Omniplex Learning’s Head of Learning Solutions, Leena Randhawa, and Vyond’s Director of Customer Success, Erin Champion, discuss the pros and cons of several leading AI tools and how to integrate them into your eLearning workflow. 

Watch the webinar replay for all the insights. And in the meantime, here’s a summary of key takeaways.

Watch the Webinar On Demand

AI is here to stay, so jump in

Generative AI is creating a big shift in tech. Tools are coming to market at pace, and many of them make it possible to create quality content faster across teams. 

It’s becoming clear that AI will be a game changer for L&D and HR. But for many professionals, just keeping up with developments and getting familiar with these new tools can be daunting. 

^{Soon, you won’t have to seek out disparate AI tools: the best AI will come to you}

At Vyond, we believe this time of “AI tools overwhelm” is temporary. As the AI space evolves, the best AI will come to you — improving the workflows you already have in tools you already love.

In the meantime, with AI set to impact a broad range of roles and industries, it’s worth those in HR getting familiar with AI in a wider sense.

And when it comes to creating content, AI tools for video and image generation are an obvious place to begin.

The best approach is to start small — but do start. Shop around, ask your L&D network who’s using what, and don’t be afraid to experiment. Remember, this is a learning curve for everyone!

Some tools are more suited to eLearning than others

While it’s a good idea to explore the world of AI for yourself, the teams at Vyond and Omniplex have already done some groundwork. The conclusion? Not all AI tools are created equal. For engaging content that’s media rich, these are the areas where AI can contribute most.

Text

From video scripts to quizzes, platforms like ChatGPT will help you make headway with writing tasks. With a good prompt, ChatGPT quickly and convincingly creates copy from scratch, but can also be used to do research, summarize long documents, or generate ideas. You can input specific data relevant to your subject matter and train it to your tone of voice. You’ll still need to do some fact checking though — the tech isn’t foolproof.

Image

Using visuals in your content makes it more appealing and aids learning, but imagery can be expensive. And not everyone has access to graphic design resources.

Tools like DALL·E 2 and Midjourney use a similar system to ChatGPT, where they generate images from text-based prompts. You’re quickly served up a selection of images, which you can refine until you have what you need. These tools can produce a wide range of styles and will help keep your content fresh and relevant.

^{Image generator tools draw upon the internet’s library of photos, illustrations, and graphics to produce new imagery in response to your prompt}

Audio

High-quality audio is another must when it comes to creating valuable content and bringing videos to life. Sometimes your project calls for voiceover talent, but your budget doesn’t accommodate a human voiceover artist. Tools like Wellsaid, Murf.ai, Speechify, or Vyond can help. These text-to-speech tools take your script and use AI to synthesize the human voice. The workflow is fast and flexible, and outputs are getting ever more realistic. Plus, you can choose different styles, genders, and tones.

Video

Unlike text, image, and audio, AI video tools that produce video completely from scratch are still an emerging category. Facebook and NVidia are both developing solutions, but right now they’re limited to GIF-length output that’s pretty low quality. 

One text-to-video tool that’s already in market: Vyond Go, Vyond’s AI-powered script and video generator. With a simple prompt, Vyond Go delivers you a first-draft video in seconds — thanks to the generative power of ChatGPT — and gives you the flexibility to edit to perfection in Vyond Studio. 

Other AI-powered timesavers in Vyond Studio include:

• Instant translation: Automatically translate all the text in your videos — text-to-speech, on-screen text, and dialogue scripts — into 73+ languages 
• Photo-to-character: Create characters in a matter of seconds. Take or upload a photo to generate a fully editable animated character (we often hear leaders and subject-matter experts get a kick out of this!)
• Background remover: Upload any image, remove the background, and you’ve got a custom prop for your video 

And if you’d like to make your content interactive, you can bring video clips into Articulate 360. Add animated menus, branching scenarios, and gamification, all with a few clicks.

^{Omniplex Learning’s Leena Randhawa demonstrates adding interactivity to a Vyond video with Storyline}

This is the sort of eLearning content that turns heads and captures attention. And now it’s within reach, even for trainers with modest budgets and technical skills. 

AI can help with eLearning development from start to finish

AI can save you time across the entire eLearning content development process. Here’s how you might bring these capabilities at various stages. 

1. Research and discovery: Use AI tools in early phases to record and transcribe interviews with subject matter experts (e.g. Otter.ai). And ChatGPT can be helpful as a research assistant, helping your team brainstorm, or creating work schedules and timelines. 
2. Content production: When you get to the content creation stage, use AI to craft scripts and quizzes, develop music or improve audio quality, create images for slides, and translate your content into different languages. 
3. Update and maintain: AI tools can help you keep your eLearning content fresh and up to date, whether that calls for creating new section images, generating new video scripts, updating characters, or changing process details. 

^{Here’s how an AI-infused eLearning content process might look.}

We hope these highlights have been useful, and that you feel ready to harness the power of AI to produce high-quality eLearning content faster! 

For further insights, we highly recommend watching (or rewatching) the full webinar. And if you haven’t yet tried Vyond (and Vyond Go) but would like to, you can try it free here for two weeks.

For more information about the new features and to see them in action, watch the Fall 2023 release webinar.

AI-Powered Features

Text to Prop (Beta)

Plan type: Professional and Vyond for Enterprise

If you can imagine it, you can have it in your video: instantly create an infinite library of props in Vyond’s style with the power of generative AI.  

Learn more

Video to Action (Beta)

Plan type: Professional and Vyond for Enterprise

Looking to give your characters more realistic actions and reactions to enhance your storytelling? If they don’t exist yet, make them! Generate any movement for contemporary-style characters by uploading a video of the custom action you’d like. 

Learn more

Accessibility

Closed Captioning with VTT & SRT Export

Plan type: All plans

Make your videos accessible to the widest possible audience with closed captions. Automatically transcribe your voiceover, then export TTS and audio to an SRT or VTT file for use with courseware authoring tools, an LMS, or video-hosting providers. These captions exist as a separate file and can be turned on or off. 

Open Captioning

Plan type: All plans

In addition to SRT/VTT file generation for closed captioning, you can now add open captioning (captions “burned” directly into the video file) directly from the Vyond workflow—no manual typing or third-party vendors required! 

Integrations 

Shutterstock

Plan type: Professional and Vyond for Enterprise

Millions of stock images and videos are now integrated directly into the Vyond library! In addition to our own ever-expanding library, you’ll now have access to Shutterstock’s library of images and videos right in the Vyond platform. 

WellSaid Labs

Plan type: Vyond for Enterprise

AI voices from WellSaid Labs, the top AI voice platform built for the enterprise, are now available in Vyond! A total of 66 high-quality English voices with 7 accents join Vyond’s voice library. 

Other Exciting New Features

Vyond Go Multilingual Support

Plan type: Professional and Vyond for Enterprise

Vyond Go now supports multilingual output in 70+ languages and accents! Simply enter your prompt, select your desired output language, and watch while Vyond Go generates your video in your preferred language in seconds. 

Quick Edit Enhancements

Plan type: All plans

Breathe more life into characters: now you can adjust and edit voices and intonations easily and efficiently across scenes within Quick Edit. Replace characters or voices and adjust text-to-speech settings directly from the Quick Edit screen. 

Collections

Plan type: Professional and Vyond for Enterprise

Save valuable time by creating your own Collection to easily organize your favorite assets. Create branded Collections, save your favorite props and characters, organize audio files and uploaded content — all easily searchable — to create videos faster than ever before.

Custom Color Palette

Plan type: Vyond for Enterprise

Bring your brand to life faster with reusable custom color palettes! Now you can save color palettes to My Library for later access. Previously, color palettes were reset when creating a new project. 

Want to see these exciting new features in action? Register to watch our free November webinar, “Infinite Props, Instant Actions: Vyond’s Fall 2023 Release,” live or on demand!

Watch the Fall 2023 Release Webinar

Whether your focus is L&D, HR, marketing, sales, or something else entirely, you’re sure to find some gems of inspiration from speakers Duncan Wardle, Dr. Jules White, Gary Lipkowitz and Taylor Morgan. 

We highly recommend watching (or rewatching) the session replays — find those links throughout. Meanwhile, here are a few of the big ideas we’re still thinking about. 

Lean on AI as a “naive expert” to spark creativity and innovation

Even the most creative organizations on the planet face barriers to innovation. As employees and leaders, we’re often expected to think creatively without proper training in the skills we need to do so.

