The Voice Behind PCC Training Videos

Remember the confidence you felt when taking a test on material you knew inside and out?

It's the same feeling PCC wants all its clients to have upon receiving each new Partner/PCC EHR update, which is why we recommend everyone watch our release videos. Each 15-20 minute video is made available at least a week in advance of the scheduled update and contains an audio and visual tour of all the new features and how to use them.

PCC's technical writer, Douglas Beagley, is the talent, and the distinctive voice, behind the videos that have become one of PCC's most popular teaching tools. “We've been making videos for more than five years, but we've really amped them up in the last two,” says Beagley. “Since last year, we've put out a video for each release because it gets the most information out to people in the fastest and most effective way.”

Lights, Camera, Action

Those familiar with PCC's video tutorials see a polished, yet somehow informal finished product that features screen shots of PCC EHR and Beagley's easy, conversational narrative. Both are combined to explain complex features in a way that is natural and easy to understand.

What viewers don't see is all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into producing a video every release cycle. Before sitting down to a microphone, Beagley must do his homework and learn all he can about the newly designed and developed software. He tests it, re-tests it, then writes the documentation that accompanies each release.

Video production takes place a couple of weeks later, in a small, acoustically suitable room with no windows. There, Beagley plugs a microphone into a computer and records, creating video and audio simultaneously in 10-15 second chunks. After editing each chunk for voice and visual synchronization and on-screen highlighting, Beagley sends a draft to colleagues for feedback before it is released to practices.

“When I'm yammering away in a video, I get excited, and I think it comes through in the videos,” says Beagley. “They're a way to get that human connection that you can't get from written documentation.”

The Human Connection

Keeping it human has become a priority for Beagley, who used to spend a lot more time in the editing room, deleting the errant “ahh's” and “umm's” that leaked out during the recording process. “I used to be a perfectionist,” Beagley says. “My early videos were all carefully rehearsed line-by-line, but now I focus more on speaking directly to the audience, in a more genuine manner. If I pause, or say 'um,' I just leave it. It may be less professional, but it's more natural.”

The video for the June Partner/PCC ER 6.8 release is already in the works and should be out toward the end of May. Beagley is also wrapping up production of a video covering all the major features in PCC EHR. This video is also due out next month.

“We're rolling out a lot of great new tools, and if we don't communicate them well, offices won't use them and there will be no benefit,” Beagley said. “We believe that what we're developing can improve the clinician's day-to-day work experience, and for that to happen we've got to get it front of them in a way that it can be best digested.”