Why is it so hard to engage participants in your virtual sessions? Are you not sure of the best tools or techniques to use? Engagement isn’t easy, as delivering in a virtual environment is different than in a live classroom setting. It takes practice and know-how. So what is the key to stop learners from multitasking and really get involved in the session? If you can’t answer this question, there’s a chance you aren’t effectively engaging your learners.

In this session, we will address what it really means to engage participants. In other words, let’s not just use this word, let’s define it and implement it. You will learn the techniques, examples, and best practices to effectively accomplish learner engagement. You will learn how to address (and overcome) all the things you don’t like about attending a virtual session in order to make your own session attention grabbing. You will walk away with practical ideas to implement immediately to deliver an engaging virtual session.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to build rapport with a virtual audience
• How to create opportunities for engagement
• How to encourage classroom discussions
• How to create effective content
• How to use the right tools for delivery

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers with some experience delivering virtual sessions.

Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Connect, Poll Everywhere.

Participant technology requirements:
Load the Adobe Connect prior to the start of the session.

Virtual-classroom platforms are not new. In fact, there are probably people in your organization using these platforms right now for training, webinars, and meetings. But are you ready to make an organization-wide move to give up face-to-face classrooms for virtual ones, or is the prospect too daunting?

Now is the time to consider virtual-classroom platforms. Travel is more expensive, information is changing more quickly, workers are more tech savvy, hardware and networks are much better than they were just five years ago, and modern platforms such as Adobe Connect provide state-of-the-art virtual environments for engaging learners, wherever those learners might be. However, moving your classrooms online requires careful consideration and planning. It’s not free, and it’s definitely not simple. Drawing on over two decades of combined experience helping organizations successfully adopt and manage virtual-classroom platforms, Karen and Chris will discuss with you the questions and answers you need to successfully implement virtual classrooms that provide as good as or better training than face-to-face ones.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to maximize the advantages of and overcome the objections to virtual classrooms
• Important considerations for your team, including your trainers, your designers and developers, your learners, and your support staff
• Key elements of a rock-solid implementation plan for virtual classrooms
• About real-life case studies of organizations that successfully moved from face-to-face to virtual classrooms

Audience:
Training managers, project managers, trainers, designers, developers, and managers.

Questions about mobile and social learning can often take the conversation in the wrong direction, ones about issues of screen real estate, for example, rather than the more important questions about learner experience or if mobile is even the appropriate approach. Mobile, coupled with social media, provides a rich resource for informal learning outside of the classroom, as well as supplemental learning within the classroom. 

In this session, you will see how to better ensure learning occurs during your events and continues afterward. You will gain a better understanding of how to incorporate social media tools and networks into a virtual learning experience to accomplish formal and informal learning. And finally, you will be able to identify why, when, and how participants will be using the mobile virtual classroom. 

In this session, you will learn:

• To identify why, when, and how participants will be utilizing the mobile virtual classroom
• How to apply design strategies that maximize the live, mobile environment
• How to incorporate social media tools and networks into a virtual learning experience to accomplish formal and informal learning
• How to integrate social media into virtual classroom design during live sessions and in between live sessions 

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers, ideally with two or more years of experience designing, delivering, and promoting virtual training within their organizations. 

Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual Classroom.

You spend an incredible amount of time designing, developing, and delivering virtual instructor-led training (VILT) or webinar sessions. It can be a challenge to find the time to promote the topics and follow up with participants in a way that keeps the content fresh in participants’ minds without a lot of additional work. Oftentimes, the content and delivery can be reused in a variety of ways along the learning continuum, from generating interest to post-training performance support, without a lot of resources or effort.

In this session, you will explore ways to creatively yet practically repurpose webinar content and recorded playbacks for use in your social and mobile learning strategies. You will see how to draw on the synergies of marketing and social media fields for ideas that can be successfully replicated in learning environments to generate interest and increase your impact. You will leave with ideas you can incorporate into your own programs and have the opportunity to ask for ideas or share situations where ideas could be applied.

In this session, you will learn:

• Creative solutions to repurpose existing VILT content
• Strategies marketing and social media industries use to repupose content
• Simple strategies that make content easier to repurpose
• Creative examples for social and mobile learning with repurposed VILT content

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, project managers, and managers familiar with VILT.

Technology discussed in this session:
Virtual classroom software platforms, social and mobile learning platforms.

Participant technology requirements:
Laptop and/or mobile device with access to install virtual classroom client.

When planning to adopt virtual-classroom platforms for learning sessions, successful organizations need a clear idea of what management, design, delivery, and technical issues to consider.

The eLearning Guild has been successfully producing virtual learning sessions since 2004, and has developed thousands of hours of recorded content. In this session, you will explore the key elements of virtual-session success that the Guild has identified from our decade-plus of experience. You’ll learn how to develop a reliable, repeatable process for producing virtual learning sessions, how to adjust instructional design and delivery techniques for virtual classrooms, and how to make your virtual-classroom platform and related tools work reliably. You’ll also learn how to successfully coach a subject matter expert (SME) and leave with tips on how to best avoid technical issues—all while making everything look easy to the learners.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to effectively manage the production of successful virtual learning sessions, from planning to evaluation
• The recommended roles for an effective virtual-classroom production team
• How to design for virtual classrooms rather than face-to-face ones
• How to determine how much coaching an SME needs to be an effective presenter
• Tips for avoiding and troubleshooting technical issues before, during, and after virtual sessions

Audience:
Intermediate and advanced designers, developers, project managers, managers, and directors.

Migration to virtual training delivery is a “must consider” strategy for most geographically dispersed organizations. The Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) is an $8 billon organization that supports soldiers, airmen, and their families with over 2,400 retail facilities. Training the staff that supports those operations is a worldwide task. AAFES needed a better and more effective training strategy.

In this session you will learn the development and execution of a virtual training strategy for AAFES sales associates in the PowerZone and Outdoor Living store segments. You will learn from the AAFES’s implementation how to successfully migrate from a live training strategy to a virtual delivery model. You will learn what worked, what adjustments were made to the second event, and the continuing evolution of virtual events within the organization. The case study highlights the lessons learned and the best practices for similar projects.

In this session, you will learn:

• Key considerations in a virtual delivery strategy
• Lessons learned from a real-world implementation
• Best practices in virtual training
• Examples of effective training content

Audience:
Novice and intermediate designers, project managers, managers, and directors. Participants should have experience implementing training requirements and exposure to virtual training.

Technology discussed in this session:
Adobe Connect and PowerPoint with Presenter. The session is focused on strategy and best practices.

Live virtual learning, while not new, has only recently gained momentum due to a down economy and increased travel restrictions. Learning organizations know that they must increasingly provide live virtual solutions, but they don’t fully understand how to transition their traditional content to a virtual platform. Intel initially struggled with a lack of standards and development skills which led to mediocre learning experiences.

In this case study session you will see how Intel reinvented live virtual learning. You will learn about how they secured a purpose-built virtual learning platform and defined quality standards for virtual learning environments, experiences, content, and instruction. You will discover their success in providing training and professional development resources for learning designers, developers, and instructors. Finally you will see how enlisting “champion” learning organizations and learning domains lead the way in modeling the highest quality virtual experiences.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to target strategies to improve quality
• How to evangelize and gain leadership support for quality standards
• How to target the right stakeholders to provide quality learning experiences
• How to enlist champions to help you lead the way

Audience:
Novice to advanced designers, developers, and managers.