Full Transcript for Modular Video Training: Lessons from Creating the Camtasia Certification Program

create a video and then all you know, when you update and you publish out that video, it may be out of date or something like that. 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:35.680 And so when I when I got approached to um be part of this certification to be able to create the certification, that was honestly one of the number one things that uh that TechSmith talked to me about and that I was thinking about as well is how do I keep this so it's not out of date? 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:47.040 Uh we knew about a new release coming up and we wanted to still kind of start creating training and not be completely out of date or completely thrown out once the new release had actually come out. 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:52.160 And so keeping that in mind, we we took more of a modular approach. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:59.600 Um, and so when I say we, I'm talking about um the TechSmith team that I worked with as well to kind of think through that stuff. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:23.040 And so we we wanted to take a little bit more of a modular approach, which means, you know, in some some training videos, and when I went through training videos myself growing up or, you know, learning how to program and doing other things like that, a lot of the times they will have like a step-by-step kind of, okay, let's do this in this video, let then let's do this and then next video, and we're gonna build on top of that in the next video, which I think is beneficial. 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:37.279 And that I don't want to say that that's not beneficial, but then what that means is you're connecting those videos together, which then means if you update one video, you're gonna have to update the next video and update the next video because it could kind of throw things off. 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:45.759 And so the modular approach that I took was more okay, let's still let's do those connector videos and I call them in action sections. 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:51.759 And so at the end of a module, we have some in-action videos for the modules that that it makes sense on. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:58.399 And so I do at the end of that say, okay, now let's take everything that we've learned and let's put it inside of a flow. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:02.959 But up until then, we're basically focused on different features. 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:13.920 So we're focused on, okay, how to add an animation, just the basics of animation, what is animation, and how to add that animation and to add it to any other object. 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:31.439 And so we're talking about just more of this kind of um encompassing type of self-service video, essentially, that can then it could work into the next video, you can continue on from that, but it's not so connected to every other part of the video until you get to these in-action sections. 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:46.480 And in those in-action sections, you then have that flow say, okay, now let's let's put it all together, let's do all the flow there, which then helps you to, when you're going to update the course, you can go in and update those those videos a lot easier. 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:55.839 And so that's that's one thing that we found so far, because I've had to do a couple of updates, is being able to go back into just one video was a whole lot easier. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:05.680 Or even adding another video, like a new topic or a new feature, was a whole lot easier without throwing off the whole flow than it was to like if we had everything kind of connected. 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:12.560 So it's a little bit backwards, I would say, uh, than when you hear most people talk about when they're talking about software training. 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:17.279 But with as much as like, you know, Camtasia updates, um, I don't know. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:18.879 It to me it it made sense. 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:21.839 And so far, I think it's been working well on that. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:27.920 Yeah, I I mean I've heard really good things about people that have gone through it and they've looked at it and they've been able to learn from it. 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:34.800 I I want to step back as we look at this kind of process and think from like a learning design standpoint, because I do think it's interesting. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:39.279 Because look, I was there at the very beginning when we designed the first iteration of the certification. 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:41.519 I've not been involved in this this iteration. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:44.079 Uh, definitely we did that that style you talked about. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:48.879 Like it's kind of like here's a project, here's a project, and all the videos kind of lead you through the project. 00:07:49.040 --> 00:08:00.720 Um, but when you're designing something in the way that you're talking, particularly because you know, things are changing, video, it has certain, you know, there's certain things you have to do that in video because of the medium that it is. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:12.480 Um, what are some of the kind of guidelines or considerations you would like if someone said, hey Jeff, we want you to consult on this project, uh, you know, we're gonna be building all this stuff up, like we we need your help designing this. 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:20.160 Um, are there guidelines or kind of things that you would you would give to to that person to say, like, hey, this is how you think through this? 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:27.360 Because it does sound like I could do feature, feature, feature, but maybe there's something that has to be true in those inaction sections. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:28.480 Thoughts? 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:29.360 Yeah. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:45.120 So it it is um, you know, I mean, if you are focused on features, you are focused on, you know, how these different things work, what you have to take a step back almost and you have to look at it holistically of like what are the most important parts of it. 00:08:45.279

