The first AI voice generators to emerge were novel and exciting, but their AI voices sounded robotic and awkward. They were clearly AI-generated and not serious options for replacing human voices in video and audio content. 

But since then, AI voice generator technology has drastically improved. Many of today’s AI voices are modeled after real voice actors (via ethical partnerships), so they’re smooth and natural-sounding — and often impossible to tell apart from human voices. 

AI voiceover generators’ evolution holds huge benefits for businesses, educators, and content creators. Why? 

Voices play a key role in video content, whether it’s for training, marketing, communications, or sales. And the quality and authenticity of those voices make all the difference when it comes to creating content that resonates with audiences and changes behavior. And there’s more.

Benefits of using AI voiceover generators

Working with AI voiceover generators also brings perks like cost savings (no studio or re-recording fees), time savings (no juggling schedules and waiting for edits), flexibility (translate into multiple languages; make unlimited edits), and scalability (bring consistency across projects and entire companies). 

It’s why Vyond offers users a multitude of AI voice options. And the ultra high-quality voices from WellSaid, integrated seamlessly into Vyond’s Enterprise and Agency subscriptions, are one of the features most appreciated by Vyond customers.

Common challenges with AI voiceover generators

There are three challenges users bump up against with AI voice generators. Sometimes the first take has a flatter tone and delivery than they’d like. In some cases, the AI voices might use odd or incorrect pronunciation for certain words. Or the speech speed is slower or faster than they’d prefer. 

The good news is, all of these challenges are addressable. And while AI generator tools are intuitive, understanding some of their quirks can help you get the most natural-sounding results from the outset.

Here are six expert tips for getting natural-sounding AI voice results, from me and WellSaid’s Nate Grieb. (To hear these straight from the source, hop to 20:23 in the webinar replay.)

6 expert tips for the best AI voiceover results

Tip 1: Choose the best AI voice for the job

Different projects call for different tones and styles. Depending on your project, you might be drawn to a voice that sounds more conversational, instructional, promotional, or narrative. Just like a voice actor can flex here, many voice options can be adjusted so they lean more into a certain style.

Some users prefer to browse voice styles first and choose from there. Others like to “shop” for voices by testing them out on sample sections of their script. Remember, you’ve got unlimited retakes, so don’t be afraid to experiment! 

When in doubt, Nate says you can’t go wrong with Ava, Wade, or Alana from WellSaid’s collection.

Learn more about AI voice styles in Vyond.

Tip 2: Structure your script for clarity

Shorter sentences yield smoother narration than long, complex sentences, and they’re helpful for audience comprehension, too. Shorter sentences also make for easier editing!

Use punctuation strategically to create meaningful silence and emphasis: commas for slight pauses, periods for longer breaks. Ellipses and manual line breaks can improve pacing.

Tip 3: Fine-tune pronunciation for accuracy

AI voices are trained on broad vocabularies, but they may misinterpret specialized words or proper names. There are a few ways to work around it.

You can use quotation marks for emphasis (e.g., “pro”duce vs. pro”duce”). You can also spell out words phonetically to get the correct pronunciation — so Saskatchewan becomes “sask-ACH-oo-when” and San Mateo becomes San Ma“tayo”.

See WellSaid’s handy respelling guide for more suggestions.

Tip 4: Mind your acronyms and numbers

Acronyms and numbers can be especially tricky for AI voices to decode, so pay special attention to these in your script. 

With acronyms, it can be helpful to spell them out phonetically — for example, you might spell out the common learning and development acronym “L&D” as “Ellen Dee.” You can also try using dashes, periods, or spaces for letter-by-letter pronunciation, like for “T-B-D” and “A.S.A.P.”

With numbers, context matters a lot, so format them clearly for AI interpretation. If by “2025” you mean the year, try spelling it out how you’d like it pronounced: “two thousand twenty-five.”

Tip 5: Adjust vocal inflections to sound more human

Human speech has nuances that make delivery more dynamic — like how fast or slow we talk, how high or low, how often and long we pause. 

Play around with speed, pitch, and pauses (commas for slight pauses, periods or line breaks for longer breaks) in your AI voiceovers to mimic natural speech patterns.

Before-and-after example: How small tweaks can dramatically improve AI narration

It’s tempting to dump your entire script into one window to generate text to speech in one go. But breaking your AI narration into smaller sections makes it easier to hone in on issues and adjust the content as needed — now or in the future. This principle is especially important for complex scripts or long-form content.

Recap: Getting the best AI for voiceovers 

These six tips will help you get better results with AI voiceovers at the outset and address challenges you encounter. Keep testing and refining for best results: The beauty of working with AI voices is your voice actors never get tired or sick, and retakes are unlimited! 

FAQs about AI voiceover generators like WellSaid

Which are the best AI voice generator characters?

Using WellSaid’s ultra high quality AI voices in Vyond means you can add narration and voiceovers to your videos or make animated characters and AI avatars talk however you’d like, in multiple languages and accents. 

And if you need high quality audio for other projects, you can also use Vyond to create standalone audio and export it in .mp3 format. Learn more.

How many WellSaid AI voice options are in Vyond?

Vyond currently offers 121 WellSaid voices, across 9 languages and 18 accents.

Which Vyond plans offer WellSaid’s AI voice over generator?

Vyond’s Enterprise and Agency plans include WellSaid’s AI voices. Learn more about these plans.

How does WellSaid generate their AI voices? 

WellSaid takes an ethical approach by compensating their voice talent and requiring explicit consent. 

More from Vyond

How to Make AI Videos in Minutes

Prompting AI: Getting the Best Results from Vyond Go

AI-Powered Instant Translation

The post 6 Tips for Creating the Best AI Voiceovers: Advice from WellSaid and Vyond appeared first on Vyond.

And today, with buying committees getting ever larger and more diverse, there’s a growing need for tools that help sellers communicate effectively with many different audiences.

In this article, we’ll look at how Vyond’s versatile video creation tools and quick start templates can be a powerful tool across your sales function and through the sales funnel, helping you enable your sellers with the intel, skills, and messaging they need to more successfully generate pipeline and close deals.

Specifically we’ll look at how engaging, tailored videos made in Vyond can be used internally and externally by:

• Sales trainers (whether they’re situated within Sales or L&D) arming sales teams with crucial context and information
• The sales development representatives (SDRs) or business development representatives (BDRs) on the front lines interacting with your potential buyers
• And technical sales or sales engineering professionals who help both sales teams and potential buyers understand nuances of the product and how it’ll work with their tech stack

Enabling Your Sellers with Engaging, Customized Videos

Use cases for sales trainers

Depending on company size and structure, sales trainers may be part of a standalone function, report up through Sales, or sit within the broader L&D organization.

Wherever they sit, sales trainers are challenged with tailoring training content to different learning preferences, minding the time constraints for sellers with quotas, and keeping training content current, among other considerations.

Having access to a versatile, AI-powered video creation platform makes creating customized, relevant content unusually fast and easy. Sales trainers get access to a wide variety of visual styles (photorealistic, mixed media, animated, to name a few), generative AI tools that let them create bespoke content with a simple prompt, hundreds of AI avatars to use as hosts, a huge library of easily editable video templates, and Vyond’s AI-powered Instant Translation feature, which lets them translate all the text in their videos into 70+ languages with a click of a button.

This deep library of tools makes it easy to create everything from polished on-the-fly demos and walkthrough videos to engaging explainer videos that help sellers digest and integrate new concepts to dynamic summaries and business reports. 

Common use cases:

Make your onboarding content stickier
A new hire’s onboarding experience can make or break their entire experience at the company. So don’t ask them to read PDFs or PowerPoint slides about the processes and tools that’ll be key to success in their new role. Make sure key information sticks by communicating it with engaging videos. 

Have PDFs or PowerPoints you want to convert? Simply upload them into our instant video creator, Vyond Go, pick the style and tone you want, and you’ll have a video draft to edit in literally a minute. Need to create something net-new? Use one of our sales-focused video templates as a starting point, let Vyond Go create a draft based on a prompt, or build something to fit your specific vision in Vyond Studio.

Here’s an example of an editable employee training video template in Vyond:

Bring your customer personas to life
Engaging, character-driven videos can help sales reps absorb key information about their target personas’ motivations and responsibilities better than a few slides full of bullet points.

Recently, one multinational tech company turned their text-based onboarding course on key personas into a series of Vyond videos. Now, instead of reading pages of documentation, all new reps “meet” their key customer personas in a series of videos that convey their responsibilities and challenges, the ways a tool like the tech company’s platform could help them, and their potential objections.

“You’re learning the same information as the text-based course, but you’re learning it through the roleplay of conversations and it’s so much more interesting,” says the senior director of learning experience, whose team created the training. “It’s not boring anymore. People are genuinely telling us that it’s fun, and we’re really proud of it!”

The training team reports the new course is far more engaging, and it also delivers the same information faster. The text-based course ran about 2.5 hours, whereas the new version takes learners 30 minutes maximum to complete—a time savings of 80%.

