Leveraging HeyGen: Enhancing AAA Training and Communication with AI Video Generation
By Kendal Enz
In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, the American Arbitration Association® (AAA®) is leveraging cutting-edge technology to streamline its operations and enhance its training and marketing efforts. One standout innovation is the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered video generation tool HeyGen. In this interview, AAA team members share their insights on how HeyGen is transforming their workflows, making the production of training and marketing videos faster and more effective. This interview is part of our ongoing series exploring how the AAA integrates emerging technologies to address complex challenges and optimize performance.
Q. What are your initial impressions of HeyGen and its capabilities?
Earl Hassel (Vice President of Educational Services): I found HeyGen easy to use and suitable for creating short informational videos and systems training. While you can still tell the avatar is not human, it comes very close.
Maggie Lalowski-Zhang (Director of Divisional Operational Support and Online Elections): HeyGen was the perfect software for my needs. I’m astounded by what the final product looked and sounded like. The ease of use was extremely beneficial for someone who is not well-versed in video creation software.
Krissia Barber (Data Intelligence Analyst for Data Analytics and Insights): It’s been good so far. It’s great to have a tool that creates natural-sounding narration, saving time and avoiding the hassle of re-recording in a quiet space without interruptions. From a time management perspective, it’s been incredible.
Natasha Brown (Training Administrator for New York State Insurance Conciliation): I loved it. It’s a great tool that engages learners and stretches your training capabilities. It provides visual aids and complements the training sessions, making them more exciting and engaging.
Bridget McCormack (President and CEO): HeyGen’s ability to deliver high-quality, engaging content is impressive. It aligns perfectly with our goal of making our training programs more dynamic and accessible to all staff.
Q. How has HeyGen impacted the way you create and manage video content?
Cassandra Thakur (Assistant Vice President of Panel Resources and Development): HeyGen offers an inclusive solution, making creating and developing training materials easy and producing more interactive content. The text-to-speech function is great, and the days when we have to do a voiceover are gone.
Jeremy Lesser (Product Trainer): HeyGen has significantly expedited the video creation process. I used it to create an information video on the recent enhancements to our WebFile® mobile application, which involved many image and text elements. The drag-and-drop interface and the AI voiceovers streamlined the production, making it more efficient and effective.
Natasha Brown: We use HeyGen as a complementary tool alongside the graphic design platform Canva and the video editing software Camtasia. It has allowed us to create engaging training content more efficiently. We did a presentation on HeyGen during a recent staff meeting, and it generated a lot of excitement. They can’t wait to see it rolled out in future trainings.
Bridget McCormack: HeyGen has brought substantial efficiency and content improvements. This tool is helping us achieve our goals faster and with higher quality.
Q. Can you share any specific benefits or improvements you’ve noticed since using HeyGen?
Cassandra Thakur: It reduces the time spent creating video content. I was able to create a training in about 40 percent less time, resulting in a polished final product. Additionally, the image library and AI-powered text assistance are great features.
Krissia Barber: In my role, I develop training materials to guide accurate data entry and demonstrate how we utilize case owners’ data. HeyGen turns typically dull data content into something dynamic and interesting, helping people understand the importance of data accuracy.
Q. Do you find any specific features of HeyGen particularly useful or innovative?
Earl Hassel: The translation feature stands out. What's great about HeyGen is that we can easily translate our scripts into many different languages with the click of a button. Additionally, we can purchase an add-on function that converts videos of real people speaking into various other languages, making it appear that they can speak the language themselves.
I just learned they have an add-on feature called HeyGen Streaming that allows you to converse with an avatar as though it were a real person. Imagine speaking to ChatGPT, but instead of typing or talking to your phone and hearing only a voice, you speak with an avatar.
Krissia Barber: Overall, HeyGen excels at emulating intonation, which is a significant aspect of its appeal. It also integrates well with tools like Canva for more comprehensive video creation.
Jeremy Lesser: One innovative feature is the integration with ChatGPT, allowing real-time content generation within HeyGen. Although I haven’t used it extensively yet, I plan to test it for future projects.
Natasha Brown: I love the half-body and circle view avatar features in HeyGen. They allow flexibility in how we present the content. The pause feature, which adds pauses within the narration, is also very useful for timing transitions smoothly.
Q. What challenges did you face while implementing HeyGen, and how did you overcome them?
Cassandra Thakur: Like any new tool, there is a learning curve. The system is user-friendly, but to fully take advantage of its features, you need to play around with it and get familiar with it. They have resources like training guides, tutorials and customer service representatives to help.
Earl Hassel: One challenge is the way HeyGen pronounces certain words. To address this, you can type the phonetic spelling. Matching timing for systems training and adding pointers and highlights on the screen can also be challenging, but these can be added later using Camtasia.
