How to make Virtual Training work for you

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

There's been a lot of content posted on the web, not least by me, on how to deliver effective virtual training. But there's precious little help for attendees of virtual training courses to help them really get the learning, and therefore the ROI, they need to from a virtual course.

If you think about what you're paying for when you invest in training (i.e. changed behaviours, new skills rather than paying for X number of days in a hotel with a nice lunch), virtual training courses can actually be more effective than traditional face-to-face courses. But for this to happen, you need 2 things:
  1. A virtual course which is well-designed and well-delivered
  2. A little effort and support for participants from you as an organisation
If you're looking for high-quality virtual training, Navanter Knowledge Bites has it covered, with our decade of experience delivering engaging training online. But still, with a little effort from the employer, the ROI can be increased still further.

Technical set-up

These days, most people have a mobile phone-type headset, which is absolutely fine as a participant on virtual training, but as a training I'm still surprised how many people join the course using their laptop microphone (which picks up all sorts of other sounds), or even, from time-to-time, a telephone (not comfortable and poor sound quality). If you're investing money in a training course, please invest in a cheap headset to help people take part.

Getting the participants in the right place beforehand

Before the participants attend the course course, hold a short one-to-one with each one to discuss what the course will cover and how they'll take part remotely. Some great questions to ask could be:

  • What's your #1 reason to want to attend this course?
  • What do you need to take away for it to be worth your while?
  • How will ensure you get that input?
  • What questions do you need to ask the trainer?
  • How will you communicate to the trainer if you don't understand something?
Doing this a few days before the course can really get the participant to focus on the right things.

Post-course follow-up

A few days after the course, you should hold another one-to-one with the employee to help them focus on what they learnt. Some questions here could be:

  • What new insights did you gain on the course you attended?
  • What have you done already to put this into practice?
  • What support do you need to use even more of your learning in your job?
  • What are you still struggling with?
  • What did you learn on the course which could help you with this?
It's not a big investment of time, but it can make your ROI much stronger on the virtual training you invest in for your employees.
Location: Oxford, UK

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