Publishing, not being restricted to the printed page, delves into eBooks, eLearning modules, video promotions, audio books, and even video shorts. (How much time will go by before Random House or Macmillan become movie producers. Can you see O’Reilly producing the full length feature, “The Ultimate Agile Environment”?) Since a major part of French Creek Press is the creation of eLearning modules, I decided to read the book, The Lean Forward Moment: Create Compelling Stories for Film, TV, and the Web by Norman Hollyn. As the book blurb says, “Whether you are an editor, producer, director, cinematographer or visual effects pro, this book will provide the essential techniques you need to create engaging content that emotionally connects with your audience.”

To read this book as a producer, director, editor, cinematographer for video promotions is obvious. Yes, read the book. Find out how to tell the story, the logline, in a small time frame. Is this for people who creating learning modules? I argue that anyone who creates a “story”, whether it is how to use a product or pure entertainment, anyone who is in front of an audience can benefit from this book. This book is about how to tell a story.

Someone who creates eLearning modules must be aware of the elements that go into a good production: creating the logline, the purpose of the module, writing, design, directing, cinematography, editing, optical and visual effects, music, and special sounds. When you create a module, you are telling a story. You are engaging the viewer in your world, giving over to him or her the essential information. You are telling a story.

We don’t compete with books anymore. Online learning, electronic learning are not competing against tutorials in a book. Nor are these modules competing against a classroom setting where the speaker can physically dominate the talk; where the speaker can cause change and excitement through bodily movement. Online and eLearning are competing against movies, web series, and television shows. The viewer expects to learn, but has been so conditioned to passively watching that any module must be, at some level, a form of entertainment.

How many people out there have sat through an online tutorial only to wake up and find that they missed a half-hour of the module because they fell asleep? I have. And I’m fairly focused. eLearning, online learning must capture the audience the way movies capture the audience. There must be those moments where the viewer almost “leans” forward in suspense.

Now lest you think I’m cracked, I actually have experience with some very good trainers. The people at Lynda.com such as Tim Plumer and Sven-Erik Seaholm, or the guys at Layers Magazine like Corey Barker, Rafeal Concepcion, or Kelby Training really understand how to tell over their stories. And one of my favorite instructors is RJ Jacquez with his Adobe Connect learning modules for the Adobe Technical Suite 2 and the Adobe Learning Suite.

There’s some great training out there. Unfortunately, there’s also a lot of poor training. If you are in the business of story telling, which is what publishers are, you need to read The Lean Forward Moment.