As most planners know, each meeting attendee consumes content and learns best in their own way. Well, that holds true in the virtual world as well.
Because of this, Aaron Paquette, chief strategist for brand-marketing consultancy AccelerateSG, says in this recent PR Daily article that captioning of video content is critical not only for consumer campaigns but also for educational sessions that a company or association puts out.
A central factor for his premise: “Captioning speaks to the trend toward accessibility and equity. Many consumers are deaf, hard of hearing, or have difficulty processing language, especially when the words are rapid-fire…Captions allow disabled and neurodiverse people to better understand dialogue, appreciate content, and participate fully. Captions also level the playing field for non-native English speakers or those who speak with an accent or in a regional dialect, enabling them to fully participate in content creation and consumption.”
But there’s another strong reason for business-event planners to caption both educational and promotional video content: the competition for attention due to multitasking.
Case in point: Even as many employees are practically glued to their mobile devices, the vast majority keep them muted during the day, Paquette notes. So, “if content creators don’t caption their videos, the audience will not [absorb] them,” diminishing the value of the content. Further, “many consumers juggle multiple screens and audio feeds … even if they can hear the audio, the only way they’ll remember it is if they can see the words as well as hear them.”
The good news is that artificial intelligence can do the transcription work for planners, who should consult with their virtual-event platform provider on two things: Making sure to caption each virtual session, and doing so in a way that makes the content easy to read without being a distraction from the video presentation itself.