--> 00:08:49.120 So if we're I'll take the animation uh section, for example. 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:54.559 So we talked about animation, we talked about what the animation basics are, how to add a custom animation. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:09:04.080 But then it's really thinking through, if you're if you're the one developing this, it's thinking through, okay, how can I, what's some real world experience that I can do? 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:06.159 And I I think that part is important. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:19.440 Um, but I think that comes, at least for my process of learning, I like to like play around with different things and test out different things and then put it all together inside of like, okay, now how do I create an animated logo? 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:31.840 Or how do I could create an animated intro or something like that, which takes all of maybe not every single one of those um steps that we did before, but it at least takes um most of the steps and puts it together inside of that flow. 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:37.679 So I think taking a step back and like, okay, what are some real world examples that somebody will go through? 00:09:37.919 --> 00:10:04.240 And because I think part of the problem is if you're just focused on the real world world examples, is you're not um thinking through different um, you're not talking about all the options, you're just talking about just you know what is needed to do that interaction, which then you kind of miss some things um because when you're talking just about the feature in this case, you you could be talking about okay, in this scenario you may want to do this, in this scenario, you may want to do that. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:19.039 So it's it's a little bit of a different approach, but I think it's um if you connect, take a step back, connect uh at least most of what you talked about inside of that real world example, that's where I think it kind of brings it all together. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:26.080 Okay, so I I know from just getting to know you over the last couple of years, you've you've do you do a lot of video. 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:31.120 You've do you've done, like you said, a lot of software training, a lot of kind of technology type training videos. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:35.360 Uh obviously you've got a beautiful setup there that you've worked hard to design. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:43.919 I I'm curious through this process of of focusing on uh kind of a video first experience in the certification. 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:52.159 What what maybe was like uh any aha's or learning experiences that you had about the video creation piece of it? 00:10:52.240 --> 00:11:00.159 Obviously, there's the design side of the certification, but like I and I don't even know how many, like it's a lot of videos, I'm I'm pretty sure, in that certification. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:07.200 So is there something that came out of that that you're like, gosh, you've learned along the ways that that that wisdom could be shared? 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:12.879 Yeah, and I think probably the most impactful one was learning to script. 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:21.840 Um, because I'm I'm tech like I've been doing a lot of these and I've done a lot of tutorials for plural sites and Udemy and stuff like that. 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:26.320 But in most of them I would outline it, but I wouldn't actually script it. 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:42.080 Um and I don't know, I it I felt like I needed to like the outline didn't actually, or the outline would allow me to get the points, but it didn't restrict me as far as what I was saying because in I tried it before and it sounded more robotic. 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:54.080 But in this go-round, when I was starting to work with TechSmith, and when you're working, you know, when I'm creating these courses by myself, most of the time I'm not working with another stakeholder, I'm just kind of creating some training. 00:11:54.320 --> 00:12:01.600 But in this case, I was creating or I was working directly with Tech Smith and I was working with another stakeholder. 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:06.080 Um, and they wanted to make sure that all the terms and everything were correct. 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:11.440 And um, that is one thing initially we started creating videos without me scripting. 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:22.639 And that was good for a few of the videos, but then we started running into some other videos where they're like, oh, we we want to make sure that we reference this, we want to make sure that we call this this. 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:24.879 And that was the the eye opener. 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:26.480 I'm like, I'm gonna have to script. 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:28.639 I'm gonna have to go in there and script it. 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:43.440 Um, and so when I thought it was initially going to be a lot harder than what it ended up being, but um the the benefit from scripting though that I learned was the fact that it does seem to condense it and make your videos shorter. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:50.559 Uh a lot of the some videos that I've created for just one, you know, one video ended up being like 10 minutes or something like that. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:13:02.480 But when I scripted it, it was very much more condensed and it would be only like two to three minutes because I wasn't uh going off on different topics or you know, different uh things that came to my mind as I was recording it. 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:04.559 So I think there's some benefit to that. 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:27.440 But going back to being able to update your videos as well, if I need to go back and update a video, I have the script right there and it makes it a whole lot easier for me to go back into the script, update the script, record it really quick, or maybe just record just a portion of it or whatever's changed in the audio, and then uh just put it back into Camtasia and edit that as well. 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:39.919 So that was