Maggie Lalowski-Zhang: One challenge that I found was that HeyGen doesn’t automatically sync the audio to the video, so ensuring they move in sync can be difficult.
Krissia Barber: One challenge is maintaining video quality when uploading screen recordings. HeyGen now has a screen-recording feature, but the quality isn’t clear enough. We got creative and started using Canva to integrate both, which worked well.
Jeremy Lesser: HeyGen is versatile but limited compared to traditional video editing platforms like Adobe Premiere Pro. It lacks advanced editing capabilities, so sometimes I need to use external tools like Photoshop for image manipulation. Additionally, speeding up or slowing down AI voices can make them sound unnatural.
Bridget McCormack: Addressing these challenges and finding creative solutions is important. The integration with other tools and ongoing development will help us overcome these hurdles and maximize HeyGen’s potential.
Q. What feedback have you received from viewers or colleagues regarding the videos created with HeyGen?
Natasha Brown: I’ve received great feedback from my supervisor and others. They appreciate the diversity in the voices and the overall professional quality of the videos. Some voices sound more conversational, so we’ve found a few favorites that work well for us.
Krissia Barber: The feedback has been positive. People appreciate the natural-sounding voice and the professional look of the videos. This is a significant improvement over using PowerPoint for training videos.
Bridget McCormack: The positive feedback from various departments underscores HeyGen’s effectiveness in enhancing our training and communication efforts. It’s encouraging to see how well it has been received.
Q. Have you identified any particular types of content or departments that can benefit most from using HeyGen?
Krissia Barber: This could benefit almost any department. It’s also useful for creating training materials and educational content for our clients and highlighting the AAA’s work.
Cassandra Thakur: Departments that frequently develop training materials will find significant value in this tool.
Maggie Lalowski-Zhang: Informational videos such as “Who We Are, What We Do” are perfect for this software. I also believe that this could be beneficial for training clients on certain aspects of our services, WebFile and mobile app pay.
Natasha Brown: HeyGen is excellent for tutorials and voiceovers. We use it for voiceovers even when we don’t use the video feature. It’s a great tool for creating engaging training content.
Bridget McCormack: HeyGen’s versatility makes it a valuable tool across various departments. Its ability to enhance training and communication aligns with our goal of continuous improvement and innovation.
Q. What advice would you give to other teams or departments considering adopting HeyGen for their video projects?
Earl Hassel: Keep it simple, short and focused.
Maggie Lalowski-Zhang: Don’t be afraid to play around with it and change the voices!
Cassandra Thakur: Examine all the features and take advantage of the trial period to gain hands-on experience. It’s also important to explore other AI-powered video creation tools to see which one best meets your needs.
Krissia Barber: Team up with someone with a license to understand what the system can do. It’s easy to pick up but can be forgotten if not used frequently. Collaborating with someone experienced can help bring your vision to life.
Jeremy Lesser: Play with HeyGen first before committing to it for serious projects. Understand its limitations and make sure it suits your specific needs. Test it with small demo materials to see if it’s the right solution for your project.
Bridget McCormack: Embracing new tools like HeyGen requires experimentation and collaboration. Understanding its capabilities and limitations is essential to fully leverage its potential in enhancing our operations.
Q. How do you see HeyGen evolving within your organization over the next few years?
Earl Hassel: I see the avatars becoming more realistic and the use of language translation videos increasing. We may also create our own AAA avatars.
Maggie Lalowski-Zhang: I think we will begin to see this more and more within our organization, especially for short, 20-second LinkedIn clips. I believe we will also begin to see the use of HeyGen for our organization’s training to the general public on some of our newer features and how-tos.
Cassandra Thakur: HeyGen is agile and innovative, and it is always looking to develop and add features. Its capabilities will grow as technology advances, allowing us to utilize its tools better. We’re currently in an experimental phase, but as more people start using the tool, it will likely become more integrated into our processes.
Krissia Barber: Technology is always evolving, and HeyGen will likely continue adding better features. We might even create avatars of high-level executives to save their time. It’s important to keep assessing our needs and the tools available.
Bridget McCormack: HeyGen’s evolution within our organization will depend on how well we integrate it into our processes and the continuous improvements made to the tool. Its potential to enhance our training and communication is significant, and I’m confident it will become an integral part of our operations.
Conclusion
HeyGen has proven to be an invaluable tool for the AAA. Its diverse capabilities and ease of use have enabled our team to create high quality, engaging content. As we continue integrating HeyGen into our processes, we look forward to exploring its full potential and seeing how it can further enhance our training and communication efforts. We are committed to leveraging emerging technologies like HeyGen to overcome complex challenges and drive innovation within our organization.