With 1.4 million subscribers, it’s fair to say Youtuber Theodore, creator of the Practical Psychology channel, is VideoScribe savvy. We had a ch...

Good storytellers relish their endings. They use their last words as an opportunity to make a deeper connection, inspire action, and leave an unforget...

We rarely recall all the specific details of the stories we hear, but what does remain is an overall sense of what the story meant and how it ...

Times may have changed, but the goal remains the same – to hook your audience with a powerful beginning that draws them in. While I can&rsquo...

Who does your presentation concern? Who will be affected by what happens? Find your story by considering how these 4 elements of storytelling relate t...

Defining your audience is arguably the most important step in business storytelling. For me, the best part of telling a story is the audience. He...

Whether the goal is influencing decisions, sharing knowledge, or articulating a new vision, storytelling is an essential business skill that has the p...

A good public speaker takes their audience on a journey, leaving them feeling inspired and motivated. But structuring your speech to get your ideas ac...

Images are a powerful communication tool in presentations. But clichéd metaphors spoil the effect. Here, in 4 easy steps, is how professional illustra...

Sparkol will be at Bett 2018 and we’re excited to show you all the benefits our software for education offers.

We’ll be sho...

In this super-visual world, it's hard to fully explain our ideas without images. Storyboarding is a great way to figure out how to convey your mes...

Storytelling can be such an important tactic, but how do you go about creating a great story, for the purposes of public speaking?

I’ve noticed that there’s something that scares most marketers. We love our data. Most marketers find it fun to revie

Karin Bodewits is the founder of career platforms ScienceMums and NaturalScience.Careers in Munich, and campaigns to help women bridge the gap between...

Some brands will fall over themselves to make you feel special. They'll pour you a scotch, recline your leather chair and massage your delicate eg...

Is it cliché to compare a presenter to a magician? Probably. But speakers can learn many things from these spectacular stage performers. These 6 thing...

Solomon Ogunmefun-Brooker is a 24-year-old poet, rapper and musician and 2016 National Poetry Slam Champion. He’s soon to release his debut solo EP ‘T...

When we think of body language, we often picture complex gestures intended to manipulate an audience. But there's a simpler, more authentic way to mas...

You can't manufacture a connection with the audience. Or can you? An understanding of kinesics could certainly help. Find out what it is and how to ma...

Aurelius Braunbarth is the owner of Hausbar, a Berlin-inspired bar in trendy Clifton, Bristol. With 30 years' experience in the industry, Braunbarth i...

'How can I get rid of this horrible sick feeling in my stomach?' Lucy asked. I answered as I always do, that nerves are not the enemy we think...

Dunking an Oreo. Unboxing a new iPhone. Putting lime in your Corona. What do they all have in common? Here's how to find your brand rituals and us...

How do you go from high school dropout, arrested at the age of 17, to world champion public speaker? Meet Dananjaya Hettiarachchi, the man who made th...

Tanya Rich is a professional voice over artist and coach. She lectures in voice for recorded media at Bath Spa Uni, runs cabaret show Club Paradis and...

How strong is our desire to copy others? Do we have to follow the crowd? What can herd behaviour in humans teach us about engaging people? Let's h...

Being able to nail a presentation is more important than education to your career success. Top public speaking coach Bill Smartt explains how to have ...

While it may be impossible to anticipate every mishap, you can learn how to deal with the most common public speaking calamities. Here's how to pl...

Robert McKee is a legend among storytellers. Famous writers journey thousands of miles to sit at his feet. Why? Here's why Robert McKee is a story...

Jess* is a Deputy Ward Manager in an NHS mental health unit. We spoke to her about communicating with the patients in her care and the everyday skills...

So you give your presentation. People smile and nod and say ‘that was nice’ and then… nothing. No sales, no signups, no feedback. Try one of these 5 p...

All good things must come to an end, including your presentation. But how do you leave your audience on a high? We asked top public speaking coach Dee...

Public speaking opens you up to scrutiny. How do you make sure you exude confidence, and engage with the audience? This experienced speaker explains h...

How does an ordinary article reach an audience of millions? Here's how one of mine went viral, what I learned from it, and how you can make it hap...