One of Duncan Wardle’s first missions in his role as Head of Creativity and Innovation at the Walt Disney Company was to uncover what those barriers to innovation were for the teams at Disney, Pixar, Lucas Films and Marvel. You may relate to the findings:

1. I don’t have time to think
2. We don’t have the resources
3. We say we’re consumer/client centric yet we’re measured by quarterly results, not our relationships with customers
4. Our ideas get stuck/diluted/killed as they move through approval processes
5. We all have very different definitions of creativity

He spent 30 years helping teams overcome those barriers. Based on that experience, here are a few of the simple tools Duncan shared to help break you and your team out of your same old “river of thinking”:

• What if? Observe your industry or challenge without judgment and write down the written and unwritten “rules.” Then pick a few and ask, what if the rule didn’t apply? Be audacious. This is how industries get disrupted: think Blockbuster to Netflix and taxi cabs to Uber.
• Where else? Look for where else in the world people may have already solved a similar challenge, perhaps for some other purpose.

  Roll-on deodorant took its inspiration from ballpoint pens and paint rollers. Speedo studied nature’s shark-skin design for its Olympic-record-breaking men’s swimsuit (so successful it was later banned from competition).

• Leverage AI as your “naive expert.” A naive expert is someone who doesn’t work in your industry. They’ll ask questions and propose wild ideas you wouldn’t come up with from the depths of your “river of thinking.”

  AI tools like ChatGPT can serve as that naive expert, suggesting ideas drawn from insights across other industries to approach your challenge.

Watch Duncan Wardle’s full session

Design more personalized learning experiences with augmented — not artificial — intelligence 

Dr. Jules White has picked up a thing or two about using AI tools from his work as director of the Vanderbilt Initiative on the Future of Learning & Generative AI and leading a ChatGPT prompt engineering course with Coursera. 

He’s paving the way for L&D pros to make the most of AI tools for learning design and champions AI tools’ potential to provide personalized support for learners. Here are a few of his insights for L&D pros — and all of us as learners.

• Think of AI prompts as conversations, not questions. The highest-quality output doesn’t come from a “one and done” question approach. Be ready for an exchange across a series of prompts that build on each other to help refine the responses you’re getting from ChatGPT.

• Take advantage of “prompt patterns” as building blocks. Large language model tools, like ChatGPT for text output and Midjourney for images, respond especially well to established prompt patterns like the following:
  • For text generators
    • Persona pattern: “Act as [persona]. Whenever you produce an output, produce the outputs that [persona] would produce.”
    • Audience persona pattern. “Explain/write/tell x to/for [persona].”

  • For image generators
    Describe the scene / medium / artistic style / color you expect. For example: “A neon highlighter drawing in a neoclassical style,” or “pop art painting of an alien stealing my lunch.”

• Let’s rebrand AI to “augmented intelligence.” Augmented intelligence (AI+) puts humans at the center, rather than trying to replace human intelligence and creativity with “artificial” intelligence. AI+ is all about amplifying and enhancing human thought and capability.

Watch Jules White’s full session

We got more audience questions for Dr. White than he had time to answer during his session, so we caught up with him afterward. Watch the bonus Q&A video with Dr. White.

Let Vyond bring the best of AI tools to you

As the AI landscape continues to evolve, keeping up can feel overwhelming. But Vyond CEO Gary Lipkowitz promises that soon you won’t have to. Vyond’s “applied AI” vision is to bring the most helpful AI tools to you, right in the platform.

Here’s a perfect example. Vyond’s 2023 Fall Release brings the launch of two new AI features to help you turn your vision into video:

• Video to Action lets you animate any custom movement — yes, even that signature dance move! — by simply uploading an example video clip, and 
• Text to Prop allows you to generate any custom prop you want by describing it in a few words. 

Advancements in generative AI mean that creating effective, engaging videos is getting ever easier and faster in Vyond — and even more closely delivering on your original vision, with assets that may or may not even exist yet!

Watch Gary’s full session

Take your video from first to final cut in Vyond Go and Vyond Studio

In our closing session, Taylor Morgan of “Taylor Tinkers” fame demonstrates both ways you can use Vyond Go:

1. You can enter a general description of what you’re looking for and rely on AI to deliver a result based on its vast internet training data, or 
2. If you’ve got specific details you’d like included in your video — say, talking points or steps in a procedure — you can paste those into your prompt, along with the general description of what you’re looking for.

A video producer by trade, Taylor shares some of his reflections on Vyond Go as he walks us through each option, including the following:

• Beyond being a timesaver, Vyond Go also builds in effective video production techniques for you, like changing up the camera framing throughout your video, that help make it even more engaging. 
• Keep in mind that Vyond Go’s output is only a first draft (if you want it to be)! You can bring your first cut into Vyond Studio to customize anything and everything: characters, backgrounds, voiceover, language … you name it.
• Asset view is your best friend for making instant, universal edits in Vyond Studio: select multiple scenes or assets to make updates across them all.

The best way to learn is to try it yourself! Once you’ve watched (or rewatched) Taylor’s session, log into Vyond and try making your own Vyond Go video. (Need a login? Play around in Vyond Go and Vyond Studio free for two weeks: get started now.)

Watch Taylor’s full session

*Note: Jump to 18:46 for Taylor’s portion of his joint session with Gary Lipkowitz.

So we’re thrilled to share news on a fresh set of accolades — the first following the launch of Vyond Go, the industry’s first AI-powered script and video creator. Vyond received 74 G2 awards — a new record — and earned top rankings in the 2023 Training Magazine Network Choice Awards program.

G2 Awards

Peer review site G2 compares the best business software and services based on user ratings and social data to help buyers find the right solutions for their business needs.

Vyond received 74 awards across Video Creation, Presentation, Content Creation, and Animation categories, and 18 first-place awards including:

#1 Leader for Enterprise in Content Creation
#1 Best Usability in Enterprise for Content Creation
#1 Leader in Enterprise for Animation (Americas Region)
#1 in Most Implementable in Enterprise for Content Creation
#1 in Easiest Setup in Enterprise for Content Creation

We were also recognized as a “Leader” and “Best” in class with awards in Animation and Content Creation for the Americas, EMEA, and Europe regions.

Training Magazine Network Choice Awards

The Training Magazine Network asks their 56,000-member Training and Learning and Development community to vote for the vendor partners they believe provide the most effective tools and solutions for their work. Vyond was honored with winning rankings in two of the six award categories:

Winner in Authoring Tools
Winner in Custom Content/Program Development

We are extremely proud and grateful for this recognition that comes directly from our users.

“We’re committed to exceeding our customers’ expectations as a business imperative, and a large part of that is engaging with our customers and getting feedback,” said Erin Champion, Vyond Director of Customer Success at Vyond.

“Being recognized with 74 G2 awards and top ranking from a well-respected industry organization is a rewarding validation that our customers love Vyond and are seeing a positive business impact – and that’s very exciting.”

Learn more details on our awards web page. Find more information about our Training Magazine Network awards here.

G2 compares the best business software and services based on user ratings and social data to help buyers find the right solutions for their business needs. Vyond received high marks across the Video Creation, Presentation, Content Creation, and Animation categories and was recognized as a “Leader” and “Best” in class with ten #1 awards:

Our 39 badges reflect our unique applicability for enterprise-grade, self-service video business communications. Enterprise awards in Easiest Doing Business With, Best Relationship, and Best Support are also reflective of our commitment to world-class customer success as a business priority and customer satisfaction ratings that consistently outpace industry standards.

“Recognition by G2 and the G2 community with 39 awards is both inspiring and humbling,” said Vyond Chief Operating Officer, Mark Deaton.

“It’s inspiring to see how much our customers love to talk about the real impacts that using Vyond has on business outcomes. And, it’s humbling to see the recognition and gratitude that is given to Vyond for a world-class product with award-winning customer service and support. Thank you G2 community. I am grateful.”

More details on our recent G2 awards can be found on our awards web page.

Not only have we added many new powerful customer-requested features to Vyond Studio, our award-winning video creation platform, we’re also thrilled to announce the launch of Vyond Go, the industry’s first AI-based script and video creator.

What is Vyond Go? 

Vyond Go will revolutionize the way business communications are created, making it possible to create professional video content from scratch, in seconds, using the power of generative AI.

The Vyond Go interface is incredibly simple. A Vyond user enters a few short prompts, indicating the video they want. Then, in a matter of seconds, Vyond Go delivers a script and an editable output that combines script, storyboard, and first-cut video all in one. Users can use the video as is, or make edits within Vyond Studio. It’s as simple as that.

Vyond Go will be available to all customers midyear. Want to be the first in line to try it out? Sign up for our waitlist here!

Join the Vyond Go Waitlist

2023 Spring Release Features 

When our customers share their ideas for improving Vyond Studio, we listen. Our Spring 2023 release delivers on our customers’ top five feature requests, providing more relevance, speed, and enterprise-grade functionality—and adds a new focus on accessibility.

These are the new features and capabilities, available now or being delivered to customers this summer.

