Our first blog post - top tips for delivering virtual training

By Neil Shorney, Director. Time to read: 2 minutes.

I've seen a number of posts on LinkedIn and some Facebook business groups that I'm part of about how to deliver training which was supposed to be delivered in a training room, in an online environment. At Knowledge Bites, this is something we specialise in - our parent brand, Navanter, was one of the pioneers of live e-learning a decade ago.

So, here are my top tips to deliver effective virtual learning - in no particular order and rather hastily compiled in answer to questions from a number of other trainers...
  1. Don't run full-day sessions, it's just too long.
  2. Split a 1-day course into 3-4 shorter sessions, scheduled approx. 1 week apart. In a way, this can improve training impact as they have the opportunity to try a more focussed set of new skills before learning the next one.
  3. Begin each session with a max 10-minute review of the previous session for continuity.
  4. Ideally, have everyone remote - it's much better to have all dialling in individually rather than some in a room and some remote. Communication within the group just works better.
  5. Make full use of the breakout rooms, and dip into each one during exercises as you would circulate in a classroom.
  6. Use Zoom. I've tried a number of platforms, and Zoom is streets ahead of the competition for virtual training, at a price point that doesn't break the bank.
  7. Trainer to make notes in a Word doc of key actions and email round after, as you might on a whiteboard in a training room.
  8. Use ppt slides, and the annotation features to draw on the slides.
  9. Invest in a pen mouse - one of the best investments I've ever made for virtual training. Mind was about £10 (many years ago) and it's basically a mouse, but shaped more like a pen. They're much easier to use on the virtual whiteboard.
  10. Don't be scared - it's "safer" than a training room, because no-one can see you if you need to check your notes ;-)
I hope this helps you all - running a webinar next week on how to run training virtually if anyone would like additional support. Details on this LinkedIn post - please comment if you'd like a place.


Location: Oxford, UK

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