professional change attitudes towards safety or improve the way people undertake procedures?

How can the safety manager deliver a message that motivates employees, supervisors and administrators to think and act safely?

Advertise your message

The secret – marketing. You need to advertise your messages.

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.

Advertising informs and reinforces the need for safe practices. But advertisers know that you just can’t say your product is the best. Likewise with safety, you can’t say your company believes in safety and leave it at that.

Cutting through the Clutter

Through the course of a day, people are constantly bombarded with marketing messages. Estimates vary from around 150 – 5,000 messages per day (personally, I believe it is realistically around 1,000).

Successful ad campaigns have to compete with many other goods and service to grab the attention of people. In advertising speak, it’s important to “cut through the clutter” and get what is known as “top of mind” awareness. If you think soft drink and your first thought is Coca Cola, then Coca Cola is top of mind for you when it comes to soft drink.

Your safety messages also need to cut through the clutter and be top of mind. As a safety professional, your communication messages compete with messages from the production manager pushing for better productivity and co-workers fooling around. And then there are messages from home that you have to compete with such as family issues, money problems, Facebook and other advertising .

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? Stay tuned next week, when we find out more in Part 2…..

How Using Quizzes in Induction Training Improves New Starter Learning

Written on August 16, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in Induction quiz, Induction test, Training assessment, Training test, company induction training, customer training videos, improving safety standards, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace health, workplace performance

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Induction training is absolutely vital for new employees. It is also the time when new starters are thirsty to know more about their new workplace and want to quickly integrate into their new team. However, it can be difficult to know how well a new starter or contractor has absorbed training information.

Establish an induction training evaluation system

According to Joe Huang from Wondershare, makers of the Quiz Creator, as with any type of training, it is important to review and seek feedback before, after and during induction training. The evaluation of induction training can be divided into three stages:

Evaluating new employees’ learning and academic performance. Before new employees start with you, you can quiz them on their knowledge. This can be determined through examinations: paper-based tests are usually the most common way, but for the sake of time-saving and cost-effective, computer-based tests are the best choice.
Evaluating the appropriateness of the training course content. For companies who are not sure about the content in their training and how new employees feel about it, you can quiz new starters to find out how they found the training and what they liked/disliked. This is a great way to update your training in a meaningful way.
Evaluating the work performance of trainees. After the newbie has started, you can quiz supervisors on certain learning outcomes, to find out what they think of the performance of the new starter, so you can know how the new employees took their training into practice. This is also important information when reviewing your induction training and what areas need further improvement.

How quizzes can be used with induction training video for optimal results

Research has found that viewers of a training video score better on message retention and recall levels when they are told that they will be tested.
To use quizzes properly with a training video:

Quiz your learners before producing the training video. By finding out what information current staff have difficulty with, you will be more knowledgeable about the type of information to put into your training video.
Quiz your learners after (or during) the video training. This makes sure they have absorbed the information.
Use a quiz as a review tool. This is a great way to refresh staff. Even if they only watch a small segment of an induction training video (for example: warm up exercises, by undertaking a small quiz on this topic, you know that they have learnt the information).

Now, while it is all well and good to test people during induction training, we hear from many companies that this sort of e-learning approach can be flawed. All it takes is for a dodgy supervisor to hand people the answers and everyone passes through the quiz in flying colours.

That’s why it is important when testing people that if they get it wrong, they have to go back to that section and watch the video again. Or alternatively, the questions are randomly displayed so that it makes cheating much harder.

According to Joe Huang, it is important to choose a quiz creating software that has anti-cheating features. This includes a time limit (so that there is no time to research answers), randomization (questions occur in different order), access control (password only access to change the test) and a concealed XML file (this stops the answers from being viewed).

Announcing New Training Video Buyer’s Kit

Written on August 11, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in OHS videos, company induction training, customer training videos, improving safety standards, induction videos, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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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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Announcing New White Paper: Optimising Induction Training: Reduce Costs, Improve Quality and Talent Retention

Written on July 26, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in OHS videos, company induction training, improving safety standards, induction videos, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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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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7 Tips to Improve Induction Training Materials

Written on July 20, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in OHS videos, company induction training, customer training videos, improving safety standards, induction videos, safety videos, shift work training, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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1. Use more Visuals - 83% of human learning occurs visually. Use lots of photos, videos, diagrams and colour to present training information. Avoid relying heavily on text based training. After all, we only recall 10% of what we read compared to 50% for what we both see and hear.