Available Now: 

Global Search
Available to all plans

Vyond’s new global search feature helps you more easily locate the assets you need, including assets you’ve previously used within the platform. Our expanded search box now delivers all the scenes, props, charts, text, audio and uploads from our library related to keyword searches from previous projects, all in one place.

New Content
Available to all plans

We’re always creating new content! In this release, we’ve delivered new industry-specific content for healthcare, office, home, manufacturing, food & outdoor, and learning & development,complete with new props, characters, and templates.

Coming Very Soon: 

Closed Captioning
Available to all plans

You can now make your videos accessible to those with hearing impairments by adding closed captions. Automatically transcribe your voice over audio, then export TTS and voice over audio to an SRT file for use with courseware authoring tools, an LMS, or video hosting providers.

Text to Speech (TTS) Enhancements
Available to all plans

Text to Speech is getting a much-requested update. With our Spring Release, you’ll be able to control voice pitch and speed, as well as add emotion to voices. You’ll also be able to preview voices before adding them to a character, saving valuable time.

Asset Organization
Available to Professional and above

Save valuable time by easily organizing your favorite assets and creating your own collection. Organize and save your assets for easy search. Create branded collections, save your favorite props and characters, organize audio files and uploaded content, and create videos faster than ever before.

Bulk Audio Edit
Available to all plans

Save time by editing multiple audio tracks at once. Edit volume, fade, assigned character, and TTS settings at the same time, ensuring consistent sound across your video.

Instant Preview
Available to all plans

Tired of waiting for your previews to load? With this new update, you’ll be able to preview your videos almost instantly.

^{This update currently only applies to the Contemporary Style – but more instant preview updates are coming soon!}

Want to see these exciting new features in action? Sign up for our free May webinar, Vyond’s Spring 2023 Release: The Future of Video Is Here.

Vyond’s Spring 2023 Release: The Future of Video Is Here

Based on user ratings and social data, G2 compares the best business software and services. Using collective, authentic knowledge and incorporating peer-to-peer customer-driven reviews, they help buyers find the right solutions. 

Vyond’s capabilities shone across the Video Creation, Presentation, Content Creation, and Animation award categories. We received the following honors:

• Eight #1 Leader Awards 
• #1 Leader for Best Results   
• #1 for Leader for the Enterprise  
• #1 for Best Usability 
• #1 for Best Estimated ROI for Animation
• #1 for Most Implementable Animation Presentation  

Our 36 badges reflect our unique applicability for enterprise-grade, self-service video communications; four of our leader awards were in the enterprise category, including one for the best enterprise support. 

World-class customer success has always been one of Vyond’s top priorities. Based on this Q2 Spring Report and Vyond customer satisfaction and NPS scores that consistently outpace industry standards, it’s clear that our efforts are paying off. 

Our CEO Gary Lipowitz said: “Once again, we’re thrilled with these latest awards from G2 because they’re real customer love letters. Thank you to our customers and partners for their support as we continue to define the video-based learning sector.” 

“Customers love Vyond because we make it easy for them to transform mission-critical (but often boring) content into vibrant business communications that engage their employees, customers, and partners —and deliver positive business outcomes,” he added.

More details on our recent G2 awards can be found on our awards web page. 

While the insights Dr. Jennifer Aaker, Second City’s Lele Mason and Jeannie Cahill Griggs, and Connie Malamed shared may be most relevant to people working in L&D, HR, marketing, or sales, their funny and enlightening presentations will be inspiring and useful to just about anyone. 

We highly recommend watching (or rewatching) the session replays in full; you’ll find links to do that throughout. But in the meantime, here are a few of the big ideas that stuck with us the most. 

To be a better leader, bring more story and humor to work 

During a time of massive change, record-low levels of trust, and prevalent remote work, we’re seeking human connection more than ever, says Dr. Jennifer Aaker, professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. 

Today’s environment is changing what we want from leaders: once revered and mysterious, leaders now need to connect and be understood as authentic, fallible humans. 

Stories and humor are powerful ways of building connection. And story gives meaning to the whopping 1/3 of our lives we spend at work. 

Here are three lessons from Dr. Aaker’s session on the power of story and humor at work—and why they’re needed now more than ever.

^{Dr. Jennifer Aaker on why we need story now more than ever}

1. Keys to a good story

As you bring more story into your work life—whether you’re explaining a new change to your team, building training courses, or creating business video content—it’s helpful to know what makes a good one. 

Dr. Aaker shared a few characteristics of stories that land well with us on a neurological level.

• There’s a goal: You have a reason for telling the story

• There’s a hook: It captures the audience’s attention

• It engages in an authentic way: It’s not overly contrived
• There’s a call to action: At the end, the audience understands what they should think, feel or do 

Keeping these four qualities in mind will help you develop stories to connect with your audience, whether they’re employees, prospects, or customers.

2. Humor has a place in business — and we need more of it

Humor has been shown to inspire confidence, build bonds, enhance creativity, and boost resilience. Dr. Aaker cited a study from Wayne Decker on managerial humor and subordinate satisfaction that found leaders with a sense of humor were rated as 27% more motivating.

Here’s the problem. We fall off a “humor cliff” in our lives right around the time we join the workforce, Dr. Aaker explains. 

A 2013 Gallup survey asked 1.4 million people in 166 countries, “Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?” In younger years, “yes” levels were high. But starting at age 23, people start saying “no” – and it doesn’t increase again until about age 80. 

And the poll found that when we do laugh, it tends to be on weekends, indicating it’s a problem related to work in particular.

3. Tips for bringing humor to work

Dr. Aaker insists that when it comes to humor at work, the bar is low: don’t think you need to bring in a full standup routine. She shared a few guidelines for bringing a little more levity to your workday:

• Never ask yourself, “will this make me sound funny?” Instead ask, “how will this make others feel?” Start with moments of truth. Truth lies at the heart of all humor. 
• Then, create surprise and misdirection — a swerve from the expected can create delight.
• Mine your life for truth – then exaggerate and compare/contrast.

It can also help to recognize your own and others’ “humor styles,” based on where our brand of humor falls on a spectrum of subtle to expressive and affiliative to aggressive. You can take the humor style quiz on Dr. Aaker’s book site, Humor, Seriously.

Watch Dr. Aaker’s full session for more insights on humor, connection, and the power of story.

Watch Dr. Aaker’s Session

Adopt a “Yes, and…” mindset for better communication and collaboration

Improvisational comedy, unlike stand-up comedy, is all about collaboration: team members build upon each other’s ideas to create scenes in the moment. 

Good “improv” requires a few key ingredients: active listening; a willingness to consider, accept, and build on others’ ideas; validating and restating others’ needs; and delivering ideas with confidence. All these skills and behaviors are valuable in our work lives.

Chicago’s Second City is a world-famous training ground for improv comedy talent with alumni like Joan Rivers, Bill Murray, Tina Fey, and Stephen Colbert.

Lele Mason and Jeannie Cahill Griggs of The Second City Works (the theater’s corporate training and teambuilding arm) demonstrated improv’s lessons for our work lives through a series of short activities. 

Here are our top three takeaways.

1. Listen to understand

How often do you find yourself able to block out distraction and listen intently to your coworkers (or customers)? 

In improv, active listening is non-negotiable. “We treat listening like a muscle in our art form, because we’re making things up as we go,” says Jeannie. “If I’m completely not listening to Lele, I might not realize it at first — but the audience will realize it. They’re always our ‘tell’ and they’re always keeping us honest.” 

At work, active listening means listening to understand instead of waiting to respond or push our agenda — whether we’re brainstorming ideas for our next eLearning course, mapping out marketing campaigns or getting Sales’ feedback on a new enablement asset. 

When we listen to understand we’re living in the moment. This naturally generates empathy and allows us to better pick up on our conversation partner’s unspoken cues.

2. Embrace the power of a “yes, and” mindset

Collaboration is about exchanging and responding to ideas. And when we respond to others’ ideas, those responses tend to fall into three buckets. Each generates different energy.

“No, because”

This is your standard “no.” This closed mindset instantly snuffs an idea by burying it in challenges, not offering solutions, and failing to explore the approach behind the idea. 

It can be easy and tempting to shut down ideas with a quick “no, because,” especially in busy times. And sometimes a “no” is justified, Lele says. But we should watch closely when and how we’re saying no.

When people hear “no” frequently, they may internalize it, feeling their teammates are saying no to them—not just their ideas. We risk losing out on good future ideas because these team members stop contributing.

“Yes, but”

This mindset comes across as “yes, with concerns” or a “polite no.” 

“We call it ‘no in a tuxedo,’ says Lele, “Or as I like to say, ‘Beyoncé with a stop sign.’ It looks amazing but you’re not going anywhere.” 

