In Conversation with Enrique Olives on Video-based Learning

Video Podcast with Enrique Olives

0:15
Hey there. Welcome to the e-learning Champion Pod. I'm Shalini, your host for today. And I'm very excited to have with us Enrique Olivas, the Head of Product Marketing at Vyond. He oversees a team responsible for product positioning and messaging, market strategy, sales enablement, and competitive insights.

0:40
And before Vyond, Enrique led product marketing for Sales Forces Media Cloud, and he has held a variety of senior leadership positions in various fields, broadcasting, business development and finance, including as the Managing Director of ABS-CBN Japan and CFO at Sky Cable, the largest cable company in the Philippines.

1:07
Enrique holds an MBA with honours from Santa Clara University and a Bachelor of Science degree in business management.

1:14
So Enrique, we are so glad that you could join us today. Would you like to add something about yourself?

1:22
Thank you. So I'm currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Have lived here for the last 20 plus years, but like you mentioned, within those 20 years, I had the pleasure of working and living in Japan.

1:39
Wow, yeah, that sounds exciting.

1:43
Thank you for having me. Look forward to having a really interesting discussion on video and learning.

1:51
So, Enrique, I'd like to start this conversation by asking you to share a little bit about the evolution of video-based learning. Now it's all over the place.

2:05
So I've been with Vyond for, it'll be two years in August.

2:09
And based on my conversations with a lot of our customers, a lot of what we're doing is able to transform traditional based learning where you basically have an instructor and/ or people being asked to go through 6 to 8 hours of very text-based heavy training.

2:36
So what video allows us learners to do, and I'll include myself here, is that one It allows us to save a lot of time, right?

2:47
That's one important thing. The second and probably even more important is our capability to engage with the content is so much better. And you probably know this. Once you have better engagement, then retention rates are so much better. I'm able to remember everything that I'm supposed to remember. So that's how we've seen video is able to really help drive engagement.

4:04
Thank you, Enrique. And I think animated video-based learning specially has totally revolutionised the game because, one of the biggest limitations of conventional eLearning is the absence of an instructor or peers.

4:21
So how has animated video-based learning overcome these limitations to a large extent? I know you, you mentioned learner engagement, but if you could share a little bit more about it.

4:33
Yeah, from our perspective, Vyond is an AI powered video creation platform. Now, while we do have a very large footprint in learning and development and training, there are many other use cases that companies have found for Vyond.

4:55
So whether that is in marketing, sales, sales enablement, we have solution engineers or sales engineers using Vyond to create demos of their products.

5:07
I think from our perspective, what we want to provide is more options. And in our latest 2 releases, you've seen that we're providing more than animated options. We're bringing in a lot of photo realistic options into Vyond as well. So real pictures, we announced that we were bringing in 4 million images from Shutterstock. These are videos, these are images and music from the Shutterstock library.

5:46
All already part of your subscription in Vyond. So, this is something that our customers have been asking for. And being a company that listens intently to our customers, it's something that we sought out to deliver and bring into the Vyond platform.

6:08
That is really an exciting development. So you mean real people videos? You'll have their typical gestures and hand movements and expressions?

At some point, yes, but right now, They're mostly stock images.

The interesting part about it though, is with our spring release, we actually announced that we now have dynamic visuals. So what that basically means is, if you're familiar with and hopefully you've used the Vyond Go, our instant script and video creator. So based on the prompt that you give it, it will already pull the most relevant visuals.

6:58
So, for example, if I'm asking about workplace safety, it's already gonna talk about you and I wearing or let's say workplace safety, working with hazardous materials, as an example. So you're going to start to get visuals that show PPE, people wearing gloves, that's it.

7:24
So at some point, hopefully by end of this year, the entire video will be almost 100% relevant, not just the props, but the scenes, the backgrounds, everything will be related to the prompt.

7:45
Wow, that is amazing. And we can't wait to see the latest release. I'm a huge fan of Vyond because I've seen it bring boring content alive, to totally bring it to life. And yeah, can't wait for the new release.

8:05
So Enrique, for now, since this release is still to happen, I'll talk about the animated video part, of video-based training part of Vyond that is clearly here to stay as well.

