Comms videos - Process. Tools. Skills. Let’s talk.

[darrellaas]

Video is a powerful communication medium. Now that creating and editing and publishing videos can all be done from our phones, it opens up the possibilities for authentic, engaging content in our orgs. I have seen some fantastic examples shared on Viva Engage. We have TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to thank for this.

How are you approaching video in your organisations? Are you encouraging your people leaders to whip out their phone and record a quick thought in-situ? 

Some comms videos require a higher production standard, equipment, editing tools, scripts, lighting… 

How are you creating comms videos in your organisation? Do you have some go-to formats that have been effective at getting your message across? How do you plan your people-leader videos? 

How are you finding the new Stream as a video publishing platform, in combo with SharePoint? Or are you using a different combo of tools? 

A survey was shared earlier in this community that asked the same questions. But I thought it would be interesting to have a discussion about it too. 

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/corporate-communications/do-you-create-videos-or-screen-recor...

[#2]

In terms of the companies I’ve worked with, video is typically an afterthought. They’ll have occasional leadership videos, something relating to a campaign, and perhaps something a bit more fun.

When smartphones with cameras started becoming a thing, I tried to explain the potential of video to my architectural practice employers. Not just videos of completed buildings, computer-generated flythroughs or timelapses of construction, but the kind of things an architect or building engineer could record on-site like a detail, or showing how something worked. My efforts to put flythrough videos onto the SP2007 home page were met by IT demanding I pull them back down.

At least, these days we have the kind of bandwidth needed to support videos, I rather wish that we had better ways of getting them in front of employees in ways that makes them easy to discover and relevant.

[#3]

Darrell, firstly, I love your work on YouTube and all channels where you share tips and wisdom. I first found your content and channels from Stephen Rose, who I used to work with at Microsoft.

I also love the sharing of ideas and tips and tricks here. I have found from my experience over the past several years, that the more authentic the video, the better the reception. I started pointing leaders to ClipChamp within Windows 11 to easily and quickly generate and edit a video they felt comfortable with and within brand. Leaders started to feel more comfortable with the idea of just using their phone to capture a quick 30 second video, throw into ClipChamp and edit easily.

I am now utilizing the "Create" feature from within Microsoft 365, which allows me to screen capture and then narrate along with my screen and drop in an easy music track below the video. Provides a semi professional feel without a lot of lift.

One thing noticed over the past few years as well, since COVID, is those high produced, high priced videos didn't necessarily get more watches, more streams or more shares. However, when a Leader did an unscripted, shoot from the hip, off the cuff, sharing top of mind videos that were not overproduced, those were watched, shared and stream far more often. That was informative for engagement and attention.

I also use Canva personally as part of running a podcast and find their tools to be simple and powerful. I am going to start using Adobe Express too for personal projects. I am curious if Designer will have similar features soon.

[#4]

Thank you for your support @BillKirst. I learn so much from sharing my learning-journey with the community. Video has been a big part of that.

I like what you shared about using different tools to record and edit videos. I agree that people value authenticity more so than flashy production techniques. Apps like Clipchamp, Canva and Adobe Express are so helpful, making simple editing easier to access. For quick video editing on mobile, my go-to app is Videoleap.

I tried the Clipchamp web app via Microsoft 365 just last week. It works quite well for quick simple videos. Looking closer, I was surprised to see the web app edits the video file locally on our computer, then uploads it. Clever.

I see the new Stream working on video recording and screen recording too. I cant help thinking that there should be a merge between Stream web recording and Clipchamp. But it wouldn’t be the first time that two or more Microsoft product groups work on similar features/products.

To help people leaders with video editing, it would be good to see video sharing and coauthoring scenarios develop. A people leader could record a video from mobile then use Clipchamp to start editing. They ask for some help from a team member and share the video (the file could be stored in their OneDrive.) Then the team member might be able to either leave comments or help coauthor the video, syncing changes in the video project back to the people leader’s OneDrive.

It’s interesting to see developments in this space and I do hope organisations encourage sharing of video.  

[#5]

I love the idea of co-authoring. It did take a team of folks with different perspectives and points of view to get each one of those videos out, even the quick, genuine, shot on an iPhone ones. I know that Microsoft was working on something similary for podcasters, to allow co-editing in real time of audio clips, as if editing in a text editor. I wonder if that product development got paused in all the Copilot cacophony?