With a “yes, but” mindset, someone says yes to your idea—and then offers completely different suggestions that push their own agenda.

This mindset can sometimes be a way to gather more information about an idea. But when it’s us using it, we need to check in with ourselves to clarify, “am I really interested in saying yes? Or am I trying to further my own agenda?” 

“Yes, and”

“Yes, and” is the philosophy that improv is built upon. It’s an open mindset that invites curiosity and reserves judgment about others’ ideas. It encourages team members to offer smaller contributions toward a greater whole, rather than steamrolling with one fully formed idea.

“At Second City we say ‘bring a brick, not a cathedral,’” says Lele. “If we’re talking about building stories and working together, ‘yes and’ is a great place to start. And then, if we need to scale it back, we can get to the ‘yes, buts’ and ‘no, becauses’.”

A “yes, and” mindset is a key to building a more collaborative culture.

^{Lele Mason sums up an activity about the “yes, and” mindset and why it’s a key ingredient for successful collaboration.}

3. Speak with confidence

Improv requires acting like an expert and selling a concept, even when you have no idea what you’re talking about. The key to believability? Confidence.

Applied to the workplace, this doesn’t mean you should try to be a know-it-all on unfamiliar topics. But when it comes to a subject you know – own it. That conviction has an influence on your audience, whether they’re customers, employees, or project stakeholders. 

“You know what you know. It’s okay to not know something and say that, but when you know something, say it with confidence,” says Lele. “If you believe it, your audience believes it.”

Watch The Second City Works’ session replay to learn more about how bringing improv skills to the workplace can improve collaboration and communication.

Watch The Second City Works’ Session

For more effective visual communication, reduce your audience’s cognitive load

Learning is a high bar to achieve. It’s about much more than getting a message in front of an audience and making sure they remember it, says Connie Malamed, author of Visual Design Solutions and Visual Language for Designers. 

To foster successful learning, L&D pros need to gain and sustain learners’ attention, make sure learners comprehend, understand, and remember new information, and are able to apply and transfer that knowledge in new situations.

What gets in the way? 

One of the biggest challenges with communicating visually for L&D teams – and professionals across all disciplines – is the constant strain on our audience’s working memory. 

We’re flooded with sensory information. And for any information to have a chance of getting stored long term, it has to make its way through our limited, temporary working memory.

As visual communicators, anything we can do to help ease this “cognitive load” for our audience around the information we’re presenting gives them a better chance to grasp and retain it, Connie says.

Here are a few pieces of advice Connie shared for reducing cognitive load in presentations and videos.

1. Make the graphics and text easy to process

Overly intricate font styles and text with low contrast (like gray text on white background) put more strain on a viewer’s cognitive load. 

In one study, researchers showed a group of people a writeup about a stretching exercise in a difficult-to-read typeface. Participants said, “I don’t think I can do this.” But when other participants were shown the same writeup in an easy-to-read font, they said they were confident they could do the exercise successfully. 

Another study found that when people were shown two true statements in either low-contrast font or high-contrast font, they were more likely to believe the statements that were easy to read: those in high-contrast font.  

The lesson: readability matters. 

Using simple fonts with high contrast makes information easier to process, reduces the demands on working memory, and creates a positive affect in the viewer. Whenever the viewer has a positive affect, it’s motivating, and they’re more likely to learn, Connie says.

2. Remove visual distractions

Visuals either help or hurt our message, by either increasing meaning and understanding for viewers, or distracting them. Connie shared a few quick ideas for toning down visual noise:

• Avoid placing a logo on every slide
• Remove irrelevant text, like dates and slide numbers
• Remove cutesy but irrelevant graphics
• Avoid putting text on busy backgrounds

In a nutshell: “To reduce cognitive load, focus on the critical part of your message. Then remove extraneous elements,” Connie says.

3. Reduce realism in your graphics

There’s a misperception that ultra-realistic imagery is always best to support learning, Connie says. But research shows that often, reducing the realism of a graphic can help people learn more quickly. 

Depending on the subject matter, an illustration, icon, or symbol can sometimes convey information more effectively than a photo or 3D rendering.

^{Connie Malamed outlines why reducing realism in graphics can help improve the audience’s understanding}

Reducing realism can remove distractions, decrease the time it takes the viewer to visually scan, and minimize load on the viewer’s working memory. 

Watch Connie’s session for more tips on reducing distractions and increasing meaning in your visual communication.

Watch Connie’s Session

With a live audience topping 3,000, speakers got more questions than they could answer in the moment. We got a few more minutes each with Dr. Jennifer Aaker and Connie Malamed to get answers to your overflow questions. Watch bonus material from the Spring 2023 Masterclass.

Most of their videos are not available for external viewing. But, Megan created an example training for the Storyline and Vyond communities to show how the two applications work together. Take a look below.

We also interviewed Megan to learn more about her process of integrating animations into Storyline.

How do you use Vyond?

MC: We want to make our online learning content fun, engaging, and memorable. I’ve been using Vyond videos in my eLearning in two ways:

1) To break up information. This works great for course introductions with a lengthy explanation. Instead of listening to a voice recording while text bullets fade onto a screen (so boring!), we can show a realistic animated video to help the learner visualize the information.

2) To break up interactions. Videos make the course fun and engaging. Incorporating them into scenario based questions allows the learner to see something happen, answer a question based on what they saw, then get feedback based on how they answered the question.

It eliminates the need for text or plain audio feedback telling them exactly what they did correct or incorrect.

I always found basic text/audio feedback to be so monotonous (“You got it in/correct because blah blah blah…”). Then I thought, what if we created the scenario by showing them a video, rolled out a question, then used video to show feedback?

A similar method is used when you play most video games. When you achieve something you typically see the feedback in action, rather than have the program tell you what you did or didn’t do correctly. It makes feedback much more powerful and memorable this way.

Talk us through your start to finish process for making a video and how you test in Storyline.

MC: We start with a very basic storyboard and script that covers the bare minimum needed to lock down the content.

After our subject-matter experts (SMEs)/business partners review and approve the content, we finalize the script with the right tone and transitions.

I’ll start my video creation by plopping the characters or props into the video and adding text-to-speech for our rough script.

Then I’ll insert the rough videos into Storyline (with rough interactions and other content I loosely developed in Storyline) and send the combined project for the first review (usually our SMEs and/or business partners, plus a handful of our target audience).

From there, we update the course (and videos) based on reviewers’ feedback. Sometimes we need only two iterations and sometimes we could have up to five iterations depending on the scope of the project.

I always put a rough video in the first iteration just so the reviewers can get an idea of how things will flow along with the script.

To give you an example of what a rough video is, I will add the character and he won’t move or change his expression. The scene doesn’t change and I usually have a note that reminds reviewers that I will add animations, audio, etc. on the final version. The rough video piece shouldn’t take long to create (think minutes instead of hours) since it will change after content is locked down.

I do not add any animations or professional audio until everything has been approved and we’re on our final version.

Then I download the videos and insert them into Storyline as an .mp4 file.

What do you do recommend to others creating videos for their eLearning?

MC: First I’d recommend that you lock down the content before you invest too much development time.

If the video will be part of an interaction (for example, you are playing a video, then stop for a question, then continue the video based on how the user answered the question), you should make separate videos for each stopping point.

Make sure the end of the video, right before the question rolls out, and the feedback video(s) pick up with the same exact scene. That will make it look like a continuous video in your eLearning course.

What resources do you recommend for eLearning trainers to make themselves better at creating videos?

MC: This might sound a bit odd, but I’ve been watching a ton of animated nursery rhyme videos on YouTube with my two-year-old twins. They love them! I’ve been paying close attention to how pan and zoom is used (similar to the camera movement tool in Vyond) and have gotten a ton of creative ideas on how to animate objects on the screen.

I also recommend paying more attention when you watch television or movies. I never realized the amazing detail that went into camera movements until I started using Vyond and paid attention to what I was watching. A lot of things are happening with the camera that are not noticeable, but make the viewing experience seamless.

What is the single biggest reason you would recommend Vyond?

MC: I’ve tried a ton of animated video makers and nothing compares to the quality of the assets (characters, props, templates, etc.) in Vyond. Plus, it’s incredibly easy to use and the interface is very intuitive and fast (especially now with the Vyond Studio).

About Vyond

Vyond allows people of all skill levels in all industries and job roles to create dynamic and powerful business and training videos. With features that go beyond moving text and images, you can build character-driven stories or compelling data visualizations that engage audiences and deliver results.

Start making your own videos today. Sign up for a free 14-day trial and attend our weekly tour of the Vyond Studio.

And now Vyond Go, the industry’s first AI-powered script and video creator, takes you from prompt to video in seconds: you’ll get an editable first draft of your video instantly.

