How To Make Training Videos Interesting on a Budget

Use a software simulation inside your video
Use transitions and b-roll to spice up any monotony

If you’re in Learning and Development, you likely have to create training videos. Of course, training videos have the reputation of being either snoozers or required for compliance, therefore mind-numbing. Hey, we’re not the firsts to say it, but we admit it.

Our Advice to Make Inexpensive But Engaging Training Videos

The truth is, not every training department has a ton of funding to make impressive graphics for engaging videos. If this is you, here are a couple of items you can use to make your training videos more interesting.

Programs We Use

Right now, we use the Adobe Suite and Adobe Captivate to make our videos. If you use other programs, see if they don’t offer something similar to what we’re about to show you.

Heads up: The Adobe programs are paid subscriptions. They’re not free (except when on trial), but we think it’s a reasonable enough price. If you’re on a super tight budget, check out some of the free video editors out there.

Inserting an Adobe Captivate Software Simulation into your Video

We use Adobe Captivate for our eLearning modules. In Captivate, you’ll find that making software simulations is one of the easiest ways to break up a training video.

First Thing’s First. What is a Software Simulation?

Simply put, it’s a way of showing your screen to your learners. Basically, a screen share. Adobe Captivate allows you to record this screen share and export it as a .mp4 file.

Why Is This Neat?

Because exporting it as a video file means you can now insert it into your training video. Don’t worry, we’re about to show you an example below. But first, let’s chat about transitions.

Use Your Transitions

When it comes to making a video interesting, use the transitions included in your video program. This catches the eye and gently jolts the mind into thinking something different just happened. The result? Not only does your video look pro, but your transition caught your learner’s eye, and hopefully re-engaged their attention.

No Transitions? Use B-roll

Perhaps talking at the camera isn’t the best strategy to keep your learner’s attention. One way to change it up is by creating your own disruptors. This means, inserting b-roll into the video to spice up the presenter’s speech.

What’s B-roll?

One quick way to explain it is as secondary video. Meaning, the video that appears when the main character isn’t on the screen.

Let Us Show You An Example

Watch our 38-second video of everything we just talked about above. You’ll see transitions, b-roll and a software simulation in there. Enjoy!

Who Are We?

We are Miranda Park Learning, your video training experts. When you need training video for your company, contact us. We’ll make sure you have the right training videos in place for your team, at the right price.