Archive for Real Estate
They’re Not Paying Attention! How to Hold Them ‘Captive’ Online
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They’re not paying attention! Here are two creative ways to keep their attention and interest when you’re training online.
From Classroom to Online–Not as Easy as We Think…..
Why? Because we’re not physically there. We don’t have that energy, that interchange that we depended on when we’re ‘live’ to hold their attention.The Problem: Not Enough Variety When We Teach
When we’re training ‘live’, we get away with using one or two training methods–mainly lecture and discussion. But, when we’re go online, just those two methods don’t suffice. In fact, a majority of my online training attendees say they lose interest, on average, in 5-15 minutes!
Two Creative Methods to Focus Your Audience’s Attention
- Get them up! Imagine it’s a usual day in your business. How many hours a day are you in training or meetings now online? Two–four–or more? You can’t help it–you get distracted and bored! And, if you’re a trainer, you’re probably more able to focus on the training than most!
I just saw a trainer give this assignment: “Get out of your chair. Go find something that has significance to you, regarding our topic. Come back and tell us why you chose that object.” The attendees loved the exercise!
How could you use that idea? If you’re teaching listing presentations, you could bring back a picture of your home and talk about what appealed to you. If you’re teaching how to create a database, you could bring back your Christmas card list (or a bunch of Christmas cards you’ve received).
This exercise does several things. It gets people out of their chairs! It refreshes their mind. It helps them focus on what’s important to them. Then, when you share the results with everyone, you start to build camaraderie with your attendees.
2. Send a box with things inside you’re going to use in your course–and don’t let people open it until they start your class. Isn’t that fun–and kind of mysterious? We all love to get boxes (Have you gotten a box from Amazon and had forgotten what you’ve ordered? Of course….). Doing this exercise helps you focus on your attendees and prepares them that they will have a different experience with you. Then, your box could include exercise, mystery objects–whatever creative things you can dream up to include.
Want more information and inspiration? Check out my prior blogs here for more strategies you can implement to provide variety and keep their attention.
Want more ideas? Watch my video below.
Want to watch the video of my webinar Masterclass: How to Take your Classroom Online? Go to www.carlacross.com, and press the Webinars and More Button. You’ll see the post with the video and the handouts available for you.
Let’s Work Together to Make your Online Course Awesome!
I’ve extended the registration period to June 30, so you can take advantage of the 2 for 1 registration. Don’t teach online until you have a tried and true ‘formula’ and have tested your results. You’ll have an opportunity to do both, with individual coaching from Carla Cross.
Online Training: One Method to Keep Their Attention and Increase ‘Take Home Value’
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Do you do online training? If you’re like most of us, the bulk of our training was done in the ‘live’ classroom. Not so today. And, the prediction is that we’ll continue to do much more training online–forever.
Some Of Our Greatest Concerns When we Go Online
In the webinars I’ve been doing, I asked the audience for topics for me to address.
And, no wonder. In the classroom, we can talk through three hours, and, if we’re entertaining and we engage the audience, we can get away with that one method of delivering our message. (I say ‘get away’ because we need to learn and use more than one or two training methods!). It’s not so easy when we’re training online! Just talking through the time frame won’t hold our audience’s attention, or get participation.How to Solve the Problem
As instructors have found, you can’t just turn on the camera and talk! So, how do you use various methods to engage your audience and increase learning? First, you must decide where and how you want participation. Then, you include those methods in your online course. Below, you’ll see an invitation to join me for a Masterminds series where we’ll ‘translate’ your classroom course to an effective online presentation or series.
Several Methods to Engage your Audience in Online Courses
Below, I’m inviting you to see my recorded webinar on how to take your class online. You’ll see several methods to engage your audience, and I’ll demonstrate several to you. Count the number of times I asked the audience to engage (you’ll find 11 or 12 in an hour session!).
Great Audience Engagement Tool: Use a Handout with Work to be Done
In the webinar I mentioned, I created a handout for each participant with questions for them to answer as they proceeded in the webinar. I addressed a topic, and then provided some ‘time out’ for participants to decide how they could use that idea in their own course. By the time they finished the webinar, they had filled out a page of ideas on how to ‘translate’ that ‘live’ course to an online platform. Use this handout as you go through the webinar to ‘translate’ your course as you go. You’ll end the hour with several ideas ready to put to work as you re-create your course online.