2. Tell Stories – During training, tell stories of exemplary staff behaviour that typify the type of action you want staff to do. Stories help people make emotional connections.

3. Lead by Values – Let staff/contractors know what your values are. Using values, empowers workers to make decisions based on company values. Difficult for staff to make the right decisions if they only have rules to follow.

4. Positivise it – Remove negative language. Tell people how you want them to behave, rather than telling them what you don’t want. Remove words such as ‘no’, ‘can’t and ‘don’t’.

5. Involve senior management - Senior management play an integral leadership role in establishing culture. Effective leadership whether it be concerning safety, a new sales method or business structure must be led from the top. They must be involved in the induction process.

6. Reduce complication - Get rid of long sentences, jargon and big words in training materials. Keep it short and tweet.

‘Words are how we think, story is about how we link’ Christina Baldwin

7. Ask more why questions - Teach people why they need to do something, so they can always figure out the how. Otherwise, company processes keep getting perpetuated without people ever questioning why they do something.

Think you need help to improve your company induction training materials? Then, go to the seminar to find out more information.

26 July Seminar: Seven Ways to Improve Company Inductions

Written on July 6, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in company induction training, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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Do new staff feel undervalued in your company?

When it comes to induction training, common complaints are that it is ‘boring’ and ‘overwhelming’.

Yet, inductions also represent the only first impression that you ever get with a new employee. Inductions are a great opportunity to align new starters with your company values and processes.

In this interesting seminar, you will learn:

Five induction trends that could send you out of business
The benefits of getting your induction process right
Seven tips to improve your induction process
How your company can be the industry leader

The details are:

Monday 26 July 2.30 – 4.30pm at Protector Allsafe 41 Greens Rd Dandenong

The cost is free for members; $5 for non-members.

Why training videos are best for staff training

Written on May 6, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in OHS videos, company induction training, induction videos, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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Over the last three years, online video has become one of the fastest growing web trends due to the widespread availability of broadband and YouTube. In fact, one of the most widely used search terms are “how to…” videos.

Now, more than ever before, there are hungry online audiences using video to educate themselves in their own homes.

And for good reason.

Everyone likes Pictures

In 2000, research by Gunter et al found that learners more easily understand and recall new material presented in video that allows participants to both see and hear the information. This dual-encoding process reinforces information in multiple brain areas which increases the chances of the information being stored in long term memory.

While studies by educational researchers have found that 83% of human learning occurs visually. Visually rich information keeps the brain busy and alert to learn more information.

You can’t see me

And videos can go where trainers can’t. It’s fairly difficult to visualise how the back works and what happens when you lift incorrectly. But clear medical animations can inform the user of how their spine works and what happens when they damage it.

When Trainers go Bad

Training videos also offer consistent training. When different training facilitators are involved confusion can arise when they teach different processes. In fact, inconsistent training is common within organisations, with around 54% stating that onboarding is inconsistent within their organisation. Imagine what effect this has on productivity.

“I need more time”

When it comes to training, often trainers are overwhelmed by the amount of time they spend training and inducting face to face. The truth is it doesn’t have to be this way. By converting repetitive training tasks into easy to understand training video modules, the trainer can be relieved of repetitive training tasks. And they can then spend time doing more important things like managing your site or taking the afternoon off to play golf.

You seem so Credible

Compared to written training materials, training videos actually increase comprehension and retention of subject matter by a staggeringly high 51%. They actually command the attention of the viewer and motivate them to learn more. But more importantly, they are perceived as more persuasive and credible than training materials which tend to be viewed as less important in comparison.

Here’s a test. The next time you have to induct a contractor tell them that you need to sit down with them and read through your training manual. After they curse and groan, smile and say, “actually, how about you watch our induction video with a small quiz?” They will love you for life. Or until the end of their shift.

