When I record my voice for elearning projects for clients, something interesting happens… I see the script, content and the project in a slightly different way to other types of Voiceover work that I record.
Back in 2006 I left the world of technical, behind the scenes in TV work and moved into BBC Training and Development. My job was to manage induction training for the whole BBC. The fact that I’d spent many years moving around between departments and locations within the BBC had afforded me a really good insight of how the Corporation worked and what new-comers to the organisation needed to know. Also, how best to present this information to new BBC staff that would be well received and memorable. I knew the target audience and the subject very well.
What working in the BBC in Training and Development gave me was training on how to train people. I learned how to design and deliver face to face training, workshops, sessions, away days and how to train other trainers to deliver great and impactful sessions themselves.
Based in the BBC’s Leadership Development team, I learned coaching techniques, how to design and deliver content to the most senior people in the BBC. This was a time of massive change in the organisation and I learned how to facilitate and deliver change management away days for teams that were to be moving to Salford from London. I had a really memorable day delivering change management at London Zoo for some of the CBBC team – where we tapped into the team’s creativity to bring people’s hopes and fears above the “big move” to life through mini creative audio productions. I also had my photo taken with an alpaca, which was smashing, obviously!
For most of the time in the job, I was running and managing a 2 day long training course on all the most important aspects of life in the BBC, Values and mission and how we operated. Sometimes I was on stage presenting and other times it was one of my team of amazing presenters.
One of the most important things I realised is that even 2 days wasn’t enough to deliver all of the learning that people needed when they joined the BBC. Budgets weren’t there to make the course longer and the days were packed enough. So, we decided to take a blended learning approach and set out creating the online course.
Upfront Online was a way of giving people vital info from their very first day – so that by the time they arrived on the face to face course, they already had a grounding in areas such as values and how the BBC is structured. So, working with other colleagues and a specialist elearning company, we designed, wrote and delivered Upfront online. I contributed to the content, looking at how we wrote it, what we needed to cover and the best ways to deliver it. Making sure it fitted perfectly with the face to face course as well.
Things we had to consider included the locations that staff would be accessing it from, the use of headphones, how intuitive the users found it, the tone of voice – some very senior people were to use it as well as some maybe straight from college, making sure it represented the values of the BBC and enabled people to feel orientated in the organisation from day one. The content had to also be of a standard aligned with one of the most respected content makers in the world!
Ultimately, Upfront online was viewed as a great success – we even won 2 gold elearning awards for it!!
So when now, as a full time Voiceover Artist, and an elearning script comes my way, you don’t just get me, behind the mic, delivering your script with the care and attention you’d expect. You also get the me who is a trained trainer, a training designer and facilitator and someone who played a part in creating an award wining elearning course. I understand why you have written what you have in the way you have. I understand the situation your learners are in and how to talk to them. I know you need to deliver great ROI for your clients.
Next time you need to produce elearning with added value, give me a shout. I understand your world and bring my experience – both sides of the mic into your elearning, every time.
I do see the script, content and the project in a slightly different way to other types of Voiceover work that I record.
Please feel free to drop me an email to hello@clarereevesvoiceovers.com for a chat about your online learning project