In Celebration of Virtual Classroom Producers

Happy Virtual Classroom Producer Day!

Today marks our second annual celebration of the behind-the-scenes wizards who ensure our live online sessions go off without a hitch. They possess unparalleled superpowers – guiding learners through technical challenges, supporting facilitators as they deliver content, and helping achieve business goals in the modern classroom.

What’s a day in the life of an InSync producer like? How do they go the extra mile? We asked our team to share their stories and feedback and compiled some telling highlights.

The Famous “Act like a Duck” Mentality

One of our seasoned producers shared a story that sums up their mindset for success, explaining:

“When producing you never know what might happen. The software may thwart you with glitches. The audio could become problematic. You could have a disruptive participant, or a myriad of things could happen that threaten to derail your live virtual classroom time. As producers, we utilize all our skills to keep the live session running as seamlessly as possible.

We have a saying at InSync that producers are a lot like ducks. It is all smooth sailing on the surface but underneath we may be paddling like mad!

I had a session one day with a facilitator I had not worked with before. Our rehearsal had gone well; he was fun and engaging. During the warm up there were several participants that needed assistance, so I was chatting with them in the background while my facilitator ‘warmed up the crowd.’

Out of the blue he asks me to sing the Rubber Ducky song. You know the one from Sesame Street? Ernie of ‘Bert and Ernie’ fame sings to his rubber ducky while taking a bath. I was stunned into silence for a moment and then politely declined. My facilitator then asks, 'Can you hum it?'

I had to chuckle to myself. Here I was paddling like mad behind the scenes helping participants get ready for their live class – I was embracing ‘being the duck’ while humming … about a duck. Some days are more entertaining than others in the live virtual classroom. Quack, quack!”

Constantly Knocking It Out of the Park

Our producers always go above-and-beyond the call of duty to create engaging, memorable, seamless experiences. Their efforts, while often unseen, never go unnoticed. In fact, we often hear from learners and clients sing their praises:

• “J. is a producer extraordinaire! During my session today, she not only helped participants with their tech issues, but she also created a job aid for them in the background and shared it at the end of class. Thanks, J!”
• “Kudos and thanks to L., who always stays calm and is able to go with the flow - even when especially challenging things happen. We had a big problem with our slides today and L. was quick at finding workarounds and helping me get things sorted so we could go to our Plan B!”
• “Shoutout to B! Not only is she always doing a fantastic job producing when we work together, but she is such a team player. We had a session at 3:30am and she volunteered to take another session that started around 1am for someone who wasn't feeling well!! Way to step up at the last minute....and with a smile!
• “I wanted to let you know how impressed I was with both L. and J. Both were very personable, and extremely knowledgeable of the Adobe Connect platform. I am confident that they will work seamlessly with the facilitator to provide a great customer experience next week.”

It's a privilege to work with and learn from our producers every day. We welcome the opportunity to teach our proven methods to new practitioners and to support organizations in their corporate training virtual classrooms!