Category Archives: Current Topics

I Am Not Kim Kardashian

Somewhere out there, someone is looking at the title of this post and my picture and saying, “Duh, no kidding!” I do not have long, dark hair, a famous husband, a TV show, or millions of dollars. So why the declaration?

I spend a good amount of time wondering what I can do to get more attention for my training business. I don’t have a television show or millions of Instagram followers. I don’t even have the resources to advertise a lot. Right now, we can’t travel to conferences and meet people in person. Conferences have gone virtual, too, and no matter what platform they use, virtual networking groups are difficult to manage. So I have opted for some old- and new-fashioned ways to connect with people.

Guess what – The phone still works! I call people regularly and leave a lot of voicemail messages. Sometimes I text them, too. If I can talk with someone, I have a good chance of connecting with them on some level. I can ask questions to determine if there’s a need I can fill or a challenge I can solve for them. Phone conversations are a way to get appointments for meetings where I can demonstrate my abilities. The one issue with phone calls is the other person needs to pick up the phone.

I have started to use LinkedIn more purposely to connect with people. Some are in my industry and might want to use my services. Others are in related industries who I have found on the platform and their work interests me. I always send a note when I ask people to connect. I offer my assistance with connections to people in my network. I have found that people are more likely to accept my offers to connect if I am not trying to sell them my services in my connection request note.

Once I’m connected with someone, I ask for a “virtual coffee.” This is an opportunity to get to know someone and find out if there’s a connection on a personal and professional level.  I schedule these “coffees” for 30 minutes, but sometimes they go longer, sometimes shorter. Again, unless I’m asked, I don’t sell my services. I tell about my work and how I got to where I am today, but this is not a sales conversation. If it looks like my connection might have a need, I ask for another meeting where I can go into more detail about my training and how it can help their people.

I can’t stress enough the importance of connecting with people on personal level. You can send them stuff, post on social media, write blog articles, and go on Facebook Live to talk about your training business, but unless you can talk with them about their goals, anxieties, achievements, and desires, your messages will fall on deaf ears. You have to care about people if you want to help them achieve their goals.

I’m really talking about authenticity here. Being open and honest about who you are with people who might not know you very well. Being willing to listen and relate to another person where they are in life. You do this all before you start selling your programs, courses, webinars, or online platform. It really doesn’t take a lot of time. It just takes a willingness to connect.

I don’t have to be a Kim Kardashian or any other famous person to talk with people who might need my services. You never know what might happen when you connect with someone. You just have to be willing to make the attempt.

My Favorite Teachers

September is here and it’s back to school time! Sure, it’s different this year for many students and teachers, but it’s nevertheless a good time to reflect on education at all levels. I’ve been fortunate to spend some time as a high school teacher and as a professor at the college/university level. Fall has always been my favorite season because it meant returning to the classroom. Now, I spend my days immersed in training adults, and the academic year plays only a small role.

Advancing through the grades is a rite of passage. Parents take pictures of their children on the first day of a new school year and compare them to last year’s photos. Textbooks change, supply lists grow longer or shorter, pens take the place of pencils. We encounter a number of teachers over the years, too.

I reflect periodically about the teachers and professors I had over the years, and especially at this “back to school” time. Many of my teachers were memorable and some were not so much. Teachers can inspire and motivate students to learn and grow. The best teachers help you understand your potential and instill in you the desire to achieve and do better. Sometimes you realize just how impactful a teacher was only in hindsight.

I’m fortunate to have had many excellent teachers during my school, college, and graduate school years. Here’s a sample of what made a few of them stand out.

Storytelling: My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Wire, had been my siblings’ teacher also. I was the fourth child in our family to grace her classroom. I didn’t like her at all when I was nine years old. She was very strict and didn’t tolerate my penchant for talking during class. When I didn’t finish my penmanship workbook on time, I had to stay in the room during recess and complete the exercises. But one thing Mrs. Wire did almost every day was read to us after our lunch break. She read classic stories and entire novels to the class. She encouraged us to write our own stories, too. We had to learn how to speak and read aloud also. Whenever she read a book to us that I liked, I would go to the library and find others by the same author and read as many as I could. Mrs. Wire gave me a love of a good story, told well.

Construct an argument and substantiate your claims: In ninth grade, I sat in a meeting at the end of the school year and learned about the high school debate team and what it would take to join. I immediately signed up and thus began my three-year career as a debate team member. Richard Hill was our coach and an English teacher at the high school. I learned how to research a topic, pull evidence, and formulate an argument. I also learned how to deliver a speech for maximum effect. Mr. Hill was a quiet presence with a quick wit and a caring nature. He nurtured us, exposed us to new ideas, and encouraged us to keep going when we wanted to quit. In the English classroom, he taught us to think about words and sentences as building blocks to understanding the world around us. His creative writing prompts were legendary. The skills I learned from Mr. Hill have served me well throughout my life.

