Live webinars are ideal for forging connections directly with your audience using interactive Q&A sessions. On the other hand, pre-recorded videos are excellent for educational or instructional videos that you can refer your audience to whenever they need them. You can use pre-recorded video to explain procedures that your audience should follow or address frequently encountered concerns. Because you have the luxury of being able to plan out the video ahead of time, you also have the opportunity to focus on its production and ensure that it is clean and professional. Read on for tips on creating professional pre-recorded video content.

1. Invest in a microphone and good surroundings

Although your computer may have a built-in microphone, you'll want to ensure it's of appropriate quality before recording videos. Make sure your voice is as clean and crisp as it would be if you were in the room right next to your audience. Listen to the playback of your voice; if it's poor quality, you may want to purchase an external microphone.

You should also be aware of your surroundings. Bare rooms with little furniture or padding have particularly poor acoustics, as sound waves will bounce off the walls and make it harder to understand you in your video. Professional studios often have wall-to-wall acoustic foam to remedy this, but a carpeted, furnished room may be enough for your needs.

2. Script your content and do multiple takes

Disfluencies in your speech such as "uh" and "um" or other filler words are normal and expected during live broadcasts, but in pre-recorded content, you should take the time to ensure that your speech flows cleanly and smoothly. You may want to type out everything you want to say and simply read from it as you record. You can also record passages in different inflections and tones and pick the one that sounds the most natural.

3. Provide an outline of the video

Viewers may come to your video because they need a very specific answer and may not need or want to watch the entire video. They will appreciate a slide early on in the video that explains what you are going to discuss so that they can skip right to the answer that they are looking for. 

For more information on best practices, visit NAIFA's Business Performance Center webinar archives.