From Screencasting: How To Start, Tools and Guidelines:

  1. Content is king.
    If you don’t have something to present, you don’t have a screencast! In most cases, a screencast is produced to teach a process or technique, or get a set of ideas across to an audience. If you cannot keep the attention of the audience, the screencast may be rendered useless. When choosing a topic, start with areas that are within your knowledge base, and can be covered in the time allotted to complete the series.
  2. Planning.
    A script may or may not be utilized in preparation, but it is good practice to complete a dry run of the presentation before actually hitting the record button. Practice makes perfect, and the more familiar you are with your content, the more polished the final recording will be.
  3. Push the red button.
    It’s time to shine, and if your preparation went well, this step should be relatively easy. Remember to move at a pace that is comfortable for your audience and speak clearly so as to avoid any confusion. Audio can be added in post production instead of being recorded during the presentation, but this will require an extra editing step and can break the flow of the delivery if not done correctly.
  4. Review the video.
    Be sure that no steps were left out and that the flow of the presentation makes sense and will be easy to follow for your intended audience. If imperfections are found, you may choose to edit or re-record the video altogether.
  5. Editing.
    If necessary, edit the video according to your standards. Include any transitions, intros, outros, or other post production items.
  6. Produce.
    Export your video with the settings that best fit your intended output, whether that will be streaming from a webpage, downloadable media or delivery on a disc.
  7. Distribute the videos.
    There are several options from hosting your own weblog site and leveraging an RSS feed, to using a service such as screencast.com, YouTube or revver.com.