Tips & Tricks for executing the best training videos

Here are some of the best practices we’ve found for recording training videos:

• Keep the videos short in length. No one wants to watch a long/boring training video that’s 30 minutes to an hour in duration. Try to break up the videos into shorts segments. If you are working with Dynamics 365 for example, try to record a video on account creation alone and another for how to add contacts to an account via the sub-grid. This allows users at your organization to easily search and find specific videos by looking for keywords within a specific task they are trying to accomplish.
• Record videos specific to the system you are working with. No one wants to watch videos of a system for another organization or a demo environment. Making them unique to your processes/terminology is ideal for the end users to grasp.
• Explain everything and anything that may cause confusion. Whether it is a required field, field type, or certain aspect of the system specific to this organization, try to explain it in as much detail as possible. We are all professional and know the systems we work in every day inside and out. If this something you’ve never seen previously, it will look very foreign to that person and you may be skipping out on some valuable details that make the whole picture clearer.

Recording a video

1. Now you’re ready to record the actual video. The first item on the agenda is the setup. Make sure that you are in a quiet space so there are no background noises and that you are using a clear quality microphone. I typically just use the one on my Apple Earbuds, which pick up audio very well for this. I wouldn’t recommend the built-in microphone on your laptop as it can pick up your keyboard or trackpad.
2. The next step is to acquire your video recording device. There are a few applications out there, but I have found that the newest version of Snagit is great at this. Sangit 2018 only costs about $50 for a license and in my experience it will not let you down (Get a free trial to give it a shot yourself). You can also animate certain things within the video if you need to put an emphasis on specific areas with arrows or boxes. When you are done recording the video, save it and export it locally on your computer.
3. Lastly is distribution. This can sometimes be confusing and frustrating if you are unsure how to get these videos to the end users. Should I email them or put them in a shared folder for everyone to access? Well, you can do both of the above using a great new platform by Microsoft that came out in the last year called Stream. This is ideal for distribution.

Microsoft Stream

Microsoft Stream is similar to an internal YouTube site where you can set up channels within your organization for specific topics. I am using this for distribution of internal training videos, but the organization could also use it as a distribution method for other videos, such as its quarterly financial updates or discussing internal HR benefits.

For this example, I created a channel which is a playlist of all the training videos specific to Dynamics 365. When I open up the channel, users will see all videos in the system in this category.

You can also control the security permissions around who can view a video, which is a great way to lock down access if they are specific to a certain level or department.

As far as licensing, this is included with any O365 E1, E3, and E5 license. As long as your users have a license, they can access Microsoft Stream from the Office 365 Portal like any other application. You also get 500gb as a tenant and .5gb per user on an O365 license. The diagram below gives you a better break down of how it works. Additional storage is also available if needed.

Source: Microsoft.com

I hope this inspires you in the future to create training videos specific to your organization and the systems you use whether it is Dynamics 365 or another business application.

To learn more about how you can take advantage of this and other Microsoft Dynamics 365 features, visit RSM’s Microsoft Dynamics 365 resource. To make sure you stay up to date with the Microsoft Dynamics Community, subscribe to our Microsoft Dynamics Community Newsletter. For more information on Microsoft Dynamics 365, contact us.

By: Brian Jason Smith – Florida | Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales

Brian Jason Smith