Question: What work or handout could you provide to use as you introduced topics in your webinar? How could you involve students in completing the questions? What could you do with your course handout in subsequent series? How could you use it in forums or small groups to engage your students?
In my next few blogs, we’ll investigate more ways to hold attendees’ attention and increase learning.
Want to watch the video of my webinar Masterclass: How to Take your Classroom Online? Go to www.carlacross.com, and press the Webinars and More Button. You’ll see the post with the video and the handouts available for you.
How I can help you go online with confidence:
Join us and then launch your online course with confidence!
Two Effective Methods to Increase Attention and Online Learning
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Here are two effective methods to increase attention and online learning.
According to my informal surveys, real estate professionals and affiliates who teach say that holding students’ attention is a huge challenge when teaching online. In fact, instructors say that they are more concerned with holding students’ attention than any other consideration when taking their courses online.
How Long Can We Keep Our Attention Focused When We’re Taking a Webinar?
Woops! Most of our webinars are at least 45 minutes long!Instructor Are Good Learners…..
Would you agree that we instructors are good learners? So, if we lose attention that fast, think about our attendees!
What does that mean to us as instructors? It means we have to create methods to hold learners’ attention and increase their learning. These methods will be somewhat different, at times, from what we do when we teach ‘live’.
Method #1: Provide Rewards for Participation
I just finished a webinar on how to convert your classroom course to online (see below for how to access the video). I wanted to help attendees take these ideas and immediately apply them to their courses. I was concerned that, because there was lots of material in a short period of time, attendees could be overwhelmed and not know how to start. So, I promised I’d send my Big Ideas in a Little Book to the first 10 people who emailed me after the webinar, telling me what they were going to implement right away.
I will also follow up with my ten ‘winners’ to find out how they’ve implemented their ideas. This can form another blog or article, and give them some publicity (if they want it), too.
Question: What ‘reward’ could you offer to participants for finishing work, or promising to put to work some of the ideas in your webinar?
To the left is another example. In my Train the Trainer distance learning program (15 clock hours), I’ve created ‘badges’ that are rewarded for good work. This is just one way I can show that I appreciate the work and dedication of the participants.
Method #2: Provide Work to be Done During or after the Webinar
How ‘passive’ is your webinar? Are you doing all the work? Are your attendees merely listening? Or, do you have your attendees doing some work when you’re teaching ‘live’? If so, it will be easy for you to ‘translate’ that to your online platform.
Use a Handout with Work to be Done
In the webinar I mentioned, I created a handout for each participant with questions for them to answer as they proceeded in the webinar. I addressed a topic, and then provided some ‘time out’ for participants to decide how they could use that idea in their own course. By the time they finished the webinar, they had filled out a page of ideas on how to ‘translate’ that ‘live’ course to an online platform. (See the information below on how to get a copy of that handout).
Question: What work or handout could you provide to use as you introduce topics in your webinar? How could you involve students in completing the questions?
In my next few blogs, we’ll investigate more ways to hold attendees’ attention and increase learning.
Want to watch the video of my webinar Masterclass: How to Take your Classroom Online? I’ll have the video posted by Saturday, with the handouts. Go to www.carlacross.com, and press the Webinars and More Button. You’ll see the post with the video and the handouts available for you.
How I can help you go online with confidence:
- Contact me to see if a customized webinar series would work for your organization. We’ll work right through the organizational, teaching, and attention engagement challenges. 425-392-6914 or carla@carlacross.com
- Take part in my Mastermind Group. In a series of 4 Zoom meetings, over a period of 4 weeks, we’ll translate your course from classroom to online. You’ll have a chance to practice and get feedback, too. Investment: $499, and you can bring a friend FREE if you email me by June 20: carla@carlacross.com.
From Classroom to Online: The Challenge of Keeping the Audience’s Attention
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From classroom to online: Why can’t we keep the audience’s attention like we do in the classroom?