probably the biggest aha for me in going through this um part was the scripting part and and making sure that all the terms and working with uh uh with TechSmith and everything just to make sure that we get it all correct. 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:46.159 Yeah, I think I I love that because we uh for years I've talked about scripts and it's easy to not script, right? 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:56.639 Like it's easy to say, like, oh, I I'm good at this, I know this, but I love your point that it's like, well, you can hit your terms, you can you can make sure you're referencing the right things, you can also condense stuff. 00:13:56.720 --> 00:13:59.200 So that's I think that's a a a great takeaway. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:07.679 Uh let's continue talking about the updating, because I think this is a big concern when anyone I know is making particularly a series of videos, right? 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:21.120 And it's whether it's a certification or just they've got a rollout for new technology inside their organization, it becomes very difficult to think about like, oh my gosh, we're gonna have to make updates in three months, six months, a year. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:29.840 Because video, it by the nature of what it is, is uh once it's edited, it's not as dynamic as, say, text, right? 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:33.440 Like I can I can go into a Word doc and I can change anything. 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:35.039 Video is a little harder. 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:43.279 So I'm curious, what processes or steps have you taken to make sure that you can replicate the the thing that you did? 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:52.559 So like if you did this in March, you know, there's voice, there's the way the screen looks, uh, you know, just all the kind of elements that could be different. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:54.080 How do you how do you address that? 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:56.639 And or maybe you say, like, oh, you don't? 00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:58.720 I I I'm curious what you've got for us. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:14:59.519 Yeah. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:09.120 I think what I what I have done in the past, I mean, we're going back and we're updating some of the modules now uh because it was recorded kind of a little bit earlier. 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:13.840 And so we're just going through and updating, I think, module two and module three. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:20.559 And what we're doing there is um recording it just with the newer version of Camtasia, so Camtasia 2024. 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:25.200 With those, I'm not gonna have to change the audio because I recorded the audio separate. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:34.639 I uh basically can hit play on the audio and go into Camtasia 2024 and then just as I hit play, just do the steps that I'm hearing. 00:15:34.799 --> 00:15:42.240 Um, and so that is one benefit, or you can just have your script up and you can kind of pause it and time it, and then you can post edit it afterwards. 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:48.639 So that's that's helpful if you just go in and need to update the screen because the screen layout has changed. 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:54.879 Um, but one other thing that's been also very helpful is taking the project files on every single video. 00:15:55.039 --> 00:16:02.559 And I usually create like a Dropbox file or you know, whatever Dropbox or OneDrive or whatever you're using. 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:06.240 And what I will do is create a folder for each module. 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:10.399 And then inside of the module, I'll create a folder for each video. 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:17.279 And then as I start to record, I have a Camtasia file separate for each video uh inside of that folder. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:22.720 But I also have the audio file, I have the script file in there, and then I have the project file. 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:34.320 So whatever project file I'm working with, I will save it at the end of the video and I will copy the project file that I was working with on the screen and I will place it whatever project files you may use. 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:51.679 If it's a website, obviously you may not be able to do that, but if you just copy those project files in, then you basically, and I always take the last one as the starting one, and so I have a starter project file and I have an ending project file with that point in time that I was actually at. 00:16:51.840 --> 00:17:03.600 So it takes a couple extra minutes to do, but when I'm going in to update that video, if I need to update something about the project, maybe I need to record the screen, maybe I don't, maybe I just need to update some audio. 00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:11.119 But if I need to record the screen, then I can just go into that project file and have it exactly in that moment of time in my process there. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:17.599 So, okay, Jeff, for all of us who are not as organized as you, how do we get to be good at being staying organized? 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:21.119 I I uh you laid it out for us, but I I don't, that's the hard part, right? 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:23.440 Like actually just taking the time to do those things. 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:26.079 Yeah, my my brain works in Trello. 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:29.359 Trello has been the most helpful thing for me. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:33.759 If I don't have my Trello board up when I'm creating a course, I don't have a brain, really. 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:37.119 That's that's the necessity uh that I have here. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:43.680 And so that's the first thing that I do when I'm creating my project is or I'm creating the course, is I have a Trello board. 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:46.880 And then on that Trello board, I have all of the different modules. 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:53.440 And that really starts to help me think through okay, here's the overall step for this or the kind of the section. 00:17:53.599 --> 00:18:01.200 And then in that section, here's step one, step two, step three that we need to do,

