Is video the best tool to use for your training?

- When I first started my business I didn't use video at all, but I needed to find a way to expand my reach and grow my audience, which eventually lead me to creating videos and uploading them on YouTube. Not long after I started to see results and I began making more content to teach my audience how to do the same. Not only did I expand my visibility, I discovered the power of video for inspiring my viewers and for the purpose of teaching. Now I know what you're thinking, yes, the power of vidoe is great, but I'm not a videographer, I'm not an editor, I'm not skilled in it. Well, neither was I, but I had to start somewhere. I knew video was the best way for me to communicate with my audience, because it's significantly more engaging and it's no shock that video dominates most of the content consumed on the internet. For me to teach my viewers how to do anything, whether it's how to use Canva or how to start a business from scratch, I could've taken the route of writing it and distributing it as an E-book or a blog post, but how many of us truly retain information that way? And by retain I mean really be engaged, even inspired, and then walk away remembering the information. Not a lot of us can, unless it's shown to us in a way that's not only educational, but fun and engaging. Think about this, if you were learning, say, how to create a graphic design template on an app that you've never used before, would you opt for the step by step blog post or a video showing you exactly how to do it with a person talking you through and sharing their screen with you? How many times have you gone onto YouTube to search for a how-to video specifically on a topic? Or even watch a review on a product before you buy it? The fact is video is the easiest way to effectively get your point across, retain your audience, and get that information in their brain, so they feel more knowledgeable and confident on the topic. Of course, I have to add that this is possible if your video is done right. Your audience has a short attention span, so if you have a video where you're just talking to the camera for a few minutes I can guarantee that your viewer engagement will drop significantly. This is why it's important to use a variety of storytelling techniques, like B-roll and attention resets, that we'll be diving further into in this course. The good news, with the technology we have today video is way easier to make than ever before. Do you have a camera phone or a laptop? Then you can make a video. If you don't have a big fancy studio available or even an idea of where to start, it doesn't matter. By the time this course is over you'll be bursting with ideas for making your training videos fun and most important of all, engaging.