Video, Video Everywhere

Video is popping up everywhere. Everyone that carries a smartphone carries a good quality video camera. And like all technologies video cameras keep getting smaller and cheaper. And with increasing bandwidth and more powerful cloud technologies, the uses become endless. We are only seeing the beginning of the age of video.

Size matters!

Video cameras are small enough to wear and small enough to connect to remote control flying drones. We use them in our cars to see what’s behind us, and we use them in our homes for security or to monitor babies, and pets. The rise of the citizen journalist is all part of this wave of uses of small, low cost, simple to produce video tech.

User-generated Video Content

User-generated content is nothing new. In my view the late ‘90s and the rise of blogging was the beginning. It was only a matter of time before producing a video became as simple as writing text. And that time is now. What has slowed the growth has been extended experience with the tools. But even that’s changing. Kids in elementary school today are learning to produce videos the way I was learning to produce hand crafted reports in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Even high school, and college, kids are unafraid of hitting the record button and publishing raw or highly edited videos. The technology is no longer a barrier to video production, and opening up an entirely new world of user-generated video content.

Producing Training Videos

There are many trends currently pointing to the rise of video content. I have no doubt in my mind that the future of training is video. You know all the big stories showcasing video online. I don’t need to recap them all for you, but think about Khan Academy, Lynda.com, and any of the thousands of YouTubers vlogging their way to successful media careers. As you watch the entire landscape of modern media change, you’ll begin to see why I so firmly embrace video.

What’s the Big Deal?

Yea, but Brent, people said that about education in the early days of television and VCRs. Sure they did. And quite frankly they were all right even back then. The part they got wrong was thinking that television would completely replace schools. I’ve seen enough new tech in my career to know that one innovation does not immediately displace the other. How many of you have gone 100% paperless in your daily life?

The big deal is seeing the trend and starting to prepare yourself and your team for what is coming. Most video production work has been, and still is, outsourced for training projects. Just like television and schools, that is unlikely to change. What’s new is the addition of non-broadcast quality, user-generated video content. This doesn’t completely replace a highly polished and well produced video, but it does offer a fast and easy knowledge sharing and THAT’s a big deal!

Our purpose within our companies is to provide value to the business. We do that by ensuring employees have the knowledge and skills they need to get the job done. And seeing video differently can help you get there. Yes, some video will require costly budgets for outsourcing, but if you can learn to put aside the quality of a video and embrace it’s content as a vehicle for learning you will begin to see the amazing value of non-broadcast quality video as part of the training content within your learning management system.