Try Vyond for Free

Why You Should Try Vyond for Free

Vyond offers a wide array of tools and features to help unleash your creative potential. Striking videos leave a lasting impression, and Vyond’s intuitive platform makes it possible for anyone to create a professional video  — no video production experience required. 

Vyond Go: The Industry’s First AI-Powered Script and Video Creator

We’ve taken video creation from easy to instant with Vyond Go. Enter a prompt or drop in your own content. Then watch as Vyond creates a script and video in seconds. Polish your video in the simple text-based editor, then deploy it as-is or take it into Vyond Studio for fine-tuning.

Vyond Studio: A Powerful Drag-and-Drop Video Creator

Get full video creation and editing capability with our powerful, drag-and-drop, timeline-based video creator. Hundreds of premade templates, 40,000+ props, and a fully featured character creator provide the detail and relevancy to build the exact video you need for any industry or use case.

Try Vyond for Free

About Vyond

Vyond is a game changer for professionals across all industries and job roles. With its AI capabilities, Vyond Studio and Vyond Go allow you to tell character-driven stories and present data in visually compelling ways. The platform is fully loaded with everything you need to build engaging video experiences in minutes.

Today’s stakeholders (prospects, customers, employees, and communities) have a higher threshold for engagement and are more video-native than ever. Vyond enables you to quickly create relevant, engaging videos that motivate today’s overloaded, distracted audiences to take action.

You don’t even need a credit card: see where your creativity can take you with a 14-day Vyond free trial.

Get Started Now

SAN MATEO, Calif. – March 29, 2022 – Vyond, the leader in animated video content creation for the enterprise, today released results from its fourth #VyondTheSurface survey, a national survey of 1,000 full-time employees at large companies that explores how the pandemic has impacted the way employees experience the workplace, how they communicate with one another, and their perception of leadership communication.

Surprisingly, results revealed that common team building activities, like game nights, were not the activities that drove employees to feel most connected at work. Instead, participating in staff meetings (40%), receiving regular communication from leadership (37%), and getting to know colleagues on a more personal level (36%), particularly through video platforms as more than half of employees (54%) feel they have been able to build relationships with colleagues through video conferencing, were among the top responses. Lesser valued activities included virtual town hall meetings (14%), playing games with coworkers (13%), and being part of a mentorship program (12%).

“It’s clear that forced socialization or gimmicky ‘perks’ isn’t what makes employees feel most connected at work,” said Jeniffer Strub, Director of Human Resources at Vyond. “Rather, it’s when employees have the opportunity to naturally build one-on-one relationships, which is why companies must provide ample opportunities to make those real, genuine connections, while being communicative about their organization’s mission to ensure employees truly understand the work happening around them.”

Feeling connected at work looks different for employees of different ages and genders

• Boomers feel the most disconnected: 1 in 3 employees (36%) said a top frustration of remote work was feeling disconnected from colleagues. Boomers feel the most disconnected (51%, a 4-point increase from last year), which is more than double the 23% of Gen Z that reported feeling the same way.
• Millennial workers love all-day IMing while other generations feel connected at work in other ways: Millennials say they feel connected at work when instant messaging throughout the day (38%) and receiving virtual kudos from colleagues in a public forum or chat (24%). On the other hand, Gen Z employees feel connected by getting to know their coworkers on a personal level (43%) and having team lunches (39%), whereas older generations feel most connected at work through participating in staff meetings (40% of Gen X and 45% of Boomers). Additionally, women are more likely than men to feel connected by sharing funny memes, emojis or GIFs when communicating with colleagues (25% vs. 19% of men).
• Can you repeat that? When asked about frustrations and challenges during meetings, men reported being more annoyed by needing to repeat themselves because a colleague wasn’t listening (28% vs. 18% of women), being asked to “hold for a moment” while a colleague attends to something else (24% vs. 17%), and a colleague only using audio while others use video (21% vs. 15%).

Employee communication lessons from the pandemic

As workplaces navigate staying connected in a disjointed work environment, the way companies approach employee communication is key. The good news is that leaders are doing far better now than at the start of the pandemic, according to employees:

• Leaders have found their stride two years after pandemic communications: Employees are now more likely to acknowledge company leadership is communicating more effectively (67% vs. 58% in February 2021). The channel for communications matters too – half of employees still prefer to watch or listen to a company announcement or communication instead of reading an email or blog post, and 56% say video messages from their company CEO are more engaging than text-based messages.
• Gen Z and Millennial employees overwhelmingly prefer video communications and digital tools: When it comes to company communications, Gen Z and Millennial employees find video messages more engaging than older employees (61% and 63% vs. 49% of Gen X and Boomers). They’re also embracing digital transformation more, with 88% of Gen Z and 78% of Millennials saying they are happy to see their company push digital transformation initiatives, versus 64% of Gen X and 57% of Boomers.

The digital workplace – what employees want, need, and could do without to feel connected at work

As workplaces have adapted to increased remote and hybrid work arrangements, digital transformation efforts — which integrate digital technology into all areas of a business — have been further prioritized and accelerated, but that doesn’t mean all employees fully understand their impact or feel like they can weigh in, nor does it mean they have a healthy relationship with the digital tools in the workplace:

• Employees’ take on digital transformation at their company: 70% of employees say they are happy to see their company push digital transformation initiatives, and 2 out of 3 employees say they can see and understand their value. Still, some employees are uncertain about these efforts, with a fifth (22%) unsure if their organization is taking part in digital transformation efforts, and 1 in 3 Boomers saying they are unsure. Additionally, less than half of employees (44%) feel they have a seat at the table when it comes to their company’s modernization.
• Employees are conflicted over new digital communication tools: 34% of employees said they have too many communications channels to reach colleagues, but when asked if they would get rid of any communication platform they use at work, almost half of employees (46%) said they would not.

“Most employees are familiar with the term ‘digital transformation,’ but it’s frequently believed among non-IT and tech employees that it doesn’t impact them directly,” said Matt Harney, CTO of Vyond. “In reality, digital transformation touches all employees and aspects of the workplace, including the communications tools we all use to connect every day. Leaders need to consider their ‘comms tech stack’ as a part of their broader toolset, which will empower all employees to feel like they have a seat at the table when it comes to digital transformation.”

To review Vyond’s survey findings, visit vyond.com/vyondthesurface. New data will be published later this week. For advanced access, contact press@vyond.com.

Survey Methodology

FleishmanHillard’s in-house research practice, TRUE Global Intelligence, conducted a survey among a nationally representative sample of n=1,000 adults in the U.S., 18 years of age and older, who are employed full time at a large organization with 500+ employees. The sample is demographically balanced for age, gender, and geographic region to represent employed adults in the U.S. according to the U.S. Census. It also included a mix of remote, hybrid or non-remote workers, seniority levels within the workplace, as well as a mix of people managers and those with no direct reports. The survey was fielded online between February 21 – March 1, 2022.

About Vyond

Vyond’s mission is to put the power of video in the hands of everyone. Vyond allows people of all skill levels in all industries and job roles to create dynamic and powerful media. With features that go beyond moving text and images, you can build character-driven stories or compelling data visualizations that engage audiences and deliver results. Founded as GoAnimate in 2007, Vyond has helped tens of millions of users across six continents easily and cost-effectively produce high quality videos to address any business need. To learn more about Vyond, please visit www.vyond.com.

The Vyond Community

The Vyond Community is a dynamic hub exclusively for Vyond Premium, Professional, and Enterprise customers, where creativity knows no bounds. You’ll find video enthusiasts and professionals eager to share their knowledge, explore new horizons, network, and collaborate on exciting projects.

Join the Vyond Community

What awaits you in the Vyond Community?

The Vyond Community is an active and collaborative place to learn what you can do and create with Vyond. Here are some of the perks of being part of our community.

1. Explore Vyond Studio to the fullest: Discover the endless potential Vyond Studio offers as you delve into discussions on the latest features, updates, and tips and tricks for using Vyond Studio effectively.
2. Connect with fellow content creators: Network and engage with a diverse community of creators. Share your experiences, seek advice, and learn from each other’s successes and challenges.
3. Showcase your work: The Vyond Community is your stage! Share your content, whether it’s a creative masterpiece or a work in progress. Get feedback and insights from your peers to refine your creations.
4. Troubleshooting and support: Stuck on a technical snag? Don’t worry! Our community is here to help you troubleshoot issues and resolve problems.
5. Community events: Stay in the loop about exciting Vyond Community events, webinars, and virtual office hours. Expand your knowledge, connect with experts, and keep current on industry trends.
6. Success stories: Get inspired by the remarkable success stories of Vyond power users who have achieved their goals using Vyond. Learn from their experiences and embark on your own journey to success.
7. Feedback and suggestions: Your voice matters! We encourage all community members to contribute ideas and suggestions to improve Vyond and the community itself. Let’s build something incredible together!
8. Resources and tutorials: Access a treasure trove of how-to guides and tutorials related to Vyond animation. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, there’s always something new to learn.

