I have a whiteboard in my office and I often use it to draw out complex problems, workflow diagrams, website diagrams, lists, etc. It helps to see things clearly. This is a technique we think can go successfully into video and help your organization explain complex tasks.

Here are some examples of different versions of this technique.

UPS – They have an elaborate whiteboard campaign complete with TV spots and a very expensive website. But we can learn something from it, do something less elaborate and succeed in explaining our issue. Here’s the whole thing — UPS Whiteboard HQ — it’s very elaborate.

Here’s one short animated spot from UPS.

The folks at CommonCraft use a technique with paper that’s pretty cool. They have explained many things, including RSS feeds and podcasts. Here’s Social Media:

Of course, where we got this whole idea was from Al Gore. Think about it… The guy won an Oscar with a PowerPoint. But he’s doing the same thing, explaining something complex in a way people can understand it.

If you haven’t seen the latest version of his talk, here it is: