How to Prepare for a Demonstration or How-To Video Shoot

If you're teaching someone how to do something on video, there's one rule worth remembering: We need to be able to see it.

That means preparing a demonstration video isn't just about knowing what you're going to say. We need to think through every step we're going to show.

Walk through the process before the shoot

Do the entire demonstration yourself. Start at the beginning and go all the way through.

What equipment do you need? What materials? What screens need to be displayed? What needs to be prepared ahead of time?

It's amazing how many tiny steps you forget when you do something every day. Those tiny steps may be exactly what your viewer needs explained.

Decide how we're teaching it

• Will someone demonstrate while talking directly to the camera?

• Will we record the process and add a voiceover later?

• Do we need close-up shots?

• Screen recordings?

• Graphics?

• All of the above?

We need to know that before production so we can capture the process properly.

Have duplicates when possible

If you're demonstrating something that gets cut, cooked, assembled, painted, opened, altered or otherwise can't easily be reset, having a second one can save enormous amounts of time.

Video often requires us to repeat steps from different angles.

Plan accordingly.

Decide how detailed we need to be

Are we making a quick overview or a true step-by-step tutorial? Those are very different videos.

Know your audience and what they already understand.

Prepare the workspace

Have everything organized and accessible before we arrive.

Clean the area we're filming and remove anything distracting or confidential.

If branded products or materials should appear, have those ready, too.

Give us access to your brand kit

We'll need your logos, colors, fonts and brand guidelines for titles, step numbers, labels, diagrams and other graphics. If we're referencing branded terminology, product names or specific spelling, send that information as well.

Before shoot day, we should know...

• What are we teaching?

• Who are we teaching it to?

• What are the steps?

• Who is demonstrating?

• Will they speak on camera or use voiceover?

• What close-ups or screen recordings do we need?

• What supplies are required?

• What needs duplicates?

• Where will the video live?

• When is it due?

• Who approves it?

• And do we have your brand kit?

If we can answer all of that beforehand, shoot day becomes a demonstration instead of a rehearsal.