Versatile videos at your fingertips

As mentioned in the previous blog post, we at Amphigean have begun to upload informative learning content and other supporting materials to our website, aimed at anyone working in or associated with L&D.

The latest in our series of Explainer videos covers a subject that we strongly believe has the potential to revolutionise the in-house capability of companies, using readily available tools that they are likely to already have. The video (you can watch it below) covers Agile Video Production with Powerpoint and is exactly what it sounds like. Powerpoint has been subjected to plenty of light-hearted criticism over the years, and its capacity to create short animated videos quickly and cost-effectively has been strangely overlooked.

Our video demonstrates that Powerpoint has impressive capabilities for creating engaging animations that are highly effective for bite-sized learning of any description. These videos are easy to distribute due to their compatibility with multiple platforms, and most companies will be familiar with Powerpoint to some degree. You can embed audio and use simple software such as Audacity to record a script. A reasonable quality microphone would make a huge difference, but standard headsets are fine too.

The finished product can be exported and published as a playable MP4 video, and may only need to be compressed where file sizes are critical. Moreover, given that it has been built in-house, it is very easy to update and there are many Powerpoint add-ons that can automate tasks. Of course, for complex projects it may well be necessary to outsource video production, as specific skills around content authoring, graphic design and animation may be required to meet customer needs.

However, for more straightforward projects in day to day business, it is entirely possible for companies who don’t have huge budgets and resources to produce their own quality animated videos. As a result, we know that our Agile Video Production with Powerpoint video is extremely useful for many companies creating bite-sized content that must be available in a suitable format to consume on any device.

In the current climate of digital transformation combined with growing demands to provide in-house training content, we are simply saying that there is a glaring opportunity for L&D teams to embrace the tools at their fingertips! Amphigean’s Creative Director Bryan Strange has given seminars on this topic across the country, and the feedback has always been exceptional. We are available to provide training to internal teams on this, so feel free to get in touch with us if it is something you would benefit from.

“Our customers are always delighted with the quality of video work that we produce, at a fraction of the cost and in such short timescales compared with other providers and now we’re helping companies to do this themselves. Our 2-day workshop, extendable to 3-days for more supervised practice, is becoming extremely popular.”

Pete Simpson, Amphigean Managing Director.