or um, here's the kind of topics we need to cover. 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:07.200 And then with the Trello board, I'm able to kind of reorganize and reposition things and and think through that. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:10.960 So that's where I my my process is pretty much working inside of Trello. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:15.039 And then once I have the video down, that's where I start to add tasks. 00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:22.319 And each of the tasks is like, you know, create the folder, create the project file, add a description of what's going to go on inside of that. 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:28.079 Um, it's mundane that a lot of the stuff when you're working on this type of project stuff is not glorious. 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:38.720 It's not like um the most glamorous thing you can do, but it is incredibly important because then it number one, like we're talking about going back and updating a course. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:44.559 If you have everything organized like that, you can go right into that folder, right into that location you already have inside of Trello. 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:48.480 If you need to open up a new task inside of that card, you can do that. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:19:01.599 Um, but then also if you're working with stakeholders, I had, you know, the TechSmith team go into Trello and they were working on adding their own tasks and marking things off when they reviewed it, adding different comments on there. 00:19:01.680 --> 00:19:08.240 Um, we also re use like the review tool, the um um I'm slipping my mind is slipping. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:10.079 Video review or screencast document. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:10.720 Video review. 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:11.680 Yeah, yeah, screencast. 00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:12.319 Yeah, thank you. 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:18.880 So we'd use that for like feedback and then uh, or we'd use Trello during the planning process before it was like a video. 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:32.079 So that's if if you're laying it out like that and you're doing those mundane tasks, I think your life is going to be a whole lot easier when you're in the production or updating uh content later on when you're in that kind of process. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:37.839 Well, I I I you know it's not glamorous, as you said, but I I do think I can see that that connection. 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:44.160 And I'm out of curiosity, if you remember, how many videos were you creating for the certification? 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:46.160 Uh let's see. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:59.039 So I have the Trello board pulled up right now, and that is we had 11 different modules, and I would say probably almost 10 per module. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:01.680 So it was over a hundred or so. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:09.039 Yeah, and I I I can imagine someone receiving this project for you know, like, and they're like, hey, we need we're we're gonna roll with the system. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:09.440 Here you go. 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:14.960 You need to make

a hundred videos, and and everybody internally says, no, we're not, we're not making a hundred videos. 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:20.720 Um, but what I can see is this the scale, and I know this took time, it's not like this was done overnight. 00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:27.680 Um, but what I I can appreciate is that that it is these things that we do that make this easier. 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:36.000 Um so I I I'm not I'm not as organized as I should be, but I appreciate where you're that I can see how that would make all the difference. 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:39.039 And plus I gotta imagine it's a peace of mind, right? 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:43.039 Like you know you don't miss anything if you've put in all the work to organize it. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:47.839 Well, yeah, and I I've done that same process with the Trello board several times now. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:50.559 So it's almost like a a learned habit. 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:54.640 So once you've actually done it a few times, it becomes a lot easier. 00:20:54.720 --> 00:21:02.400 So I'm not saying that it was it would be like a complete huge task to kind of do that, but it is something that you do have to pick up. 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:07.759 It's something that you have to implement for a little bit, and then it just becomes kind of second nature to you. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:13.759 But on but because of that though, I was able to a different course that I created for my day job. 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:18.319 Um, I was able to create a course within that had six different modules. 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:25.599 So it was a little bit smaller, and I would say probably about four to five videos per module or so, like uh something like that. 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:30.640 And I was able to do that within a week because I already had the content, I already knew the content. 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:38.720 So this one I didn't script, but I had a very similar kind of outline where I'd go in and just hit record, or I'd have an intro at the very beginning. 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:42.319 Uh so I it's me on camera, me on camera at the end of it. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:46.720 But all of the other videos were just, you know, the Camtasia screen recordings and stuff. 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:59.759 And it's to me, I found that a whole lot easier uh because I followed that same type of outline, that same type of process, Trello board, outlined it, and then added tasks for each of them, um, created the folders. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:08.640 And it does sound like a lot, but it is like I mentioned, it it's something that you just get used to and it's something that uh goes a whole lot smoother every time you do it. 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:09.359 Yeah. 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:17.279 Uh Jeff, if it's if it's okay, I want to ask, you know, this gets a little meta because you were making a certification about Camtasia, but you were using Camtasia. 