The situation: We real estate instructors are good talkers. (as are most instructors in all fields). That’s one of the reasons we love to teach. We love to impart our knowledge. Most of our teaching has been done ‘live’. In a ‘live’ classroom, we can get away with talking (we call it ‘lecturing’) for the whole class–we think.
At least, we have a fighting chance at keeping our attendees’ attention, because we’re animated, funny, and compelling–and we tell great stories. The students love us, because we have asked them to have no accountability for their own learning. In addition, they love to be entertained! (Well, at least that’s true for some of us….)
Not many teaching methods are employed in the ‘live’ classroom.
Why don’t we use more teaching methods?
- We’re creatures of habit, and we have honed our skills in these two areas. We don’t want to give that up to try some new methods.
- We believe that talking to or with our attendees is the best way to teach. True, it’s the best way to impart lots of information fast. However, studies show that students will not retain much of the information!
- We just don’t know how to teach in any other ways.
- Sad truth: We may be too lazy or uninspired to expand our teaching methods.
The inadequacies really show up when we go online. In a week, I’m doing a webinar on how to take your classroom online. In the pre-webinar survey, I asked attendees their biggest concerns. About 70% of the concerns were
how to hold the audience’s attention online.
No wonder. Because we’ve relied on instructor-focused training, we attempt to merely turn on the camera and talk as though our audience were with us in the classroom. We’ve found out that doesn’t work to keep an audience’s attention online.
Adjustments We Must Make to Be Effective Online
First, before we re-create that course online, we must look at our classroom version of our course. Ask yourself:
Does the course organized to teach to measurable objectives (what will the student be able to do at the end?)–or, is it just organized by subject?
If it isn’t organized to objectives, it will be very difficult to create meaningful attendee activities to get and keep their attention.
Is the class ‘choreographed’ with several teaching methods (we call these ‘alternative delivery methods’) that provide relief from lecture and discussion (like task force, case study, role play, and activity plan)?
If the class is taught only with lecture and discussion, the instructor will find it difficult to involve the online attendees in learning.
Does the class consist of fact-heavy information, delivered from the lectern? If so, how can we re-purpose all this information so it doesn’t overwhelm the online course?
In the online course, some of the information must be ‘pruned out’. What are some alternative methods of providing that information?
What accountability does the student have in the class for learning?
If no accountability, it’s more difficult to engage your audience.
Answering these questions will show us the adjustments that must be made in the class prior to creating the online version.
Want more information on instructor methods and course creation? See my online course Train the Trainer, which is accredited for 15 clock hours of Washington state continuing education credit. It fulfills the qualifications to teach clock hour courses in Washington state.
More on Creating that Online Version of your Course and Involving your Attendees
In my next blog, we’ll investigate the easiest ways to involve your audience online. This is especially helpful to those who rely on lecture and discussion.
Free Webinar June 11
If you’re facing challenges of translating your ‘live’ classroom to online, join us for Masterclass: How to Go from Classroom to Online.
When: June 11 (Thursday)
Time: 10-11 am PDT
Click here to register.
You’ll learn how to create a great course structure, how to hold your audience’s attention, how to add variety to your course, and tips to present your classroom course for a successful online event. This webinar is created especially for those trainers presenting to real estate professionals–and valuable for anyone who wants to ‘translate’ their classroom course to a professional online experience. I’ve added a worksheet for you so you can instantly ‘translate’ the webinar information to your own online course.
As a three-decade trainer of real estate trainers, I’ve learned the special presentation methods needed to keep and hold real estate professionals’ attention. I’ll show you how to include these in your online course structure.
Bonus for attending: A 2-page checklist to use to take your classroom course online with verve.)
Click here to register. (By the way, when you register, you’ll get a survey to let me know what you want me to address, so the webinar will be most valuable to you.)
Is This an ‘Interruption’ or an Opportunity’?
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Is this an interruption or an opportunity?
We’ve never faced this kind of situation. Yes, we’ve been through and weathered the slumps. We’ve helped our agents change their strategies from sellers’ to buyers’ markets and back again. But, this is somewhat different.
