How to Use Storytelling in Training Videos
Since the pandemic, video has become an everyday communication tool. Businesses use video to share important updates, engage and onboard new customers, and train their employees. In 2022, training videos were the #1 most popular video made by businesses.
Training videos are so effective because they allow your audience to learn at their own pace and in their own space. In fact, [92% of employees](https://www.zippia.com/employer/employee-training-development-statistics/ said training programs have a positive effect on their engagement. But just as some in-person trainings can drone on and leave learners tuned out, so can training videos. That’s because they’re missing one crucial component – a story.
For as long as humans have been around, so has storytelling. It’s a core element of community that has long been used to share information in an engaging way.
In this blog, we’ll provide tips to leverage storytelling in training videos to make them more effective, engaging, and memorable. We’ll also share various storytelling techniques, training video ideas, and ready-to-use video templates so you can create your best training videos yet.
What is storytelling in trainings?
We’ve all sat through corporate training sessions that test our ability to stay awake and alert. Understandably, it can be hard to keep audiences entertained and engaged through what seems like stale content. This is where storytelling comes in.
Everyone has a story to tell. No matter the subject, storytelling can bring your training to life and keep your audience engaged and invested.
Stories appeal to learners of all backgrounds and help to simplify subjects in a relatable way. Storytelling in corporate training helps to illustrate and organize key information. It leads learners down a path that ultimately ends with understanding new information or gaining a new skill.
Even if you don’t have a specific, detailed story that closely relates to your presentation’s content, you can use storytelling principles. Just use these three main parts of storytelling to hook learners in:
- Beginning: The setup that draws learners in
- Middle: The bulk of your training material
- End: The resolution and next steps
There doesn’t have to be a complicated formula! Think about these great storytelling tips and techniques as you craft your own training:
- Immerse your audience with words, images, and music
- Tell a personal story that others can relate to
- Create suspense by leaving your audience with a cliffhanger, especially if you have a multi-part training
- Show, don’t tell
- End with a clear and memorable takeaway or summary
The benefits of incorporating storytelling into corporate training
Stories have always been used to share information. Storytelling in training does the same thing.
By incorporating storytelling in corporate trainings, you can relate more closely to your learners and speak their language. Not only does it make for more exciting and engaging trainings, it can increase retention rates too!
Increases emotional engagement between employees and training topics
Stories get to the heart of your topic. They stir our emotions and help us relate with not just the content, but the speaker too. Your story will guide viewers through various topics while grounding them with a storyline they understand and relate to.
Improves information retention
Just by incorporating storytelling in trainings, you can boost recall and retention rates. We, as humans, are more likely to remember a story rather than a stat or figure. Characters and plots can illustrate learning topics in a new way that resonates with your audience. Once you’ve created an emotional tie between your learners and training topics, they won’t soon forget it.
Makes complex training topics easier to understand
Stories are how we understand the world. Storytelling in trainings can be used to break down and understand complex topics by providing an interesting and digestible storyline. These stories hook learners in and provide a narrative they can always refer back to when the topics get more complicated.
How to use storytelling to make better training videos
Luckily, it’s easy to incorporate storytelling into trainings because we’re all innately storytellers! It just takes a little bit more planning and creative thinking to transform your trainings into an adventure. Here are some tips!
Research your target audience
First, get to know your target audience. Not all stories appeal to us in the same way, so you’ll want to craft a story that resonates with your audience. For example, if you’re training a team of salespeople, you can reflect back on past sales pitches to illustrate certain topics.
Identify specific training topics
Too much information can overwhelm your audience and take away from key information. To keep your audience engaged, make your training topics specific with one or two clear learning objectives at a time. This way, it’s easier for the learners to stay on track. Check out this blog about microlearnings for more tips.
Keep the narrative simple and relatable
While we all love a story with lots of twists and turns, it’s best to save those for the movies. When incorporating storytelling into your training videos, you’ll want your story to guide your audience through the information, not detract from it. The simpler and clearer the story, the more impactful your lesson will be.
Set the scene with character introductions and origins
We all need context to form a narrative in our minds. Don’t leave your audience confused and left to stitch the details together on their own! Start off your story with a clear background including character introductions, self introductions, and origin stories.
Introduce challenges
Once you’ve introduced your characters, it’s time to introduce the problem at hand. This is an extremely important element of any story, so make sure to go into detail and create an emotional appeal. This should also occur during the beginning of your story to hook your audience in and make them want to learn more.
Provide solutions and educational takeaways
The bulk of your information will sit at the middle to end of your training. This is where you can use your storyline to illustrate examples and provide educational takeaways in a memorable way. You can always recap your learnings and solutions at the end as well.
End with a call to action
Finally, let your audience know what to do with their newfound knowledge! With a great call to action, you can support future learnings and keep the momentum going even after the training ends. Include a call to action like “Learn more on our intranet,” “Test your skills,” or “Email us with any questions you may have.”
How to use storytelling in training videos with Animoto
With the ability to share screen and webcam recordings, photos, diagrams, clips, and more, training videos are just as successful as in-person trainings. Not surprisingly, digital storytelling is just as important for successful training videos.
Here’s how you can create training videos to teach any topic using Animoto.
1. Start with a video script or plot
First things first, lay out the content you want to include in your video. Not only should you identify the topics you want to cover, but it’s a great idea to start building your storyline too. Then, write a script so you know exactly what to say once you start your voice-over or webcam recording.
2. Choose a video template or start from scratch
Next, choose a training video template or start your video from scratch. Templates are a great starting point that comes with text, animations, colors, and visuals ready to go. You can always customize and edit them later to fit your brand.
3. Upload your video clips, images, logos, and more
Use visuals to your advantage! Upload any images, videos, graphs, and more that help you tell your story. If nothing quite fits the bill, you can always search through our story library to find the perfect visuals.
4. Narrate your story by recording a voice-over
Next, put your video script to good use! Use voice-over to narrate your story and create a personal connection with your audience.
5. Edit your video with Animoto's built-in tools
Animoto has everything you need to create professional videos. Whether you need to trim and edit uploaded content, apply your brand elements, or even create a screen or webcam recording from scratch, you can do so in your video workspace. Here’s a complete guide to show you all the editing tools available with Animoto.
6. Download and share your video with your team
Lastly, share your video and start gathering feedback from clients and colleagues. They can help you identify any typos, confusing elements, or additional opportunities for your video. Once your video is ironed out and ready to share, you can download or share your training video via email or social media! All it takes is the click of a button.
Use storytelling in training videos
Anyone can create training videos that engage and excite audiences! That’s because we all have the ability to tell a great story. With Animoto, you can tell your story using one of the most compelling forms of content out there – video! Just bring your story and we’ll make the rest easy!