Key concepts to brainstorming Instructional Videos

THE THREE T'S
-Tell them what you're gonna tell them.
-Tell them.
-Tell them what you told them.

SIGNPOSTS
Break the process into steps and explain each step completely. When you finish a step and are ready to move on to the next step in the process, pause, summarize what you just did, then explain what you'll be doing next. Each of these stops along the way tells the viewer what they'll need for the next step and how to get ready. That's why they are called SIGNPOSTS.


Though the instructional designers who write training program scripts are highly trained (if lowly paid), their three most potent teaching techniques are so simple that you can safely try them at home.
• The Three T’s
The basic program organizer is the hallowed “three T’s”: Tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em; Tell ‘em what you just told ‘em.
This means, start the show by saying (in narration, titles or preferably both), “We are going to cover the following topics: A, B, C, D and E.” The body of the program then systematically marches from A through E, one topic at a time. At the end of the program, have the narrator and/or tiles recap the content of the program: “We have now covereted topics A, B, C, D and E.”
For simplicity, we phrased each sample “T” as baldly as possible. In scripting, it helps to express these organizers a bit more subtly.
• Where we’re coming from
The second big organizer is the SIGNPOST that punctuates the divisions between subsections of a program. It’s called a SIGNPOST because it points back where we came from and ahead where we’re going: “Now that we have shown how to do part A, we’re ready to demonstrate part B.” This reminds viewers of the information that came before, and introduces the information yet to come.
• The Summing Up
By combining the final T with a SIGNPOST, you can achieve both a summary and a preview of coming attractions, like this: “So now we have explained A, B, C, D and E, the basic steps in moving warehouse pallets with a forklift. In the next part of your training, you’ll learn how to move 55 gallon drums.”

Jim Stinson, Videomaker Magazine, May 2000.