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:34.559 And I'm curious, you know, from a a learning perspective, and I and you know, I know you use other tools as well, but what was there stuff about Camtasia, like tools or features or functions that you feel like really facilitated and helped the the your creation process as you went through this? 00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:44.960 Yeah, so um so it was it was kind of interesting when I recorded it because you're recording Camtasia, but you're also showing Camtasia, so that was one thing. 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:51.920 Um and so I did end up using Parallels in order to record the Windows version of Camtasia. 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:55.839 And what I was doing is I was recording it on a Mac version. 00:22:55.920 --> 00:23:03.680 So I had my Mac version because if you don't know Parallels, Parallels basically allows you to run Windows on a Mac, so it's almost becomes like a different window. 00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:09.599 And so I would hit record on my Mac version and then I would go into my Windows version and hit record there. 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:14.559 Um, or not hit record, but just do whatever I was walking through on the Windows side. 00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:27.839 Uh but as far as like in Camtasia, what I found tremendously helpful throughout the whole process, you know, I was I was talking about editing and so forth, but everything that I actually taught people how to do, I was already doing throughout the video. 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:37.680 So I was editing, I had highlights, I used a lot of the highlights, I used a lot of the arrows, I had like a shape animation that would come in with a section title. 00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:40.640 I would have a title introduction that would come in. 00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:48.880 And what was most useful is when I would actually get to that part of animation, I would say, hey, you can do like title sections for this. 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:52.960 In fact, you've been seeing that this whole time and kind of point out those features. 00:23:53.039 --> 00:24:00.000 And when we got to the highlights, is like you can use these highlights to call uh people's attention to a certain part of the screen. 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:01.759 I've been doing this the whole time. 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:08.160 And so it was helpful to kind of show people like to help click of like, oh, this is what it does. 00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:09.680 This is why I would want to do that. 00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:16.960 And same thing with like even animating in and zooming in on different parts of your screen, helping people focus in on different parts of the screen. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:20.240 I'm like, okay, we've been seeing this as you've been watching the videos. 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:24.720 We've been seeing this exact thing this whole time as you've been watching from the very beginning. 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:39.920 So yeah, it's it's uh uh from my perspective, it's one of those tools, especially when you're teaching somebody, allowing to add those annotations or the zooms

or the the cursor highlights, to just like, yeah, this is what you should be looking at, which is there's no because otherwise there's no guide, right? 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.319 There's nothing there to say, like, hey, this is the most important thing, this is where your eye should be. 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:45.200 You just don't know. 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:52.480 In fact, I actually funny thing is like when I do live presentations at conferences now, I turn on the accessibility on my Mac. 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:58.960 And if you hold down, I think it's the control or option button, and then you use your control wheel, uh, it will zoom in. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:06.400 And so I'm like, I'm so used to the zoom ins of Camtasia to help people focus in on different parts that I had to do that in person. 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:10.240 And so I'm sitting there zooming in and zooming out to help people focus on that. 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:14.799 So that's I blame Camtasia for that, but that's something that I do right now as well. 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:15.599 I love it. 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:17.680 You're you're welcome to blame Camtasia for that. 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:19.440 Just don't blame it for the other stuff. 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:20.319 Yeah. 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:25.039 Well, Jeff, uh there's there's a lot more we could talk about certification. 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:31.599 Um, I I do want to ask you, I know this is not a Camtasia kind of video focus, but you actually mixed up and changed up the quisine. 00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:33.680 Uh, give me give give us a highlight. 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:35.759 What because I I know you're really proud of it. 00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:38.160 Uh, I know I've got I've heard really good things about it. 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:39.359 So tell us what do you do? 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:44.319 Because a part of a certification, of course, is you're going from through all this stuff, but you got to show knowledge, right? 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:46.160 You got to show that you you've learned something. 00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:48.000 So tell us just a little bit about quizing. 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:48.400 Yeah. 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:54.880 So so I have been teaching a tool um just as long as Camtasia called Storyline, Articulate Storyline. 00:25:55.119 --> 00:25:57.920 And Storyline is an e-learning development tool. 00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:04.559 It basically gives you like a blank canvas, and a lot of people kind of describe it as like PowerPoint, PowerPoint on steroids. 00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:08.400 Um, and it allows you to create a page-by-page experience. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:14.720 And one thing that it does really well is it creates quizzes and it tracks those quizzes. 