How to join the Vyond Community:

• If you’re already a Premium, Professional, or Enterprise customer, create a community account. If not, sign up for a Vyond subscription now.
• Take a moment to introduce yourself by creating a post!
• Subscribe to the monthly community newsletter for a curated selection of top Vyond news, resources, and discussions.

About Vyond

Vyond is the enterprise-grade agile video creation platform that accelerates positive business outcomes. Today’s stakeholders (prospects, customers, employees, and communities) have a higher threshold for engagement and are more video-native than ever. Vyond enables your business to quickly create relevant, engaging videos that motivate today’s overloaded, distracted stakeholders to take action.

From our easy-for-everyone Vyond Studio, where you can build and customize your video to your heart’s desire, to our AI-powered script and video creator, Vyond Go, which gives you an editable first draft of your video instantly, Vyond is fully loaded with everything you need to build engaging video experiences in minutes.

See where your creativity can take you with a 14-day Vyond free trial; no credit card required.

Join the Vyond Community

That’s where G2 comes in.

G2 only accepts reviews from verified users so they can offer a credible, neutral, and authoritative view of the latest software. Then, to help shoppers spot the top tool, they publish quarterly reports. These reports are perhaps most famous for the G2 Momentum Grid® contained in each report.

Best Animation Software of Winter 2022

Vyond Studio is the best animation software according to G2’s Winter 2022 Momentum Grid® for Animation. And, this is the second time running that Vyond claimed the top spot!

How does G2 calculate its Momentum Grid®?

G2 aims to score software as accurately as possible. So, they created a number of complex algorithms to take every significant factor into account. Scroll on to learn more about how Vyond was scored as the best animation software of Winter 2022, and click here to read more about G2’s methodology.

Momentum Score

G2 calculates momentum by looking at each platform’s year-over-year growth. This accounts for company growth, prevalence on social media and the web, and the number of reviews received.

Vyond’s chart-topping Momentum Score for Winter 2022 is 83. That’s 6 points higher than Animaker, and 16 points higher than Biteable!

Satisfaction Score

G2 calculates satisfaction based on reviews from verified users. In other words, this score accounts for factors like Net Promoter Score® (NPS), popularity, and satisfaction with the tool’s features.

In Winter 2022, Vyond achieved a near-perfect satisfaction score of 95 on G2. Other animation tools—like Moovly (85) and Biteable (41)—lag behind.

Momentum Grid® Score

G2 uses momentum and satisfaction scores to position each tool on the Momentum Grid®. Then, they translate that placement into a Momentum Grid® Score. After that, shoppers, analysts, and reporters from around the world use these scores as a benchmarks for software excellence.

Vyond’s Momentum Grid® score is 87 in G2’s latest Animation report for Winter 2022. That’s 9 points higher than Powtoon, and 18 points higher than Moovly.

Create videos with the best animation software around.

It should be easy, impactful, and satisfying to bring your ideas to life. So, if you’re looking for the best animation software around, pick Vyond. You can try Vyond Studio with our 14-day free trial—no credit card required.

TRY VYOND FREE

The Killer Content Awards—organized by Demand Gen Report for B2B Marketing Exchange—honors the best in B2B content from all kinds of industries. We’re proud to be in great company alongside 27 other Finny winners like Dell, Forbes, and HP.

This win comes right on the heel of our 10 wins at the 42nd Annual Telly Awards. While it’s certainly nice to add another trophy to the shelf, we’re most excited for what this recognition means for the Vyond Maker Community.

More than ever, award-winning content comes down to powerful storytelling that engages audiences. You don’t need to have a big budget or production studio in place to start creating compelling, industry-leading videos.

We’re also proud of this win in particular for what it says about video as a powerful tool for sales enablement. In an increasingly competitive and digital world, video has an incredible way of cutting through the noise to forge meaningful connections with buyers. From introductions to follow-ups and beyond, video has unlimited applications to help land the sale.

Ready to optimize your sales funnel with video? Creating your own award-winning content and access Vyond’s robust library of ready-made, trophy-snatching templates by starting a free trial of Vyond Studio, no credit card required.

TRY VYOND FREE, NO CREDIT CARD REQUIRED

We’re really proud to be recognized for our content, especially by one of the leading industry awards for excellence in video. The list of our fellow Telly winners include some of the biggest brands, studios, and agencies around including Netflix, Condé Nast, Adobe, and The Walt Disney Company.

We’re prouder still that all our award-winning videos were created in Vyond Studio.

Vyond Studio is an online animation platform that allows anyone to create award-winning videos. Just look at Southern Company Gas’ internal communications video, created with this Vyond video template!

Here’s a quick round-up of all our videos that were recognized at the 2021 Telly Awards:

• Black Characters in Children’s Books
• Mental Health in the Workplace
• Vyond Templates for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Discovering Vyond with Prakriti
• The Agile Mindset
• The Hero’s Journey
• Supporting Local Food Banks
• Adjusting the Audio Balance
• Gender & Pronouns
• Nurture Nature

Vyond’s Telly Award-Winning Videos

Black Characters in Children’s Books

Gold Telly Award: Social Video for Education & Discovery

Video Producer: Sofala Ntweng-Knapton, Vyond
Manager, Video & Design: Shahrzade Ehya, Vyond
Marketing Communications Manager: Kevin Doherty, Vyond

Use this award-winning video at your own organization! If you’re a Vyond customer, you can use this video template to create your own version.

USE THIS VIDEO TEMPLATE

Mental Health in the Workplace

Bronze Telly Award: Non-Broadcast Video for Employee Communications

Manager, Video & Design: Shahrzade Ehya, Vyond
Director of Marketing: Amanda Morgan, Vyond
Video Producer: Prakriti Rai, Vyond
Independent Scriptwriter: Karen Kostrinsky
Voiceovers: David Dolan, Shahrzade Ehya, Amanda Morgan, Taylor Morgan, Sukriti Rai, Marco Sevilla

If you’re already using Vyond, you can create your own version of these videos. Head over to the Vyond Template Library and search “mental health” to find these templates and more.

VISIT THE TEMPLATE LIBRARY

Vyond Templates for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Bronze Telly Award: Branded Content Campaign for D&I

Director of Marketing: Amanda Morgan, Vyond
Head of Marketing: Stacy Adams, Vyond
Manager, Video & Design: Shahrzade Ehya, Vyond
Marketing Communications Manager: Kevin Doherty, Vyond
Independent Filmmaker: Taylor Morgan
Video Producer: Prakriti Rai, Vyond
Video Producer: Sofala Ntweng-Knapton, Vyond
Video Producer: Lye Cwan Ng, Vyond
Video Producer: Roshni Champaneri, Vyond
Video Producer: Daniela Rizzo, Vyond

Vyond customers have access to all these video templates and more. Browse the full Template Video Library to quickly create customized DEI videos.

BROWSE VIDEO TEMPLATES

Discovering Vyond with Prakriti

Bronze Telly Award: Social Video Series for Products & Services

Video Producer: Prakriti Rai, Vyond
Manager, Video & Design: Shahrzade Ehya, Vyond
Director of Marketing: Amanda Morgan, Vyond

The Agile Mindset

Bronze Telly Award: Branded Content with a Budget Under $100,000

Speaker: Ahmed Sidky PhD, ICAgile
Marketing Communications Manager: Kevin Doherty, Vyond
Independent Filmmaker: Taylor Morgan
Senior Director of Marketing: Elisia Choi, ICAgile
Marketing Manager: Ashley Kraner, ICAgile
Manager, Video and Design: Shahrzade Ehya, Vyond

The Hero’s Journey

Bronze Telly Award: Branded Content for Education

Story: Ricco Lam and Lily Ho, Vyond
Producers: Animation Team, Vyond
Scriptwriting and Voiceover: Isobel McKenzie, Vyond
Director of Design & Video Lab: Emily Chau, Vyond

Tailor this video by using it as a template in your existing Vyond account.

TAILOR THIS VIDEO

Supporting Local Food Banks

Bronze Telly Award: Branded Content for Social Responsibility

Marketing Communications Manager: Kevin Doherty, Vyond
Video Producer: Prakriti Rai, Vyond
Head of Marketing: Stacy Adams, Vyond
Director of Marketing: Amanda Morgan, Vyond

You can support your local community with a customized version of this video and use this video template in any existing Vyond account.

USE THIS VIDEO TEMPLATE

Adjusting the Audio Balance

Bronze Telly Award: Branded How-To/DIY Content

Scriptwriting & Voiceover: Isobel McKenzie, Vyond
Story: Joe Lui, Vyond
Producer: Joe Lui, Vyond

If you’re a Vyond customer, you can import this video into Vyond Studio as an editable video template.

