I’m on a mission to help people make and use video for learning purposes. Today’s installment focuses on the five best practices for learning video scriptwriters. This is part four, in the series designed to help you write better video scripts for learning purposes.
Part 1: Scriptwriting for Learning
Part 2: The Writing Process for Learning Videos
Part 3: 4 Must-Have Skills for Writing Scripts for Learning
Part 4: 5 Best Practices as a Learning Video Scriptwriter
Part 5: 3 Learning Video Storytelling Formulas
Part 6: The Mindset for Writing Learning Videos
So, let’s get to it!
“If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me!”
5 Best Practices for Learning Video Scriptwriters
We become better writers with practice and the utilization of best practices. When I entered the corporate learning world, I read truckloads of posts about best practices to improve my skills. Now that I have a decade of experience under my belt, I am sharing the best practices for learning video scriptwriters as of 2020. The five techniques below will help you deliver superior results within your internal team and improve your offerings to your clients.
1. The 2-minute rule
If you Google how long a video should be, you get an instant answer: 2 minutes. Vidyard, who is a leader in the marketing video industry, has good reason to be resolute in its recommendation. But, we are not making a marketing video! We make video for learning and our purpose is to improve knowledge, skills, and behaviors. Yes, that’s right! We write differently for learning purposes. However, we can’t ignore the 2-minute rule. Our audience lives in the 2-minute world.
As a writer for learning videos, you should always try to find a way to chunk the learning into bite-sized content. If you can use videos that are around 2-minutes, great. If you have to go up to the 5 to 10 minutes range, well, then the learning objectives must warrant that amount of screen time. Try breaking the longer video up with interactive elements like knowledge checks, games, or even a rewind and find activity.
When we ignore the 2-minute rule, we risk creating videos that lose our viewers. Videos that are too long for their subject matter are often deemed ineffective. Learners check out before fully grasping the video’s concepts. When considering length, raise the questions: Do I really need that trainer monologue in the middle of the video? Can I reinforce the concept in a more succinct way through a demonstration or an interactive activity?
2. Use 135 words per minute (wpm) as a guide
When writing for the small screen, it is important to know that the average person speaks around 135 words per minute. Memorize this ratio. Doing a quick word count of the spoken text in your script or storyboard allows you to evaluate the video’s length. You can also use this ratio to aid in chunking your learning content. Understanding it will help you decide if you need to cut down the content or separate long sections with some type of interactive content.
The average person reads 250 wpm. Sometimes it makes more sense to put text on the screen and not have it spoken. Visual text speeds up the overall seat time of a course and it can be used to increase engagement. Using a variety of text, audio, and video will improve the learner’s engagement, keeping them focused and interested in the content.
3. Read out loud
During the revision stage of the writing process, plan on conducting a table read or read-through of your learning video script. This is a technique used in theater, television, and movies where the cast reads their parts in order as the script is written. Learning video should get the same role-playing attention. As you practice the script out loud, listen to the cadence of the language. Does it sound natural? Is it too verbose? Does it need to be more conversational? Dialogue should not be an informational dump. It also shouldn’t sound like written words. Using contractions, appropriate slang, and purposeful pauses will help.
4. Use a three-column script template
Storyboard templates that feature 2-5 columns are standard tools in learning design. A three-column script template provides a convenient document with the most important information necessary to make the video. I suggest using a Word or Google Doc so that tracking changes is easy to do. Keeping it to three columns makes it easy to draft, edit, and revise during each review cycle of the script.
The first column should contain a number, ordered sequentially, to allow everyone an easy reference to a specific section. Separating the audio from the visual content in separate columns not only helps with reviews, but also makes it easier to edit and develop the final video. I suggest listing dialogue, music, and sound effects in the audio column. The visual column should contain descriptions of what the learner will see such as the actor, text, or supporting imagery. You can switch up the order of the audio and video columns to suit your personal preference.
5. Build-in two review cycles that result in final approval
Leave time for at least two review cycles when drafting a video script. Set a fixed amount of time for everyone involved to review at each stage. Allot one day for your internal team to review. Plan for a minimum of three days for the client and/or executive team to review the script. Three days usually allows everyone enough time to fit the review into their busy schedule, but you may need to adjust accordingly based on the client’s requests.
Kindness Pro-Tip: Be kind and patient to your clients during review cycles.
Reviewing and editing a video script is most likely outside of your client’s normal duties, so be kind to them. Clients need to feel heard and validated. Allowing three or more days for everyone to read and review will set you up for success.
Make the appropriate changes to the script and provide reasoning regarding any feedback on which you did not act.
After the first review cycle is complete, allow a second review with a clean document (no tracked changes). The second review typically garners fewer comments and suggestions (phew!). Some professionals I know skip this step, but I think there’s a lot of value in it. Once you receive the second round of consolidated feedback, make your changes. Then, you should seek a final approval and sign-off on the script before proceeding with the video. The final approval lets everyone know that they have agreed to make the video as described in the script. Any additional changes will ultimately come at an expense above the designated budget. This is the perfect place to make sure all parties involved know that everyone should be operating within budget constraints.
Pro-Tip: Ask for consolidated changes when seeking feedback.
If you are sharing your script with multiple people, agree in advance who will verify and consolidate the changes into a single document. I once received a script back from a client with five different authors, five different opinions, and in various colors of tracked changes. It was not fun. The lack of consolidation actually killed the project. We never made the video. Since that fateful day, I always plan ahead by asking a project manager (internal or external) to review and consolidate the changes before it goes back to the scriptwriter for draft 2.
Pro-Tip: From the first call to the final draft, work toward final approval!
Work toward the final approval! During the kick-off call, you should ask who ultimately has to sign-off for final approvals. Final approval on the script saves everyone time and frustration if there is something that needs to be changed. Additional changes above and beyond the two completed review cycles will cost more money. Therefore, securing the final approval will make any later conversation about needing more funds to make more changes easier to have in the heat of the moment.
Summary
Practice and using best practices helps us become better writers. Following or mindfully breaking the 2-minute rule will help you keep the learner’s experience at the forefront of your mind and avoid dumping information. If you internalize the 135 wpm metric, you will quickly be able to use word count to determine if you are nearing the dreaded information dump. Revision cycles are important for drafting and delivering realistic dialogue. Once you gain comfort in doing table reads, it will be easier to move your scripts through two revision cycles with your client. Throughout all of your writing make sure to keep kindness at your core. Our clients have hired us to do something they don’t have time to do themselves. Take a breath, be patient, and know that you are helping bring visual life to a concept someone needs to improve their knowledge, skills or behavior and ultimately get better at their job.
Helpful Links
Are you new to learning about video for learning? Consider reviewing my four-part series, Video for Learning Fundamentals.
Part 1: The Case for Video
Part 2: We Need Learning Video Production Skills
Part 3: 5 Phases of Video Production for Learning
Part 4: The Glossary of Learning Video Terms
Join my feedback
Do you have a best practice that would help others? Please share it with me and I’ll share it in an upcoming post.
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I love feedback loops. As Elon Musk said, “I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.”
THE END
