Bland to Brilliant: Tips To Improve Your Virtual Training Experience
Having experienced both sides of the virtual training process, our team here at TrainerConnect has gained unique insights into what seems to be the best laid methods and mistakes that can leave sessions dragging. In this blog, we will discuss tips to make your virtual training sessions both more effective and engaging.
Presence
Before we get into the presentation itself, let’s talk about presence.
The importance of good audio cannot be overstated. There is nothing more off putting than joining a virtual meeting and the first thing you are greeted with is the annoying buzz of a laptop's on-board mic. It only goes downhill from there. Once participants start speaking, you’re caught in a never ending echo chamber. Invest in a microphone. Even inexpensive headsets will make all the difference.
Secondly, be mindful of your location! Your camera is a stage. Keep it simple and free from clutter. The last thing you want is your audience studying your bookcase rather than listening to the content of your session.
Presentation
Preparation
One of the easiest things to forget is surprisingly simple. Practice. Even if you could recite your content in your sleep, practice and then practice more. Rehearse your presentation while keeping time to get a feel for how long each section will last. Getting the timing down will allow you to effectively plan activities (we will get to those shortly), discussions, and breaks.
Never go over 90 minutes uninterrupted without breaks for your participants. This allows your trainees to step away for a moment and return refreshed and ready to re-engage. Properly planned breaks can make for longer, more successful training sessions.
If you have access to your audience prior to training, another fantastic tool you can utilize is having them presubmit questions pertaining to the upcoming session. Not only will this get participants more involved and perhaps prompt their own investigation into the subject, but it will also give you invaluable insight into their knowledge level on the subject. This small request can even guide you into specific topics of learning content you may normally have overlooked.
Introductions
Another easily overlooked aspect is the introduction. This establishes the atmosphere of the entire session. Keep it short and sweet, but give your audience something to relate to. Depending on the size of the class, you can also give your trainees a chance for short introductions. This is a great first step in getting involvement.
Engagement
Keeping your audience engaged and active is definitely the greatest hurdle a virtual trainer faces. Powerpoint is both boon and bane. A tool only effective as its user. The endless reading of slides is a method we’ve seen all too often. One that is almost guaranteed to fall flat with your audience. Put yourself in their shoes. More than likely, they are completely surrounded by distractions, be it kids, pets, or a thousand open tabs not pertaining to their training. You need to be as interactive as possible to keep your audience’s focus.
The best method we've found are open ended questions that prompt discussions. These should not be simple questions that have clear answers, but deeper queries that provoke dialogues in your audience. Cathy Moore in her blog Action@Work gives such examples as “Here’s a problem. How do you think we should solve it?” and “Here’s a draft of a solution. What’s wrong with it?”. These types of questions asked at appropriate intervals will keep your audience engaged and thinking on the topic at hand. As Cathy put’s it, “this results in slides that become activities rather than information presentations.”
Another fantastic take away from her blog is one that seems like the right choice, but often leads to disengagement with your audience. Deactivating the chat. We’ve attended far too many virtual sessions in which the chat box is disabled entirely. There is just no reason for this. The chat box allows attendees to communicate without slowing down your own presentation and promotes discussion amongst themselves.
One last invaluable tool we will discuss is breakout rooms. If used correctly, breakout rooms can be an effective tool to get your audience participating. Platforms such as Zoom will even auto-sort your audience into rooms and allow you to set a time in which it will automatically return the breakout rooms back to session. Once in rooms, we give the divided up groups five or so minutes to discuss one of those open-ended questions. When they return, have each group present their findings. This always leads to fantastic discussion between you as the trainer and your audience. Familiarize yourself with the breakout tool and this process is guaranteed to yield fantastic results.
Without preparation and experience, virtual training can be an excruciatingly dull process. As trainers, it is our responsibility to keep the audience present and engaged. We must use every tool we can. Employing these methods will ensure a richer and more rewarding experience between you and your audience.