Reduce Training Time

But the best part about training videos are that they teach information in around 50 – 75% of the time as an instructor. And if you get an expertly produced training video made, expect productivity to increase also. So if you are undertaking 45 minute inductions reducing the induction time to 12 minutes is about average. Think about the cost savings to the trainer’s time and the new starter’s time. The cost benefits can be quite enormous depending upon the amount of inductions your company does.

Do you make these mistakes in your induction training?

Written on May 3, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in company induction training, induction videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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Over the years, I have had the pleasure of revising company induction manuals and what I have found is that just about every company makes the same mistakes in its training materials.

Given that the quality of your induction training can actually determine whether a new starter will want to stay or not, it’s imperative to have the best training materials you can. So which of these common mistakes do you have in your induction training:

1. Provide text based training - This is when training is from training manuals or PowerPoint presentations that contain mostly text. Studies by educational researchers have found that 83% of human learning occurs visually. You can actually help people keep their brain active and alert to new information by providing visual information relevant to the training. Use lots of colours, photos, diagrams and video content to better explain training concepts.

2. Talk in corporate speak - Avoid formal corporate language in your training manuals. Workers at different site locations will know if corporate has written the training materials and they weren’t consulted. This can make the training manuals seem less credible. Make sure it is friendly and conversational – and welcoming! Keep sentences short (17 words or less), use short words (5 characters or less) and avoid jargon. And in this day and age of Twitter, keep it short and tweet!

3. Use negative language - Remove rules that focus on “don’t, can’t, forbidden”. Remember induction training is you most teachable moment with a new staff member/contractor, so use language that is friendly and warm. Let people know what they can do, rather than tell them about behaviour that you do not want.

4. Forget the How - This is when staff are told what to do but no explanation is given as to why. Company processes are perpetuated without people ever questioning why they do something. Over time, staff are taught processes that solve problems that no longer exist.

In order to boost retention rates and improve productivity levels, inducting right is important to any company who wants to improve the bottom line.

By making your induction training visually appealing and easy to learn, you will be able to improve your staff productivity and safety quite remarkably.

Start adding colour, video and pictures to your induction training materials and keep sentences short. Where can you convert processes into more visually appealing training videos that will get the messages across better than just boring text?

By fixing these common induction mistakes, you will have people commenting positively on the quality of your induction training.

We’ve won a Gold Award for Best Use of Video in a Training Program

Written on April 16, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in OHS videos, company induction training, improving safety standards, induction videos, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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LearnX Asia Pacific 2010 recognizes Digicast Productions as producing induction training videos that are like gold.

We are very excited to be given a gold award for the induction training video we created for our wonderful client Conundrum Holdings.

The reasons we won were because of the amazing time/cost benefits we have saved Conundrum, as well as providing higher quality training.

Since the induction video was introduced at Conundrum Holdings, Conundrum’s induction training has been re-invigorated and they now get praise for their induction system whereas before they mostly got grumbles.

“We continuously aim to improve the safety and productivity at our quarry sites. Now
that we have a quality training tool that can be incorporated into our site induction
process, it has reduced the time to train staff/contractors by 68%. A major benefit has
been the saving to management time which is saving us around 2.5 hours a week or about
$20,000 a year. Site managers now have more time to get on with the task of actually
managing the sites. But more importantly, it still ensures that the inductions are of a
consistently high standard and we no longer get complaints from contractors about
having to sit through another dull site induction”.

Tom Kerr, OHS Manager/Quality Assurance Manager, Conundrum Holdings

Thanks to LearnX and Conundrum for this Award.

You can read more about how we helped Conundrum, here.

Improving Workplace Safety, Performance and Training through video

Tag Archive: training videos

Announcing New Training Video Best Practice Guide

How to Develop a Workplace Safety Messages Campaign (Part 1)

How Using Quizzes in Induction Training Improves New Starter Learning

Announcing New Training Video Buyer’s Kit

Announcing New White Paper: Optimising Induction Training: Reduce Costs, Improve Quality and Talent Retention

7 Tips to Improve Induction Training Materials

26 July Seminar: Seven Ways to Improve Company Inductions

Why training videos are best for staff training

Do you make these mistakes in your induction training?

We’ve won a Gold Award for Best Use of Video in a Training Program

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