Push for more: My journey in higher education lead me to pursue a doctoral degree at The Ohio State University. I ended up there because my professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee knew faculty members at Ohio State and it seemed like the best fit for what I wanted to study. They were not wrong. When I needed a dissertation advisor, I approached Professor Helen Fehervary. She was well-versed in the type of literature and authors I wanted to write about, and she was willing to serve as my advisor. Some doctoral students give up at this point. Choosing a topic, researching, and writing a dissertation take time and a lot of effort. There were many times when I got frustrated and didn’t know what to do or how to approach my topic. There were times when I got angry with her for pushing me to examine something more closely or to write in my voice, not someone else’s. Professor Fehervary guided me through the process and challenged me to keep going through the doubts and rough spots. I completed my dissertation and successfully defended it with her assistance and insistence that I could make a contribution to the field.

It’s true that your parents are your first teachers and the voices you hear when you think about the lessons you learned from them. I hear these teachers’ voices, too, when I consider the knowledge I’ve acquired and what they taught me along the way. I can only hope that the people I teach and train might remember me, too.

Power Outage: 5 Tips for Restoring Your Energy

The power went out shortly after 9:00 am today. Thankfully, all of my devices were charged up and I have a mobile hot spot for internet access. I can respond to emails, hold Zoom meetings, and write this article. I’m all set. Eventually the power will go back on and I can plug in again.

What do you do when your power goes out? What happens if you aren’t charged up and ready to go? We’ve all seen the articles and videos about taking care of yourself. Eventually we all experience some level of exhaustion when we keep working without pause. Sometimes it’s just brain fatigue. Sometimes we are so tired and worn out that we need physical rest. Everyone has their own preferences for addressing this, but indulge me as I give you my go-to ways to restore my energy.

  • Sleep: Once upon a time I was the last person to go to bed and the first up in the morning in my house. I operated on five to six hours a sleep. This affected me in several ways: I used food to prop my energy level up during the day, I was irritable and moody, and I had to fight to stay awake while driving to remote training locations. Adequate sleep is important for many reasons. I have learned that I really need seven and a half to eight hours of sleep a night to function well. The 15 minute “power nap” has never been a solution for me.  Instead, I go to bed at night and get up when I’ve had enough sleep. Now that I know how much I need, I can gauge when I’ll awake naturally according to the time I go to sleep. If I have to get up earlier than usual, I go to bed earlier.
  • Good Nutrition: The days of grabbing a Snickers bar out of the vending machine to get me past my 3 pm slump are over. Not only did that habit lead to weight gain, I also didn’t give my body the nutrients it needed. Now I work at making sure I get a balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat over the course of the day. I’m more alert and able to think clearly when I’m not riding the peaks and valleys of erratic eating and poor food choices.
  • Ride the bike: Exercise looks different for each person. I enjoy riding my bike whether it’s out on the road or trail, or in the spinning studio. I’m not sure it matters what you do, but some kind of regular exercise helps. In addition to the health benefits, exercise gets me out of the office and away from my desk. Sometimes my best thinking happens when I’m riding my bike or walking.
  • Read a novel: Reading has been a hobby as long as I can remember. I love to lose myself in a good book. Reading has many benefits as well as being entertaining. Although I read a broad range of topics, I find novels most entertaining when I want to relax and recharge. I read classics (yes, Jane Austen) and contemporary fiction (I’m partial to spy thrillers and romance novels). I’m happy that my local library lets me borrow physical books, Kindle books, and audio books (yes, audio books count). I will often read two or three books concurrently. Although you can read anything for fun, I think a good novel is a great way to unwind and spark your imagination.
  • Gratitude: Sometimes the pity party goes on too long. We wallow in the unfairness of our situations and can’t see a way out. We are unhappy and unsatisfied. One way to break a cycle of negativity is to focus on gratitude for what you have or experience. A coach once had me list five things each day in my journal for which I was grateful. Some days it was difficult to come up with five, but I did it for a month. Now, I return to this exercise when I find myself succumbing to negative thoughts and feelings, if only to focus on something positive for a while. Expressing gratitude has the makes you happier and more optimistic. Try it!

