5 Tips for creating relevant and captivating training content

There is often the misconception that in order for training content to be effective, short and sweet just won't do. This drives content creators to end up squeezing in every bit of information that they possibly can into a course. However, this might do more harm than good as it may result in an information-overload which can overwhelm the learner and be detrimental to the learning process. The key to successful training content that drives the best learning results is by creating bespoke relevant, captivating and fluff-free courses.

The goal should be to aim to develop training content that consists of adequate but powerful information to meet the learning outcomes, speaks to the audience's needs, and is visually appealing. By doing so, the information presented to learners will be retained for longer periods of time, leading to a plethora of benefits for both the learner and the organisation. Here are five tips to help you create digital training content that guarantees knowledge enhancement, skills development and that your employees will never forget:

1. Know your audience

First and foremost, it is imperative that those creating digital training content perform a needs analysis to really get to know the participants. By understanding your target audience, including their level of skill and any knowledge gaps that may exist, you are sure to hit the nail on the head during all stages of developing relevant and engaging training that caters to all learning needs.

A needs analysis will help training and learning practitioners to unpack the why, what and who, in order for the content being developed to be relevant and learner-centred. After unpacking these important audience elements, training practitioners can focus on introducing real-life and job-related scenarios within the training material. By doing so, you can deliver training that will drive greater learner interest and motivation. By creating and delivering digital training that is crafted to learners' needs, employees are also more likely to apply the knowledge learned within their working roles.

Although putting your learners in the centre of creating digital training content is paramount, the business itself should also be considered as part of the audience. It is extremely important that business goals are met through training courses as it ultimately trickles down to the employees, helps them perform better in their working roles, and further increases the business' return on investment.

2. Less is more

It is evident as to why information-heavy content might seem effective for training; however, when using a microlearning approach, this is not the case. In today's fast-paced working world, employees don't have the time to spend hours on training content. This is why microlearning is the best tool for a quick and convenient amount of training information. Microlearning content boosts knowledge retention through videos that consist of audio, visual and text-based media that usually last between 3 to 10 minutes in length and focus on a single topic, eliminating unimportant clutter. This way, due to the bite-sized nature of these training videos, learners can consume information much easier. If learners do not grasp the concept the first time around, they can simply restart the video and review the steps whenever they please.

As mentioned earlier, training content should always aim to focus on the subject at hand to prevent possible cognitive- and information-overload. At first, sifting through information that all seems crucial to learn may seem like a difficult task, but adhering to the golden rules of must-know (needed to achieve learning outcomes), should-know (necessary information that can be provided as links, articles or additional handouts for learners to go through in their own time) and could-know (nice-to-know insights that are not critical for training purposes), can ease the sifting process. This should be implemented for every piece of information, text, image and stage of development of the training course.

3. Develop rich audio-visual content

To make video training content exciting and relevant, it is absolutely necessary for training practitioners to leverage into different types of digital media. There are a wide variety of tools you can use to create powerful audio-visual content with graphics, voice-over, virtual reality, simulations, animations and even company-branded content to create an interactive video that will guarantee an enhanced learning journey.

By tapping into a wide range of visually and audibly appealing media, the digital training content will be able to cater to a wider range of learning needs. Hearing-impaired learners or employees who speak different languages will be able to easily absorb information through graphics, images and subtitles, whereas visually-impaired learners will benefit from the narration and music.

4. Utilise the power of storytelling

Nothing captures the imagination and motivates learners better than a well-told story. Using storytelling in your digital training content is an emotionally compelling way to draw in any audience and really let them focus on what is being said. Stories have the power to highlight the benefits of the subject matter, helping learners connect with the information presented to them on a deeper level. Because stories, analogies and metaphors create memorable and positive experiences, learners' brains will automatically link the information to those positive and favourable emotions which will help will knowledge retention even more. Analogies and metaphors can also be strategically placed within the training content to help learners quickly grasp the meaning of complex or abstracts concepts.

For training purposes, stories can be in the form of real-life working examples such as practical applications of a particular product or service. This will help employees relate to these stories and take these examples and apply them to their everyday working role.

5. Include interactivity

By incorporating some form of interactivity throughout the training programme, knowledge retention is immediately enhanced due to its gamified nature, which makes learning fun and engaging. Integrating interactive assessments with digital training content is an easy way to recap and summarise the information being taught. With this, learners can put their knowledge and skills to the test by applying what they have just learned, helping them to easily store the information in their long-term memory.

To achieve the best learning outcomes, creating microlearning training content that is to the point, fun, and engaging is paramount. By developing custom digital training content that is "fluff-free" as well as aimed at your employees' and business' needs, training practitioners can reuse the training material over and over again, saving the business a vast amount of time and money.

If you are in need of training content creation that is guaranteed to engage, excite and inspire, then look no further than Lesson Desk's very own digital media experts. Contact Magic Lantern at create@magiclantern.co.za or visit their website portfolio to see some of the awesome digital video content they produce.