Teaching myself to make content that gets people to act
The challenge
Some international students had to complete health requirements on arrival, including testing, immunizations, and paperwork. The process felt scary, unwelcoming, and confusing, and the written instructions were not enough. Low compliance created tension between campus health services and international students, and that tension spilled over between the two offices.
What I did
- Partnered with the campus health office to turn a dense, intimidating requirement into a short video, treating a shared problem as a reason to collaborate.
- I had never made a video before. I borrowed a camera from the library, wrote the script, found props, and recruited student volunteers to appear in it.
- Filmed it, taught myself video editing from online tutorials, and published it on the office’s channel.
- Showed it at new-student orientation so every arriving student saw it.
Since then
- Wrote and designed promotional materials for 10 to 15 events a year in earlier roles, and for 5 to 10 a year now.
- Produced briefing and run-of-show materials for senior leaders and VIP guests.
- Wrote communication plans with success measures for events and programs.
- Helped build a brand and identity for an international student services team, one of the first advisors to do so.
The result
The video gave students one clear, transparent resource to watch before they arrived. Confusion went down and compliance went up.
It also turned a point of friction between two offices into a working partnership.
What I took from it
When a process feels scary or unwelcoming, the fix is to make it clear, transparent, and centered on the person going through it. Solving it together also turned a source of tension between offices into a collaboration.
See the work
Samples of my writing, design, and video are on the home page.