Videos are becoming increasingly important for companies. A study by the video technology company Kaltura found that videos are being used more and more in businesses. Moving images have become a part of everyday work life in various areas of companies (marketing, service, administration, training, etc.). Three-quarters of respondents expect an increase in the business relevance of video content within the next three years. Employers are willing to support their employees in further training in video creation. In-depth knowledge of video creation and handling videos is important for professionals and counts as basic media literacy.

You can request the full report on the Kaltura homepage.

For you as a trainer or coach, the spread of video content is good news! The acceptance of video content is growing both on the participant side and on the client side. With your own video content, you can support trainings or courses and tailor them specifically for your clients.

How can you use videos in seminars, trainings, or courses?

Since the video medium is a very versatile format, video content can be used for both personnel development measures and marketing purposes.

Your video for marketing purposes

With a short video, you can draw attention to your course offerings and share it on your various social media platforms. The most commonly used platforms for trainers and coaches are Facebook, YouTube, Xing, and LinkedIn.

9 ways you can use your videos for courses, trainings, and workshops

Personnel development measures, such as onboarding, training, further education, or blended learning courses, can be supported and expanded through video content.

Here’s how you can use video content in your courses, trainings, and workshops:

1. Welcome participants and set the mood

In a video, you can welcome your participants before a course. In this short welcome video, your future participants will get to see you and you can inform them about the course process. If there are several weeks between your face-to-face sessions, your participants will appreciate a warm-up for the next face-to-face session.

2. Provide some light relief

In an online course, a video can be used as a light relief between different sections of the course. You will definitely find video content on YouTube and other video platforms that you can integrate into your training.

3. Spark interest

With a short video, you can also spark interest in a new topic. In three to five minutes, you can introduce the key points of the topic. A small story or metaphor makes the video interesting for your viewers. You can best support your content statements with a graphic. You can draw it yourself, scan it, and include it in the video.

4. Inform and explain

You can include learning videos in your courses to inform about your course content and explain facts. In these videos, you don't necessarily have to be seen. You can create screen recordings or make explanatory videos with appropriate software. Examples include software tutorials, explanatory videos on a fact, method, or process.

5. Initiate reflection processes

Videos also offer you the opportunity to initiate reflection processes among your participants. In this video, you pose reflection questions to your participants. These are questions like: “How often did you experience a conflict situation last week? Were you able to use the method...?” You support your participants' practical transfer with a combination of reflection questions and if-then plans.

6. Encourage practice

In addition to reflection, videos are also useful for reminding participants to practice. For this, you send a video with a concrete call to action. This call to action describes a specific situation in which the participants should apply your exercises and methods.

7. Give feedback on behavior

Video recordings are the best medium to capture behavior. If your participants are supposed to learn observable behavior, then using video recordings in training is a good way to make this behavior visible to the participants. The change process can be illustrated in these recordings. Here, the clarification and consent of all participants should be noted.

8. Videos as a learning tool

Each of your participants owns a smartphone. Therefore, you can also use videos as a learning tool. You can assign your participants the task of explaining a specific content to other participants. Or you can prepare questions that your participants should answer in a short video. This could be an explanation of a method or how well the practical transfer is currently going.

9. Videos for knowledge transfer

Many companies also use videos for knowledge transfer. For example, a project manager summarizes his “lessons learned” in a short video. In this, he describes what the hurdles and challenges were in the project. Other project managers can use these videos to identify potential challenges in their own projects and thus prepare ideally for the next project.

Producing videos yourself

You no longer need expensive equipment for this. You can start your first attempts with your smartphone in a well-lit room. With a small investment (under €250), you can set up a small film studio in your own four walls. Producing videos is mainly a matter of practice. So, dare to try!

Briefly consider what kind of video you would like to prepare for your participants. We recommend a short welcome video to get started.

Here’s how you can take the first step:

• Sit at your desk, preferably in front of a window. Build a stack of books and place your smartphone on the stack at eye level.

• Open your smartphone camera app and start recording.

• Speak directly into the camera lens.

If you feel like creating your own videos for your courses and trainings, please get in touch with us. We will show you in our workshop 'Studio Quality in Your Own Four Walls' how you can shoot your own videos with your smartphone.

What experiences have you had with video content? Write to us with your opinion.