Create easily editable skills training at scale
Rapid technological changes have shortened the shelf life of both skills and skills training content. Videos created in Vyond shine for skills training because they’re so easy to update (unlike traditional, live-action video production) and they’re more engaging and effective than print materials. 

Case in point: With a robust sales team, Indeed relies on Vyond-based tools training to help keep sellers at peak performance. On one project to increase adoption of a key sales tool, Indeed L&D senior specialist Virgenia Hall used Vyond Go to help turn ineffective voice-narrated slide decks into engaging eLearning videos. “[That] normally would have taken me a full day. With the plug-and-play aspect of Vyond Go, it took me two hours,” she said.

Here’s an example of an editable tech stack tutorial video template in Vyond.  (You can use an AI avatar host or real video footage.)

Prep your conference crews
Industry events can be powerful opportunities for your salespeople to build relationships with customers and prospects. Set them up for success with how-to videos outlining what good looks like for all the activities that go into a conference: traveling, staffing your booth, qualifying leads, and more.

Now that we’ve discussed enabling your sellers, let’s turn to how videos created in Vyond can help your sellers educate and engage their key audiences.

Sell Better with Instant Videos & Tailored Templates

Use cases for SDRs and BDRs

Whether your company calls them SDRs, BDRs, or something else, inside sales reps are often your prospects’ first point of contact with your brand. To succeed, SDRs and BDRs have to personalize their outreach (at scale), show understanding of your prospects’ pain points, offer value, and effectively communicate your company’s value proposition. 

Offering these time-strapped reps with access to instant video generation tools and plug-and-play video templates can go a long way towards helping them make the most of every prospect touchpoint. 

Common use cases:

Gain an email prospecting advantage
Drop a message into a pre-built personalized prospective video template. Or introduce yourself via email with an animated version of yourself (and the prospect) as a GIF.

Here’s one of Vyond’s pre-built prospecting templates:

And here’s account executive Alex Seminary explaining how he uses Vyond to create personalized prospecting emails that have landed meetings with some of the biggest companies in the world: 

Tell a better story about your product’s value prop

Forget the PDF attachments. Introduce yourself and showcase your product’s value proposition with an overview video your prospect will be intrigued to watch.

Here’s a mixed-media template for engaging product walkthroughs:

And here’s a product teaser or demo preview video template:

Re-engage prospects and stay top of mind
Another tactic Vyond’s Alex Seminary uses to stay front of mind with prospects is to create an instant video that summarizes the high points of the meeting and email it to the attendees as a follow-up. Not only does it organically create another touchpoint, it shows how closely Alex was listening and gives meeting attendees something engaging and concrete they can forward to other stakeholders to loop them in. 

Create more memorable case studies
Instead of emailing prospects a bunch of links to static case studies, create a polished video customer story in minutes and send that instead. Use a Vyond video template as a container and upload customer photos and stock assets as needed.

Here’s a Vyond customer story video template that can feature an AI avatar or real human host: 

Address buying team’s questions in an engaging way
When you get questions from your buying team, consider replying with a short video in your email. Add information to a video template or drop in the questions and your answers into Vyond Go and get a custom video, perfect for the moment, in under two minutes.

Use cases for technical pre-sales / sales engineering

People in technical pre-sales or sales engineering roles help ensure that your company’s solution is smoothly integrated into your prospect’s existing technology ecosystem. Technical pre-sales people might consult on prospects’ workflows, deliver in-depth product demonstrations, and answer deeply technical questions about your product’s capabilities and functionality.

Common use cases:

Provide context and spotlight product features in technical demos
A technical audience both wants to see your product for themselves, and understand how it’ll integrate with their other tools and systems and solve big problems. Creating demo videos that incorporate both animated storytelling elements for setting the stage and screen recordings that walk through a product or process is a powerful way to check both boxes. And with Vyond, you can do both easily in a single platform.   

Quickly create new release and product update videos
The need for product education doesn’t end after a prospect signs a contract. Customers need to be kept up to speed on product changes, as well.  With low-lift AI tools and templates at their fingertips, solution engineers can create these helpful videos in a fast, responsive way, which helps ensure customers are getting the most out of the product–and increases the chances that they’ll renew.

How to create custom sales enablement videos quickly in Vyond Go

When it comes to making videos to set your sales team up for success, you’ve got plenty of options—none of which leave you starting from scratch (unless you want to!). 

Vyond offers dozens of pre-built templates, like the examples above, that you can customize to suit your brand and use case. And with Vyond Go, our instant video generator, you can enter a prompt, get a custom video in seconds, and take it into Vyond Studio for fine-tuning.

Here’s Vyond video producer Taylor Morgan demonstrating how to quickly make a customer persona explainer video with Vyond Go:

In a world of continual change, the need to equip your sales reps and help them communicate effectively with your prospects and customers remains constant.

Videos created in Vyond are uniquely suited for engaging and educating diverse audiences and simplifying complex topics throughout your sales organization and along your sales funnel. Learn more about how companies like yours have already discovered the power of engaging, customized videos for boosting sales and enabling their sellers.

Ready to try it for yourself? Sign up for a free two-week trial (includes access to Vyond Go, Vyond Studio, and all our video templates).

The post 11 Ways to Boost Sales and Enable Your Sellers with Videos Created in Vyond appeared first on Vyond.

In this guide, we’ll share the ingredients to a successful training video–and share 11 examples of employee training videos covering some of the most common training topics, all made with Vyond’s versatile all-in-one video creation platform. Specifically, we’ll cover:

Table of contents 

• What is an employee training video?
• What are some common types of employee training videos?
• Qualities of effective employee training videos
• 11 examples of successful training videos for employees

What is an employee training video?

An employee training video is a visual instructional tool designed to educate employees on specific skills, procedures, or policies within a workplace. It often includes demonstrations, examples, and explanations to improve understanding and retention of the material.

Whatever their purpose or vibe, training videos come with a distinct advantage: high-quality engagement that translates to 95% retention (compared to only 10% retention for text-based learning). 

There are three primary reasons why an organization may want to make an employee training video, including:

• Knowledge transfer: Video delivers essential information efficiently during the onboarding process and over the employee’s tenure with the organization. 

• Skill development: Training videos help employees at all levels acquire new soft or hard skills or update existing ones.

• Compliance and risk mitigation: Video helps organizations meet legal and regulatory requirements by delivering content on topics like workplace safety, anti-harassment, data protection, and other compliance issues.

Regardless of which of these purposes an employee training video may fulfill, there are infinite ways to make it come to life. Let’s look at some of the most common. 

What are some common types of employee training videos?

Employee training videos come in many forms, but these are some of the most popular:

• Explainer videos help viewers learn a concept or an idea. 

• Scenario-based training videos show examples of situations and how people should respond.

• Tutorials/how-tos show learners processes step-by-step and may include screen recordings or mixed media. 

• Presentation-style videos bring your slide deck out of the meeting and into the team brainstorming session. 

• Interactive videos allow learners to make decisions, answer questions, and explore various paths within the video. This hands-on approach enhances the learning experience by making the content more personalized.

• Microlearning videos break down complex topics into smaller, easier-to-digest nuggets of information. 

• Talking head videos feature on-screen presenters–either subject matter experts themselves, or hosts relaying information the way a TV anchor does. 

• Hybrid or mixed media training videos include multiple elements from the types listed above. For example, you might use screen capture, tutorials, and interactivity to keep viewers engaged with highly technical skills training. 

Whatever type of training video you choose, it’s essential to understand what makes these instructional tools effective.

Qualities of effective employee training videos

Here are the crucial elements that make training videos stand out and drive successful learning outcomes:

• Goal-focused: What are your objectives, and how will you measure those results? Your video should be laser-focused on your primary aims.

• Right length for the subject matter: The traditional wisdom is that users prefer videos of only a few minutes in length. However, Techsmith’s 2024 research shows that respondents cited 10- to 19-minute-long videos as their preferred duration. Bottom line: a video should be as long as it needs to be to get your message across clearly.

• Engages employees: Effective videos make employees pay close attention and get emotionally invested in the material. Use specificity wherever possible and humor when appropriate — and don’t forget to make the content as relevant and personalized as you can. 

• Clarifies complex ideas and concepts: Use simple language, appropriate use of text and images, and metaphors to help ideas stick.

• Helps drive new behaviors or actions: These videos aren’t just about learning for learning’s sake. You want people to be better equipped to handle real work situations and make better decisions.

• Supports your company’s growth and retention efforts: When people are well-trained, they become more skilled. This makes your company better, which in turn makes employees want to stick around longer. 

Most importantly, focus your video on a particular audience and the specific skill or process you want to teach.

11 examples of successful training videos for employees

Here are some examples of training videos in a range of styles and topics for inspiration. 

1. New hire orientation video example

Using videos to onboard your new hires boosts the chances that they’ll digest and retain critical information about your company culture, their new team, and their role. (Research shows that people are more likely to remember information that they receive in a video format than text alone — even after six weeks.)

Note how this video adds a human touch by incorporating characters representing members of the new hire’s team, along with their actual voices. 