These are just a few ways I have found to be helpful when my tank runs low or I find myself feeling depressed or negative. If we don’t take care of ourselves as trainers, how can we expect to engage our students and help them learn effectively?

If you have other ways to rest and refresh yourself, leave a comment below!

Repurpose Your Content

Once upon a time, to teach meant that you stood or sat in a classroom in front of people and engaged in activities designed to help those people learn something. You might have lectured or presented concepts, theories, or formulas. You might have demonstrated how to perform an activity or experiment. You might have engaged the people in the classroom in a discussion about a topic or a reading. When the time for the class was up, you left the room and interacted with the people only if they had questions or needs, and they most likely came to you during specific times when you were available for consultation.

The content for these classes was in a notebook or file folder, prepared and maintained by you, the instructor. If you shared anything, it was in the form of paper handouts. Sometimes you prepared manuals for distribution to the participants in your classes. In some cases, you may have added audio cassettes or CDs for participants to use when reviewing the lessons. Each person had their own set of materials for their own use.

Times have changed, haven’t they? We are less likely to be in a classroom these days, and the materials we provide may be documents, videos, or audio files stored on a website that participants in training access on their own, according to their needs. The ability to provide new materials and make changes to previous versions has also made updating course content faster (and easier, in my opinion). We are connected to students in a variety of ways: Email, text message, social media, and learning management systems, to name a few.

I believe that the nature of teaching and learning has also changed. We still conduct formal training sessions to present material and give students the opportunity to ask questions and practice; however, there are also informal, social learning opportunities as well. The content we prepare for formal learning can be repurposed and used for informal learning as well.

I have been creating short “Quick Tip” videos for some time. Each one explains to real estate agents how to do something for their business and in some cases, why it’s important. The content for these videos comes from the material I regularly train on in my classroom sessions. Because these are short “Quick Tips,” I use discrete lessons that can be presented in two to four minutes in a video. I typically use no visual aids, and it’s just me in the frame of the video.

These videos are distributed to my social channels (YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn). They also sit on a page on my website. I invite viewers to comment and subscribe, but most people will see the video through social channels as they view their newsfeeds. Recently I took one of the “tracks” we teach as part of the Floyd Wickman Program, the “Referral Lead Generator,” and created a short “how to” video:

I can use this video as a short reminder lesson for students in the program, to promote my business as a Floyd Wickman trainer, and to simply connect with past students who may have forgotten the technique and want to review it for their use. Eventually this video will be linked to my email signature where I invite people to view my latest “Quick Tip.” It gives a broad audience a taste of what I train on and how I present the content.

When I create videos, I order captions and a transcript from an online service. The transcript of the video can be stand-alone content for a blog post or website page. Many podcasts double as audio and video files, distributed to different channels for different purposes. Webinars can be recorded and offered for on-demand learning on a learning management platform or other website. Repurposing content is taking what you have already prepared and using it in a different way.

People learn in different places, at different times, and by different means than they did 20 or 30 years ago. By repurposing your training content and making it available via different channels, you are more likely to reach more students (and potential students) than you might by confining your teaching to the classroom.

Work Today

Truthfully, I don’t really want to sit at my desk today and work. I would rather be anywhere else, but there’s really no where to go. I am not inclined to sit in a coffee shop even if it were open to customers. There’s no place I would go to shop. So here I am at home – still.

Oh yes, there’s work to be done. I feel ambivalent about doing it right now. I will slog through the tasks because I know I need to. There are deadlines to be met (external and internal). What would I rather be doing? Reading? Listening to music? Working on a non-work-related project? The choices overwhelm me and I end up doing nothing or very little.

So why do I feel so guilty? As an independent contractor, it is my choice what I do with my days. Still, I find it hard to relax into my days because it has been pounded into me that idleness or play is not for adults. We must always be working, doing something constructive, achieving. So I chain myself to my desk in hopes that I will be productive and can earn the ability to goof off.

My mind wanders and I end up going down a rabbit hole of internet fun or staring at my to-do list, trying to figure out what I can skip. I think about all the things I want to do and few of them are income-producing activities, and boom! I’m back on guilt island, worried that I will never earn money again and we’ll lose everything.

Notice how I automatically shift from following my desires and being destitute. It feels like a fine line, but really it’s not. I think it is because not doing all the right things, right now, feels like I’m being a slacker who depends on others and gives nothing in return. As someone who lived in a corporate world with responsibilities and expectations for years, it’s hard to adjust to creating my workday in a different way.

