What was old is new again – videos for learning and development are back and easier to create than ever before! This makes sense when you consider that the young professionals entering the workforce grew up watching YouTube videos. So when it comes to training this generation of employees, the days of stand-up training with professorial facilitators speaking to bullet-pointed slides are over. They want entertaining videos.

Video creation used to be left to professional designers, producers, and editors – the abundance of new, and often free tools out there today mean you no longer have to spend a lot of time and money to do it, and do it well.

In addition to kicking off events, videos can be used in a variety of other ways in and out of the classroom.

• Attention grabber: This is the kick-off video. Use a video to ensure you grab your participants’ attention. Just like first impressions, you only have seconds to get your audience’s attention. Depending on the topic, video can oftentimes be more attention-grabbing than simply talking! And this doesn’t need to be in the classroom either.
• Best (and worst) practice: For learning that includes best practice behaviors, use a video to show what to do and what not to do. Showing participants what good and bad looks like is much more impactful than telling them. A great example is coaching and feedback. Use videos to set up common situations and then show how an experienced coach would deliver feedback and coaching and what might be tempting to do, but should be avoided.
• Technical or scientific explanations: Detailed or in-depth tutorials of how things works, such as how our brains process emotions, are often better suited for a visual video than an explanation using a slide with a one-dimensional picture. That’s because people process visual information much easier and faster than text. So as the saying suggests, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” you could also say, “A video is worth a thousand pictures.” If you find yourself trying to describe something and it’s getting very technical, see if there is a video out there to use instead.
• Stimulate discussion: Many of us have been brought up using the Socratic method and posing questions to stimulate discussion and critical thinking in the classroom. Videos are a great way to supplement this approach. Use the video to set up a situation, such as a project team meeting where you need to make key decisions. Often you don’t even need to ask a question to get the discussion going when it ends!
• Infotainment: This is something people need to incorporate into their training – fun! Especially in the classroom, people have more and more pressure to be entertaining in addition to effective facilitators and teachers. Video is a great way to bring some lightness and laughter to difficult and heavy topics. It allows you to introduce a topic that might otherwise be “off limits.” It’s easier for us to talk about a fictional situation than our own real-life situations.

There is compelling research around why people should use video. A few include:

• Videos suit different learning styles. People all have different ways of absorbing, processing and retaining information. Videos appeal to several learning preferences simultaneously.
• Videos are more memorable. On average, a viewer remembers five times more content from a video than they would from reading the same content on a page.
• Videos save time. At a recent classroom session, a three minute animated video introduction replaced a 10-15 minute facilitator introduction.

As the needs of learners and the constraints of organizations continue to evolve, video is becoming an increasingly powerful and useful method for delivering great content and creating world-class learning experiences. Whether it’s live-action video to demonstrate how to perform a new skill or an avatar character explaining a situation, video can be a powerful asset in any training arsenal.