Home-Made Help Videos Need Better Speaking

One of my readers, Hrafnkell Haraldsson, made this comment the other day in response to my post about the importance of repetition in public speaking (particularly in video tutorials):

I've tried to watch some of these home-made "help" videos online and the inability of some of these people to enunciate clearly and their disturbing habit of speaking too rapidly or not making eye contact with the camera is off-putting and definitely reduces the effectiveness of their presentation. I'm not sure I'd want some of them to "repeat! repeat! repeat!"

I'm in total agreement with Hrafnkell about the flaws of many online video tutorials. It's not as important that the speaker be understood if the video is just for fun, but when the purpose of the video is to help the listener learn a skill or technique, then speakers on video tutorials owe it to their audience to make sure their oral presentation is the best it can be. Certainly, repetition of important points and ideas is key--but so are the other concerns Hrafnkell mentions. For example, articulation (sometimes called enunciation) that is garbled, and a rapid speaking rate combined together can kill an otherwise well organized presentation. Poor eye contact not only makes the speaker seem unconcerned about the subject and the audience, but if speakers are looking down at the floor, their jaws are in their chests and that just adds to the poor articulation problem.

When I was reviewing home-made video tutorials, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that some were very well made and easy to follow. The vast majority, however, were so poorly done from an oral speaking standpoint (let alone a video production standpoint) that I can't imagine any viewer could ever learn the technique demonstrated even after hundreds of viewings.

What do you think? Have you seen any good video tutorials? What makes a good video tutorial? Have you ever made a video tutorial?

(photo from http://photoshoptutorials.ws/photography-tutorials/buying-guides/choosing-a-digital-camera.html)