If you are anything like me, you are constantly consuming video content to learn more about how to manage your business.  Here are some of the videos I watch almost on a daily basis:

• Replays of webinars
• Replays of live seminars
• Training Videos
• Some videos just for fun

“Image courtesy of nuchylee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Now, some videos are obviously planning and choreographed, and expect that you will watch/listen in one sitting and have a lot of visual impact.  However, many of the videos I watch are mostly listening to a speaker while following along with some slides.  These can often be sped up dramatically without losing impact or understanding.  I can typically watch videos at 1.7x speed, but occasionally a presenter speaks slowly enough that I can watch at 2.0x or faster!  Think of what that means for a 60 minute presentation.  At 1.7x, you can watch the entire video in just 35 minutes.  If you are lucky enough to watch a 2.0x then it’s only 30 minutes.  In other words, you can consume twice the video training in the same amount of time.  Think of it as speed reading for video!

So, how can you do this?  Here are a few tricks:

Macs:

Quicktime player has built-in ability to watch videos faster.  While playing, just hold down the option key and click the play button.  You will speed up by .1x for each click.

Windows

Windows media player can also speed up videos, just click the arrow below the Now Playing tab, point to Enhancements, and then click Play Speed Settings.

Online

A lot of video you watch though is happening in private groups, membership sites, youtube, etc.  There are a few products that will allow you to speed up almost any video you watch online.  My favorite is Enounce MySpeed.  It’s not free, but they do have a 7 day trial period.  I’ve been using it for a few months, and I could never get through all of the videos I watch daily without it!

To more learning!