Consider This a Unique Leadership Opportunity
On April 23, at 10 am PDT, I’ll be presenting a webinar for leadership on how to seize this time as an opportunity to lead.
For many agents (I estimate it’s about 75% or more), this time is seen as an interruption of a great market. These agents have depended on
the market driving their businesses.
Now, in an instant,
the agents must drive the market themselves.
But, most agents are not going to make that shift alone. You need to lead them to the concept that they now drive the market–and show them how to do that.
The Leadership Actions to Reveal Opportunities to Agents
How can you implement specific actions that work now to get your agents back into the business and connecting with their client base? Here are four methods to do just that. In the webinar, I’ll show you how to
- Motivate your team members to communicate value to their client base
- Mobilize your team to gain exceptional support
- Re-focus each of your agents by helping them implement a 60-Day Pivot Business Plan*
- ‘Up’ your communication with specific changes
*You’ll receive my 60-Day Pivot Business Plan as my ‘thank you’ for attending this webinar. I’ll show you how to use this plan to coach your agents.
Special circumstances require special leadership actions. How have you lead your agents from an ‘interruption mindset’ to an ‘opportunity mindset’?
Leadership:
The Right
Actions to
Take
Now to
Assure Profits
Later
Join me for this fast-paced, 45-minute webinar exclusively for leadership April 23 (Thursday), at 10 am PDT. Click here for more information and to register.
Do You Have Your 60-Day ‘Pivot Plan’ In Place?
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Do you have your 60-day pivot business plan in place?
Congratulations to you if you made a 2020 business plan. However, none of us could have foreseen the events of the past two months. Those events have called for a different plan–both for you and for your agents.
5 Big Questions to Answer Right Now
Next Thursday (April 23), I’ll be doing a 45-minute webinar exclusively for leadership on actions to take right now to retain agents and plan for profits. Here’s more information on that.
To prepare for this webinar, here are some questions leadership needs to ask themselves to evaluate whether they’ve got everything they need in place to lead in this uncertain environment.
- What are you doing right now to communicate regularly with each agent in your office? Do you have a schedule? Have you helped each agent with a pivot business plan? (I’ll be providing a template for you to use with your agents after the webinar).
- What’s your agent mix? How many new agents, growth agents, mature agents in your mix? Do you have a plan for each group to move them forward? (I’ll provide you a tool to segment your agents).
- How have you changed your training to continue it without disruption? Are you doing ‘live’ online events, or have you contracted with an outside source to assure your training has continuity?
- Who else have you enlisted to help retain your agents? Do you have any teaming in place?
- What’s the morale like in your office? With each agent? What actions are you taking to improve each person’s outlook so they will continue their business in a meaningful way now?
Answering these questions will prepare you for the actions I’ll be suggesting to you during the webinar next Thursday, April 23, starting at 10 am Pacific Daylight Time.
The good news: This is the time when leaders can LEAD. The feelings of insecurity, of fear of income loss, fear of sickness–all can overwhelm our agents unless we step forward with positive leadership actions. The actions I’ll be suggesting to you next week will build loyalty and retain your good agents, preparing for a market re-emergence.
Leadership:
The Actions
to Take Now
to Preserve
Profits Later
Join me for this fast-paced, 45-minute webinar exclusively for leadership April 23 (Thursday), at 10 am PDT. Click here for more information and to register.
Going Online with your Training? Four ‘Must Haves’
Posted by: | CommentsYour training calendar looked phenomenal. Until now. Why? It was all ‘live’. Yes, ‘live’ training is best, but it’s impossible now. So, how are you going to pivot to effective online training?
Just Turn on the Camera–Not
We can get away with a lot when we are ‘live’. We can wander a bit from the outline the audience will forgive us. After all, we have an audience with whom to interact. We take questions, we create debate, we tell those great war stories.
Is Your Course Really a ‘Course’?
I’ve taught real estate professionals and affiliates how to train for over three decades. I’ve seen dozens of their ‘courses’. Unfortunately, most aren’t courses. They’re streams of information. They’re not well-organized. They don’t have the end in mind–objectives. They don’t have various delivery methods (teaching methods other than that old boring lecture). Even though those problems don’t show up so badly in the live classroom, they show up with a vengeance when going online.