EDIT THIS VIDEO TEMPLATE

Gender & Pronouns

Bronze Telly Award: Branded Content for D&I

Marketing Communications Manager: Kevin Doherty, Vyond
Video Producer: Prakriti Rai, Vyond
Director of Marketing: Amanda Morgan, Vyond

You can customize this training video by importing it into an existing Vyond account.

IMPORT THIS VIDEO TEMPLATE

Nurture Nature

Bronze Telly Award: Branded Animation Content Campaign

Story: Rex Law, Vyond
Producer: Rex Law, Vyond

Vyond customers can customize these videos to create their own branded content.

CUSTOMIZE THESE VIDEOS

Make award-winning video content.

Videos created with Vyond Studio swept with more than ten awards from the 2021 Telly Awards, and all of those videos were created in part by everyday employees. You, too, can communicate with industry-leading content. With Vyond Studio, anyone can make media that moves, even if they don’t have any experience with video production. Give it a try by creating your own video with a 14-day free trial of Vyond. (Who knows? Maybe you’ll win a Telly for it…)

14-DAY FREE TRIAL OF VYOND

Recently, our team was able to help programmers share their ideas at the HackUST hackathon in Hong Kong.

Hosted at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, this competition is a major event. In 2019, there were over 500 hackers present and more than $1 million worth of prizes and sponsorships at HackUST.

To compete, teams are asked to build digital solutions for social challenges. Projects from this year included a mobile restaurant game that customers can play as they dine and an automatic food vending machine.

At the invitation of the university, several Vyond team members—Billy Chung, Rebecca Cheng, and Allen Wai—attended HackUST as mentors and panel judges.

Billy is a general manager at Vyond. Along with serving as a mentor and judge, he led a session at the hackathon about the power of video storytelling. We caught up with him to learn more about what the event was like and how Vyond was involved.

Tell us a bit more about the HackUST hackathon.

B: *HackUST is a 24-hour hackathon at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, one of the most prestigious universities in Hong Kong. Participants are asked to build a winning solution or application that solves a social problem. The competition is held annually every April and is open to all university students and alumni around the world. Every year, it attracts hundreds of applicants who compete for cash prizes, as well as internship opportunities at prominent organizations.

Which Vyond team members were involved in the hackathon, and how were they involved?

B: Allen Wai, a member of our engineering team, attended as a mentor. He guided participants on how to use the latest technologies to make their solutions run better and faster. Rebecca Cheng, a member of our product team, attended as a judge. I participated as a mentor, judge, and presenter. I conducted a session with participants on the power of video storytelling and explained how to turn ideas into impactful messages.

What challenge were the teams at HackUST given?

B: The teams were instructed to create an innovative solution that could help the Jardine Restaurant Group run more efficiently while being mindful of the environment and society. Jardine is one of the leading restaurant groups in Asia. It operates the Pizza Hut and KFC franchise in Hong Kong and has over 740 outlets and more than 23,500 employees. Many creative solutions were presented, including environmentally friendly ways to fry a chicken and cook a pizza.

How did the teams that Vyond mentored perform at the hackathon?

B: We mentored many teams, and we were happy to see that several performed very well. One team even ranked as the second runner-up and received a $5,000 prize.

Did any of the teams use Vyond as a part of their project?

B: Yes, a few of the teams we mentored used Vyond to present their project on stage. I gave a session on video storytelling earlier in the hackathon to help the teams prepare for explaining their ideas at the end of the competition.

What was the most rewarding part of Vyond being involved in the hackathon? And Why?

B: It was incredibly rewarding to connect with so many innovative minds and brainstorm ways to improve our world with technology. The fact that the competition had real-world implications—a few of the winning solutions will be adopted by Pizza Hut and KFC of Hong Kong—made participating in the event especially exciting.

Enabling everyone to share their ideas

The main way the Vyond team helps people communicate is with our user-friendly video creation tool. But as the HackUST hackathon shows, community events are another opportunity for our company to help people bring their concepts to life.

Billy, Rebecca, and Allen not only assisted teams with building digital solutions as mentors—as judges they also delivered feedback that will help participants create even stronger projects in the future. Given how rewarding HackUST was, the Vyond team is eager to participate in next year’s hackathon and future collaborative events.

Learn more about Vyond

Happy May the 4th everyone! Sometimes the Force is strong with you and you’re inspired to create videos worthy of a Jedi…or are you a Sith? Whatever side you’re on, we can all agree that making videos with Vyond is not nearly as difficult as building a second Death Star. In fact, it’s so easy even Jar Jar Binks can do it! In honor of May the 4th, here’s a tip on how to create your very own captions, Star Wars style.

How to create scrolling text in Vyond

It takes seconds to achieve this fun Star Wars effect.

• Add a text box and adjust your font and color.
• Place the text at the bottom of your stage.
• Apply a motion path to your text box. 
• Adjust the motion path duration to achieve your desired speed.

Here’s a helpful diagram:

Master Yoda will be proud to see what you will accomplish in Vyond. May the 4th be with you, always. – Dany Rizzo.

About Vyond

GoAnimate is now Vyond. Learn more about the changes. 

Vyond allows people of all skill levels in all industries and job roles to create dynamic and powerful media. With features that go beyond moving text and images, you can build character-driven stories or compelling data visualizations that engage audiences and deliver results.

Start making your own videos today. Sign up for a free 14-day trial and attend our weekly tour of the Vyond Studio.

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We rebranded because we believe the product we’ve spent over a decade perfecting and our vision for the future go beyond animation into truly moving media. Organizations need to make media that moves others to action. They need to go beyond static content, beyond poor engagement, and someday, maybe even beyond video. That’s why we became Vyond.

Our team is proud of what we have accomplished over the past year. To celebrate with our community, here’s a recap of why we rebranded and what changes we made to put the power of video in the hands of everyone.

Why we rebranded to Vyond

In the days of GoAnimate, our company’s sole focus was, well, animation. We wanted to provide a platform that allowed our customers to make videos quickly and easily.

Today, we’re still in the business of making video creation as simple as possible—but we’ve broadened our focus. Vyond is a place to create all types of moving media—compelling data visualizations, custom characters, enhanced live-action—for any situation. And we have more planned for the future.

Here are a few ways we expanded our product focus to being a driver of communication rather than just animation.

• Changing our name: “Vyond” represents our commitment to media that moves others to action and someday, that may even mean going “beyond video.”
• Improving our product’s performance: We added enterprise-specific tools, improved workflows, and rebuilt our platform on HTML-5 technology. These changes made our product faster, more secure, and easier to use across teams.
• Enhancing our security: To become an even safer communication tool, we fully committed ourselves to the highest security standards and data-privacy protection for our subscribers worldwide.
• Best-in-class support: In our commitment to providing exceptional service, we created the Vyond Accel program to provide greater support to enterprise organizations. We also focused on expanding our customer support, growing our community and adding to our library of resources to help all customers improve their video-creation skills with Vyond.

What we accomplished in our first year

It’s hard to believe that it’s been only a year since we became Vyond—a lot happened! Here is a recap of our first year as Vyond.

Product updates

Over the past year, we created and updated several product features to make our tool faster and more secure for businesses:

• Switched from Flash to HTML5-based software, which is supported by more browsers and is more secure than Flash.
• Thousands of new assets, including tons of characters, actions, props, animals, backgrounds, and character components. Not to mention, our Whiteboard Animation style now includes color-customizable props that can be easily branded.
• Better import and export options. Customers can now import MP4 files into the Vyond Studio with improved video file support. You can also now download your video from within Vyond Studio.
• We’ve added color changeable props and backgrounds to the Contemporary and Whiteboard styles, making it easy to match videos to your brand.
• New keyboard shortcuts to make video editing faster and easier.
• We now offer global editing, a new feature that enhances productivity by making it possible to swap the same element in multiple scenes.

Video creation resources

Along with new features, we’ve released blog posts, webinars, templates, and other resources to educate our community and help them create dynamic, engaging content:

• • Resource posts: “Everything You Need to Make a Video in Vyond ” and “The Ultimate List of 57 Video Tools & Resources” are two comprehensive resources to help anyone, regardless of their experience level, make their first Vyond video.
  • Webinars: Our weekly webinar “Learn How to Make Your Own Vyond Video” is another helpful introductory resource for new Vyond customers. For our more experienced customers, we’ve created webinars about “How to Brand Your Video in Vyond” and “Vyond Hacks and Advanced Tips” to help you enhance your video quality beyond the basics.

• Templates: As part of our 12 Days of Video holiday campaign, we released 13 free video templates for Vyond customers last December. These templates are designed for a wide variety of use cases—marketing, HR, infographics, and product explainers.

