In this video, I’ll show you how to quickly and easily make a great training video.
Hi, I’m Andy from TechSmith, where we help you show what you know.
You have a great product and potential customers are downloading, but then … crickets.
You notice people aren’t diving as deep into the software as you’d like them to, so they’re
not using it to its full potential.
In this video, you’ll discover exactly what to do to create informative, product-centric
training videos for both your current and new customers.
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Let’s get started
Step 1: Before anything else, plan your video ahead of time.
Planning your video’s content can be the most important step in the process of making
your training video.
Before you start recording, you want to know exactly what you want to say and show to your viewers.
You’ll save time and energy and avoid a lot of potential headaches.
You may want to write a script or even create a storyboard.
While you may not need to script every word, it’s best to at least have an outline to
help ensure you stay on topic and don’t forget anything important.
I know that when I use a script, my videos always turn out better than when I don’t.
Keep your video simple and focus only on one customer pain point
so you don’t overwhelm your viewers.
If you have more than one subject you would need to cover, you can always make more videos!
Step 2: Download an editor.
If you already have video editing software that you love, perfect, use that!
I’ll be using Camtasia.
If you don’t already have it, there’s a link in the description below
for a free trial.
Step 3: Capture your footage.
If you plan to include video captured directly from your computer screen, Camtasia’s Screen
Recorder makes it easy!
Just open Camtasia, click “Record,”, select the window and microphone you would like to
record, and toggle the webcam option on or off depending on whether you wish to be in
the video as well.
Now you should be ready to start recording!
If you need a little more guidance, There’s a link to a tutorial here!
Step 4: choose a template.
Remember when I said you’d be able to do this “quickly and easily?”
Here’s why.
Depending on the topic and content you would like to present, there’s a variety of different
Camtasia templates available for you to use.
Camtasia comes with a free video editing template, but you can find more free options under the
“Templates” icon in the TechSmith Asset store.
Simply go to the Template Manager in the menu and select “Download more Templates” to take a look.
Step 5: Import your other assets.
Once you finish your recording and have selected a template, it’s time to import your video
and audio, as well as any other visual assets you need, into Camtasia.
Open the “Media” tab and select “Import Media”.
Then, select the video, image, and audio files you need and import them into Camtasia’s
media bin for easy access while editing.
In addition to your own recordings, Camtasia offers tons of free, downloadable assets to
add to your video such as titles, lower-third graphics, stock footage and even background music.
Some options do come with each template, but you can also open the “Library” tab in
Camtasia and click on “download more assets” to find more on your own.
Step 6: Edit & export.
With your template ready to go and your footage and other assets imported, you should be ready
to edit your video!
Click and drag your files down into the template placeholder and select “ripple replace..
To trim the beginning or end of your video clips, just mouse over the edge you would like to
trim and drag it to the appropriate length.
To customize the text of your intros, titles and graphics, double-click on the words on the canvas
and add your updated text in the box.
If there are any extra text boxes present that you don’t need for your video, you
can select and delete them..
Once you have all of your files and assets arranged and edited, make sure to watch it
start to finish to look for any errors or anything else you might have missed.
If everything looks good, go ahead and export your video.
Click the “export” button in the top right corner and select the “local file” option
in the drop-down menu to export the video file to your computer. Or use one of the other
preset options to upload your finished video directly to the internet to share with others.
And there you have it! In just a few easy steps, you can create an informative training video to
help teach your customers how to use your products with ease.
Tell us in the comments how this video helped you craft your own training videos!
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Thanks for watching!