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:19.759 And the way that the certification is delivered is through a learning management system. 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:33.440 And in that learning management system, it allows the learner to um, like when the quiz pulls up, it will track the quiz and it'll score it and it allows you to come back to see what my score was and to kind of review that. 00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:36.160 So Storyline is a great tool to be able to do that. 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:50.160 And what I wanted to do is create a more visual type of quiz because I I didn't look at the old one just to not bias myself, but it would, um, I think it was just a plain static quiz, um, just like a forum or something like that that you would fill out. 00:26:50.400 --> 00:27:00.480 And so this was a little bit different, and we were able to have a page-by-page quiz experience, and we're able to take screenshots and even use like hotspots on those screenshots. 00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:10.079 And so to answer the question, it wasn't just, you know, select not on some of them it is, it wasn't just select a radio button on some of them, it was like actually selecting the screen. 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:21.920 Uh, and so that is one kind of level, but there was other review things, and that was, you know, something that from the very beginning, uh, my partners with TechSmith were like, we want to make this more interactive. 00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:25.839 And that was that's when I perk up because that's what I really do. 00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:27.759 It is make things more interactive. 00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:37.920 And so we created some other experiences um that allow the person to explore and uh create these types of uh or to explore what's possible. 00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:51.519 And so there is one, for example, when you're talking about visual effects or you're learning about visual effects, is the visual effects is like, okay, it's good to see them inside of Camtasia, but I want to explore to see what each of those do. 00:27:51.680 --> 00:28:01.599 So I created an interaction that looked very similar to the visual effects that you see in Camtasia, and it has like different rows and columns and stuff, and you see the same image. 00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:07.680 I wanted to make sure it was the same image that you see inside of the visual effects panel inside of Camtasia. 00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:14.559 But this time what you could do is you could click on it and it would pop open a modal, a little pop-up, and it has an image. 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:23.039 It could be the same image, or some of them are different, some of them are animated as well, and then it has a little bit of a description of what that visual effect does. 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:29.200 And when you close that modal, it will just turn it like green and it will give a little check mark as well. 00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:30.880 Um, so that was one example. 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:35.680 The other example was a step-by-step of how to group items. 00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:40.160 Uh and you know, these common tasks of like, okay, what do I need to do? 00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:42.000 And so, or how do I group? 00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:43.119 How do I go

into the group? 00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:44.880 How do I re uh leave the group? 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:49.119 How do I uh remove the group inside of Camtasia on the timeline? 00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:53.839 So I created this step-by-step interaction where you would see, okay, here's the step. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:58.400 You would see an image above it, but when you go to the next step, it would be an animated image. 00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:12.000 So it was actually an animated GIF just doing that one step that you're focused on, and you could see it over, it loops over and over, but you can see it loop over and over to see exactly, okay, that's how I select all three items that I want to group. 00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:12.720 Okay, good. 00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:13.920 Step two, okay. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:17.359 Then I right click and then I select, you know, group. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:23.599 So those are the things that kind of broke it down a little bit, and I created those animated GIFs using Camtasia as well. 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:34.720 Um, so I just recorded it like a normal video, just on one step, and then I exported it as an animated GIF and then brought it in and created that, you know, step-by-step learning experience. 00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:40.240 And so those were things that kind of complement the quiz, but the quiz themselves were a lot more visual. 00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:45.839 And so far, I've heard some good feedback on those that have taken it on the quizzes compared to the previous quizzes. 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:50.720 So yeah, well, I love first of all that you're incorporating like the the gifts, right? 00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:53.759 Uh, add taking those, building those in Camtasia, adding those in. 00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:58.400 Um, but I think that, you know, what I'm hearing is obviously you want a good experience during that quiz. 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:00.720 You want people to feel like you want people to feel accomplished. 00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:02.400 It should challenge their knowledge a little bit. 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:03.599 It's a certification. 00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:13.200 Uh, and having it be visual obviously allows us, really, you as a creator, to do some things that maybe a text description may not be able to convey as well. 00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:18.000 Like we're, I mean, we're all about the power of visuals at TechSmith, so it only makes sense to do a more visual quiz. 00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:18.559 And I love that. 00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:27.599 And I love that, you know, this idea that like our articulate storyline and Camtasia come together to really give you a really robust option and solution. 