You’ll Need These Four Strategies in your Online Course
How are you going to avoid droning on until you get to the end of that hour you’ve booked to train? Here are the four things you need in your online presentation or course:
- An blazingly good course organization, created from learning objectives (having the end in mind)*
*See my 3 models to create your presentation or course in Train the Trainer, my online version of my training course
2. An easy, engaging process to draw the attendee in and keep him/her interested (methods to avoid droning on forever in a lecture) (self-analysis, reflection, case studies to complete)
3. Interaction and idea exchange with others in the course (adults learn from others)
4. Action plans and reviews so you can see your attendees putting your concepts and skills to work
Before You Choose that Seminar Guru’s ‘Training’ Course
You may decide to go outside your office to find online training. Does that course have those 4 attributes I listed above? Who is the course for? Does it have accountability? Does the course have a method for you to coach the agent to the course? What will the agent accomplish through taking the course?
Choosing the right online training can make the difference between ‘still in recession’ three months from now or ‘back up and running’ to profits.
Call me at 425-392-6914 if you have questions about how to switch successfully to online training.
Why reinvent the wheel right now? Take advantage of my online training program, Up and Running in Real Estate, created from my smash hit, the proven business start-up program for new agents– Up and Running in 30 Days.
Catch a sneak preview here.
This online training for new agents (and seasoned agents who want a jump-start) has the attributes I listed above. There’s one more important component left out of others’ online training:
YOU
I want you to be able to fully support your agents’ success–and grab their loyalty forever. So, I have waived the $99 fee for Coaches Corner (the coaching component of Up and Running in Real Estate) for all who sign up prior to Sept. 1, 2020. To qualify, register at least 1 of your agents in the Up and Running in Real Estate program. See more here.
Lets create success together!
Questions? Call me and we’ll discuss whether this program would be a ‘fit’ for you and your agents: 425-392-6914.
Engagement: How to Drive It in a Screeching-Halt Market
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Engagement: Do you have a plan to drive engagement with your agents in this shifted market? Or, are you waiting for your company, your association, or …… to take over? Or, do you think you just don’t have to engage?
Sometimes it takes years! I don’t want you to lose your agents–or your business.
Concrete Methods to Re-Engage Your Agents
Every week, I’ll be giving you specific actions to take to re-vitalize the communication and the activity levels of the agents in your office. I’m not just drawing these out of a hat. This is what I have done for years to encourage, tell truth, and get agents into action in challenging markets. This will set you up for great profitability, retention, and a wonderful recruiting tool. How do I know? I’ve done it several times. It works.
First: Set Up Your Plan
Don’t wait for your company or some outside force to do this for you. All well and good, but you need to step right in and be the one who literally LEADS right now. That’s right–leads. Oh, boy, I just thought of what I don’t want to happen for you: DON’T just send them to some training guru site and hope all works out (that includes me!).
What Your Plan Should Look Like
First, when I say ‘meetings’, of course I mean via Zoom or Go to Webinar, or a similar program!
As a group (and groups):
- New agent training at least weekly with actionable items they are to complete–must be high accountability
- Advanced agent training at least weekly with guests sharing best practices for this market
- Mastermind groups of various experience and/or production levels
- Office meetings weekly with guests
In other words, your training calendar must
- Address the needs of the various levels of your agents
- Be consistent and well-thought out to serve your agents with actionable items–which you then can get permission to share
- Create a compelling reason why your agents should re-engage frequently
You DO have a training calendar, don’t you?
With individuals:
- Quartile your agents using any weighing variables you feel are important (4 points for production, 3 points for culture, etc.). See who you can help (probably not the bottom quartile, but you make that call. It’s your time and energy. You deserve a pay-off…..)
- Look at what you’ve been urging these agents to get done for the past 6 months (or more!): their website, their bios, their databases, their presentations, etc.
- Choose 5 action items you want to use with each agent, and let each agent prioritize and add to these actions, add dates–so it’s their plan; or, ask each agent to come up with 5 prioritized items
- Set up a schedule with each agent to review actions–I’ll be helping you apply great coaching techniques so they are motivated to keep going!
