Embrace the humanity in your videos: Handling mistakes in screencasting

Creating perfect, mistake-free videos is an unrealistic goal. Instead, focus on producing concise, compact, highly valuable educational content that can incorporate mistakes. Mistakes can range from minor misspeaks to larger misunderstandings and they play a role in humanizing your content.

Accepting and managing minor errors

It's common to make small mistakes like saying the wrong word, typing the wrong thing, or forgetting a crucial step. These innocuous errors are opportunities to connect with your audience and demonstrate your humanness. For instance, if you make a typo or miss a semicolon while typing code, acknowledging and correcting it can make your video more relatable.

Here’s an example from my course:

show indexes from people

After realizing I forgot a semicolon, I corrected myself with, "Oh, you've got to put a semicolon there," and reran the updated code:

show indexes from people;

Such moments showcase your personality and make the educational experience more approachable.

Handling major mistakes

Not all mistakes are easily manageable on the spot. When you encounter an error that leaves you unsure of how to proceed, it's best to stop and reassess. Understand the issue and decide whether it's worth re-recording a section. For more significant mistakes that can't be passed off casually, consider stopping the recording and starting the chunk over.

Dealing with errors in post-production

Sometimes, you might only catch an error during the editing process. While this can be frustrating, having protocols in place can alleviate these challenges. If the mistake is minor and easily correctable, re-recording the specific audio portion or splicing in a correct term can resolve the problem without needing a complete re-recording.

In cases of significant errors, you may need to don your recording setup once more. Record in manageable chunks to make addressing post-production errors easier.

Finding comfort in imperfection

In the journey of content creation, mistakes are inevitable. They are valuable tools in making your content relatable and engaging. Instead of fearing errors, use them as opportunities to enhance your audiences' learning experience. Embrace the imperfections for they add humanity to your content, solidifying a connection with your viewers.