How To
Become A Creator
Great! You've decided to become an creator and share your unique ability with the world. Following a few easy steps will simpliy the creation process and provide you with the best results. Once you have completed this process, get ready to earn!
Plan
Your Course
- Define The Learning Objectives
- Define Your Target Audience
- Submit Your Course Application For Approval
- Build Your Script
Record
Your Course
- Plan & Setup Your Recording Space
- Record and Submit Your Sample Introduciton
- Record Your Content
Post
Recording
- Create Your Visual Course Assets
- Edit and Produce Final Course Videos
- Publish Your Course!
Plan Your Course
Define The Learning Objectives
You may be surprised that making a course is not just sitting down and making a recording. You have your unique ability and now defining what you hope your audience will learn will help you frame the narrative of your script making the writing easier. Less is more, be concise and as specific as possible. You'll use what you define here as part of your course introduction, and how the course is communicated to potential viewers. This is what attracts viewers. Defining something compelling here will help you to springboard the success of your course.
Define Your Target Audience
This small but important step will guide you in understanding the appeal of your course. Again being specific will help with how and where your course will be advertised and communicated. Making sure that the course is targeted to the right audience will maximize the returns and increase the adoption of your course. Place yourself in the shoes of your target audience will also help you frame the narrative of your script as you'll better know what they want and need to hear. Understanding your audience will help make the course more relevant and better aligned to the learning objectives.
Submit Your Course Application For Approval
Once you have completed Steps 1 & 2, you should be able to complete and submit your application for approval. This is a necessary step such that Talk2Expert can collaborate with you and help refine, if necessary, your objectives. Talk2Expert will also assess the marketability and content of your course to make sure that it meets our guidelines as well as making sure courses of the exact same nature don't already exist or are in process on Talk2Expert.
Before beginning production and expense of making your course, please make sure you have received approval from Talk2Expert. Generally this approval will take less than 24 hours as the application is short a quick onboarding process can then proceed. After onboarding, you will have access to various resourses to aid in the creation of your course.
Build Your Script
This is probably where you will spend the most effort. Most people will not be able to "wing it" so to speak, and those that try will usuall end up with a script that lacks structure and specific purpose. Taking the time to write an engaging script will pay huge dividends in the long run. Though writing scripts is a very individual process there are some good practices to make it easier.
- Less is more, try not to be too verbose.
- Use simpler language making it easier for your audience to grasp
- Plan the use of your visual aids and tie it directly to what is spoken
- Orgainze to align with objectives
- Test your script with a trial audience
- Practice your script before recording
Remember the written word is different from spoken. Try and be as conversational as possible, this will help engage the audience better. With the use of comfortable and familiar langauge, attention capture for the audience is also elevated. Make sure that you break down your course into digestable segments. The attention span of most learners will start to fade in as little as 10 minutes. Making sure that your script includes the visual aids such as slides or illustrations will increase the visual appeal and reduce audience fatigue. Expect that the audience will watch the course over several incremental viewings, try and organize the course with a well defined structure. It is important that each segment is well aligned with your learning objectives. Practice with a few people and get feedback, it will be invaluable though possbily humbling, it is very much worth that extra effort.
Record Your Course
Plan & Setup Your Recording Space
Just like planning your script, planning and setting up your recording space can make a dramatic improvement to your course. First, make sure you are aware of the content and technical requirments which can be found here.
Next lets talk about general setup. For most courses, a signifcant portion will be with the creator in frame often refered as a "talking head video". Consider what the audience is seeing. Having a high key background (bright white) with the creator the only thing in view, puts all the emphasis on the creator but for extended run times can be fatiguing for the viewer. Having a background that carries some visual interest may set a better mood and is more appealing for the viewer. However you do want to avoid anything that will detract from you the subject of the scene. There are a lot of resources on the web to create compositions that will match what your intent are and there are literally endless possibilities.
Lighting is one of the most important elements to consider as that will have the biggest effect on the visual quality of the video. Proper lighting is critical and having a well lit environment will only increase the quality of your course. There are many resources avaialable on how to setup some simple arrangements. This can be done virtually without cost, though studio lights can improve the overall quality, it is possible to shoot perfectly good video without the expense. Stay away from having your scene only naturally lit as lighting conditions will vary and can significaly impact what is seen in the video.
