Not all educational content is created equal. Everyone has sat through tedious or poorly produced ‘educational’ videos before, and the results are never pretty. Viewers are, at best, left feeling bored or confused. At worst, they’re frustrated, or even contemptuous of the points the video was making. These bad memories might make you wary of producing your own content, and uncertain of how to proceed.

Fortunately, it’s not as difficult as it may seem to produce exceptional educational content. Your videos can be simultaneously entertaining, engaging, and educational. Best of all, they don’t have to break the bank to achieve this high level of production. To be successful, there are several key elements you must bear in mind when you are planning your educational content.

First, identify your audience and their particular needs and interests. Second, choose the style of video your content is best suited for. Do you need a presenter to best convey the information, or is a well-designed set of slides appropriate? Third, if filming is required, address as many problems as possible during pre-production to guarantee the best quality content. 

And finally, keep your budget in mind. Careful planning and strategic technology use can significantly cut down on costs while still delivering a flawless final product.

Identifying your Audience

The focus of education for associations will look different depending on what factors are at play. Different audiences require different approaches in educational content. You must consider the prior experiences and knowledge of your viewers, as well as the desired outcome for your association. Broadly speaking, there are three main audience categories your content might target:

• Association members
• Legislators and lobbyists
• The general public

Members

Generally speaking, your association members will be your best-informed potential audience, so you won’t need to waste much time on basic facts. Your educational content may be focused on their continuing education, or on keeping them abreast of changes in the industry. As a group, members often have the highest level of investment in your association already. As such, providing them with value for their time and participation is of special importance.

Legislators and Lobbyists

Legislators and lobbyists have similar concerns about the value of their time, but will likely have a lower threshold of prior knowledge. Your content should take this into account, and balance general information with more detailed information on the pressing issues. Educational content targeting legislators and lobbyists can help you protect your members and support your industry, as long as it is well produced.

General Public

Finally, if the general public is your audience, you must ensure that your content makes few assumptions regarding prior knowledge. There’s no guarantee that any viewer has significant education in your industry. The broad range of experiences and backgrounds for this group can make content development more challenging, but the potential dividends are high. Successful educational content for the public has the potential to be excellent marketing for associations, potentially growing awareness of your activities and services.

The Three Styles of Online Educational Content

In general, there are different ways to create educational content. The style of content you choose may be guided by your budget, the complexity of the information at hand, or the length of video you wish to produce. However, certain elements, such as professionally produced audio and effective branding, will be present in all styles of high-quality educational content. At Association Studios, there are three distinct styles of educational content offered. These are:

1. Slides and audio
2. Presenter, slides, and audio
3. Motion graphics

Slides and Audio

This style of content is simple, clean, and professional. Slide decks are presented with meticulously edited audio, including custom introduction music. This custom music is ideal for branding your educational content.

Presenter, Slides, and Audio

If you want to make your content more engaging, you should use a content presenter. Producers from Association Studios will seamlessly combine presenter footage with your slide deck, custom introduction music, and professional audio editing.

Motion Graphics

This style of content animates your slides, producing a dynamic and fluid presentation. With the addition of music and audio, the resulting educational video will be excellent for engaging viewers.

Essentials for Producing Flawless Educational Content

Again, regardless of which of the three styles of educational content you end up utilizing, there are key elements that must be executed effectively to create high-quality videos. Read more on the five ways of producing flawless educational content. We’ll briefly summarize the five ways here. They are:

1. Effective setting
2. Professionally produced audio 
3. Unobstructed camera view
4. Question and answer segment
5. Optimized staging

All of these keys can be boiled down to this: your content must be free of distractions, easy and entertaining to listen to, pleasant to look at, and informative. If you are filming a presenter, it’s vital to consider the camera view in the pre-production phases. Remember that this will be more than an average presentation, it will be a kind of ‘staged’ event. 

Consider factors such as lighting, situations where people may walk in front of the camera, and what questions the audience will have. 

If your content will be just audio and slides, then the pre-planning must pay special attention to ensure high-quality audio capture. Professional audio producers will be able to refine this audio, and ensure that it works elegantly in your final content. 

At Association Studios, these production concerns and more are always at the forefront of the planning process. Our editors and producers are experienced in identifying problems before they occur, ensuring your final product will truly be flawless. 

Save on Cost

Finally, you have to keep budget in mind when it comes to producing your content. How you schedule your events, the cost of travel and accommodations for your videographer, and the length and style of your content are all factors to consider when budgeting. 

Easily the most cost-effective solution for creating educational content is hosting a webinar. At Association Studios, you can host a Zoom call, and utilize the audio and slide content from that call to create your final content. Professional audio production will still be applied, guaranteeing a flawless final product without any videographer or travel costs.

Of course, there are cost-effective ways to incorporate filming as well. This article can help you identify ways to strategize your spending. Excellent educational content is accessible, regardless of your budget.

The Bottom Line

Online educational content is hands-down the best way to engage a large and diverse audience. Your information can travel around the world in an instant, keeping all of your interested parties simultaneously up to date. Your association education goals may vary, but flawlessly produced content is always going to be effective in reaching individual goals.

So, the next time you’re looking into creating educational content, keep this article in mind. Tailor your content to your audience, decide on which style of video you want to create, and remember that you can create excellent content regardless of your budget. Do all of this, and you’ll never have to see anyone cringe their way through another bad educational video in your presence ever again.