2. Workplace safety training video example

Nearly three million people are injured on the job each year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Safety training videos can cut down on accidents by ensuring that workers understand the safest ways to use tools and equipment on the job. 

Note how this video both engages and educates by presenting a real scenario, blending photorealistic, whiteboard, and animated characters, and breaking down important steps in a clear, visual way. 

3. Department onboarding video example

Need new sales reps to get up to speed quickly? A series of short animated onboarding videos is a perfect fit. 

 
Of note in this video (which is one of a series): By using an animated narrator like this, you don’t have to worry about onboarding content become dated if sales leadership changes. It’s evergreen, with a fun human touch. 

4. Compliance training video example

As this video demonstrates, clever storytelling and humor can help make even the driest compliance topics seem compelling. It may seem counterintuitive to add lighter elements to content about serious topics. But it works. 

5. Cybersecurity training video example

This cybersecurity training video is a great example of how to use lively animations, voiceover narration, and music to engage learners.  

6. Sales training video example

In sales, the difference between a missed opportunity and a closed deal often comes down to a single phone call.

This sales training video sharpens the essential skills reps need to succeed over the phone — listening, asking the right questions, and enunciating, to name a few. Notice how the friendly vibe of this video fits the message, too. 

7. Technical training video example

Adding animated elements (arrows, motion lines) to a visual of a machine or system is a simple but powerful way to help learners understand how it works, as this video demonstrates. 

8. Soft skills training example

In a recent survey from Wiley, two-thirds of the employees surveyed said that the soft skills training they received had a positive effect on their job performance. This video, “Empathy in the workplace for remote teams,” uses animation and on-screen text to demonstrate how remote colleagues can work to understand and accommodate one another more effectively. 

9. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) training video example

This diversity training video expertly uses animated characters acting out very short scenarios to highlight examples of ageism–and show learners how to avoid falling prey to it. 

10. Product or service training video example

This engaging example takes a mixed media approach, combining live footage of a “talking head,” screen capture footage, animation and text to demonstrate two ways Vyond makes it easy to make training videos on any topic. 

11. Leadership training video example

This leadership training video equips remote managers with actionable tips to navigate these hurdles and build stronger, more cohesive teams, no matter where they’re located. The combination of minimal text and colorful visuals makes it easy for the viewer to follow along and retain the information. 

Build effective training videos for employees in minutes with Vyond

No matter what kind of employee training video you’re hoping to create, Vyond’s all-in-one AI video creation platform makes it easy. 

Create videos in a variety of styles, including animated, photorealistic, mixed media, and everything in between. Generate a video script and draft in less than a minute by entering a simple text prompt into Vyond Go. Or use our Text to Image AI tool and deep library of templates to make something quickly in Vyond Studio. 

Want to check out Vyond for yourself? Sign up for a free 14-day trial: 

The post 11 Examples of Successful Employee Training Videos appeared first on Vyond.

Whether you’re teaching veteran sellers how to use new customer relationship software or helping new hires figure out how to add an email signature, a video tutorial will help. These how-to videos, which are typically only a few minutes in length, have applications for employee onboarding, customer engagement, internal communications, and eLearning programs.

The good news is that you don’t have to have any video production experience to make a tutorial video that achieves your goals. All you need is the right preparation, video tools, and approach.

In this guide, you’ll find out how to create tutorial videos that are clear, accurate, and, above all, easy to digest. You’ll also learn how to ensure that your videos are effortless to update as needed, which will save you time and money and guarantee a longer shelf life for your content.

Table of Contents
What is a video tutorial?
Benefits of video tutorials
How to make a tutorial video in 8 steps
Tips for making an effective video tutorial
The best software for making tutorial videos
FAQs

What is a video tutorial?

A video tutorial is a type of training video. Also known as a how-to video or instructional video, a video tutorial a recorded, step-by-step guide showing how to perform a specific task. Video tutorials are especially useful for self-guided learning because viewers can see exactly what to do at each step of the process.

Video tutorials are incredibly popular: in the first quarter of 2024, over 25% of internet users watched how-to videos at least once a week — on YouTube and other websites. Learning tasks through video is more effective, as well. Users retain 95% of what they learn from watching a video compared with 10% from reading text.

Popular video tutorial styles include animated videos, live action videos, and screen recordings accompanied by an instructor’s webcam commentary.

Benefits of video tutorials

Video tutorials are more effective and engaging learning tools than lengthy text content. Benefits of video tutorials include:

• Flexibility: Video tutorials are uniquely suited to asynchronous learning, allowing users to view content on their own time — and as many times as they need. Unlike live instruction, users can adapt how-to videos to fit any schedule.
• Engagement: Users prefer video to instructional manuals by a 3-to-1 margin. Video tutorials meet users where they live, providing easy-to-digest information in a format that they prefer.
• Retention: Users retain more information when watching a video than when reading a static script. The main reason for this is that videos engage multiple senses simultaneously. The combination of visuals, sound, and animation provides a more immersive experience, helping to clarify and reinforce concepts.
• Personalization: Video content is simple to update, customizable for various audiences, and easy to translate into multiple languages. You can add elements like text pop-ups, onscreen footage, or screen captures as needed.
• Accessibility: Features like language translation, captioning, and text pop-ups make it trouble-free to ensure accessibility for all audiences. Because video content is convenient to update, you can even make changes on the fly as you receive feedback from your users.
• Pacing: Learners can return to video tutorials as needed. No more scrambling through notes or taking up power users’ time with easy-to-answer questions.

Tutorial videos are effortless to digest, engaging, accessible to users, and encourage self-directed learning and problem-solving. They’re also quick to make — even for creators who don’t have video production experience.

How to make a tutorial video in 8 steps

If you can make a PowerPoint presentation, you can produce your own tutorial videos. It’s as straightforward as following these steps:

1. Define the purpose

What do you want your video to achieve? To nail down this first step, you need to decide on a few factors:

• The topic of your video tutorial: This is the easiest part of the process because (hopefully!) you already know what you want your how-to video to teach your users. However, it’s a good idea to state this outright. It will help you double-check the scope of your tutorial to ensure that you’re sharply focused on one particular task, skill, or process.
• Your goals: What do you hope users will get out of this? Be as clear as possible.
• Your target audience: Depending on the scope of your video tutorial, you may be speaking to one user type or many. For example, everyone from the newest intern to the most seasoned executive needs to know how to make an email signature, but only content marketing folks need to understand how to upload documents to your content management system.

If you can’t name it, you can’t measure it. Defining the purpose of your tutorial video ensures that you target certain goals, such as learning discrete tasks, developing skills, and training new staff.

2. Make a storyboard

A storyboard is a visual framework for your instructional video. It demonstrates how your video will tell the story, frame by frame.

A typical storyboard contains rough sketches of each shot and a brief description of the action, dialogue, and special effects in each frame. Each panel of the storyboard represents a shot in the completed video.

Storyboards are typically hand-drawn, but you can use software to speed your process (especially if you’re not a great artist). The important thing is to focus on what each frame needs to convey: the visuals, the action, and the text or verbal dialogue.

Writing a storyboard also helps make the next step easier: writing your script.

3. Write a script

The script outlines the action and content of your video tutorial. Everything that happens in your video will be included in this text-based document.

A good video tutorial script follows a simple structure: the beginning, middle, and end (otherwise known as the intro, body, and conclusion). It should begin with a clear call to action that sets up the goal, scene, and characters.

The script outlines the journey your characters take to achieve the goal. For example, if your tutorial video shows how to write a cold sales email, you would start with a call to action — writing an email that builds customer relationships and ultimately converts to a sale. Then, you would show, scene by scene, how to write each part of the email and how it results in hitting sales targets.

4. Determine your recording approach

Next up is figuring out exactly how you want to bring your ideas to life. When it comes to recording your video tutorial, you have three main options:

• Record real people. Opt for real people, either as talking heads or experts explaining tasks, and record them against a backdrop or location. Or, consider using a realistic AI Avatar to serve as the host of your content.
• Share your screen. Record yourself or an expert doing the task with screen capture, either with voiceover or an inset video. Ensure that you’re appropriately zoomed in, that your mic works well, and so on.
• Use animation. The animation option enables you to zoom in, zoom out, and create any environment you want, from your office to the surface of the moon. Use your own or another expert’s voice, or opt for a realistic-sounding AI voice narrator. Regardless of your choice, animation lets you save money on a video shoot.

Versatile AI video creation platforms like Vyond enable all three options. You can even upload real video footage to the platform and customize it from there.

5. Rehearse until you’re confident

Just as when you’re giving a presentation or conducting a job interview, the secret to sounding confident is practice. Start by reading your script out loud to ensure that your language sounds as smooth when spoken as it looks when printed on the page. Tweak as necessary and continue practicing until you feel comfortable.

If you choose to record yourself live, pay attention to your body language. Watch your posture, hand movements, and gestures. You’re looking for an open, confident, positive vibe. If you opt for a voiceover, make sure your language is simple and clear.

