Are you ready to upgrade your microphone but aren’t sure where to start in the complex world of audio equipment and microphones? You’re in luck. This episode of The Visual Lounge is all about audio – how to pick the best equipment, how to use it correctly, mistakes to watch out for, and much more. Host Matt Pierce has some helpful need-to-know tips and even tests some of the most popular microphones on the market. Learning points from the episode include: 1:28 – 2:38 How much should you spend on...
Apr 27, 2022•55 min•Ep 117•Transcript available on Metacast Are demos a necessary tool in L&D? Well, according to Troy Stein, TechSmith’s VP of Customer Advocacy, they’re super vital. He joins this episode of The Visual Lounge to explain why and share some tips on how to do demos the right way. The way Troy sees it, demos are to instructional videos what trailers are to movies. They don’t just give a sneak peek into what’s coming, they also pique the viewer's interest and make them want to know more. But there are key elements that need to be on poin...
Apr 20, 2022•51 min•Ep 116•Transcript available on Metacast How do you balance aesthetics and helpfulness when creating videos? Diane Elkins, the Co-owner of Artisan E-Learning and E-Learning Uncovered, joins this episode of The Visual Lounge to discuss. Diane is a national e-learning expert. She’s in the business of helping people create courses they can be proud of —and visual aids happen to play a big part. It’s not simply about creating visuals that look great. They also have to be purposeful, offer value, and complement the rest of your content. For...
Apr 13, 2022•57 min•Ep 115•Transcript available on Metacast Want to take your video editing skill to the next level (we’re talking ‘coloring outside the line ' levels)? Then this episode has your name on it. Cristi Cotovan joins The Visual Lounge to take us through some of the ‘out of the box’ work he’s been doing on Camtasia. Cristi is a video editor, educational content creator, developer, and Founder of Design Catchup and Graphicious. One of his superpowers is having a “visual brain,” and that certainly comes in handy in his line of work. One of...
Apr 06, 2022•58 min•Ep 114•Transcript available on Metacast Creating videos can be a work-intensive process – especially when you’re doing everything from scratch. But it doesn’t have to take eons to come up with a well-rounded video, and that’s what Andy Owen, the Social Engagement and Video Manager at TechSmith, discusses in this episode of The Visual Lounge. As Andy explains, recreating every element of your video from scratch is just not practical as your career progresses, it’s important for content creators to embrace the efficiency that comes with...
Mar 30, 2022•57 min•Ep 113•Transcript available on Metacast Storytelling can be a powerful tool in the L&D community. But, as it is with most tools, you need to know how to use it to get the desired end result. That’s what Hadiya Nuriddin, Learning Strategist, speaker, and CEO of Duets Learning, explores on this episode of The Visual Lounge. Hadiya doesn’t just have a wealth of experience developing and delivering both technical and professional development courses, she’s an advocate for storytelling. She believes that the right stories can deliver c...
Mar 23, 2022•54 min•Ep 112•Transcript available on Metacast What can learning and development professionals learn from marketing experts? That’s the question we tackle in this episode of The Visual Lounge featuring Danielle Wallace, Chief Learning Strategist from Beyond the Sky. Danielle specializes in coming up with innovative ways to infuse marketing into training to create learning content that sticks . Believe it or not, we can learn so much from marketing teams, especially when it comes to identifying learner (or consumer) personas, defining the con...
Mar 16, 2022•46 min•Ep 111•Transcript available on Metacast With the world shifting more into virtual spaces, live events are becoming the order of the day. If you’re in the L&D community, it’s probably time to think about ways to manage your time, space, tech and everything in between. To speak more on how to own your virtual training space, Kassy LaBorie, the Founder of Kassy LaBorie Consulting, LLC and virtual classroom master trainer, joined The Visual Lounge. Kassy is the “Original Virtual Training Hero" and is in the business of helping people ...
Mar 09, 2022•56 min•Ep 110•Transcript available on Metacast What makes graphics click with your audience? Is it your skill level, the finer details like color or shape, or could it be something else altogether? While those things definitely contribute to the success of your graphics, you could still end up producing graphics that just don’t work even if you have the skills to show for it. Mike Parkinson, author and Founder of Billion Dollar Graphics, joins this episode of The Visual Lounge to explain what it takes to make graphics that work. He explains ...
Mar 02, 2022•49 min•Ep 109•Transcript available on Metacast Using stories to make more impactful videos is not a new idea. But it’s an overlooked part of video creation, especially when it comes to tutorials or corporate videos. But storytelling isn’t just for the fun, creative videos out there. Even if you’re creating a video tutorial about car insurance, injecting a little storytelling can go a long way in hitting your primary video goal – connecting with your audience. Andrew Kan, filmmaker, storyteller, and YouTube creator, joined The Visual Lounge t...