Conferences and events

Over the past year, meeting Vyond users in person was one of the most valuable experiences for our team.

By talking with customers at conferences and Vyond meet-ups around the world, our team was able to learn more about what customers love about our product and how it can be improved. Reflecting on the past year, our team is happy to see how our product updates, resources, and events helped Vyond customers create high-quality videos over the past year.

Looking to the future of Vyond

After a successful first year, our team is feeling excited about the future of Vyond and what that means for our customers. Here is a bit of news about what you can look forward to in Vyond over the next year:

New product features

• Rich-text editing
• Text support for right-to-left languages (including Arabic, Hebrew, and Farsi)
• New storyboarding capabilities
• A text export feature to assist with video translations

Phasing out the legacy platform

After several years of development, listening to users’ feedback, and making adjustments to our product in public beta, we are confident in the stability and feature set of Vyond Studio. Our current product is equipped with robust features that make it faster and easier to use than our original GoAnimate legacy video maker. 

We encourage users who haven’t already switched from the legacy version to Vyond Studio to do so soon. You don’t need to worry about losing your old videos by making the switch—you can migrate them.

We plan to fully retire the Legacy video maker in the near future before Flash retires. We’ll share more details in the upcoming months to keep you posted.

Events

The year ahead is full of meetups, conferences, and webinar events for us. We’re excited to meet more of our customers and gain more industry knowledge year-after-year.

Stay up to date on where you can connect with Vyond by checking our full events calendar here.

We’re here for our customers

Our first year as Vyond was a success, thanks to our supportive customers. We know that it can be tricky to navigate major product changes during a rebrand, so we appreciate your sticking with Vyond throughout the past year and everything you’ve done to help us improve.

Looking ahead, our mission remains the same: putting video in the hands of everyone. Any changes we make in our product will always be for the sake of enabling our customers to create high-quality media that moves.

What fun, we’re one

What beats spending your Monday morning with Oprah? Well, probably nothing, but we’re going to try.

Jet over to booth #1609 after the morning keynote for a special treat and birthday celebration. Last year at ATD 2018 we announced the GoAnimate to Vyond rebrand and the reveal of the new Vyond Studio beta. This year, we’re excited to celebrate our first birthday as Vyond and all the progress we’ve made with you this year.

L&D video expert panel

Learn from our panel of experts about how great storytelling can be the difference between a bored audience and an engaged one. In this session, speakers representing a range of industries will explore how they use animated video in their learning programs. Plus, they’ll answer questions submitted from the Vyond community and audience. Attend this session to learn how you can use video in your learning environments. We’ll cover trends, hurdles, and personal successes.

Get to know the panel:

• Ana Grade – Sr. Instructional Designer, Amazon
• Grace Linehan – Training and Development Analyst, IT Training, GM Financial
• Jamal Olusesi – Training Program Manager, U.S. Department of State
• Kate Tronvig – Sr. Instructional Designer, SAP
• Shannan N. Ulm – Sr. Instructional Designer, Enterprise Learning, ADP

Monday, May 20 | 1:00 – 2:15pm | M61EXS | Room 101

Add this session to your schedule

Schedule a private meeting

Do you have an L&D team of ten or more? Set up a private video strategy session with our team. Book now for a limited edition smartphone Vyond Video Production Kit.

Request a meeting

Live demos at booth #1609

Our team will be on hand at booth #1609 throughout the conference to teach you how easy it is to create animated videos for training and eLearning. Follow this link to schedule a demo, or stop by the booth at any time during the show: Monday – 9:30 am to 3:00 pm, Tuesday – 9:30 am to 3:00 pm, and Wednesday – 9:30 am to 1:30 pm.

Add us to your schedule

Vyond community meet-up

Join us after the conference at the National Union Building for a chance to learn new video skills, connect with the Vyond team, and hear what’s coming next to Vyond Studio. Can’t make it? Attend the live stream.

Thursday, May 23 | 11:00 am – 3:00 pm | 918 F Street Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20004

RSVP

We hope to see you in Washington, D.C.!

Welcome to February, the only month of the year dedicated to all aspects of your heart. While Valentine’s Day gets all the love, so to speak, February is also Heart Health Month. Heart disease causes more deaths in United States than all types of cancer combined, so it goes without saying that your heart’s health is pretty important.

In honor of Heart Health Month, Vyond created a Fit February challenge. Fit February is a month-long competition where employees form teams and accrue points for practicing healthy habits like exercising and getting enough sleep. The goal is to focus on your heart, so the more you get moving, the more points you earn, and the healthier you’ll be.

Since video is the most effective tool for communicating a message, we created one to rally the troops and encourage our colleagues to take part in Fit February. Watch what we produced, then copy what we’ve made to use for your own internal challenge.

Why heart health at work?

Your health and your productivity are intrinsically linked. Accordingly, your heart healthy choices directly affect the work you do. Employees who exercise for at least 30 minutes, three times a week, are 15 percent more likely to have higher job performance, according to one study.

Improving your lifestyle habits can be difficult, but here’s some good news: we commit to pursuing healthier activities and diets when we do it with others. Communities provide encouragement and increase accountability and all it takes is sharing your goals with people who can support you, whether they’re friends, family or colleagues.

Having common goals and a little healthy competition will provide plenty of motivation.

Get motivated

Tips for a successful Fit February program 

• Encourage all employees to participate, no matter their current fitness level.
• Select a team leader to help encourage other members.
• Send regular reminders to employees to keep them motivated.
• Provide information on heart health and other useful topics. This podcast, for example.
• Focus on making this a FUN program.  

Here’s an additional resource to help motivate you and your team:

Go far, sweat together

Our animation team created this video to highlight how our new sports content can be used to visualize metaphors and tell a larger story. You can use it to convince your boss to give Fit February a try at your company.

Vyond customers, please note: some of the visual effects in this video were not created with Vyond. Specifically, the bounce effects on props and transitions were added with Adobe. Our animation team is experimenting with these effects and working to bring them to Vyond Studio in the future. While we can not provide this video as a template, we encourage you to utilize the different scenes and metaphors in your own videos. 

Video transcript

It might not be a surprise to you that sports activities can help you stay healthy. But when it comes to work, have you ever thought that maybe sports can help make you more efficient?

After hearing this, you may want to work out a bit instead of playing with your phone during lunchtime. A study has shown that exercising at lunchtime helps you do better at work. 60 percent of the workers who spent 30 to 60 minutes exercising at lunch agreed that their time management skills, mental performance, and their ability to meet deadlines improved.

They were less likely to have post-lunch energy dips and were more focused on their work. Their overall performance boosted by about 15 percent.

On a psychological level, how do sports and exercise boost productivity? Research shows that proper exercise can boost morale and ease stress. The workers who exercised claimed that they went home feeling more satisfied with their day. This is because doing exercise will trigger the release of chemicals called endorphins, which makes you feel happy and calm. It was also found that happy workers were up to 20 percent more productive than unhappy workers.

So, you might get to end your meeting earlier if you’re happy! How else could sports and exercise benefit a company? It goes without saying that workers are the most valuable assets of any company. A study showed that incorporating the recommended amount of exercise per week into workdays led to a noticeable reduction in sickness absences and healthcare expense. In other words, healthy and active workers take fewer sick days and earn more money.

Last but not least, focusing on sports during team building events can encourage team spirit. It creates bonds between managers, coworkers, and everyone on all levels. Workers feel more valued from the collective support and interaction, making them more loyal to their company. It’s clearly a win-win in terms of health, morale, and productivity for both employees and employers.

There’s a saying that couples who sweat together, stay together. It’s just as true that companies that sweat together stay together. What are you waiting for? Let’s grab a ball and sweat together!

How to use our Fit February video template

The video template at the top of this post is free to use and customize with a paid account or 14-day free trial of Vyond. Customers will have the ability to download and share their final video. 

Follow these steps to access the template:

• Log into your free trial or Vyond account.
• Click here.
• The video project will open in your account for you to customize.
• Customers can download and share.

In years past, this video (combined with our natural enthusiasm for competition) lit the fire, and the majority in our office enthusiastically took part. We’re excited to host Fit February again this year, but this with our US and Asia-based teams taking part. We hope you have fun including animated video in your next internal communications project.

About Vyond

GoAnimate is now Vyond. Learn more about the changes. 

Vyond allows people of all skill levels in all industries and job roles to create dynamic and powerful media. With features that go beyond moving text and images, you can build character-driven stories or compelling data visualizations that engage audiences and deliver results.

Start making your own videos today. Sign up for a free 14-day trial 

To see more of what other video makers are up to, log into our online community where customers post discussions, ask one another questions and share their Vyond tips.