Multimedia: finally - a practical communication tool.

While the costs of everything else keep rising, the costs to produce multimedia programs continue to drop. Thanks to improved technologies, businesses of every size now find it simpler and more practical to use this new communication tool.

What is multimedia?

Multimedia is a computer-based communication tool that employs several media at once - text, video, voice, sound effects and music. Multimedia is generally interactive. This means viewers' actions control what they see and hear while viewing the program.

Multimedia comes in several forms. A program may run from a computer's hard drive (for internal presentations, for example) or from CDs or floppy disks (for widespread distribution). Some multimedia programs are installed on freestanding kiosks or are distributed online.

How is multimedia being used?

Business communicators are developing interactive newsletters and brochures, multimedia product catalogs, interactive trade show presentations, computer-based sales presentations, disk-based reference manuals, and computer-based training programs.

In marketing

Multimedia marketing tools include electronic brochures and product catalogs that permit both browsing and buying. Interactive demos on kiosks in stores and at trade shows encourage buyers to slow down and take a look.

The best multimedia marketing kiosks serve both buyer and seller. Kiosks can be set up to demonstrate products and issue print materials or coupons at the push of a button. At the same time, the kiosks can collect demographic information about the people using them - an invaluable marketing tool for sellers.

In training

All trainers know the value of interactivity in training. Nearly half of the companies that have training programs use computer-based training (CBT) programs. One of the reasons these programs are so effective is the ease with which users can customize them. Employees can record lessons, add comments and print out a personally annotated version of any lesson.

In addition to training employees in basic skills and computer skills, CBT is also effective in communicating rapidly changing information.

In business communication

Businesses are using multimedia to supplement proposals and presentations. They're designing computer-based slide shows that can be changed on location in a matter of minutes. Internally, businesses use the combination of video, text, sound and interactivity to introduce new programs and to provide employee orientation.

In the public sector, U.S. state agencies have installed multimedia kiosks providing information about unemployment benefits and job retraining. In cities, art museums use interactive media to enhance an artist's display. Multimedia programs can offer audio and video clips of critics, in-depth analyses of works of art, and pictures of works by the same artist or in the same genre. They can answer questions, define terms and provide sources for further study.

Seven tips for using multimedia

Multimedia is not just for "techies." Most of the computers out there today are on the desks of business people, managers, decision-makers, and other "non-computer people." These computers are also on the desks of your audience.

Well-designed multimedia can be powerful and effective. You'll need to involve a professional producer to develop the program. And you'll need to work closely with your producer to ensure that your program uses the medium to its full potential. These seven tips will help you and your producer make effective, cost-effective multimedia programs:

1: Consider the user.

Your multimedia program is worthless if the user won't use it. Some job-seekers have experimented with multimedia resumes, but have gotten little response. That's because they weren't thinking about their users. Human resources managers spend only seconds on each resume. They aren't about to take time to upload disks onto their computers.

Your program is worthless, too, if the user can't run it. Think about whether your users are Mac-based or PC-based. Keep graphics at a level that will run on low-end computers. Include audio effects that can be played on the small speaker found in every computer, so that those without a sound card can still get the full impact.

Make your program easy to install and easy to run. Users who can't make the program work the first time will quickly give up.

2: Use only the frills you need.

Probably the biggest complaint about multimedia programs is that they're hard to use or to watch. Because special effects are easy to create, many producers go wild with them. They clutter their programs with too much color, text and sound. Too many things go on at once. Nothing is uniform.

Many people think that a multimedia program must have music, narration, sound effects, video and spectacular graphics. It doesn't - not always. After all, the most important element of multimedia is interactivity - the ability to let the user shape the presentation. If you can engage your audience with thought-provoking content, you don't need the distraction of elaborate audio and visual elements.

In fact, if you're willing to do without full-motion video and music, you can create effective communication tools with hypertext software. Hypertext software is much less expensive than the programs needed to produce full-blown multimedia. Even the most elementary hypertext programs allow you to do the elaborate branching necessary for full interactivity. Many hypertext programs allow you to include graphics and simple sound effects as well.

3: Use the right distribution medium.

To many people, multimedia is synonymous with CD-ROM. But there's nothing magical about a CD-ROM disk - in fact, CD-ROMs are notorious for their slow speed and frequent hardware incompatibilities. In small quantities, they are rarely cost-effective. Before working with CD-ROM, look into whether it makes more sense to distribute on a floppy disk, on a series of floppy disks, on a Syquest or magneto-optical cartridge, or via modem over an online service.

4: Plan carefully.

The least expensive, but most overlooked, element of a production is scripting. If you script first, script carefully and script thoroughly, your other costs will be greatly reduced.

5: Recycle and reuse.

Shooting new video footage or purchasing stock images can get expensive fast. Instead, look around your company's archives and see what treasures you already have. Recycle existing video footage, art and still images. With a little imagination - and a bit of skill in Photoshop - you can colorize black-and-white photos, combine pieces of various images into a seamless whole and turn still pictures into animation.

6: Use the medium wisely.

Sometimes, multimedia isn't your best option. Sometimes video or print fit your needs better. Use multimedia when the integration of animation, text, graphics, video and sound will best convey your message or give your company a strong, polished image. Use multimedia when you can use it to include information that is not accessible in any other medium. A prospect who checks out an advertisement on CD only to discover that it is identical to the print ad is likely to feel cheated.

Make the program truly interactive. Give the viewer real control. Think of an interactive advertisement as a "showroom of the mind." Let viewers roam throughout the ad in any way they choose. They are likely to spend more time with a multimedia program that gives them a chance to explore than one that simply walks them straight through the showroom and out the back door.

7: Remember the long-term value.

Multimedia does take some time and money to develop. But it takes much less time or money to change. Unlike print or video, multimedia programs can be reused, reproduced and modified at very little additional cost. Updates to an electronic brochure can be done within days. One of the greatest long-term values of this investment is that, once the program is developed, it becomes a retained asset that's easy to upgrade.

Multimedia is still a relatively new communication tool, but it's one that has great potential. Nine out of 10 people who receive a computer disk view it. If they like it, they share it with others. A multimedia program - one that is easy to use, informative and attractive - is valuable to both its developer and its user.

Debra Goldentyer is writer and producer, Schaeffer & Goldentyer Video and Multimedia, Oakland, Calif.