Feb 23, 2022•49 min•Ep 108•Transcript available on Metacast What’s the secret to the perfect video editing workflow? Same as for many great questions we hear, the true answer is that it depends. But it all depends on you . Building a workflow that’s efficient, doesn’t cut corners, and saves time can take a while to figure out, especially if you’re new to it all. But once you’ve figured out what works for you, you can start to level up your videos and fine-tune your craft. The Visual Lounge host Matt Pierce breaks down a sample video editing workflow that...
Feb 16, 2022•46 min•Ep 107•Transcript available on Metacast How do people really learn? As an instructional designer or learning and development professional, understanding how people learn helps you deliver training that hits the nail on the head. It’s more complicated than learning styles or picking video over written instructions. In fact, there’s a whole science behind it. Clark Quinn, Executive Director of Quinnovation, joins this episode of The Visual Lounge to impart some words of wisdom and share his knowledge on the science of learning. He takes...
Feb 09, 2022•50 min•Ep 106•Transcript available on Metacast It may be considered the most basic part of editing, but there’s nothing basic about a cut. Cuts can be powerful tools in the hands of anyone who knows how to wield them. They don’t just make videos look way cooler, they bring an extra dash of clarity, brevity, and seamlessness to the table. In this episode of The Visual Lounge, Matt Pierce takes us through some handy cutting techniques as well as how to use them on Camtasia or any other video editing tool. This is a great episode to sink your t...
Feb 02, 2022•56 min•Ep 105•Transcript available on Metacast Are you ready to level up your video creation skills this year? Whether you’ve been creating videos for the past month or several years, there’s always room for improvement to make your content the best it can possibly be. Matt Pierce, host of The Visual Lounge, breaks down some ways to hone your skills, improve your videos, and level up for 2022. If you want to make 2022 your year for video, start by tuning in to this episode. Learning points from the episode include: Why you...
Jan 26, 2022•49 min•Ep 104•Transcript available on Metacast Snagit 2022 is here! And it comes packed with brand new and updated features to help instructional designers, L&D professionals, and anyone who wants to create video level up their content. To explain more about what’s new on Snagit and why, TechSmith’s Chris Larson, Technical Product Manager and Daniel Foster, Strategy Manager, joined The Visual Lounge to give us a breakdown. Chris currently works remotely with an amazing development team dedicated to Snagit. He’s a graduate of Michigan Sta...
Jan 12, 2022•59 min•Ep 103•Transcript available on Metacast What’s new in the world of instructional and informational video? If you’re in the business of creating videos, having the latest research and stats at hand is always important. Luckily, we’ve got you covered. We’ve just released our 2021 Video Viewer Study – a collaboration between TechSmith and Dr. Jane Bozarth, Director of Research at The Learning Guild. We publish this study every year, but this time, we invited Jane to help us out as an unbiased third party. Jane joined this special episode...
Jan 05, 2022•1 hr•Ep 102•Transcript available on Metacast Thank You for Listening Just a quick end-of-the-year episode to say thank you and to share with you some of the things we have learned. I asked a few of my TechSmith friends and colleagues to share so of their takeaways about visuals and images this year. We'll be back with full episodes in 2022 and look forward to continuing the conversations in The Visual Lounge. Share What You've Learned We'd love to hear from you! What have you learned from The Visual Lounge this year? Who was your favorite ...
Dec 20, 2021•4 min•Ep 101•Transcript available on Metacast Your video and workplace media can have a big impact on users, but is it affecting everyone in the same way? Understanding how your media choices represent people and their experiences can help you select more diverse and inclusive images and videos that impact everyone more effectively. Jess Jackson, Racial Equity Strategist, and Megan Torrance, CEO, both of TorranceLearning, join this episode of The Visual Lounge to explain how to incorporate a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB...
Dec 15, 2021•58 min•Ep 100•Transcript available on Metacast What’s the best budget-friendly microphone to make videos? How do you set up your lighting in a home studio? Do you need a green screen? What’s a stream deck? The TechSmith team has all these answers covered and much more. On this episode of The Visual Lounge, host Matt Pierce, Kara Swanson (Content Marketer), Andy Owen (Video Production), and Anton Bollen (Customer Success) share their top picks for audio, camera, lighting, and accessories. If you’re looking for some recommendations to po...
Dec 08, 2021•59 min•Ep 99•Transcript available on Metacast What can we learn from comic books that we can apply to instructional design or marketing? It may seem like an odd question, but it turns out we can learn a whole lot from comic books. Buddy Scalera, comic book writer, educator, and Founder of Comic Book School, joins The Visual Lounge to share those lessons with us. Whether you’re creating your own comic book or designing instructional videos for a corporate environment, we can all take something from comic books. In this episode, Buddy explain...