It's sad whenever somebody you admire dies. But the many wonderful things you then learn about them can temper that sadness. Here's something new I en...

Communicating well – whether it's with your co-workers, customers or followers – isn't always easy. Discover these 8 powerful words and knock your aud...

Props in presentations – useful tools or pointless gimmicks? From buckets to balls to brains, here are five presenters whose weird and wonderful...

The fourth wall is wonderful. But it depends entirely on human understanding and respect. When that respect disappears, the wall crumbles. Here are 6 ...

When did you last send a thank you letter? Nine-year-old Poppy Stewart sent one to Santa, and it’s more than I can cope with today.

The speakers at TedxBristol were generally brilliant, but a handful were extra special. It made me wonder – what exactly made these five speaker...

Can we learn the 'languages' animals use? Do they ever really learn ours? Sarah Goodman found out what it's like when your audience member...

In this age of digital communication, we're losing the ability to give a great speech. A little practice would go a long way. Here are experienced spe...

Audiences are tired of facts, figures and bold claims. But stories? We’re hardwired to see stories as a gift. Download The Seven Pillars of Stor...

Ah, Bristol. The UK city where parking your car is fraught with etiquette-based danger. Welcome to the unadulterated joys of the handwritten, Bristoli...

A great speech starts with a cracking opener. But how should it end? Q&A sessions get the audience involved and prove you're interested in conversing ...

We're all for walking and gardening. But rambling in a speech? Not on our watch. Try one of these five simple planning techniques for presentation...

Music has the power to alter the way we taste, smell and experience the world around us. It can even change the way we interpret information. Here are...

If you've ever had to sit through a rambling, jargon-filled presentation, use this simple planning technique to ensure yours are clean, concise an...

It's that time of year again. Time to do stuff we don't want to do, to make other people happy. Emotions are running high. Let's look at t...

Sending your friends and family a holiday letter? Make sure your glad tidings of great joy hit just the right note. Don't blow your own trumpet (too h...

Have you ever cooked goat? Matt Gillan wants you to. He's a Michelin-starred chef trying to raise the profile of goat meat. To do that, he turned ...

Some presentation topics are inherently boring, but often a talk is bad simply because it lacks structure. Here’s a simple strategy for making a...

Choosing the right words is hard. But maybe the solution isn't in your thesaurus. Maybe it's in your stereo. Here's how music gets you ins...

What is charisma? Something that makes us attractive and worth following. A good thing, isn’t it? No, actually. Charisma is overrated, dishonest...

At some point, we all find ourselves having to deliver unexpected bad news – a redundancy, an accident, a break-up. It's always going to be ...

Speech writing. What a job huh? Putting words in mouths, lumps in throats, and flames in hearts. Here's a true speech writing story of my own to help ...

Court proceedings are as old as civilisation itself. For centuries, lawyers have been admired for their ability to sway opinions. What can we learn fr...

In the last 13 days, John Lewis's #ManOnTheMoon advert has been viewed over 13 MILLION times. Why have Christmas adverts become such huge media ev...

Brand-customer connections can last a lifetime if promises are consistently kept. But what happens when they're not? Here's the cautionary tal...

Your message is concrete. Your argument is watertight. But are you opening your presentation in the most engaging way? Here are 8 tried-and-tested tec...

You've got a presentation to write. So you research. You read the internet. But maybe you shouldn't. Maybe you should do nothing at all. Here's how ge...

999. 911. 112. Wherever you are, whatever it is, the emergency telephone number was probably the first you ever memorised. But what's life like on the...

What's less rewarding than stopping strangers in the street to ask for their bank details? Charity street fundraising is a thankless task. Be more...

Children whose parents are actively involved in their education are more likely to enjoy better results. But how do teachers get parents involved? Lea...

Pounding heart. Shaky legs. Sweaty palms. We've all been there. Here are 5 tips (and gifs) to help you beat performance anxiety and get through your p...

Public speaking venues don't come much tougher than aircraft. Few crowds are tetchier than air passengers. So what can we learn from the people wh...

You've probably never heard of Joseph Ades. But he was a street salesman of supernatural ability. Here are 8 lessons all salespeople should learn ...

Comedy quiz show QI has been running for over 13 years. As longtime host Stephen Fry steps down to be replaced by Sandi Toksvig we asked – what ...