8:22
So what is your opinion or your views on areas where you feel this is particularly impactful? And are there areas where you feel having animated videos would not be entirely suitable? So any specific topics or areas, maybe sales training, where you feel it's especially impactful? What are your views?

8:48
Yeah, there's a number of different reasons why animated video is the preferred medium. And if you don't mind, I'll share a few examples here. The first is you're able to increase engagement by abstracting away from extraneous detail. So yeah, most of us or if not all of us that are employed, have to take these very cut and dried boring sexual harassment videos, for example, where it's very awkward to watch 2 live actors.
So when you substitute that for animated characters, you're able to abstract away from what their hair looks like, what their makeup looks like, even what they look like. And you're able to distil and understand the message.

9:51
The second is, let's say I wanted to create a scene showing the entire globe and I wanted to pan out and zoom out.

10:11
That would be very hard to do unless you have the budgets of Disney or Pixar. Right now with animated video, you can easily do that.

10:23
The third one I'll mention is the ability to simplify complex topics or concepts with animated video.

10:37
And I guess the last as an added bonus to all of this, you can create videos at scale at a much more cost-efficient manner.

10:50
Yeah, I think those are great benefits that animated video-based learning brings to the table. And you're right, that sensitive topics that one can't really have real players play out are very well tackled through Vyond characters. And again, I believe you also mentioned safety training, again, a risk-free environment where you actually see characters making mistakes and you take decisions. So that's another great use. I think there's a lot of creative license here for when you use animated video-based learning. You know, the example of the globe that you mentioned. There's just so much you can do which you can't with real figures and real props.

11:43
So I was curious, Enrique, is there any particular demographic with whom video-based or AI video-based learning particularly resonates, Gen Z?

I would say, maybe the younger workers. But I would say, you know, screens, right? We're working on a desktop, but we're also looking at our phone. There's no shortage of quote unquote noise, right? That’s happening in the world, right.

12:22
So, the challenge that our companies have is, they have a lot of valuable information that they want to share with their stakeholders.

12:32
Now those stakeholders can take the form of their own employees, right? It could be their customers, it could be the communities that they serve it, it could be prospects that they're trying to sell into.

12:45
And, you and I are inundated with advertising, with targeted messaging, right? So, the idea is how do you stand? How do you cut through all of that noise to get your message across and even something you would think as simple as internal communications from companies. You'd be surprised how low the engagement rate is of those when they're sent via e-mail.

13:18
But you can easily convert that into a 1-2-minute video in a matter of minutes. So, why not do that? Why not choose a medium that you know is tried?

13:35
People are already accustomed to video. Instagram, TikTok, even LinkedIn is inundated with that. Why not lean heavily on that medium that will cut through all of that noise and get your message across?

14:00
In fact, we've seen a lot of our customers opting for using these Vyond videos just to give a sneak preview of an upcoming training. Just have a few glimpses build up that excitement and anticipation for the upcoming training. And yeah, these trailers or as you said, the communication pieces can be very effectively tackled through Vyond because these kind of videos, they don't give a very top-down feel. The very format, the very look and feel is such that it somehow tends to have a more democratic feel to it.

14:45
So, Enrique, are there any success stories or any innovative views of animated video-based learning that you can think of? Maybe some favorite application of yours where this was used very successfully?

15:08
Sure. We have I believe almost 15 different case studies on our public site right now that talk about how all of these big brands use Vyond. But let me let me point out two of them to you.

15:27
The first is Cargill. So Cargill is a one of the, if not the, largest privately held food conglomerate here in the US. They have over 150,000 employees and one of their biggest challenges from a training and learning standpoint was that they had to make their employees understand the nuances of compliance.

15:56
And the gentleman that we had the pleasure of speaking to, and it eventually became a case study that lives in our public website is, he basically said we brought the fun into compliance. And a lot of times those two words are hard to put together in one sentence.

16:15
So, basically what Cargill did was knowing that they had a lot of younger employees, they actually created short interactive engaging video content using Vyond. And when they did that, they saw that the articles and engagement, went through the roof. So it's much, much higher. They also saw that when they included Vyond videos, the number of comments actually also increased. So that's one thing.

