With the Thanksgiving dinner trimmings put away in the states, the busiest time of year begins to take on a life of its own.

With inboxes and fireplaces equally a-blaze, personal professional development and corporate training can wind up on the back burner. What can learners and learning leaders alike do to keep missed training opportunities from piling up like snowdrifts? How can you make your next blend more magical than the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies?

Like every year before it, 2019 proved game-changing, awe-inspiring, and insightful.

With only a few weeks left until a new decade, our team felt nostalgic.

What did we learn in the last 365 days? Quite a bit, and we’re sure you did too.

Here in the U.S., many on the global InSync Training team prepare to log-off for a day of feasting and reflection. And while celebrating Thanksgiving usually includes a turkey dinner and connecting with those who mean the most to us, we wanted to stop and remember the things we love about our work. 

Wishing you and yours a great day of gratitude!

Virtually There Session Recap 

How can learning leaders and other stakeholders better engage their workforce?

Gaining emotional and professional buy-in from employees requires a structured approach focused on communication. The language used to share corporate updates, train new skills, and clarify company values can fundamentally change how the target audience receives the message.

In global companies, language matters tremendously: it’s not just word choice that matters, but the dialect of delivery can either create a sense of inclusivity or ostracize entire subgroups.

A few weeks ago, I responded to a number of fundamental questions about virtual learning. And in the process of reviewing the inquiries my team frequently receives when working with modern learners, new clients, and in established programs, I realized that much confusion remains around this learning environment.

Like the answers I recently provided to three common blended training questions, these answers also focus on practitioner core competencies and technology basics.

As our organizations expand, we will rarely create a training program that will only have one delivery run in one location.

The very nature of multinational corporations demand global learning initiatives. Even businesses classified as “small” now include dispersed team members (ours does – InSync’s 70 practitioners live and work on almost every continent).

Problematically, many stakeholders believe that rolling out global training just means “deliver existing content to every cohort.”

This weekend, I purchased something new at a local farmers market: delicata squash.

It came highly recommended as an easy winter squash to prepare, with a nice light taste.

As I was getting ready to cook it, I had a couple of quick questions. At what temperature should it bake, and for how long?

The InSync Training team has designed, delivered, produced, and managed live online training events for over 20 years. It’s hard to believe that organizations have had the virtual classroom as a learning environment option for over two decades.

Change underlies this now-commonplace technology. Virtual classrooms from the past look very little like the reality of today, which indicates a radically different future.

So what can we learn from the evolution of the virtual classroom?

When should we record live virtual classroom sessions, and how can we design quality, engaging recordings for on-demand audiences? 

I’ve never been fond of recording all virtual classes and making them available on demand. I’ve always felt that devalues live virtual instruction. After all, if there is no difference in the learner experience for someone to attend a live program versus a recording, then why deliver any live content?

Nevertheless, whether it’s an information-dense webinar or a hands-on, collaborative virtual lesson, most organizations have thousands of hours of recorded sessions in their training libraries.

The modern classroom brings with it many tricks.

Technology failures, webinars-that-could’ve-been-a-job-aid, and lecture-heavy sessions with few opportunities to practice new skills can plague blends.

But, in spite of all the possible horrors, blended training can still treat learners to meaningful professional development.