Suffrage hits our cinema screens this autumn. This film about protest got me thinking about slogans, and how effectively they rally people to a cause....

Nasa recently released thousands of Apollo space mission photos to a free, online archive. Within days, the Flickr account gained 34,000 followers. Wh...

You watch it. Your gran watches it. Even the Queen (apparently) watches it. But what's the secret to The Great British Bake Off's universal ap...

Video gaming is an entertainment super-industry. Call of Duty alone has made over $10bn. But Tetris is still the bestselling game of all time. Why is ...

We've just launched Tawe, a great new video creator that turns a simple image into a dazzling HD movie. Download free now. Got VideoScribe? Log in...

He's done it. Jon Hamm has finally won an Emmy award for his role as Mad Men's Don Draper, at the 8th attempt. Time then to tip our hats to the most c...

Gytha Lodge is prolific. She's an award-winning novelist and playwright. 1.8 million people have read her latest book The Fragile Tower, making it...

Critics have described Lucas Foglia's photography as both 'highly lyrical' and 'durably memorable'. Solo exhibitions in London, Ne...

Conflict is the beating heart of every story. If the hero doesn't struggle, why should we care what happens? As storytellers, we simply choose who...

We all know that those first crucial moments with someone new have the potential to go horribly wrong. So, with personal and professional encounters i...

Successful brands have a strong sense of identity, one that mirrors the hopes and aspirations of their customers. But finding your voice – espec...

Public speakers are a lot like elite level athletes. Both are the undisputed stars of the show. Sometimes though, it's fun to make the average peo...

Did you know that public speaking has been voted more scary than claustrophobia, going to the dentist... even dying alone? Public speaking puts us und...

If you want to make your hero shine, put some polish on the villain. Make your champion’s nemesis – whether it's a physical obstacle o...

Social media can be an amazing catalyst for human goodness. But it also provides a platform for stinging, public mockery. As former British PM Gordon ...

"So, that's the idea in a nutshell guys. Bill, I'd love to hear what you think." Bill's mind had wandered and now he's stinking up the room with his s...

Hashtags are your password to the garden of social engagement. Cool young millennials think they're blazing the hashtag trail, but a band of anti-esta...

Adeesha Hack is a teacher and edtech enthusiast from Toronto, Canada. She recently brought joy to the Sparkol office with a lovely email about our new...

"I simply adore presenting to an audience." Ever said that? Me neither. Most mere mortals have their nerves racked by public speaking. So wh...

When somebody engages you, what do you actually feel? It can be difficult to describe, but the employee engagement field can help. Learn to trigger th...

It's a well-kept secret, but doctors love a good story. They want and need your story, all its nitty-gritty detail. Because, quite simply, your st...

I recently came across a retweet of one of the most unappetising images I’ve seen in a long time – a shirtless, smiling Richard Branson ho...

A picture's worth a thousand words, right? So why do we spend hours turning visual ideas into written presentations? Well those days are over, fri...

I'm constantly amazed by my kids. They're probably the most engaging people I know and always teaching me new stuff. Watching my kids, I realised some...

Country is the most popular style of music on American radio. More popular even than pop. What's behind the genre's enduring popularity? The a...

How off-the-chart engaging do you have to be to attract 50m Twitter followers? Well Katy Perry has more than 70m of them. Discover the secrets to Katy...

Think Alexander McQueen and you think spectacle. But how did he repeatedly stun catwalk audiences? Learn the 4 secrets of McQueen's shocking brand...

Malkhaz Geldiashvili's mission is simple: Help people find the courage to do what they're passionate about. We found out how scribe videos hel...

Forget energy, gravity and hydraulics. We all know that roller coasters are powered by human terror and excitement. So what could a storyteller learn ...

Siku is one of Britain's leading comic book and concept artists. He's also the creator of the bestselling The Manga Bible and The Manga Jesus. We foun...

What makes a person engaging? Charm. Confidence. Passion? Sure. But make someone feel important and you'll really capture their attention. Find ou...

Plotting the story – a common stumbling block for even the most seasoned storyteller. The options seem endless. But what if there were just 7 un...

Animating text so that its size, colour and position changes over time affects how we feel when we read the words. Find out how animated words - or ki...