(Note: Just as there are AI alternatives to a host, there are now AI voices you can choose to narrate your script. One benefit of using AI voiceover is that you don’t have to rehearse as much or worry about your presentation to the same extent. However, you will still have to ensure that your written words translate well into speech.)

6. Record

Regardless of which approach you take — live action, screen capture, or animation — the recording step begins by making sure you have the appropriate equipment. Ideally, use a high-quality microphone and camera (or video creation software that replicates both in-screen). Video creation software can also make it easier to integrate multiple sources like audio tracks, visual assets, and text pop-ups.

Be sure to double-check requirements for your video-sharing platform. For example, if you’re uploading your video to YouTube, you’ll need to shoot in landscape mode to ensure the content fits your viewers’ screens appropriately.

7. Edit

Editing is the stage that will make or break your video. A well-edited tutorial will look professional, engage viewers, and convey your message effectively.

The exact steps you take during the editing process will depend on your equipment, medium, and goals. If you use a video creation platform, you may even be able to create, edit, and share from one dashboard, depending on the product you choose.

Regardless of your tools and goals, your editing process will include some of these to-dos:

• Cutting scenes: With your message in mind, look for opportunities to tighten transitions, improve cuts, add zoom shots, or otherwise improve the narrative flow.
• Adding text: Decide where you want text to appear in your video. Common uses of text are titles, subtitles, captions, and pop-up text. Make sure your font choices are consistent and legible.
• Balancing audio: This step will be especially important if you’re using live recording, but even if you opt for AI narration, you’ll need to decide on background music, sound effects, etc.
• Boosting interactive elements: Add arrows, callouts, shapes, and highlights to draw attention to important points.
• Toning down excessive Fx: As a last step, rewatch your video with a critical eye. Are the bells and whistles getting in the way of your message? If so, cut anything that seems distracting or unnecessary.

8. Share and promote your video tutorial

Save your final product and share it to your internal eLearning site, YouTube, or social media as appropriate. Pay attention to file requirements and test your video before announcing it to your users.

When you’re ready to roll out your tutorial, make sure it’s easy to find. Consider pinning it to appropriate Slack channels, making it searchable in internal systems, and linking it to related content.

Also, keep in mind that users need a good reason to click — and “it’s mandatory” isn’t as persuasive as we might like to think. Remind your learners why it’s in their best interests to watch this tutorial and engage with it. How will this content help their career?

Tips for making an effective video tutorial

So, now you know how to make a video tutorial. But how can you ensure your how-to video really lands with its intended audience? Keep these tips in mind:

• Invest in the planning stage. Do your research before committing to a vision. Ask for input from multiple subject matter experts and stakeholders — don’t just go with one expert’s vision of how to do a task.
• Think in images. Users will be more persuaded by what they see, not by what you tell them. Resist the temptation to overwrite your script.
• Provide road signs. During the storyboarding phase, signal where your story is going with visual cues such as facial expressions and actions.
• Keep it simple. Don’t overload your viewers with multiple stimuli at the same time.
• Vary shots. Simple doesn’t mean boring, however. Take full advantage of the video creation software’s capabilities by mixing up shot types and angles.
• Consider a video host to boost engagement. Whether you go with AI avatars, animation, or real people, having a host for your tutorial helps people connect with the content.
• Inject moments of humor. Funny moments give your viewers a chance to pause, which will help them re-engage with the material.
• Consider multiple distribution streams. Incorporate your video tutorial into onboarding, pin to appropriate Slack channels, or distribute through the company eLearning platform.
• Set metrics for success. What do you hope to achieve with your video? Know what success looks like, whether it’s a certain level of engagement or increased retention for employees who interacted with the tutorial.
• Update your video tutorial as needed. Perform regular audits, updating steps when necessary. Animation makes this process easier because there’s no need to reshoot with live participants.

Remember that your video tutorial is a living document. Be ready to listen to and incorporate feedback and make changes when appropriate.

The best software for making tutorial videos

Learning how to make tutorial videos can seem overwhelming, especially if you don’t have much (or any!) video production experience. But today’s tools make it easier than ever for users with all levels of knowledge to produce effective, engaging videos quickly and easily.

Vyond’s all-in-one AI video creation platform is uniquely well-suited to help both new and experienced video creators make effective tutorial videos, easily, in a wide range of styles. With Vyond’s versatile set of tools, you can create animated explainer videos, mixed media tutorials that incorporate live action footage you upload, webcam and screen recordings, and dynamic text and animations — and more.

Also, with the Document to Video feature in Vyond Go, you can convert PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, as well as .doc and .txt files into tutorial videos in less than a minute. And our selection of over 90 AI Avatars offers you a quick and easy way to add an instructor’s commentary to any footage you want to explain.

To find out how Vyond can make tutorial video creation effortless, sign up for a free 14-day trial.

FAQs

How long should a video tutorial be?

There’s no ideal length for a video tutorial, but keep in mind that it’s usually best to break down tasks into smaller steps. Users are more likely to engage with learning in small bites.

What is the best software for making video tutorials?

Vyond is the best all-in-one platform for making video tutorials because it enables users with no production experience to create professional videos in a wide range of styles quickly. Use Vyond Go to create a quick script and video in minutes. Or use Vyond Studio’s library of templates, styles, scenes, and characters to make engaging tutorials with just a few clicks.

Can I make a video tutorial for free?

You can find free video tutorial tools as easily as performing a simple Google search. However, if you want top-quality videos with customization options that are tailored to your needs, you’re better off paying for a video creation platform that really works. Professional video generation tools come at a variety of price points, and even the least expensive tier will provide you with significantly better results.

What equipment do I need to make video tutorials?

You can make video tutorials using your webcam and a decent microphone as long as you have the right video production software. There’s no need to pay more for studio-quality equipment.

The post How to Make a Tutorial Video: A Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on Vyond.

There are lots of video types out there and even more tools. In this post, we’ll show you how to make three of the most in-demand types of AI videos. And we’ll focus on one all-in-one video creation platform, Vyond, where you can make these videos effortlessly with a simple text prompt. 

How to create animated AI videos

AI makes it easy to create animated videos in a variety of styles with a simple prompt or even an exact script. And if we’re talking about Vyond Go in particular — Vyond’s AI-powered instant video maker — the output you’ll get is fully editable. Here’s how it works in Vyond Go.

Step 1: Enter your prompt

You have a few options here: you can enter a short description of a topic you want to cover; cut and paste specific content you want the script to pull from; or upload a document with your full script (in .doc, .ppt, .txt, or .pdf formats).

Step 2. Choose layout, vibe, format, and language

Next, pick the look, feel, and tone of your video in the interface. Then sit back for a few seconds while Vyond’s AI generates your one-of-a-kind video. Watch the output and be amazed!

Step 3. Edit video text, audio, and characters

Now you’ve got two options for making edits to your new video. Along the sidebar, within the Vyond Go video window, the Quick Edit panel lets you easily replace characters, change on-screen text, and adjust text-to-speech settings. 

Or, take your video into Vyond Studio, Vyond’s robust video editor, to customize nearly every aspect of it. In Vyond Studio you’ll find even more AI tools. 

For example, the Text to Image feature uses generative AI to create visuals and backgrounds from your text prompt, in six different style options. The Video to Action feature generates new actions for your animated characters based on a video clip sample of the action you upload (to demonstrate, say, a worker moving in a particular way on an assembly line). 

Step 4. Export and share 

Got your video exactly as you’d like it? Great! Download the file or get a shareable link to it from either Vyond Go or Vyond Studio.

If you prefer a blend of styles in your videos, you’ll like the mixed-media approach. Let’s get into that next.

How to create mixed media AI videos

When it comes to storytelling and reflecting diversity, animated videos can’t be beat. And they’re uniquely effective at conveying complex ideas in a simple, visual way. But in some contexts, you might want to take a mixed-media approach for your videos, incorporating photorealistic and other elements. 

An AI video maker like Vyond Go can also help you create videos in a mixed-media style.

Let’s say you’ve got a data-filled PowerPoint deck explaining project results and you’d like to make it into an engaging video. Or maybe you’d like to turn your digital notes from a meeting into a video summary.

The process to create a mixed-media video in Vyond Go is similar to the steps above for creating an animated video, with a few key changes:

Step 1: Enter your prompt

Upload your existing .ppt, .doc, .txt, or .pdf document. If you’d like, add any additional directions in the prompt field about content from the document. For example, if you’re uploading a .ppt file but only certain slides are relevant, you might add, “Reference slides 5-7.”

Step 2. Choose the “Narration” layout and your display text preferences 

Next, pick the Narration layout to see your mixed-media choices. Then, browse the “Optional settings” dropdown for any other settings you’d like to specify, like whether you want your video’s display text to be just the “Key phrases” or full “Dialogue.” 

Now click “Create video” and grab yourself a snack (but make it quick!).

Step 3. Edit video text, audio, and characters 

Once your video is created, use Vyond Go’s Quick Edit panel along the sidebar to easily change on-screen text and adjust text-to-speech settings. For changes like adding custom imagery, take your video into Vyond Studio.

