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?

Happy Virtual Classroom Producer Day! Our annual celebration honors those working behind the scenes to ensure effective, efficient, and engaging live online learning events.

We’ve long sung the praises of producers – they offer technical support to learners, launch breakout rooms and other collaborative activities, keep training on track and on time, and act as back-up facilitators when necessary. And while technologies continue to change and requirements evolve, the role of a producer remains fundamentally the same.

We know virtual classrooms include technology bells and whistles designed to promote learner engagement. But how do instructors manage so many moving parts? We highly recommend bringing in a second set of hands to help juggle everything. The best option? A technical or instructional producer. 

Whether you provide production support in your organization’s live online learning events, or you would simply like to create smoother virtual sessions, try applying a few simple approaches for seamless programs.

Our team of multitasking, multi-talented producers outlined their tried-and-true recommendations to help you reach modern learning MVP status.

Global training depends on digital platforms like eLearning, microlearning, and virtual classrooms. When dealing with multiple time zones and diverse learner groups, creating equivalent training experiences requires planning and professionals.

And while we acknowledge that facilitators act as the face of live learning events, producers power the sessions. They do much more than “open the room.” They act as learner advocates, a second voice delivering content, and an extra pair of hands juggling the many balls involved in effective modern learning.

Our production team includes the best in the business. So, what tips and tricks do they use to make sure every virtual learning session comes together into a seemingly seamless event?

Do have experience producing virtual training sessions? If your technical skill set includes experience with popular virtual classroom platforms like WebEx Training Center and Adobe Connect, we want to learn more about you!  

Flipping the classroom marks a big step towards truly modern learning. Organizations, for a variety of reasons, have transitioned face-to-face training content to the virtual classroom. The process, complicated by the very nature of including technology in learning, can become even more difficult without the right instructional support.

In the two decades that InSync has designed, delivered, and supported virtual training, one factor has proven essential for success: the virtual classroom producer.

A hallmark of our approach, we encourage all teams hoping to incorporate live online sessions into the blend to seriously consider investing in this invaluable resource.

Are you interested in a work from home opportunity? Are you computer literate and a detail-oriented person? Do you have experience supporting WebEx Training Center, Adobe Connect, or any other virtual classroom platform? InSync Training wants to learn more about you! 

This is the second part of a blog post from our guest blogger, Susan Bassett. To view the first post, "It's Amazing What Creating Online Energy Can Do!," click here. 

Passion and Courage
Love what you do. Whether you call yourself a trainer, instructor, facilitator, presenter; the nom de guerre doesn’t really matter. Being a great online trainer requires soft skills and a high level of motivation to share your passion about the subject being presented.

This is the complete opposite of finding yourself online with a trainer who reads the slides and notes word for word. Listen in on any outstanding online trainer and you will experience passion about using their energy to impact other people’s lives.

With that passion, comes calculated risk that requires courage. If you want people to learn before, during, and after your online training, create a safe learning environment where risk is encouraged.

We chatted with veteran producer Brigit Michael and got her take on why she considers the virtual classroom to be a stage, herself a stage hand. Her unique perspective can help you hone your modern learning skills as you facilitate, produce, implement, and manage virtual learning events within your blends.

The role of a virtual producer is a unique one; we’re responsible for making everything run smoothly behind the scenes to ensure that learners have the best experience possible. 

I consider my role as a producer is kind of like a stage hand for a play. Some directors want the stage hands to be recognized and take a bow at the end, and some want them to fade entirely into the background, with a variety of possibilities in between.

Happy Virtual Classroom Producer Day!

To celebrate the occasion, we're honoring our own producers - the members of our instructional team who ensure our live online learning events go off without a hitch.

We asked our facilitators, project managers, and operations team what sets our producers apart, and these are just a few of their favorite things.