Instead of focussing on all the things I haven’t done, I have decided to celebrate what I do accomplish, like writing this article. I came close to deleting the entire contents of the post thinking it was too personal or not specific enough for an article about training. What does this all have to do with training, anyway? I know that in order to stand in front of a group of people, share knowledge, and help them learn, I need time to learn and grow professionally. I need time to contemplate how current events impact the topics that I teach. I need time to relax and renew my commitment to providing the best professional development courses I can.

I am not alone in my feelings of disruption these days. The pandemic continues to upend the expectations we have for ourselves and our businesses. I have decided to give myself permission to pace myself and not do the next task on my list right away. I am learning to be kind to myself, focus on the process, and not worry so much about the results. It’s o.k. to take time away from my business. I know I will come back to it better equipped to tackle the tasks at hand.

Time Off (And What To Do With It)

I initially thought of calling this post “What to do when you’re not working.” The problem with that is for some of us, we’re spending a lot of time not working. Or at least not doing the work we want to do or we were trained to do. For those of us who are independent trainers, the pandemic has caused us to retool our businesses, pivot to different methods of delivery, and/or  spend time perfecting our online delivery of training classes. What happens when you don’t have classes scheduled though?

Sure, it’s summer. Time for picnics and vacations. (Or maybe not this year.) Here’s one thing I know about this time we’re in now: There’s a difference between the time you set aside for pleasurable activities and the time you have off because you don’t have the work you planned for or were able to book.

So what do you do? I can always find a book to read, a video to watch, a new online class to take, or a webinar to watch. Some of this qualifies as continuing education and I participate in it happily. I think we all need to keep learning and employing what we learn in our training. However, I am, like many of the people I talk to, getting tired of watching webinars. I find myself registering for what looks like an interesting presentation and then not attending because I just don’t want to click on another link.

I have books on my shelf that I’ve wanted to read for some time that are waiting for me to pick them up and start or continue reading. I find references to new titles as I read articles and I quickly reserve them at the library for pick up. As time goes on, I begin to feel bad about not reading these books despite having the time to do so.

Instead of feeling bad about not utilizing my time well, I’ve employed a few tactics to keep me engaged and working toward my goals. Here are my ideas for ways to stay working when you’re not:

  • Make a Schedule: I look at my week overall and determine when I will do what each day. I have my previously scheduled appointments, my “business development” time, and regular calls and video conferences. I also create a “top five” list of things to do most days. These keep me on task and working. I schedule my reading and exercise time to ensure that I do these important activities. I love to read, but I often feel guilty about taking the time to sit and read a book. Sometimes I listen to audiobooks while I exercise or do other tasks and then I feel very productive!
  • Say No: Sometimes you just can’t add anything else to your load. It might seem like you have a lot of time to take on another task, but really, can you? I ask myself this every time I see an announcement for an interesting meeting to attend, webinar to watch, or group to join. Sometimes the best response is to say no and focus on the things you really want to do.
  • Practice: For those of us who earn our living teaching and training others, if you’re not in a classroom teaching or presenting online, it may seem like you have nothing to do. Use the time to practice your delivery. If you update course content regularly, you’ll need to spend some time updating your presentation of the material. Find a room and practice. When I moved classes online, I updated the courses to reflect the difference between presenting online vs. in a classroom. Then I fired up Zoom and practiced a bit. Don’t forget to record yourself so you can review the results and continue to refine your presentation.
  • Commit to Learn: There are always new things to learn, but we might need to be choosy about what we commit to do. Where are the gaps in your knowledge? What would help you do your job better? There are likely online courses out there that can help you learn something new or deepen your understanding of a subject. I belong to the Training Magazine Network, and online, social learning community that sponsors webinars and courses for training professionals. I have found TMN to be a great source of information and assistance over the years.
  • Help Others: Sometimes you need to get out of your own head and help someone else. The shift in focus from your problems to someone else’s issues can bring about a clarity you wouldn’t otherwise have. Helping others can take many forms. I’m spending my summer leading a “squad” of women who are all members of the Ellevate Network. I act as a moderator for the group and coordinate our weekly online meetings. It’s not a lot of work, but it does feel good to help others.

These are just a few ideas that I have used to be more intentional about my time and my work this summer. It’s good to have time off to relax and play. It’s also good to use our time well so that we live well.

Five Tips for a Successful Online Event

You’ve probably seen the Progressive Insurance commercial with the people on a video conference where one person can’t seem to get logged in and others talking over one another. Maybe you’ve experienced this on one of the numerous online meetings you’ve attended over the past several months. We laugh because it’s all too real (there’s always someone who can’t figure out how to mute or unmute themselves) and yet painful at the same time. You shake your head at the sight and think, “it’s been almost three months since ‘work from home’ became a thing. Why can’t they get it together?”