Step 4. Export and share

Download the file or get a shareable link to it from either Vyond Go or Vyond Studio, and go circulate that project retro! 

Finally, many videos benefit from having a human presenter to draw your viewers in. In some cases you might opt for actors or real people from your company, though that can become a stumbling block when you need to make updates. 

AI avatars offer a flexible new way to feature a friendly face in your videos. 

How to create AI avatar videos 

AI avatar videos have been on the rise, thanks in part to how simple they can be to create at scale, and how much easier to translate and update. 

Avatars are a good option for content where you want a personal touch beyond audio and text, but the specific messenger doesn’t matter as much. For example, you might include an AI avatar in your explainer video about a new user interface, but not for an all-company message from your CEO.

Here’s how you’d create an AI avatar video in Vyond:

Step 1: Pick an avatar

Choose an avatar from the library of 100+ options (as of launch), across a range of character options with different backgrounds and various layouts, like a “phone selfie” format. 

Step 2:  Enter your script and choose text-to-speech settings

Add text for what you’d like your avatar to say (within 1,000 character limit, at the time of writing). Then choose from over 2,700 voices and accents from 70+ countries and click “generate text to speech” to create your text-to-speech audio. 

Tip: As with all text-to-speech tools, sometimes the AI pronounces words differently than expected. When that happens, spelling a word out phonetically can help (like “Ve-yond” for our company’s name). 

Step 3: Generate your video

Once you’ve generated your text-to-speech audio, the “Create video” will light up. Click it to generate your AI avatar video. It may take a few minutes.

As with any video style, AI avatar videos are most effective when they feature a diverse mix of media, like screen sharing, photorealistic backgrounds, and animated elements. And the rules of good video editing definitely apply: your content will be most engaging when it includes a range of layouts, formats, and camera techniques. 

For example, in a tutorial you might take an AI avatar from a full-screen, “talking head” view into a scene where the avatar appears in a small inset window, alongside a screenshare video of a software interface. (In other words: endless “talking head” videos still don’t cut it!)

Simplify your video creation with AI 

Advances in AI have brought many benefits, and video creation is a big one for great business communication. 

Like all tech, the world of AI videos is moving fast. Rather than try to cobble multiple one-off video tools into a tech stack, consider exploring an all-in-one video creation tool like Vyond, with AI capabilities that can help you make videos in any style you need — like animated, mixed-media, AI avatar or anything in between — easily and instantly.

Vyond’s AI avatars. Your professional spokesperson on demand.

AI tools for video creation.

Instant, effortless video. AnyStyle. Every audience.

The post How to <span class="text-orange">Make AI Videos</span> in Minutes: Tips from Vyond appeared first on Vyond.

Create an animated video

How to make an animated video

1. Log into Vyond

Sign up for a free 14-day trial to start making animated videos right now with Vyond. All you need is an email address — no credit card required. 

Sign up for a free trial

2. Enter a prompt or build your video manually

Use the AI power of Vyond Go to generate a script and video on any topic using a simple text prompt in less than twenty seconds. Or use the thousands of assets, templates, and styles in Vyond Studio to build something quickly from scratch. 

3. Edit your video with a few clicks

Need to make changes or updates? Editing text, audio, narration, and visuals is simple in Vyond. Tweak instantly in Vyond Go with Quick Edit or make adjustments with a few clicks in Vyond Studio. 

4. Export and share your video

To share your videos, export them as GIFs or MP4s to your device. Then, upload them to your favorite video hosting service (YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, etc.) or to a Learning Management System (LMS) like Articulate, Docebo, 360Learning, or Absorb LMS. 

Simple drag-and-drop interface

Time-saving AI features

Wide variety of styles and templates

Easy to edit and translate

Try Vyond for free

Make compelling animated videos in minutes (no experience required)

Anyone can make professional-grade animated videos with Vyond. 

Generate scripts and videos with a simple text prompt. Use our drag-and-drop interface and huge asset library to bring your ideas to life, as easily as creating a PowerPoint. Transform text to speech with our 600+ unique AI voices. And let our AI instantly translate your video into 70+ languages. 

Bring any video idea to life with the power of animation

If you can imagine it, you can create it in Vyond — no production team or video expertise required. 

Our gigantic asset library, industry-specific video templates, pre-built scenes, characters, and props provide users with an incredible level of creative control. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can generate new objects, backgrounds, and scenes with generative AI tools like Text to Prop and Text to Image. And while Vyond is the leading animated video creation platform, you can also use it to create videos that use photorealistic stock images and videos, screen recordings, dynamic text, and more. 

Scale your animated video production with the power of AI

Vyond’s built-in AI helps teams generate engaging video content in a wide variety of styles (animated, photorealistic, mixed media, screen recordings, and dynamic text, to name a few) in the fraction of the time, at scale. Vyond’s effortless, all-in-one video creation platform is helping thousands of companies communicate critical information better, and keep up with the speed of business. 

Communicate and train better with the best animated video maker on the market

Animated videos are uniquely effective at grabbing people’s attention, conveying complex information in a clear, bold way, and — most importantly — getting your message to stick, no matter the audience. 

With Vyond, teams of all kinds (L&D, human resources, marketing, sales, internal comms, you name it) do all of the above more effectively in far less time than ever before.

Trusted by 65% of the Fortune 500

“I’ve been using Vyond for about two years now. I researched half a dozen companies out there, tested several, and found that Vyond was by far the easiest to use in the shortest period of time. We use Vyond to create everything from communications videos to kick off new programs to videos that support our recruiting efforts.”

Frequently asked questions

How do I make an animated video for free?

Yes, there are free animated video tools. But most lack quality animations, character variations, and backgrounds, making it challenging to produce videos tailored to your business and its audience. Paying a reasonable price for a top-tier animation video tool will ultimately save you time and money, and ensure you’re producing highly engaging and professional content.

Can I customize videos in Vyond?

Absolutely. In fact, Vyond’s ability to help you create highly relevant content is one of the things our customers appreciate the most.

For a personal touch, you can easily use industry-specific templates, scan in photos of your work locations, create one-off objects, use team members’ real voices for audio, create characters that look like people you work with—and much more. Enterprise clients can also create uniforms with their company logo, request bespoke character styles, and easily manage their brand with our branding kit and custom assets. 

How do I make an animated video?

With Vyond the answer is: effortlessly. You can generate videos in seconds with a text prompt in Vyond Go. Or choose from our wide range of scenes, characters, and templates in Vyond Studio to make something great in a matter of minutes. Not sure you believe us? Sign up for a free trial to see for yourself. 

Can I use Vyond on my phone?

Yes! You can instantly create and download Vyond Go videos from your mobile device, access and view your existing video library, and make minor file edits like renaming, copying, and moving videos. You can also download your library videos or specific scenes. (That said, to experience the full video creation functionality and features, we recommend using Vyond on your desktop.)

The post The #1 Animated Video Maker appeared first on Vyond.

They talked through some of the training and communications challenges their industries are facing today (strict standards, skills shortages, employee turnover — to name a few) and showed us how and why animated videos are helping their audiences retain mission-critical information better.

We got a mountain of audience questions and we couldn’t cover them all live. So we got Sarah and Angie to answer a few bonus questions afterward. Watch them each respond below.

Sarah’s top insights

• On overcoming any skepticism about animated videos: “Before I even start to build the course I’ll pitch my ideas: why I want to use animation, how I want to use it, why I believe it gives the best opportunity for learners to learn the content. And then I’ll bring in a few people to test the prototype to get feedback from a learner point of view. So we’re all in agreement from the beginning. There’s very little pushback at the end.”
• On getting knowledge from your subject-matter experts (SMEs): “Make sure that the experts all agree on what the learner needs to know. When that’s well defined, they’ll be able to send you the right images or video or previous training materials and identify information that’s relevant to the course objectives. And then: build small things, send it to your SMEs, and see if you’re on track. Busy SMEs can handle 5-10 minutes a review. As a bonus, we’ve found SMEs are much more engaged when we’re using Vyond.”
• On keeping learners’ attention in asynchronous training: “I always explain the purpose of training and spell out what learners should pay particular attention to. And then I might tell them a story or use real-world examples that include challenges or situations that they’ll encounter while at work, so it makes it personal to them. I love to give learners stuff to do. So I try to make it as interactive as I can without it being weird or too clunky. And then a follow up with prompts that challenge the learners to reflect on what they’re learning. And the true test is, can they actually go out and apply that to what they’re working on?”

Angie’s top insights

• On overcoming any skepticism about animated videos: “Share research about the effectiveness of animated videos. (Note: Sarah referenced this study about instructional animation during the webinar.) Suggest doing a pilot with a small-group training to gauge response from your learners. Then evaluate your feedback: ours was excellent. I’m fairly positive if you try it out, yours will be too.”
• On how to get started when there’s not much direction: “The best thing you can do to get through a murky, complicated procedure or policy that you are being tasked with breaking down is to figure out, what does your learner absolutely need to know to perform their job? Talk to your experts, get those learning objectives in writing, and then focus on teaching those.”
• On bringing humor to dry topics: “I like to have one character that doesn’t know anything about the topic. They’re coming in and they’re like, what’s going on here? Why are you wearing that? What is this building? They add some comic relief because their natural ignorance lightens the mood — they can say funny things and make silly mistakes.” 