What I’ll be Providing You
Besides these overview and bigger picture items, I’m going to provide you specific action items (some with templates so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel) that you can drop in in several training/coaching areas
Who Will Survive and Thrive Through this Time
I know today, there are companies and/or managers who have a ‘hands off’ approach: It’s the agent’s business and that agent decides when, how, and how much to do–alone. When the market is going nuts, that works, because the market is driving the agents. But, when the market becomes challenging, the agents are looking for leadership, for guidance, for coaching. They get lost–more easily than they will admit. Those who provide positive, clear, supportive leadership now will come out with a much stronger profit picture, a synergistic team, and a recruiting tool.
Tell me: What are YOU doing to drive action in your office right now?
Let’s Partner to Drive your Success!
Why reinvent the wheel right now? Take advantage of my online training program, Up and Running in Real Estate, created from my smash hit, proven business start-up program Up and Running in 30 Days.
Not just a distance learning program!
No one wants to sit in front of a computer especially now!) and learn neat stuff….
Effective online training has to have 3 things:
- An easy, engaging process to draw the attendee in and keep him/her interested
- Interaction with a real human being once inawhile
- Interaction and idea exchange with others in the course
Ive integrated these 3 critical factors in Up and Running in Real Estate.
- Engaging--I created humor, introspection, and awards to motivate attendees to keep going through the program
- Coaching: I will be personally group coaching agents in the program, and you have a unique opportunity to coach in the program, too.
- Interaction: set up discussion groups so agents can interact and support each other
An Easy Way to Integrate Coaching Your Agents
Your support right now is critical. So, I waived the $99 fee for Coaches Corner (the coaching component of the program) for all who sign up prior to Sept. 1, 2020. To qualify, register at least 1 of your agents in the program. See more here.
Lets create success together!
Do It Now! Go ‘Digital’ With Your Training
Posted by: | CommentsDo you need to go ‘digital’? Right now, especially where I am, in Washington state, everyone is huddled in their homes because of the Coronavirus. But, life goes on. This is a great time, to adjust your communication and training strategy to reach out.
I’ve been doing webinars for years, and, I learned so much working with pros like Amy Chorew and the National Association of Realtors doing business planning webinars. I really worked on my technique, and was always rated in the top three presenters.
That’s what many digital attendees say! So, in the next few blogs, I’m going to give you tips on what I learned from the best, the mistakes I’ve made as I’ve learned, and the strategies that will help you create effective digital communications and trainings as we go forward.
Should you ‘go digital’? Yes, if you’re a
- Trainer
- Coach
- Manager
- Team leader
- Salesperson
and in today’s world, we HAVE to communicate digitally–at least for awhile. The good news is that it forces us to get really good at this type of communication so we can reach more people more effectively. I hate it when I ask people what they think of webinars and they say that last Powerpoint presentation was
boring/dull/repetitive/ill-organized/no fun……..
But, if you’re skilled at presenting digitally, you can
- Inform
- Introduce
- Sell
- Increase your image
In this series, I’ll help you through
- the basics of digital communication, including webinars
- The most common digital communication/webinar mistakes
- Some technical aspects of webinars–software, etc.
- How to create your video call or webinar
What can a webinar do? First, what it can’t do. Don’t expect it to
Change people’s behavior (it’s not training. It’s education). Webinars are not the magic training bullet we’ve wished for. There are limited objectives you can accomplish by doing a webinar. But, I’ve discoered some methods to help ‘attendees’ internalize and apply what they’re learning (see my Train the Trainer sneak preview below).
Of course, the upside of a digital training/webinar is that
- People don’t have to travel to get to the an event
- It’s very cost-effective
- It puts you in front of new audiences
- You can make it evergreen (record it and share it)
Some Basic Choices to Make Before You Start
- Your vehicle
Which company will you use to deliver your webinar? There are over 100 companies today offering some type of screen sharing. They range from free to $100+ a month. The free versions companies tout are for a limited number of viewers (usually 5-10). After that, figure on paying for the services. Among the most popular services are Zoom, GoTo Meeting, WebEx, and BrightTalk. Whatever you choose, pick a service that will be easy for you! Getting caught in the technicalities while you are trying to be a sparkling presenter is death by webinar.
