Third and final part of the series “How does a good live online training session work?” Today: What to consider when delivering such a training session. (Part 1: The difference between a web talk, webinar and live online training // Part 2: Preparing for a live online training session)
Our live online training sessions currently usually last four hours. That is quite demanding, and my impression is that participants are sometimes even more engaged—and above all more attentive and focused—than in an in-person event. To maintain this focus and attention, it is necessary to keep the learning modules significantly shorter and to switch between different methods much more quickly than in in-person formats.
I believe the key at the beginning—especially for many of us who are only now getting started with this format—is to present the format as completely normal. We do everything here that we would otherwise do as well. My colleague Jérôme Adjallé gave me this simple explanation. The “Jérôme opening” then looks like this:
Hello and a warm welcome to the live online training. You all know this from a regular training session: there is a flipchart, there is a pinboard, from time to time you get tasks, and we do role plays. We do exactly the same here in this live online training. Basically, just like always.
That’s it. No long-winded explanations about how you will now try to work as similarly as possible online, etc., etc. Because that is already an apology in advance.
Introducing the trainer is just as much a part of it as reviewing the agenda—but much shorter than in in-person training. The agenda can be presented on a flipchart in exactly the same way as it might otherwise be done in training.
The training begins
Then you can continue with an initial interview exercise to get to know the participants, check expectations, clarify specific goals—perhaps even already with a division into breakout rooms. This is helpful so that participants can first get to know the format. After ten minutes you come back together, the results are collected and perhaps already visualized on a whiteboard. You can use Mural again for this, or any other whiteboard tool.
Then the training begins—depending on the content—with short input segments and lots of practice. Depending on how comfortable participants are with media, the microphones can often all be left open. With a group size of a maximum of twelve participants, that is possible from time to time. It is also much more pleasant for the trainer than when everything is always so quiet during participants’ contributions. As trainers, we should (and want to) create a bit of a stadium atmosphere, so to speak.
Role plays, exercises, small-group work
You can upload backgrounds in Zoom in advance so that you can quickly switch between different backgrounds. At Edutrainment, we very often use backdrops in in-person training for certain presentations and role plays—for example, a quiz-show background for an exercise on controlled dialogue in communication training. And I can now use exactly that background perfectly in Zoom. It looks professional and is fun.
If I split the group into small groups, I can join the different groups —just like in an in-person training session—during the exercise and drop in. Here I can then provide targeted feedback or support.
For role plays or trainer demonstrations with individual participants, everyone else turns off their camera, and those doing the exercise together are the only ones visible on one screen.
Even working with actors for role plays is possible live online and should be recorded for later use in the further course of the training. We have had good experience with Screecast-O-Matic. Specifically for this, a second technical moderator is, in my view, absolutely essential.
You can add variety, for example, by sending the group special materials by post in advance—envelopes containing tasks or objects. This increases anticipation and creates variety. It also brings the topic of haptics and learning through hands-on experience into the online training.
For all our topics, we also have the content on haptic learning cards. We can in turn use these digitally on the whiteboard and review content again, making participants aware of the importance of this content.
Flipped classroom in online training
Flipped classroom formats are also possible in this way: the groups receive material, work through the content, and then present it briefly. Anyone who can scribe or draw well digitally can connect a drawing pad. There is also the option of playing music from your own computer in the background. In short, the possibilities are absolutely diverse—really just like in any in-person training.
So anyone who already delivers high-quality didactics in in-person training, engages all the senses, and turns participants into contributors—what I often call moving from participant to proticipant—who also develops content themselves, will find that live online training works just as well. The results of group work can even be documented better online, for example. Instead of the whiteboard, you can work directly in shared documents, so that afterwards the documentation of all results is immediately available digitally and professionally.
Our learning cards always include a summary and questions on the respective topic for a learning quiz. I can use these questions 1:1 for a Kahoot quiz. That way, I have a few quiz questions for each topic.
A strong overall didactic concept creates flexibility
So anyone who has a smart overall didactic concept and always pre-produces their content for the different formats can use it with maximum flexibility in live online training. This applies not only to the usual soft-skill training on leadership, communication, sales, etc., but also to technical training. Here, the formats are often still quite monotonous and boring even in in-person training, so that it is actually more of a seminar—often just endless slide presentations with Q&A sessions. That does not work as an in-person format, and online it is of course an even greater imposition—one that people can escape from more quickly because they can do many other things on the side.
However, anyone who delivers a truly interactive live online training in the Edutrainment format keeps participants maximally engaged. Our Training Promoter Score was always just under 9 last week. We can live with that—and you will be able to in the future as well.
How demanding is a live online training session like this?
Quite demanding—both for the participants, who stay focused and are then somewhat exhausted after four hours (and are allowed to be), and for the trainer. There are few breaks in four hours. When participants have a ten-minute break, for the trainer it means quickly coordinating with the technical moderator, perhaps preparing the next quiz, quickly drawing or coloring a chart. In in-person training it is the same: as a trainer you hardly have any breaks yourself.
In this respect, two 4-hour formats in one day are a challenge for the trainer. Five days in a row with two such live online training sessions per day would be difficult to sustain. Clients will have to learn that live online training is by no means cheaper than a live in-person training—perhaps even a bit more expensive—because if it is truly interactive, a second technical moderator is almost essential. This could potentially be offset by the trainer’s usual travel and accommodation costs. And the company still saves the participants’ travel costs.
[note note_color=”#f9f9f9″ text_color=”#333333″ radius=”3″] Would you like to have a live online training session delivered for your company? Get in touch and let our experts advise you.
[/note]