Dec 01, 2021•1 hr•Ep 98•Transcript available on Metacast The digital age has ushered in its fair share of upsides and challenges, especially when it comes to productivity. While there are so many applications and tools that promise to make it a lot easier, sometimes, they do the opposite. That’s probably why people end up getting lost in the maze of keeping up with the times, are overwhelmed while finding information, or are just plain unproductive. The critical question here is, how do you address this productivity problem? And how can videos and ima...
Nov 24, 2021•58 min•Ep 97•Transcript available on Metacast Becoming a content creator is a dream that many people have these days. But it’s far from an easy road to follow. It takes a great deal of grit, determination, and a commitment to learning and growing to get your channel off the ground. On top of that, there’s also the big learning process of developing your camera and editing skills. Joining this episode of The Visual Lounge is Sean Cannell, CEO of Think Media, and host of the Think Media Podcast. If you’ve ever looked up YouTube or content cre...
Nov 17, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep 96•Transcript available on Metacast What makes a solid explainer video? The kind that gets your point across fast, without confusion, and equips the audience with all they need to know. There are many components that go into a good explainer video. Lee Lefever, Co-Founder of Common Craft, breaks them down in this episode of The Visual Lounge. Common Craft excels in creating simple animated videos to explain concepts suitable for use in online presentations, courses, classrooms, and more. With a refreshingly simple animation style,...
Nov 10, 2021•56 min•Ep 95•Transcript available on Metacast What does it take to be great at learning and development? Is it down to fancy tools, qualifications, or top video creation skills? Not exactly. It’s all about your audience and focusing on what they need to know. The other stuff can come later. In her career, Kati Ryan, Founder of A Positive Adventure, has picked up so many fantastic tips for L&D professionals. She joins this episode of The Visual Lounge to share her best advice for new and experienced L&D professionals alike. She expla...
Nov 03, 2021•28 min•Ep 94•Transcript available on Metacast Did you know that customer education can help to boost both customer adoption and retention? Education is often an overlooked part of the customer experience, but companies that prioritize it see great results. In this episode of The Visual Lounge, Cutler Bleecker, Learning Experience Designer at Skilljar, joins to share his expertise on customer education and creating great training content. Cutler has a passion for both teaching and technology, with an undergraduate degree in education as well...
Oct 27, 2021•55 min•Ep 93•Transcript available on Metacast Are you ready to take the plunge and become a YouTube content creator? Before you wing it and hope for the best, you need to know the best practices. Luckily, we’ve got you covered. In this episode of The Visual Lounge, we invited Nick Nimmin, a YouTube content creator and educator, who’s seen great success on the platform with over 800,000 subscribers and counting! Nick is passionate about the power of YouTube and online video to help people connect with an audience, expand influence, and grow ...
Oct 20, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep 92•Transcript available on Metacast What does it take to record great audio? A recording studio? A degree in sound engineering? You may be surprised. Justin David Proctor, audio recording master and two-time Grammy Award winner, joined this episode of The Visual Lounge to share his expertise on creating great audio. Justin takes us through his advice on getting the right equipment, pre-production and planning, preparing the room, dealing with background noise, software, and much more. Justin has worked in professional audio and mu...
Oct 13, 2021•55 min•Ep 91•Transcript available on Metacast How do you ensure great learning design? Whether you’re working with video, PDFs, or blog posts to deliver training content, visual elements are key to delivering a clear message to your audience. Mel Milloway, Learning Experience Design Manager at Miro, joined this episode of The Visual Lounge to talk about the importance of visuals and video in learning design. Prior to working at Miro, Mel worked in learning design at Amazon and has held other learning and development roles at various organiz...
Oct 06, 2021•58 min•Ep 90•Transcript available on Metacast The future of communication in the workplace is video (and no surprise, it's already here). If you haven't found a way to implement video in your your workplace communication methods yet, there's no time like the present. ju In this episode, Matt Pierce , Andy Owen , and Kara Swanson discuss ways that video has become a part of their internal communication and why they think replacing some communication with videos will serve you and your coworkers better in the long run. Do you want more tips o...
Oct 01, 2021•31 min•Ep 89•Transcript available on Metacast What’s the secret to great visual design? We asked Connie Malamed, The eLearning Coach, to share her eLearning and visual design expertise in this episode of The Visual Lounge. Connie helps people build their instructional design skills. She’s a consultant, an author, and speaker in online learning and visual communication. Connie is the author of ‘Visual Design Solutions: Principles and Creative Inspiration for Learning Professionals’ and also runs The eLearning Coach website and podcast. Conni...
Sep 29, 2021•52 min•Ep 88•Transcript available on Metacast