00:30:27.759 --> 00:30:28.880 So that's that's pretty cool. 00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:42.079 Yeah, I think it kind of works both ways because you could do that as a separate, you can have Camtasia as a separate thing inside of your LMS, uh, your learning management system, and then you have Storyline to do the interactive part. 00:30:42.400 --> 00:30:58.240 But a lot of ways in the learning and development field, you can even take Camtasia videos because Camtasia is the best with videos, and you can take Camtasia videos and you can insert them inside of Storyline and even have uh built interactive videos around that as well. 00:30:58.319 --> 00:31:08.720 I've done a lot of blog posts on that, is where we have uh video, and then you kind of you pause the video and you give the learner a choice on the video, and depending on what they choose, it could take them to a different video. 00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:13.759 It's kind of like a branching uh scenario, like choose your own adventure type of scenario. 00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:25.680 So those are really compelling to be able to create those videos and then to on top of it use something like Storyline to then create it um to make it interactive and and um branching and so forth. 00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:27.680 Yeah, I I love that. 00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:32.160 Well, Jeff, we are we are we've got a lot we've said. 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:34.480 I think it's time for us to to keep moving here. 00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:36.079 We're gonna move on to our speed round. 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:40.160 So if you're new to the show, quick, fast answers determined by the roll of the dice. 00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:41.440 We're gonna play a little stinger here. 00:31:41.599 --> 00:31:42.880 Jeff, are you ready? 00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:43.839 I am ready. 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:44.400 Let's do it. 00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:45.759 All right, here we go. 00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:57.519 All right, so we've talked a lot about certification, but we've got 12 questions, and I don't know what I'm gonna ask you, Jeff, because I'm gonna roll the dice right now. 00:31:57.680 --> 00:31:58.559 Here we go. 00:31:58.799 --> 00:31:59.599 Look at that. 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:00.480 It is a two. 00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:01.359 Number two. 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:05.680 Okay, put aside, suspend disbelief with me for a second. 00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:10.799 If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would you go and why? 00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:17.279 I know I am a Disneyland person. 00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:23.279 I am a Disney, like my daughter and I are Disney, and my wife are Disney fanatics. 00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:28.160 And so honestly, I would actually go to all of the Disney parks. 00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:36.160 So that's multiple locations, but like right now, because the Olympics is going on right now, so I would go to the the Paris Disneyland. 00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:42.559 Now like I I told my wife as we were watching the Olympics, I'm like, how many people are actually at Disneyland Paris? 00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:44.400 I'm like, I'd go there right now. 00:32:44.559 --> 00:32:47.279 I wouldn't be at the Olympics, I'd be at Disneyland Paris. 00:32:47.680 --> 00:32:52.799 I you know, I I'm so glad you said Disney because I was as I asked

the question, I'm thinking, he's gonna say Disney. 00:32:52.880 --> 00:32:54.240 He better say Disney. 00:32:54.799 --> 00:32:57.359 I was thinking of other options of like, of course it's Disney. 00:32:57.440 --> 00:32:59.200 Why would why didn't I think of anything else? 00:32:59.599 --> 00:32:59.839 Yeah. 00:33:00.160 --> 00:33:01.599 Be true to thyself, right? 00:33:01.759 --> 00:33:04.880 No, so all right, next, next question here. 00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:05.680 Uh number one. 00:33:05.839 --> 00:33:07.279 Ooh, this one's a little tough. 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:14.000 Uh Jeff, if you could have any you have dinner with anyone, I I usually say historical figure, but it could be anyone. 00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:15.119 Who would it be and why? 00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:17.599 It could be past, could be current person. 00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:20.480 You get to have dinner with them. 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:25.440 Um I would say, like, I would say Steve Jobs. 00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:27.440 Um big Apple fanboy. 00:33:27.680 --> 00:33:33.680 Um we're Walt Disney, of course, but uh for tech, the tech side of things, definitely Steve Jobs. 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:44.160 Uh just to I don't know how it would go based on his reputation, but it would be cool just to say that to tell people I met Steve Jobs, I had dinner with Steve Jobs. 00:33:44.559 --> 00:33:52.880 Um I've been an Apple fanboy since you know, even before the iPhone, and uh working with like tools like final cuts and other things. 00:33:52.960 --> 00:33:54.559 So I would stay that. 00:33:54.799 --> 00:33:56.720 Yeah, that that would be a good one. 00:33:56.880 --> 00:33:58.160 Okay, we got one more. 00:33:58.240 --> 00:33:58.799 Here we go. 00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:00.400 Dice is a rolling. 00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:03.119 Oh, we can't have a two again. 00:34:03.359 --> 00:34:05.119 Not that that doesn't happen very often. 00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:06.000 Okay, seven. 00:34:06.079 --> 00:34:06.799 This is a good one. 00:34:07.039 --> 00:34:07.759 Okay, Jeff. 00:34:07.839 --> 00:34:11.840 I know you are a person who has several hobbies, things that you like to pursue. 00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:19.199 A lot of it is in tech, but what's a hobby or interest you've always wanted to pursue, but haven't had the chance to as of yet? 00:34:19.920 --> 00:34:24.960 Yeah, so a lot of mine, I mean, obviously you'll see I do have a lot of hobbies. 00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:26.639 I collect a lot of items too. 00:34:26.719 --> 00:34:29.039 So I have like a lot of collectible items. 00:34:29.280 --> 00:34:40.719 But one thing that I've played around with that I want to do more that I just haven't had, and this is this is tech related, but I've wanted to uh do more iPhone development. 00:34:40.880 --> 00:34:49.840 So I wanted to create more uh like actual iPhone apps, iPhone like iPad apps, and I have the the Apple Vision Pro as well. 00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:53.360 So creating more virtual reality AR experiences. 00:34:53.519 -->