For more of Sarah and Angie’s insights and clever Vyond examples, watch the webinar replay.

Watch the Replay

The post Watch: Keys to Great Training and Engagement in Regulated Industries appeared first on Vyond.

In training circles, Vyond’s a mainstay. But as thousands of Enterprise companies know well, Vyond is way more than a tool for creating great eLearning and training content. It’s also a silver-bullet solution to enabling your entire company — yes every team — to communicate better everyday with easy-to-create, on brand, and engaging GIFs and videos. 

Before Vyond, making professional-quality videos was second nature to maybe…five percent of the people at your company? Ten? With Vyond, now everybody can effortlessly make the video content so many people prefer in our screen-first world. 

The possibilities for using Vyond are endless, but here are five business communications use cases that benefit our customers the most.

To see how effortless video creation is with Vyond, sign up for a free 14-day trial.

The post [Watch] The Top 5 Business Communication Use Cases for Vyond appeared first on Vyond.

Are your employees nodding off during training sessions? Are you wondering how to create content that truly educates and motivates? Good news — you’ve come to the right place!

Whether you’re trying to upskill current employees quickly, improve the value of your compliance and security training, or even increase customer engagement, creating effective training videos can help you achieve your business goals.

In this guide, you’ll discover how to develop engaging training videos your learners will remember, helping you operate more productively and efficiently.

Here’s an overview of what you’ll learn:

• What is a training video?
• Why create training videos?
• What makes a training video effective?
• What are the different types of training videos?
• How to make a great training video
• Produce memorable training videos with Vyond

What is a training video?

A training video is a type of video that a company uses to teach employees or customers specific topics or skills. Impactful training videos often use lively visuals and audio to illustrate information. Common applications include employee onboarding, product demos, hard and soft skills training, mandatory compliance training, and step-by-step process tutorials.

With these basics in mind, let’s explore why training videos are important and how they can make training initiatives more successful.

Why create training videos? 

Providing efficient training at scale—especially for dispersed teams and clients—can be difficult. High-quality training videos can ensure your audience receives a consistent message that’s available on-demand and memorable.

Here are the top benefits of using video to educate your team and customers. 

Boost employee engagement

Distractions are everywhere—from constant Slack messages and calls to remote work interruptions (hello, pile of dirty dishes!). Traditional learning and development methods like in-person training and distributing printed materials simply aren’t as helpful or even as realistic as they once were. Add on top of that heightened expectations for fun learning materials thanks to YouTube and social media, and making wow-inducing training content can seem like an immense challenge. How can companies do it?

The answer: your training materials must evolve to meet your employees’ and customers’ high standards and capture their attention. 

A recent study found that 44% of consumers prefer video over any other format (manuals, calls, webinars, etc.) to learn. Training videos can deepen engagement and improve knowledge retention by presenting information in your viewers’ preferred format.

Another way to think about it is that training videos simply provide a more compelling experience. You can use a wider variety of visual and auditory elements and incorporate engaging narration, ensuring your learners not only see and hear the information but also retain it.

Reduce training costs

Sitting down one-on-one with each employee or even hosting in-person workshops with entire teams eats up valuable resources. It requires scheduling and planning, which can be disruptive. Plus, costs like venue rental, flight and hotel reservations, and instructor fees can add up quickly. 

With training videos, you create them once and use them repeatedly, eliminating the need for expensive, ongoing live training sessions. And if you have an AI video creation platform like Vyond, you can create that content much faster than with traditional digital video tools—and make updates to your videos in minutes when needed.

Increase knowledge retention

Have you ever wondered why you don’t always remember information, especially when it’s essential but kind of boring?

This phenomenon, known as the “forgetting curve,” spotlights why using proven teaching strategies is so important for increasing knowledge retention. Training videos employ a multisensory learning approach, such as interactivity paired with eye-catching visuals and catchy audio, to engage different parts of the brain—an essential technique for improving learning retention.

Lastly, storytelling tactics used in training videos, like humor and character-driven narratives, can create an emotional response in your audience, which further enhance their ability to remember information. 

Maximize employees’ time

Learning is most effective when it’s delivered in short, digestible chunks—and when it’s easily available to employees in their moment of need, in the flow of work. Training videos are an effective way to check both boxes in that they provide:

• Asynchronous learning: The beauty of video training is that everyone doesn’t need to be in the same place at the same time. Employees can watch the content on their own time and consume it in small doses throughout the week. 

• Efficiency and concision: By condensing complex information into bite-size video segments, training videos help employees and customers grasp key concepts quickly without the need for long training sessions.

• Scale and cost-efficiency: More training shouldn’t require more resources. Instead of bringing on more trainers, make a video and use it to train hundreds of employees at once—without spending more money. 

• Personalized content: Every department has unique problems and solutions. Tailoring your videos ensures training applies to each employee’s needs (vs. watching general videos with information they’ll never use). And with AI video tools, updating content to ensure it remains relevant over time is incredibly easy.

Maximizing your employees’ time without maxing out your budget is a win-win. Let’s see how training videos can reduce employee turnover.

Decrease employee turnover

Employee turnover is challenging, especially in the U.S., where the average voluntary employee turnover rate between 2022 and 2023 was 17.3%. High turnover impacts productivity, morale, and, ultimately, costs. 

Thankfully, making effective training videos can actually help reduce turnover rates. Training videos provide continuous learning and professional development opportunities. Employees who feel that their company is investing in their skills are inspired to do better work, with 59% of employees saying training improves their job performance. 

Training videos also help employees understand available career paths within your company. They more easily see opportunities for advancement, which increases their commitment to staying with your business.

What makes a training video effective?

Creating a captivating training video requires strategic planning and creativity to ensure the content is engaging and informative. 

Out of the many tips for making entertaining, compelling training  videos, there are several core elements that you’ll really want to focus on:

• It has clear objectives. Define the specific learning objectives for your training video so it’s focused and aligned with the desired outcomes. For instance, if you want to teach communication skills, concentrate on scenarios that show key communication strategies and their impact.

• It’s not longer than it should be (generally). Keep your training videos concise—identify the core message and deliver it without unnecessary elaboration to maintain the viewer’s attention. For example, a video explaining a new software feature should directly show the feature in action, avoiding a lengthy introduction or unrelated content.

• It’s highly relevant. Tailor your training videos to the specific needs and contexts of your audience. Use scenarios and examples that resonate with their daily experiences. For example, a customer service team might create a video that addresses common customer queries they encounter, using actual dialogue and solutions. And with AI-powered video tools, you can easily take customization further by incorporating job site photos as backgrounds and creating animated avatars of actual leaders and employees. 

• It engages multiple senses. Use visuals, audio, and interactive elements in your training videos to engage viewers on multiple sensory levels, enhancing retention. A safety training video could include visual demonstrations of safety practices, accompanied by narrative explanations and sound effects that highlight key points.

• It’s surprising or disruptive. Incorporate unexpected elements or creative twists in your training videos to capture and keep the audience’s attention. For example, to illustrate the importance of cybersecurity, start your video with a surprising statistic or a short story about a security breach, making viewers eager to learn how to protect themselves and their employer.

• It prompts reflection and growth. Create training videos that encourage viewers to reflect on their current practices and identify areas for personal or professional growth. Interactive videos that prompt learners to choose what they would do in a particular situation—or reflect on a time when they encountered a certain problem—are two ways to prompt reflection during the video experience. .

If you need more inspiration, look at these examples of effective employee training videos.

You have the ingredients for an impactful training video. Next, let’s explore the types of videos you can create with them. 

What are the different types of training videos?

What makes one video more intriguing than the next? It’s all about the style, format and delivery. Let’s review the video types you can create to train your employees successfully. 

Animated training videos

Animated videos are a type of video where you bring static elements to life through movement. These videos may use characters, stock footage, photos, kinetic text, music, and sound effects.

Organizations often use animated videos to create scenario-based training materials that ask viewers “what would you do in this situation?” and to explain information that may be difficult to explain purely through speech, such as technical processes, data, or abstract ideas. 

Another benefit of animated videos is that you can make them easily without live-action shoots, actors, or elaborate sets. This reduction in resources makes them a cost-effective solution for delivering content that captures and holds your audience’s attention. Here are some examples of animated training videos for enabling a sales team. 

Presenter-style training videos

Presenter-style videos, also known as “talking head” videos, feature a person speaking directly to the camera. 

Common use cases for presenter-style videos include testimonials, event coverage, and corporate announcements. However, since they often lack visual variety and are more of a passive viewing experience, some audiences may find them hard to focus on. Even more so when the presenter is a humanoid avatar as they often lack the warmth and authenticity of a real human presenter. 

Despite their potential drawbacks, presenter-style videos are certainly still a useful tool for particular situations. 

