At Dallas video production company CRM Studios, we produce videos of all sizes, shapes, and uses. While most are meant for public consumption, quite a few are viewed strictly within an organization. Most of these fall under the employee training video category, and we’ve done hundreds.

Over time, we’ve learned a thing or two about making a great employee training video. Here we’ve boiled it down to three important tips:

Keep it Simple

First and foremost, keep it simple.

The effectiveness of an employee training video comes from the idea that people learn both visually (by watching) and aurally (by listening). An effective employee training video skillfully combines both methods to create something that’s easy to remember.

If you try to convey too much information into a single video, most of that information will get lost. This can be avoided by making a series of shorter videos, or “pods,” each covering something specific. 

Think about this way: If you’re a catering company, don’t try to make an employee training video about how to cater an entire banquet. Instead, start with a video about how to properly set a table. Next, make one about properly serving guests. Give yourself time to repeat each message. Each step in the process is important, and making a series of specific pods makes the information easier to process and easier to find again when you want to refresh your training.

Keep it Short

Secondly, keep it as short as possible.

A video that’s too long will be just as hard to remember as one that’s too dense with information. Overloaded, your audience will start to lose interest. Keep your employee training video at eight minutes or less, interestingly about the length of a Looney Tunes cartoon.

Through television and Internet videos, we’ve been trained since childhood to consume our information and entertainment in bite-sized chunks. Sure, TV shows and movies run much longer than that, but they have the benefit of a plot and characters, and nobody expects the audience to know how to disarm a bomb after watching The Hurt Locker. But you want your employees to come away from their viewing experience with knowledge and information they can use immediately. So pick very specific topics, and cover them thoroughly and repetitively.

Keep it Fun

Finally, keep it fun. Yes, fun!

You may be in the funeral business, but you and your employees still probably enjoy what you do. And a happy employee is an enthusiastic and productive employee. It always requires less effort to recall the details of an enjoyable experience than a clinical or boring one. How many rides can you remember from your first trip to the Six Flags amusement park? Now, how many of each of those titular six flags can you recall?

Be playful: an employee training video is not intended to be seen by your customers, so you can take a different approach than you would take in a traditionally serious business.

Don’t stress. If you’re overwhelmed planning your employee training video, CRM Studios is just a phone call or email away. We’re happy to help. Contact us here and let’s talk about your project.