Bruce Crozier Business Software Analyst

Bruce Crozier

Business Software Analyst

Software Demonstration and Training Media

A number of years ago I was the sales and installations rep for a young company, covering the western states. If a prospect called from Timbuktu, I had to be sure they were worth the time and expense to go there to demo the software. I started looking into the possibility of videotaping my demonstration. I quickly found out that videotaping software was more difficult than it sounded. Video and computer technologies didn’t play well together in those days. Over the next few years I continued to work on the problem. Gradually computer video graphics technology improved to the point where it was no longer difficult to videotape the computer screen. But it quickly became apparent that just having a video of the computer screen with a narrator wasn’t the optimum solution. It was better than nothing but it was very tedious to watch, hard to follow, and time consuming and expensive to produce,.

I developed a production technique that solved these problems. Instead of live action like an actual demonstration or training, I used a slideshow format. I captured the software screen as a graphic image so that I could zoom in and highlight specific areas as needed. This made it much easier to follow. I could add other illustrations easily and break up the presentation so that it wasn’t so boring. As a slideshow it was much easier to edit and produce. And faster and cheaper to produce as well (about a third the cost of live action.) If the software changed or the purpose changed, it was much easier to make changes to a slideshow months later than to try to edit a live video. And I could add live video of a narrator when and where it was called for.

Over the past few years I’ve produced a number of hours of marketing and training media using this technique. Videotapes have, of course, given way to DVDs and online media. Click on the links below to play short examples. They were produced using Power Point, which is much more powerful than most users realize. They were then converted to Flash format so that they could be played through any browser. I’ve produced fairly sophisticated interactive material complete with student certification tests using Power Point. The advantage of a Power Point based production is that, as the most popular presentation program, the content can be used by salesmen and trainers in the field to supplement their live presentations. Usually I provide a turnkey service, from scripting through final production. But I can also work with other media producers if the project requires live video or high end animation or graphics.

Software media isn’t typically produced by a software analyst. You can call it a sideline if you like. But what I bring to the process that the people who usually produce media don’t is the experience of someone who’s actually done sales demonstrations and software training.

The following samples offer a variety of types of demonstration and training. When the sample screen appears, use the icon in the lower right of the presentation screen to go to full screen.