Virtual Training 2.0
Deepak Sawhney, PCC (ICF)
Driven by the Purpose to " Help successful people shine better and brighter", Story Telling ; Positive Intelligence
In the last 2 weeks, I have been fortunate to work with Associates and Clients and deliver #webinars and #virtual training. In my preparation, I took care of many aspects (detailed later) to deliver an effective program. The newer aspects that I considered were – #Work from home (#wfh) and the emotional state of learners possibly due to stress (Personal & Professional). I spent considerably more time (than a Face to Face Session) in
a. “Ice Breakers” and
b. “Ways of working” and
c. Breaks of 5-10 minutes after 60 mins (for 120 min session) and
d. Design - since trainers / facilitators will not have the luxury for a face to face follow up in today's situation.
I have been conducting Virtual trainings and #Facilitation since 2015-16. #Hybrid Model - #Virtual Session followed by a Face 2 Face sessions of half days. The Hybrid Model addressed the needs of #Learners and #Sponsors and #Learning teams. It provided time and space to learners to explore, practice and apply their knowledge and learning's before the face to face session. The gap between Virtual and F2F follow up to 2-3 weeks. The model was good from design perspective.
The Challenges faced were overcome over a period of time with focus and action on following.
- Learners need to be in an environment where they are not distracted by colleagues.
2. Learners should have tools and infrastructure - Laptop/ Desktops with provision to use head phone. Linking Audio through Phone was not effective. Accessing through iPad or other devices like Mobile is not as effective and impacts engagement, focus and learning of learners.
3. Ways of Working have to be established at the beginning of session and time spent to familiarize learners on navigating through the platform to use CHAT, AUDIO, VIDEO, Q&A, Polls, Surveys, Breakout rooms etc.
4. Virtual sessions preparation and behaviors for Facilitator has to be similar to Class room session - reaching 30 minutes before start, Ice Breakers, Asking Questions, Activities, Discussions (Break-out rooms), Engagement, Interactive, Breaks, Q&A time.
5. In Virtual Sessions, time allocation for an activity has to be provisioned higher by 30-40%.
6. Conduct Mock Session to check – Switching or navigating platforms, animation in slides, Videos (use embedded preferably), polls, quiz & microphone etc.
7. Use a Co-host to help getting participants understand technical pieces, taking attendance, reviewing the chat and Q&A box to bring up specific insights and questions. Co-Host can even look at “Silent” or “non-contributing” learners and pass on information through private chat / watsap for facilitator to check on and bring in the learner.
I am confident that there are many facilitators experienced in virtual trainings.I welcome their contributions too by adding in the comments / inbox and I can then update this article in 15 days with contributor’s name.
Director AMDA (Association of Municipalities and Development Authorities) New Delhi Ex. Additional Director at Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies and Urban Transport Directorate Government of UP
4 年It is good initiative for conducting the capacity building program. It will reduce the travelling as well as time and provide more comfort to participants.
Manager - OD, Change and People Analytics at Deloitte
4 年Hi Deepak, it’s great to be connected with you. Your article makes up for a very interesting read. It was crisp, to the point and very insightful. If I may add one technique which I use during my virtual sessions is that on a shared zoom screen, rather than sharing a presentation or some material, I draw things out. I draw things and erase them and draw the next thing again. Even charts e.g. a pie chart can be easily drawn. It is like using an old age technique of using the board on a new age platform of zoom. It keeps people engaged. Thanks again for sharing this article. Regards Ankur
Driven by the Purpose to " Help successful people shine better and brighter", Story Telling ; Positive Intelligence
4 年Mala Bali Soumendu Chakraborti Sangram Kesari Samal Pradeep N. Manbir Kaur (ICF-PCC) Rakhee Sharma Pankaj Chadha Muninder Anand Rajeev Bhaskar Sahi Udayan Jain Varadarajan Srinivasan Shalini Mittal Swati Pase Pooja Khanna Jain
Senior Consultant at Oil and Gas Career
4 年Webinars and virtual meetings will be order of the day.
Managing Director at Whole Brain Consulting & Co-Founder Mind Celebrations.
4 年Hi chief.....your brilliance is the simplicity in approach you bring in. In the age of overload of information, your blog makes it so easy to understand.....while me and Dr. Kanan Khatau Chikhal have hosted almost 100 sessions together in physical space, for last one month we have been doing virtual sessions in similar fashion.....it took some effort to make it seamless....but these pointers are brilliant to make the delivery even better. Thanks a ton. Looking forward in this new paradigm to co- host virtual program with my favourite trainer and boss!! Cheers.