16:57
That kind of goes back to one of your earlier questions on where and when animated video is most applicable, right. So in this case, it's a compliance use case and one that shows that, as our CEO Gary likes to say, the more complicated the topic is, the more relevant Vyond becomes.

17:23
The second example I'll give you is GoHealth, a publicly traded, health insurance marketplace. And what they did is they actually used Vyond and created over 50 micro learning videos. And what they did is if you and I are a member and we call in and have a question, and are speaking to a customer service rep, and it just so happens that the rep does not know the answer to the question that we posed.

17:57
They'll actually put us on hold, log into their knowledge portal, and find the video that is most relevant to answer our question. So they actually use it for call deflection or customer service.

18:17
But they're using it for what I would call real time engagement.

18:25
So that was one of the more interesting use cases that we've come across.

18:30
But you know, as we build out more of these case studies with our largest enterprise customers sharing their screen and sharing the videos with us so we can see the output of how they use Vyond.

18:50
Yeah, thank you, Enrique. That was indeed an unusual application of Vyond videos. So, coming to the other side, are there any areas where you feel animated video-based learning may not be particularly effective? Or are there scenarios or situations maybe it could even be corporate culture, in some organisations perhaps there's a more formal approach.

19:21
Yeah. So we've come across companies where it's mostly, I'll call it objection handling. So they come to us and say, Hey, we'd love to use Vyond, but our brand police or senior leadership shies away from cartoon characters.
And so the way we've been trying to address that is by bringing in non-animated characters into the platform.
Can you record yourself and bring that into a Vyond video?
Yes.

20:01
And at some point, by end of this year, we will have screen capture and screen recording within the Vyond platform.

20:10
But going back. So we're trying to bring in more of that.
We have a lot of Infographics, for example, that you can bring in. The newer templates that we have on Vyond Go, which is classified as narration, are non-character based. In fact that pulls in a lot of our stock images that look like you and I, like they're real people, they're real images.

20:42
So we are providing our users with the way we know that the learners, they also want more variety, right? And you and I learn better when we're exposed to different types of learning experiences.

21:05
Yeah, that sounds really exciting. And we can't wait for the latest release and for these developments to be implemented.

21:17
So Enrique, how do you perceive the evolving landscape of L&D in the context of advancing AI tools and technologies? How do you think AI tools and technologies will shape the future of learning?

21:38
I'll share with you. So for Vyond's case, we are obviously keeping a very keen eye on everything that's happening. So everything's happening very quickly, right? Just this week, both Google and open AI and now had huge announcements talking about what they offer and especially in the video front.
But having said that, in the case of Vyond, we've been integrating AI in the platform since 2-3 years. So the way I would describe it is, we're trying to bring the best tools out there and bring that into the Vyond platform.

22:31
Why? So that you and I don't have to keep hopping across different applications, across different tools to create the video.

22:41
So, you're gonna start to see more and more of that in the coming releases. But you know, we've brought in, for example, a number of not just AI, but generative AI, right? I was holding a, a Starbucks or coffee mug here and you wanted to bring this into your video, right? You can actually take a picture of this and by the next release, you can take a picture of this and we'll create an AI version of that.

23:21
Or if say, you're creating a video and you don't like the hundreds or thousands of stock options that we have in our library, you can actually use the AI to generate an image.
So we have that option as well. The other is you can use AI to mimic how you and I look.

So you can actually have a ‘photo to character’ option. You can use AI to remove a background photo, right? But I would say that the other thing is you can also use AI to mimic an action.

24:06
So you can actually have somebody record you or you can record yourself doing a particular action, say I'm waving this way, right? And then I can upload that, and I can actually give my character that same movement that I've just recorded.

24:24
So, we have in our library today, we have over 40,000 different assets, whether those are props, scenes and we have over 2400 advanced character movements. But with AI, it allows you to have unlimited options, right? So if you can't find it in the platform, then you can actually create it yourself.

24:52
Amazing.

24:53
That's how we see it. And to me, the poster child for AI as far as Vyond as of today is Vyond Go where we've incorporated generative AI into the video creation process.

25:09
And literally within 30 seconds, you have an almost finished video. We always recommend that a subject matter expert look at and make any tweaks that they want.

25:29
And we have within Vyond Go, what we call a quick edit panel. So you can make changes to the on-screen dialogue log. You can change the voice, right. I'll give you an example. So a couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of doing an event in London.