How-to videos

“Show, don’t tell” is the best advice you can get as a trainer. And the ultimate format for this is the how-to video, also known as a tutorial or instructional video. It’s the “Here’s how you do it” of video types, turning viewers into doers, one step at a time. Common examples include step-by-step guides for assembling a new product or walkthroughs of a software update. 

Done right, how-to videos are practical and actionable, breaking down intricate processes into manageable chunks of information, which allows employees to follow along at a reasonable pace, take notes, or watch and try new skills simultaneously.

Screencast videos

Screencast videos, also known as screen-recording videos, are a common type of how-to video that businesses often use to demonstrate software or digital tools. They zoom in on the action, capturing every click and keystroke in real-time.

For example, a software company might use screencasts to demonstrate a new feature in their application. Adding animated elements can enhance the performance of screencast videos in that they can add visual variety, emphasize key points, and even help clarify complicated processes within the screencast.

Interactive training videos

Engage, click, learn—interactive training videos are the corporate world’s choose-your-own-adventure books. They invite employees to respond to information, making learning a two-way street.

Picture a scenario-based video where each decision leads to different outcomes, teaching through experience without the real-world risks. Interactive videos are playgrounds for critical thinking and decision-making skills.

Two examples of e-learning platforms that enable interactive training are NearLife and Articulate. They make it possible to create courses featuring virtual reality, animations, graphics, Google Slides, simulations, quizzes, and drag-and-drop interactions. 

Text-based training videos

Text-based videos primarily use text, motion graphics, and purchased materials like stock footage and music. Organizations may use them when they have a minimal budget or when they don’t want to have to introduce a speaker, presenter, or characters.

These videos focus on relaying information efficiently through dynamic on-screen text and graphics. They’re useful for delivering quick updates, providing a straightforward way to communicate important messages. However, they may not be as visually interesting since there’s less variety and can even require more work on the viewer’s part since they have to read the text rather than simply watch or listen to the video.

How to make a great training video

While you can create a training video the old-school way using professional filming and audio equipment, AI-powered video creation software is an easier, faster, and more affordable option. 

In this tutorial, we’ll walk through the step-by-step process of crafting an effective training video using the popular AI video generator, Vyond.

1. Determine the topic and goals of your video

Before you start crafting your training video, first define the topic and goals of the video. This step sets the foundation for your entire project.

Pinpoint what you want your employees to learn and why. For example, if your goal is to enhance customer service skills, your video may focus on empathetic communication techniques.

Or, if you’re addressing a global team, your content may aim to standardize processes across different regions.

To zero in on your topic and goals, consider these questions:

• What is the key message or skill I want to convey?
• How does this topic align with our company’s broader objectives?
• What does my audience already know about this topic—and what’s new information?
• What actions do I want viewers to take after watching the video?
• How will I measure the success of this training?

Within Vyond’s platform, you’ll find tools to bring any topic to life, including a huge asset library, 700+ video templates, and AI tools that let you create new assets from scratch with a simple text prompt.

2. Choose the appropriate type of video

Selecting the right format or video type is critical for communicating your training material successfully. Consider the nature of your content, your audience, and the desired learning outcomes to determine the most suitable video format.

As a reminder, the types of training videos include:

• Animated
• Presenter-style
• How-to (includes screencast videos)
• Interactive
• Text-based

For instance, an animated video can explain abstract concepts, while a how-to video may be more ideal for providing step-by-step instructions.

Vyond offers a range of styles, characters, and scenes to match your desired format, whether you’re creating an animated explainer or talking head or something else. With Vyond, you can tailor the format to your audience’s needs, ensuring your message hits home.

3. Create a training video storyboard and write a script

Crafting a storyboard and writing a script can help ensure your training video communicates your message clearly.

For example, a storyboard for a compliance training video can illustrate key scenarios, while the script clearly communicates legal points.

Here are a few tips for writing a great script:

• Keep it conversational to maintain engagement
• Use storytelling to make the content relatable
• Be concise to respect your audience’s time
• Include calls to action to prompt the desired response

However, with Vyond Go, you can bypass the traditional storyboarding and scripting process. Just give it a prompt, and it’ll generate a script and rough-cut video that you can edit as you see fit, streamlining your content creation.

4. Produce the video in an AI video generator

If you were creating your training video the conventional way, this is where you’d set up your cameras, lighting, microphones, etc. Since AI is much faster at creating professional-looking videos, we’re going to show you how to do it in just two steps using Vyond’s AI-powered script and video creator, Vyond Go.

• Enter a text prompt. Make sure to enter at least 50 words and no more than 700. Try to keep your prompts highly structured and not simply a stream of consciousness as this may produce a lower-quality result.

• Choose layout, vibe, format, and language. At this step, you can select how many characters you’d like in the video (up to two) and location (warehouse facility, law firm office, etc.). You’ll also be able to pick the vibe you’re going for (formal, informative, playful, etc.), format (anecdote, debate, overview, tips, etc.), and language.

Vyond’s platform makes the production phase smooth. With intuitive tools and a user-friendly interface, you can generate your entire video without sourcing any external assets.

5. Edit the video

Editing is a pivotal stage in creating training videos, allowing you to refine and enhance your content to maximize its performance.

From Vyond Go’s Quick Edit screen or in Vyond Studio, you—and any other stakeholder or reviewer on a video project—can make any final adjustments to get your video just right. Things you may edit include:

• Narration: If you’re adding a voiceover, you’ll be able to fine-tune the timing and delivery to match the visuals.
• Visuals: Add or adjust animations, graphics, and text to reinforce key concepts.
• Transitions: Use seamless transitions between scenes to maintain a smooth narrative.
• Sound Effects: Add, remove, or adjust sound effects to add depth and realism to your video.
• Music: Adjust background music that complements the tone and message of your video.
• Length: Ensure your video is concise and focused, trimming any unnecessary elements.
• Accessibility: Include subtitles or captions to make your video more accessible to a wider audience.

Vyond’s editing tools allow you to make precise adjustments, ensuring your video meets your high standards before serving it to your audience.

6. Share your training video

At last, you’re ready to share your video with your target audience! 

The most important thing to remember with this step is that training videos are only effective if they’re available when and where people need them. Ensure you deliver the content in the appropriate channel(s) so it’s easily accessible to your viewers. 

Here are some common ways companies share training videos:

• Internal Training Portal: Upload your video to your company’s internal training portal.
• Learning Management System (LMS): Integrate your video into your organization’s LMS for easy access and employee engagement tracking.
• AI Chatbots: Use AI chatbots in your organization’s communication channels to deliver training videos based on user prompts or discussions.
• Email Campaigns: Send out email campaigns to employees highlighting where they can find the video and how it will help them. 
• Social Media: Share snippets of your video on social media to generate interest and drive traffic to the full video.

Vyond makes sharing simple. Once your video is ready, you can export it in various formats and share it across multiple platforms.

Produce memorable training videos with Vyond

Training videos shouldn’t take days or weeks to produce. Nor should they put your team to sleep. There’s a better way to conduct video training sessions at your company. 

Selecting the right video type and using engaging elements to keep your team’s attention is key. But you need the right tools to make the process fast and affordable. 

Vyond makes it possible to scale training video production faster than ever before. With its AI capabilities, you can dramatically speed up your video production as compared to both live-action projects and traditional digital video creation methods. What once took hours or days now can take as little as a few minutes.

If you’re looking to create highly engaging, easily editable training content quickly, in more than 70 languages, Vyond is the solution that brings it all together.

Ready to elevate your training content and build better teams? Experience the difference with Vyond’s free trial.

The post How to Make Effective Training Videos appeared first on Vyond.

What is visual communication?

Visual communication is the art of using visual elements strategically to grab an audience’s attention, clearly convey important information in a way that sticks, and usually spark behavior change. Common components of visual communication, especially when used in digital communications, include text, images, data, and video content.

Here are some common examples of visual communication for business communications.

Visual communication examples

Animated videos

Animated videos are a rich multimedia format that can include visual elements like human and animal characters, kinetic (moving) text, and motion graphics.

Styles can vary widely, from a simple, black and white “whiteboard” look to colorful and detailed.

AI-generated videos

Today’s AI-powered video tools can now create videos for you in seconds based on text prompts or static images you provide.

GIFs

GIFs are looping images that often sometimes include a short tagline overlaid on the image. They’re often used to communicate funny content or as a reaction to something. They’re used regularly across social media channels, in email, and on internal communications platforms like Slack.

Screen recording

Screen recordings are videos showing your desktop or a software’s user interface, helpful for demonstrating workflows and processes.

Images

Images are visual representations of something, like a doodle, a photograph, or a diagram.

Infographics

Infographics are visual representations of information designed to make data easily understandable at a glance. They combine graphics, charts, and minimal text to convey complex information quickly and clearly.

Data visualizations

Data visualizations are graphical representations of information and data, meant to provide an accessible way to see and understand trends, outliers, and patterns. An infographic is a popular example of data visualization.

Stock footage

Stock footage refers to photorealistic images and videos that are broadly available for widespread use.

