Zoom has taken the whole world by storm. Thanks to its easy-to-use functionality, and an effort by company leadership to make it more accessible, people of all ages have started to use Zoom for work, learning, and socialization.

Zoom-hosted game nights bring friends together across distance. K-12 and college students have learned how to Zoom to stay on academic track. Corporate teams check in for virtual happy hours, critical business meetings, and essential trainings on Zoom. This virtual platform, like Webex, Adobe Connect, and others, bridges the distance felt by stay-at-home orders and closed offices and classrooms.

Jennifer Hofmann, President of InSync Training, recently joined eLearning Guild’s Virtual Classroom Panel during their 2018 Learning Solutions Conference. Jennifer and other industry experts shared their insight into the challenges, realities, and best practices of live online learning. This post, the third in the series, recaps their panel discussion.

From instructional design to delivery to production, virtual learning requires special treatment. Accustomed to the face-to-face classroom, learners often perceive live online sessions as “less important.”

How can we fight this stigma and increase learner engagement?

Nina Talley Everflow, Senior Program Manager of EnCompass, Jennifer Hofmann, President of InSync Training, Karen Hyder, Principal of Kaleidoscope Training and Consulting, and Bianca Woods, Sr. Manager of Programming for the eLearning Guild believe in the approaches detailed in this blog post.

InSync Training President Jennifer Hofmann recently had the opportunity to join a panel of experts at eLearning Guild’s Learning Solutions 2018 conference to discuss The Present and Future of Virtual Classroom Tools. Over the coming weeks, Getting InSync will feature highlights from this engaging, informative discussion.

A driving force behind our mission at InSync Training focuses on the idea that “If we do virtual classroom training well we can get, for many programs, an equivalent or even better experience in the virtual live online world as we can face-to-face.” Achieving this goal, though, requires hard work and an innovative approach.

Virtual classroom learning and microlearning have become commonplace in corporate training. Both options adapt beautifully to the modern classroom, which strives for adaptability, flexibility, and accessibility. At face-value, though, the connection between this EdTech option and this design model seems ambiguous at best.

Attending a conference in-person is not always an option. Budget constraints, scheduling, and getting approvals can often prevent you and your staff from participating as attendees, or even presenters. 

More and more, we see virtual conference options being offered – either an entire virtual conference, or the virtual attendance option for an on-site conference. These live virtual learning experiences have extensive benefits (and limited drawbacks) if they’re well produced and facilitated.

The Producer Perspective

I have been producing and facilitating virtual conferences for several organizations for the past five years. These are virtual tracks at the conferences, meaning that we broadcast only specific sessions that are taking place on-site. This gives attendees a multi-day experience with sessions chosen from the overall schedule to be streamed live.

Remember the adage “the cobbler’s children have no shoes?” It’s a reference to the fact that we tend to be so focused on using our expertise and special talents to help others, that we neglect our own needs. 

That is so true for us in the L&D profession. We dedicate our careers to enabling others to be successful while often not managing our own personal learning paths. And when we do focus on our own talent development, we overlook the value of true face time.

Let’s face it, all this virtual, online learning is great. But getting together to learn can be energizing, and fun! An in-person training conference can be a great learning opportunity that keeps you connected to trends, new training approaches, and can expand your personal learning network.

I'll tell you a secret. I enjoy speaking at ATD TechKnowledge more than I do ATD ICE. The people at this conference are so focused on a common goal - using EdTech to support the learning function. Everyone you talk to has a story to tell and a problem to solve - and I believe I learn more from the attendees then they learn from me!

If you attended and have feedback or would like to continue the conversation reach out to me on Twitter @InSyncJennifer #ATDTK.

Learning professionals are an incredible group of people. Not only do we adapt to and overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges, like limited budgets and constraining timelines, but we freely share our wisdom with our learners and each other.

While Jennifer Hofmann was onsite at Training Magazine’s Online Learning Conference, she asked a number of industry expert experts to teach her, and her YouTube audience, one thing. This blog post summarizes their collective wisdom.

You can watch the full videos on our YouTube Channel.

2016 Online Learning Conference Recap

Greetings from Chicago! Members of the InSync Training team, including Jennifer Hofmann, have had the privilege of attending Training Magazine’s 2016 Online Learning Conference (OLC). This three-day, in-person learning event highlights some of our most favorite things about our industry: a community of practitioners who believe in collaboration and the transformative power of online learning.

With learning legends and rising stars on the presentation agenda, the lessons learned were innumerable. In the spirit of the modern classroom, which supports skill-building through access to a myriad of resources, we would like to share takeaways from two of the keynote sessions, and some resources to support key themes present in the conference agenda.

Part of InSync Training's Expert Interview Series 

During the Association for Talent Development's 2016 International Conference and Exposition, I had the privilege of interviewing our friend in the industry, Courtney Vital. She shared her personal journey in training, and her opinions about the future of the learning and performance industry. 

Who are you and what is your area of expertise? 

My name is Courtney Vital, and I'm Chief Learning Officer at the Human Capital Institute. Previously, I was the Senior Director of Education for ATD (the Association for Talent Development). My entire career has focused on professional development and learning, and I couldn't imagine working in another field!