Ever created a great piece of content but wondered if you could do more with it? We're seeing a trend for turning infographics into stunning scrib...

Got a high-flying business idea? Great. But if you need investment to get it off the ground, you'll need a winning pitch. Here's how you make an aweso...

Your customers no longer want just your product or service. They want to know who's doing what, and why. In other words, they want your story - an...

Two years after winning series seven of Britain's Got Talent, Hungarian shadow dancers Attraction have been signed to star in another multi-millio...

Explainer videos are one of the most popular uses for whiteboard animations - short scribes about how something works. A recent article from a leading...

Two thirds of US businesses want their marketing to be more engaging in 2015. The same number want to become better storytellers this year. Do you? Wh...

We all tell stories, whether we realise it or not - it's how we pass on wisdom and knowledge. A great storyteller creates a lasting connection bet...

The average Facebook user watched 75% more video in the last year compared with the year before. What does this surge in demand mean for video makers?...

VideoScribe was born out of failure. Learning to fail quickly was the best business lesson I could have had. Now, looking beyond VideoScribe, I need y...

Music is one of the most emotive and engaging tools you can use when making a video. It really can make the difference between a video that wows and o...

When I started at Sparkol a year ago, I didn't know what I was letting myself in for. Sure, I'd heard good things. I thought it might be a good place ...

One of my heroes is children's entertainer Nutty Noah. Every day, his task is to engage one of the most easily distracted audiences there is &ndas...

Another week, another batch of friendly new starters to introduce. Meet Pete, Chris, James and Ben, our squeaky new Product Developers and Application...

The International Academy of Science is a not-for-profit organization that creates and delivers educational videos through a program called Acellus. T...

At Sparkol, we're all about helping people to engage their audience. But what does that mean? And how can you tell if your content is engaging eno...

We've all been there before – leaving a classroom feeling confused, anxious, dreading our homework. But it doesn't have to be this way. ...

Too many scribes are let down by inconsistent images, a mishmash of fonts and a confusing layout. Make sure your video is visually consistent to ensur...

We bothered some of the busy bods at Sparkol to find out exactly what they're working on. We bet you can't guess. Read on to find out what'...

The idea that some people are naturally creative is a lie. Creativity is a skill you can cultivate, just like any other. If your audience are yawning ...

This month we welcomed four new members to Team Sparkol. These happy faces will be making VideoScribe even bigger and better over the next year. In tr...

With over a billion users visiting YouTube each month, how on earth are your videos going to be seen? Here are 7 clever ways we've discovered to make ...

So you've made your first scribe video, and now you want to send it out into the world. But how do you make sure it's seen by as many people as possib...

All the research shows that scribe videos improve learning. What do they do to the human brain that make them so effective? One leading psychologist t...

Did you know that 96% of US adults find videos helpful in making purchase decisions? And that 73% of US adults are more likely to spend having watched...

Take some time to learn your audience's motivation so that you can use the right words to stir them to action. LAB profiling will help you to understa...

Today's teenagers are more connected than ever and demand access to vital ICT skills to ensure their futures. A new study reveals just how essenti...

We tested scribes (whiteboard animations) against more traditional talking head videos in a straight A/B test. The results were surprising, especially...

Spending on video advertising is snowballing, with experts predicting a 40% increase in video spending by the end of 2013 compared to the same time la...

This is one powerful list of talent. Among these 50 professionals to follow on Twitter are film producers, animators, illustrators, scribe video produ...

Sparkol has picked four amazing charities to profile in this season of goodwill. They are all special to us – we are connected to them in variou...

Sparkol has provided life-saving solar panels to Edith's Dream, a charity that takes medical equipment out to poor, rural areas of Cameroon. Thank...

Sparkol is giving out offers, presents, quizzes, competitions and FUN every day of December up to Christmas day. Welcome to the Sparkol Advent Calenda...

At Sparkol we're always looking around for inspiration to create great images and engaging products. We collect lots of the cool things we see on ...

Over the last few months a lot of exciting things have happened at Sparkol's new home. Our team has grown again. We get the lowdown from new arriv...

A teacher has found herself in a private meeting with the Minister for Education after a scribe video she made went viral. What started as an animatio...