Webcam video

Webcam videos are recordings created using the camera built into your computer. They’re usually “talking head” style, and can capture one speaker or many (like a replay of a meeting).

Benefits of visual communication in business today

Business communication is ultimately about convincing an audience to take action or change behavior: watch out for phishing emails, learn a new skill, enroll in a new benefits program, sign up for a free trial — you get the idea. And the keys to success change with the times.

In recent years, our experience as online consumers has created expectations for visual communication that spill into our professional lives.

We expect communications to be relevant to us (what else should I watch? What do other people like me buy?).

We expect content to be engaging and entertaining, thanks in part to social media — if it doesn’t draw us in, we can easily scroll on to something that does.

And because so much of our online interactions take place on smartphones, we favor more compact, visual forms of communication that pack a meaningful punch: like emojis, memes, and especially videos.

The great news is, you can take advantage of these general visual communication preferences to more effectively change behavior and inspire action in any business audience — whether they’re employees, customers, partners, or prospects. It’s already catching on: About a third of global business leaders surveyed (32%) have an increased desire for communicating using visuals, according to Canva’s 2023 Visual Economy Report.

When we use visual communication well, we get two major benefits:

Better engagement

Good visual communication content catches our audiences’ eyes and draws them in for reflection, because it’s relevant to them.

Improved information retention

Good visual communication imprints information on our audience, so they can recall it and apply it later.

Both of these benefits make it more likely that our content will inspire action and change behavior.

So whether you’re creating content for external communications — like landing pages on your company’s website or assets for social media — or internal communications — presentations, training videos, and GIFs — thinking strategically about how you can apply good visual communication practices will help you deliver better results. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Tips for better visual communication

Tailor visuals to your audience

Audiences today expect content and communications to be relevant to them, and visuals are no exception: they want to see themselves and their interests reflected. With the power of AI, it has become easier than ever to segment and customize your content by audience.

The extra time you spend getting to know your audience — through research, surveys, conversations — and tailoring content for them is worth it for the positive impact on engagement. Here are a few examples.

L&D

L&D teams can create content specific to employees’ roles or departments. The L&D and change enablement teams at Whole Foods Market created templates tailored to each of the roles at their stores, down to the uniforms and terminology, so employees see themselves represented.

Including recognizable figures or references from your organization is another powerful way to boost engagement and relevance. At the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, training specialist Angie Kanak likes to include characters she created for each of the Illinois Supreme Court Justices that her audience instantly recognizes.

And finally, corporate branding isn’t just for external audiences. Officially branded training content signals to employees this is valuable content, created especially for them.

See how Vyond’s new Brand Management Suite makes it easy to create engaging, on-brand videos.

HR

HR pros can reinforce an inclusive company culture and make visuals more relevant by taking care to reflect the full diversity of your employee base in your content. Choose imagery that suits your geographic footprint, like your office sites and regional landmarks. Build in time and budget to translate, localize, and caption materials like videos.

Similar to the training examples above, ask yourself: where could you tailor content by role and department? Where could you include stories from recognizable employees or leaders to help bring policies and processes to life?

Marketing

In marketing, demonstrating you understand your audience is the whole point. At the brand level, it starts with asking what your competitors are doing visually — how can you stand apart?

On your website, tailoring your visuals could mean ensuring your “ideal customers” see themselves reflected in the imagery: solving problems they relate to, in settings they recognize, with your products or services.

In your email program, tailored visuals might show up as messages and email banners segmented by industry or job level, speaking to each audience’s real pain points.

From a channel perspective, it might mean you’re including captions on all of your social media video content to help ensure viewers scrolling by with sound off can read along and still grasp your message.

Sales

When you’re presenting to a customer or prospect, it’s already standard to include their company name and logo in your materials (triple-checked for accuracy, of course!). And if you’re not already, creating custom demos that address specific pain points your audience has mentioned, or you’ve found via research, can be especially effective.

Even before you get to the meeting, during outreach you can introduce yourself and showcase your product’s value proposition with a personalized overview video. Keep yourself top of mind after your conversation by sending a video message starring your own custom, self-voiced character to help prospects and customers remember and honor scheduled meeting times.

Reduce your audience’s cognitive load

No matter your department, one of the biggest challenges with communicating visually is the constant strain on our audience’s working memory, according to Connie Malamed, author of Visual Design Solutions and Visual Language for Designers.

We’re flooded with sensory information. All. Day. Long. For any information to make it into our long-term memory, it has to make its way through our limited, temporary working memory.

Anything we can do to help ease this “cognitive load” for our audience gives them a better chance to grasp and retain the information we’re presenting, Connie says.

Here are a few of Connie’s suggestions for reducing your audience’s cognitive load when you’re creating presentations, videos, website pages and more.

Make your graphics and text easy to process

Your content’s readability matters. Overly intricate font styles and text with low contrast (like gray text on white background) put more strain on a viewer’s cognitive load.

Using simple fonts with high contrast makes information easier to process, reduces demand on working memory, and creates a positive affect in the viewer.

Remove visual distractions

Visuals can either increase meaning and understanding for viewers or distract and confuse them. A few simple ways to dial down visual “noise” in business presentations or videos:

• Avoid placing a logo on every slide and putting text on busy backgrounds
• Remove irrelevant text, like dates and slide numbers
• Remove cutesy but irrelevant graphics

Reduce realism in your graphics

There’s a misconception that photorealistic imagery is always best, especially in learning, Connie says.

But research shows that often, reducing the realism of a graphic can help people learn more quickly: by decreasing the time it takes the viewer to visually scan, it minimizes load on the viewer’s working memory.

This means that an illustration, icon, or symbol might convey information more effectively than a photo or 3D rendering.

This is one reason animated videos — which by nature reduce realism — are such a powerful form of business communication.

Don’t split your audience’s attention

When you force your audience to process two or more different sources of information at the same time, neither of which can be understood in isolation, you’re falling prey to the “split-attention effect.”

In HR, this might show up, say, in your benefits overview video: showing an explanation on one part of the screen and a visual, such as a diagram or animation, on another. Your viewer’s attention can’t be in both places at once.

Deliver information piecemeal and guide your audience along

According to Mona Chalabi, Pulitzer Prize–winning illustrator and data visualization expert, effective visual communication delivers information bit by bit and guides your audience along, from start to finish. Applied in different business areas, this lesson could mean creating content that builds gradually (think presentations that change on a click or interactive websites) to give audiences an opportunity to digest what they’re seeing and let insights build upon each other.

Get creative about visualizing data

Data can be an influential part of your business content, helping you tell a powerful, memorable story. But a wall of numbers isn’t helpful: it’s crucial to point out why your audience should care and put numbers in context.

• Rather than writing out data and insights as text, get familiar with different types of charts and graph options available beyond the typical pie and bar.
• Consider where you can use dynamic charts and graphs to bring your data to life and let your audience interact with it at their pace.
• Take care to ensure you’re not misleading with data — even the most reputable sources have some data-viz lessons learned.
• Per Mona‘s earlier advice, consider revealing data in steps, whether in slides you click through, or by adding clear visual markers that lead you through a static collection of information.

Bonus tip: Mona swears by the power of doodling when you’re ideating on how to communicate something — whether it’s a data set or a big idea. It doesn’t have to look good, she says: in the act of doodling something may come out — even if it’s just a more accessible title for your Excel chart or a different analogy for your presentation.

Refresh visuals regularly

In sales and marketing, it’s a common refrain that audiences need to hear the same message seven times before it starts sinking in. But on the flip side: if your content is forever static, it fades into the background. How can you get the best of both worlds, especially with content audiences may only see annually?

Try repeating the same message with different visuals and examples.

For L&D, eLearning expert and Bloomsburg University Professor Karl Kapp suggests annual compliance training is a perfect candidate for a regular visual refresh.

“The more pathways in our brain we have to a piece of content or information, the faster and more efficiently it will be retrieved,” Professor Kapp says. “By investing in changing your most important training on a regular basis, it makes that training more meaningful, more relevant, and sends a message that you care about this.”

In HR, you might think about this for benefits videos: what tweaks would help set them apart year over year? In marketing and sales, what go-to visual assets — like website images, ads, and social media assets — are your customers and prospects seeing regularly that you could update (or even A/B test) to stop them in their tracks?

How a visual communication platform can help

There are tons of helpful tools out there to help you act on these tips and step up your visual communication strategy. But many of them have a learning curve, even for beginners. Look for tools that are easy to use, but versatile and powerful enough that teams across your company can use them to deliver different formats and styles, all within your brand’s look and feel.

Vyond is beloved by 65% of the Fortune 500 for helping them communicate better visually and making a stronger business impact, while making their lives easier, whether they’re working in L&D, HR, marketing, or sales.

If you haven’t tried Vyond yet but want to see what the buzz is about, get your free two-week trial. (The trial includes access to Vyond Studio and Vyond Go, our AI-powered script and video generator.)

The post How Better Visual Communication Can Help Your Company Win: Benefits, Tips, and Examples appeared first on Vyond.