- What’s your message?
Boy, this one seems so easy, and yet, it’s where most of us go way off the rails. Why? We try to do too much in too little time with too little organization! (Just like we do in ‘live’ classes). But, it’s more fatal digitally, because it is more challenging to hold people’s attention. So, the next few tips are critical to the success of your training.
Decide on your topic. Is it something that would lend itself to a webinar? To find out, study webinars you’ve attended. Do some seem too wishy-washy to have been worth your time? Are some so full of facts and figures you snooze off?
Decide on your objectives. In other words, start with the end in mind. What do you see, hear, and feel the attendees doing at the end of your presentation?
To write your objectives, start with this sentence,
As a result of this webinar, attendees will____________________________. Examples of objectives for a business planning webinar could be:
- Understand the flow of the strategic business planning process
- Be able to differentiate between a vision and a mission statement
- Be able to pinpoint 3 areas of concern about their business from the previous year
After I’ve written my objectives, I know the basic structure of my webinar. I can prioritize those objectives and start arranging my webinar in the right presentation order.
Your Topic: Overview or Detailed?
Is your topic an overview, or is it more detailed? Decide on the scope of your topic, and your objectives, before going further.
Common webinar mistake: Either being so global there is little information, or being so detailed you lose the audience in facts and figures.
Sound Familiar?
If you’ve taken my Instructor Development Workshop or my distance learning version, Train the Trainer, you’ve learned what objectives are and how to write and apply them in creating your training/presentation/digital class.
After deciding on your desired delivery company, and drafting your topic and objectives, you’re ready for the next step. In the next blog, we’ll discuss best presentation methods–and common presentation mistakes.
See What a Digital Course Looks LIke and How it’s Organized
Necessity is the mother of invention!!!! Oh, boy, have I learned that! I decided to put my distance learning program in new course software. In doing so, I’ve found out how to help people internalize important concepts and apply them to great, concrete, immediately-useable results. Here’s a sneak preview of my Train the Trainer program. It fulfills the requirement for attendees to teach clock hour approved courses in Washington state, and is accredited for 15 clock hours.
Train the Trainer Sneak Preview
In later posts, I’ll share some strategies I’ve found work really well in creating online presentations and courses that involve, inform, and entertain.
What’s Wrong with This Training?
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What’s wrong with this training?
Most of us managers train……along with the other 100 things we have to do each day. Too often, we tend to ‘grab and go’……our training is not too well thought out–with good reason!
In my Instructor Development Workshop (live) and my online distance learning version of the course, Train the Trainer, I show attendees how to deliver their courses without droning through them.
case study
In case study, we create a situation that reflects real life. This case study can be rather long and complex. We use it to help students grapple with the ‘gray areas’ –just like we have to do in real life.
What is a ‘case study’?
First, it isn’t what the attorneys tell us. It’s not a case that you, the instructor, talk through and give the answers. Instead, it’s a written situation that asks the students to come to several conclusions.
When is the case study used? It’s used toward the end of your course or module.
What is the case study for? To test the students’ judgment, understanding, and application of what you’ve taught.
Who can (and should) use the delivery method (teaching method) of case study? Anyone who wants to ‘test’ students’ understanding, judgment, and ability to draw conclusions from the course. It’s great for mortgage lenders, title and escrow, attorneys, and home inspectors to use. in my classes, I ask students to create an appropraite case study for their course.
What does a case study accomplish? It throws the accountability to the student. It lets the students interact, to team build, and to learn from each other. It shows you, the instructor, how well you’ve taught and what you need to review.
Here’s that case study for you. Take a look at the case study I use in my train the trainer courses to see how well students have internalized the concepts taught in my classes. I assign the case study at the end of one class, and we debrief in small groups and then generalize in the large group. (And it helps attendees see an example of a case study and how it is used–so they can create their own case studies easily and quickly).
How did you do? Could you name 10 things ‘Sally’ did wrong?
Grab Great Teaching Methods
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