Most screen recordings are made by people who didn't plan to make one. They open a recorder, hit go, fumble through what they wanted to show, and end up with an eight-minute video that should have been three. Here's how to avoid that.
1. Know your one point. Every recording should have one clear thing it communicates. If you're showing a bug, the point is "here's exactly what breaks and how." If you're giving feedback, the point is "here's my overall take and three specific things to change." Write it down before you hit record.
2. Do a dry run. For anything longer than 90 seconds, do a quick mental walkthrough of what you're going to show. You don't need a script — just know the order of your steps so you're not navigating live.
3. Clean up your screen. Close tabs you don't need. Hide your bookmarks bar. Use a clean browser profile if you have one. Nothing distracts a viewer like irrelevant content in the background.
4. Check your mic. Bad audio kills a recording faster than anything. If you're narrating, use headphones or move somewhere quiet. Test your mic before a long recording.
5. Start with context. Don't just dive in. Give the viewer one sentence of setup: "I'm going to show you the checkout flow bug that happens on mobile." Now they know what they're watching for.
6. Move your cursor intentionally. A cursor that drifts randomly is distracting. Move it deliberately to what you're talking about and park it there. Think of it as a pointer.
7. Pause before transitions. When you're about to do something new — navigate to a new page, open a new tool — give a half-second pause so the viewer can follow along.
8. Say what you're doing, not just what you see. "I'm going to click Settings now" is more useful than silence. Narration helps the viewer follow along even if they look away briefly.
9. Watch it before you share it. Spend 30 seconds watching your recording. If you can skip any part without losing anything, that part shouldn't be in there.
10. Keep it under 5 minutes. If your recording is longer than 5 minutes, you probably have more than one point. Split it into two recordings. People will watch a 3-minute video. They will save a 10-minute video for later and never watch it.