25:50
So I actually created a video talk about workplace safety. But then I realized after that, I had created the video using English, but with an American accent. I had already spent one minute creating the video. So I spent another minute translating that video into UK English or British English.

26:16
When I showed the video to the audience, I literally said this took me two minutes to make, but over a minute of that was my fault because I could have outputted in UK English from the start.

26:31
It's also interesting where a lot of people don't know this. So maybe I should share this. You can actually put in a prompt in a foreign language.

26:42
So if you don't speak English as your first language and you're more comfortable putting a prompt in in non-English, I can go in and type a prompt in Spanish, for example, and I can still output it in English, right?

26:58
Or the reverse can hold true, right. If I speak English primarily, I can put in a prompt in English. But if I'm doing training in Spain or any other Spanish speaking country, I can actually output the video in Spanish.

27:17
Amazing.

27:19
And that’s an example of what we have in the platform where it will actually give you an option. Do you want Spanish from Spain or Central and South American countries?

27:35
So wow, I think that's really mind boggling because it increases the reach tremendously with so many process efficiencies brought in because of this reduced time for development.

27:52
And we've had our customers absolutely love it. They tell us that they get to save a lot of money on translation work.

28:05
So, that was a little bit about Vyond. Just wanted to ask you something about your best practices.

28:18
How do you stay abreast of industry trends and best practices in learning and development because it's just so much happening out there. So how do you stay on top of the game?

28:36
I read a lot. Even if I remove my product marketing hat where, we have to be the eyes and ears of competition and not just competition, but the competitive ecosystem. I spend quite a bit of time doing research on what other companies are doing, subscribe to quite a few blogs, spend some time on LinkedIn.

29:17
There's a lot of people that are, everybody seems to be an AI expert today. So you know, pick and choose, start following people and then decide which ones. It's having this notion of being a lifelong learner and that you don't know everything. And in this day and age, information is readily available if you find the resources that are relevant for what you're looking for.

29:59
Thank you, Enrique for sharing that. So just another follow-up question to what you just shared. What advice would you like to share with L&D professionals who want to grow their career, especially in this age of AI enabled learning? Is there any advice that you would like to share for our listeners here today?

30:24
I would say don't be afraid to ask. Don't be afraid to ask and don't be afraid to test. So don't take journalists’ or bloggers’ words for it. Test these platforms for yourself. Play with ChatGPT.

30:48
Use Perplexity and test out Vyond and see how you can literally create a video in 30 seconds.

31:01
It kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier on being a lifelong learner. But, probably more than just read, don't be afraid to ask questions and don't be afraid to test things.

31:18
Thank you. That's valuable advice indeed.

31:22
And for our dear listeners, I'm very excited to announce that Enrique is one of our speakers for our event, the Learn Flux, which is a virtual event for the community of practice and geared entirely towards L&D professionals. So Enrique, would you like to share something about your upcoming session just to give a kind of a sneak preview to our listeners?

31:54
Sure. First of all, thank you for the opportunity to join your three-day event. So I would say without giving away a lot, we'll kind of take a step back and look at what's out there in the market in terms of video, images, audio, and then really understand what, in talking to different enterprise companies, I've come across a number of different aspects or needs that they're looking for.

32:37
So we'll delve into those needs and see how generative AI tools, they're all sprouting today, but how many of them are actually relevant for the enterprise and relevant for what the enterprise is trying to do in engaging their employees, selling their services to other companies.

33:05
So that's where I can share a sneak peek of what I'll talk about then.

33:12
Obviously that sounds really exciting.

33:15
And obviously, we'll try and tie that back into what we do here at Vyond and how we can help L&D professionals in that aspect as well.

33:25
And for our listeners, the theme for our Learn Flux this year is AI enabled learning. So we're really excited to have Enrique addressing one of our sessions. So with that, we come to the end of the session.

33:41
Yeah, thank you so much, Enrique, for your valuable insights and all that you shared about the exciting developments that are coming up in terms of what Vyond is going to release soon. And we look forward to that.

33:53
Thank you.

33:56
Thank you and dear listeners continue to tune in to our podcast.

34:00
Thank you.