When facilitating a virtual event, the facilitator has three jobs:

1. Foster environmental engagement by creating a place where people can and want to learn.
2. Stimulate intellectual engagement by encouraging learner curiosity and emphasizing content relevance and applicability.
3. Foster emotional engagement by enabling learners to feel good about the experience.

We often encounter some version of the following story when working with corporate teams and individual learners: “Well, my organization has made the leap to the virtual classroom. I’m now supporting live online sessions, but I don’t know how to use my existing skills while managing the technology.”

We have mentioned the role of a virtual classroom producer in several previous posts. As the support person on the delivery team, the producer is an invaluable resource before, during and after a virtual training event. He or she is there to support the facilitator, the participants and the technology.

Since March of 2020, learning and development teams have been rushing to move their face-to-face content to virtual platforms like Zoom, Webex, MS Teams, and Adobe Connect.

At first, this wholesale conversion to virtual was a stop gap measure. The focus was getting the content online temporarily - just for the few months while we were working at home. But a few months turned into a year and a half! As corporations are contemplating bringing workers back into the office (or not), they are also considering what role virtual classrooms will play in their long-term learning strategy. (Spoiler – InSync’s clients tell us virtual training will continue to play a much bigger role than it did pre-pandemic!)

The team approach when creating learning experiences can make all the difference in whether a virtual session is successful or not! It feels amazing when a producer can seem like they are anticipating the needs of the facilitator or speaker before they even ask. However, even if it seems like we can read minds, the anticipation is a skill that is developed over time with experience. It is fantastic to produce learning events as a partner with the facilitator and a support for the participants.

A few years back, InSync producer Jakob Hofmann wrote some fun producer haiku.

I don’t remember what prompted this tweet in January, 2012, but I feel it even more strongly now than I did then. Since the onset of COVID, we have seen 3 phases of its effects on training and training delivery:

Many years ago - can it really be nearly 20? - I was first learning to work in the virtual classroom. Back then, the tech was very new and still often wonky and unpredictable, so it was a given that this was a team endeavor, with the facilitator always working with a producer. I didn’t know at the time what a gift this would turn out to be: When I introduced virtual classroom events in my workplace, no one ever questioned the need for and the value of a producer, and no one ever asked me to try flying solo.

We often encounter some version of the following story when working with corporate teams and individual learners: “Well, my organization has made the leap to the virtual classroom. I’m now supporting live online sessions, but I don’t know how to use my existing skills while managing the technology.”

This kind of quandary results in the accidental virtual classroom producer. Trainers or learning professionals used to working face-to-face now have to support subject matter experts or experienced virtual facilitators in a completely different, though very dynamic, environment. So. what can you do if you find yourself, whether by circumstance or choice, working as a producer in the virtual classroom?

What do platforms like Webex Training, Zoom, Adobe Connect, and Microsoft Teams have in common? They all include a variety of virtual classroom tools!

When instructional designers incorporate their use into training programs and facilitators leverage them during delivery, tools can increase learner engagement. Learners feel more connected to their fellow participants, to the instructional team, and to the training content. Plus, when the virtual classroom supports active participation and collaboration, concerns about learning in a new environment fade away.