00:34:54.559 I've dabbled in it. 00:34:54.639 --> 00:34:59.760 I've created some, I've created you know a couple apps that are just like fun apps here and there for tracking. 00:34:59.840 --> 00:35:06.000 And we have a true, you know, we're Disney people, so I created like a countdown app for our next trip. 00:35:06.239 --> 00:35:11.039 So um things like that where I would just love to dive in and just be able to work on apps. 00:35:11.199 --> 00:35:19.599 And in fact, I think if I was to retire ever, I would probably just spend time working on mobile apps or virtual reality apps or things like that. 00:35:19.920 --> 00:35:20.800 I I love it. 00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:22.079 And it's such a great answer. 00:35:22.159 --> 00:35:29.119 Well, Jeff, thank you for sharing so much of your wisdom and thoughts today about the certification, about video, about your hobbies. 00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:34.320 Um, I before we we wrap things up though, I do want to say, I know you've got a lot of courses out there. 00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:36.880 You're, you know, you do consulting work and things like that. 00:35:36.960 --> 00:35:41.039 If people want to reach out to you, connect with you, how should they do that? 00:35:42.400 --> 00:35:45.920 Yeah, you can reach out to me on LinkedIn if you just search Jeff Bat. 00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:53.199 Um, you can also uh reach out to me through X, I think is now what it's called, Twitter, uh Jeff Bat LXD. 00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:56.559 And then you can also just go to my website, learning dojo.ninja. 00:35:56.719 --> 00:35:58.639 I do post like a weekly blog post. 00:35:58.719 --> 00:36:03.840 Uh sometimes it's on Camtasia, sometimes it's on Storyline, sometimes it's on other things as well. 00:36:03.920 --> 00:36:05.920 So you can check out my blog post there as well. 00:36:06.239 --> 00:36:09.519 Yeah, and I will say that, Jeff, you do some awesome videos. 00:36:09.599 --> 00:36:15.119 If you're if you're learning those tools, I've seen your videos on Camtasia, I've seen videos on Storyline and so forth. 00:36:15.360 --> 00:36:16.400 Really well done. 00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:20.880 Uh, we'll post the links, of course, in the the comments below and things like that. 00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:25.199 Uh before we wrap, the last thing we usually do with our guests, Jeff, is we ask them for their final take. 00:36:25.280 --> 00:36:33.440 And the final take is the idea is to summarize, say something that maybe, if you haven't said something that you wanted to say, but you got 30, 60 seconds. 00:36:33.599 --> 00:36:37.599 And so, Jeff Bat, what is your final take? 00:36:38.719 --> 00:36:39.840 Now, I've been reflecting. 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:43.280 I'm about to release a video uh about my studio. 00:36:43.440 --> 00:36:47.119 So, my studio here and kind of the behind the scenes of my studio. 00:36:47.199 --> 00:36:54.960 So I've been reflecting a lot on that because it's about three years ago that I decided to do more on camera uh videos. 00:36:55.199 --> 00:37:05.519 I've had my YouTube channel for over 12 years or so, and it was three years ago where I'm like, I want to really master the on-camera, the lights, the settings, everything like that. 00:37:05.840 --> 00:37:10.960 So if it comes down to it, where I would have to leave you with some advice, it'd be like, just get started. 00:37:11.039 --> 00:37:13.039 And that's in my video I talk about. 00:37:13.199 --> 00:37:17.440 I started out with just an iPhone and a in a cheap ring light, basically. 00:37:17.599 --> 00:37:20.480 And it's going through there and I learned some lessons. 00:37:20.559 --> 00:37:24.880 I I saw there was a bunch of drop shadows or harsh shadows in my background. 00:37:25.039 --> 00:37:34.159 So it was a lot of lessons where if you're like, it's almost this insatiable kind of um, I want to get better, I want to improve, I want to try something different. 00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:46.480 And if you could do that and just get started and just try some things out, whether you're doing development or Camtasia, is just open it up and play around with some things and try something here, try something there. 00:37:46.639 --> 00:37:58.719 I think that's the the the really the advice that I would give to anybody learning any new software, any new application, is just get started and just test it out and play around with it and get to know it. 00:37:58.800 --> 00:38:00.400 So perfect. 00:38:00.559 --> 00:38:03.599 Well, Jeff, thank you again for joining me in the Visual Lounge. 00:38:03.920 --> 00:38:05.360 Yeah, thanks for having me. 00:38:05.519 --> 00:38:06.159 You bet. 00:38:06.400 --> 00:38:08.079 All right, everybody, you heard it from Jeff. 00:38:08.239 --> 00:38:11.679 What a great summary of how you can go about building these programs, right? 00:38:11.760 --> 00:38:23.760 If it's certification, maybe it's just a rollout for a piece of technology, you know, you've got to have multiple videos, how you can connect those in a way without, you know, making them so intertwined that when you change one, you have to change 10 or 20. 00:38:23.920 --> 00:38:25.199 So really great advice there. 00:38:25.280 --> 00:38:30.159 And of course, we encourage you to continue to learn, continue to develop your skills because that's what this is all about. 00:38:30.239 --> 00:38:35.599 If you're in learning development, you're in customer education, maybe you're a creator and you're looking at, hey, how do I get better at these things? 00:38:35.679 --> 00:38:42.159 You heard Jeff, get started, start doing it, learn from your processes, make some mistakes, then fix them, of course. 00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:44.159 So we hope that you get something out of this. 00:38:44.320 --> 00:38:53.840 If you got feedback for us, of course, we're always available at the Visual Lounge at TechSmith.com, or you can find us on one of the various social channels, just at TechSmith, it will get to me, I promise you. 00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:58.079 With that said, we hope you take a little time to level up every single day. 00:38:58.320 --> 00:38:59.280 Thanks everybody.