Camera placement should be at a comfortable eye to eye level. Avoid dramatic angles to the subject as it will just come out looking strange. The camera should also be stablized on a tripod or by some other method. Handheld will introduce too much shake and will be too distracting for the viewer. There are a huge range of low cost to expensive cameras with an equally large range of quality. For those making a video for their first time, there is no need to go through any huge expense to get a expensive camera. Today the most current mobile phones are vitrual recording studos in themselves and will produce perfectly acceptable (in many cases better) video.
The last is audio, it is important to record good and clean audio, its even more important than video is that is what you are cognitavley processing and having poor audio will drastically detract from the course. We would suggest using a low cost lavalier microphone that is either connected to your mobile phone or a inexpensive recorder to capture the audio. More advaneced setups is possible, again, your budget will determine what you can get, but it is possible to capture verg good audio inexpensively. There are great lavalier microphones for under $20 as a perfectly viable option.
Recording may not be just constrained to you as the subject, but you may have other footage or screen captures that will be used as part of your overall narrative. The general rule of thumb is to record in the highest quality possible (lowest compression). In all cases, try and make sure the subject is the focus (and in focus) and there are not distractions such as large microphone in the face of the subject. Review the videos you shoot and judge for yourself that they look great.
Record and Submit Your Sample Introduction
Now that you have written your script, setup your recording environment, you can record your introductory segment. Once that is complete you will have instructions on where you upload your sample for reivew. Talk2Expert will review the sample for technicl compliance as well for asthetic appeal. Quite often some we will ask to reshoot the introduction with some suggested changes. This is all in the effort for you to produce the highest quality course possible which in the long run will mean more viewers and recommendations. After completing this step, Talk2Expert will give the "good to go" message where you will be ready to record the remainder of your course.
Record Your Content
Finally you have completed all that is needed so you can record your course. Remember to break it down into manageable chunks. This includes recording. You may find that you will want to spread out the recording over a number of days. This is the most typical approach as many will take time to reherse their script, chapter to chapter. Regardless what your approach is, keep the following points in mind.
- Speak slowly and clearly, many will be using subtitles, going too fast, readers may not keep up
- Be susinct as possible
- Weave in your other video assets or illustrations to maintain visual interest
- I can't say this enough -- RELAX and enjoy the process, don't be stressed as the audience can sense it
- Take as many takes as needed, you don't have to record entire chapters as a single good take.
- Take advanatage of the power of editing, many takes can be combined to produce the perfect segment, illustrations or video assets can be strategically incorporated to covrer up many recording hickups
- Lable your video (and audio) files well, be organized as things can get out of hand very quickly. This is a HUGE timesaver
Post Recording
Create Your Visual Course Assets
Presumably your course is not an entire "talking head" video. Other visual assets such as images, other video footage, animation, screen recordings, or illustrations help tell your story and can significantly improve the conveying of key concepts. Even stock footage can be strategically used to help illustrate a required point. These assets should be pre-planned as part of your scripting process so there are interwoven throughout the spoken narrative and have the correct context. These Visual assets usually are the differentiating features from a good course to an amazing course. Take your time with them and produce the best quality possible.
Edit and Produce Your Final Course Videos
This step may or may not be performed by you the creator. Talk2Expert offers to help in this technical process as many creators do not have the ability to edit. In the case where Talk2Expert is involved in the final production steps, it is still the creator that will approve the final product. Since Talk2Expert is targeted to be a multilingual platform, scripts will need to be provided in text form so we can add subtitles to each video. Talk2Expert will also translate the subtitles for other langauges which may incorporate some effort from the creator. You the creator, will be responsible for any other assets such as read along materials, code snippets etc. This stage will produce all the final output required to complete the course ready for distribution on the platform.
Publish Your Course
Publishing the course requires that you provide some information for marketing purposes. It is also the best time for you to get out the word about your course through your own social media channels as well. Agreement will be made for the go live date for the course so all the marketing efforts by Talk2Expert and the creator can begin. Once published and the course is live, the creator makes a minimum of 2 hours per month of online one on one time with a student based on a suppled schedule from the creator. Pricing and timing of the one on one sessions will be managed by the creator through their online dashboard.