Know the Price

Though the tools for building multimedia applications are easier and more powerful to use than ever, prices can still be high. Besides the cost of the necessary software to develop a presentation, there is the issue of the hardware required to run the presentations you make. Fortunately, most multimedia software no longer requires royalties to the vendor, though you should check with the developer of the product you are using.

Since multimedia presentations often include large clips of video or animation, they tend to grow quite large. Distribution on CD-ROM is not uncommon for all but the most trivial applications, meaning development teams will need bur ners for creating distributable copies. For bulk copies, l ook to outside firms to handle duplications inexpensively.

A bigger cost you have to consider is that of developing the content itself, says Robert Blalock, director of Technologies Research at World Tutor Group. If, like WTG, you would like to develop computer-based training (CBT) material for your company, Blalock recommends finding a strategic partner, one that uses CBT itself as well as develops it for others. Especially for a first project, Blalock explains, "the magic behind success is not the computer but the rigorous design phase that precedes the project." Developing a coherent plan for any presentation, whether it's a pitch to a potential client or something as complex as a full CBT curriculum, can require extensive planning.

n be true even if you download the content from systems like CompuServe or America Online. You cannot simply assume that you can use someone else's material for free.

What's more, studies on multimedia development show it can take hundreds of person-hours to develop just one good hour of training material. Nevertheless, the payoff can be big in terms of savings over traditional instructional methods. But there's more to it, Blalock argues. Good CBT programs, he says, can actually be more effective, and cost-effective, than traditional training. And often users like them, too, embracing the idea of working at their own pace and having the flexibility to review at their leisure.

Even if you're not building training programs, using multimedia effectively even for simple business presentations can take time and practice. There are lessons from the desktop publishing craze of six or seven years ago that today's multimedia developers should study. Back then, companies spent thousands of dollars equipp ing PCs to handle resource-hungry DTP programs. Thousands more went toward high-quality output devices like color printers. The results were often little more than very expensive, garish documents.

Over time, of course, most desktop publishers developed design discipline as they learned what works and what doesn't. It's likely that today's multimedia-development neophytes will travel a similar costly road to success.