How to plan an emergency preparedness video for a university

Most people don’t think about the fine balance between making a point and entertaining people. Mark Robertson, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL), obsesses about it. He created a videos series for UNL Police on emergency preparedness. When preparing a lecture for Designing Health Campaigns Using Social Media at Tufts University, I looked on YouTube for examples of emergency preparedness videos from universities and started watching his. The animations are short, funny, and have a clear message.

Rather impressively, Mark creates the animations himself using GoAnimate in about an hour. He does the voice himself generally – which is why he sounded familiar when we spoke by phone. I asked him for advice for my students, and then realized this might be of broader interest.

Mark’s advice for planning emergency preparedness videos:

1. Know what is the one message you want to get across.
2. Humor is popular but it is dangerous too. If you are using humor, be certain that no one will take offense. Do not poke fun at students, faculty, or staff.
3. Make your point and find a balance between making your point and entertaining people.
4. Use sample audiences before publishing to make sure you aren’t hitting the wrong nerve and your point comes across.
5. It is a challenge to get people’s attention for too long. Start out and pique people’s interest, and keep the video short.
6. Even how you promote a video is important. Say something that piques their interest to get them to watch.
7. Finally, be careful about your central characters because, if well-received, you will be stuck with them and may regret some of their eccentricities.