It’s one thing for a work meeting to go online and get messed up. It’s an entirely different thing to move a large-scale event online such as a conference or convention and watch it go belly up for a number of reasons. Conferences are intended to be networking and learning events and an online version doesn’t seem to solve anything but the need to not meet in person. So how can you redeem the event you’ve been planning and give attendees something that approximates the live, in-person experience? Here are some tips:

  • Choose your platform wisely. How many people do you expect to take part in the event? What type of activities are you planning? Will you have multiple speakers and will they be in one place or remote? This is point where you decide whether the event will be a video conference meeting or a webinar. In a meeting, participants can, for example, speak, see each other, and be placed in discussion groups. The webinar is a “one to many” broadcasting tool where participants are limited in what they can do and cannot be seen. There are several meeting/webinar platforms that can accommodate and online event. Many people instantly think of Zoom, but don’t forget GoToMeeting/GoToWebinar, Adobe Connect, and WebEx (and others). Depending on the size of the event and what you want to do, you may need to adjust the plan to accommodate the number of participants, etc. Don’t forget to check out recording capabilities or limits, too.
  • Create an agenda with your participants in mind. Give them a break – or two. People may leave the event if they feel like they have no time to use the bathroom or answer a voicemail. You build in breaks for a live, in-person event, so do it for an online event, too. If you’re using a platform like Zoom meetings where people are visible and can speak to one another, add time in your agenda for small discussion or “breakout” groups. This gives participants the ability to network with each other and breaks up the time they spend just watching. You can also create opportunities for networking before or after the main event on the platform. Give consideration to how long the event will run and what you want to achieve when planning your agenda and activities.
  • Determine if speakers can deliver using the online platform. The best speakers can fumble when presenting online. Verify that your desired speakers can deliver well to an online audience or plan to spend some time working with them to ensure a good experience. It’s best if the speaker can be seen by the participants. All speakers should have access to the proper equipment: good internet connection (hardwire is preferable), webcam, microphone, lighting, and uncluttered background. They should understand how to position the camera so that they are looking into it at the proper height. If they are sharing slides, they need to know how to share and advance the slides. If you are engaging a speaker for an online event, ask to see video of one of their online presentations or get on a video conference with them and verify that they know what they’re doing!
  • Engage a virtual assistant. A virtual assistant who knows the platform can handle all of the “I can’t hear” comments in the chat, troubleshoot technical questions, and assign participants to breakout rooms, if you’re using them. In addition to the technical assistance, have members of your team assigned to monitor chat and questions during sessions. Having people in place to deal with the online logistics frees you, the organizer, to focus on speakers and agenda.
  • Deal with the little stuff. There are a lot of little details that go into an event, whether it’s online or in person. You have decisions to make about the program, its length, the topics, registration, etc. Just because your event is online, don’t treat it any less seriously than you would if you were welcoming people to a ballroom with balloons and tote bags. Start planning well in advance of the event. Be determined to create an experience that participants will enjoy and be satisfied that they attended. The devil is in the details!

Events can be a great opportunity for people to gather, even virtually, to exchange ideas, learn something, and get to know someone new. If you plan well and craft your event for the online space, you will give attendees a great experience, limited only by your imagination (and your people’s internet connection).

Can Online Training Be Better?

I have to admit, I like delivering online training classes. I don’t have to “dress for success” (or at least not in the same way) and my commute is very easy. I get to teach from the convenience of my home where I have everything I need at my fingertips. My “assistant,” aka Calvin the wonderful wiener dog, appreciates being able to hang out with me while I teach, too.

I know that people will debate whether online training classes are better or worse than in-person classes. I would contend that poor content and training delivery is bad for learners, regardless where it originates, in a classroom or online. Nevertheless, online training requires the presenter to adapt content and change delivery for the online platform. In person, the trainer can gauge the reaction of the people in the classroom and change delivery or content accordingly. When online, the trainer relies on beefed up participation to get real time feedback. Sometimes this goes awry.

Online training has its benefits though. Both the trainer and participants can be anywhere. This broadens the scope of the trainer’s reach and delivers content to people who might not usually have access to that trainer or topic. Most online platforms are easy to access, depending on internet connection, of course. As a trainer, becoming familiar with various platforms and managing the content and delivery with them necessitates a learning curve. Once you’re familiar enough with a platform, you’ll waste less time trying to figure out what to do and more time actually delivering content.

With a broad reach comes the opportunity for participants to network with people outside their usual circle. I know some trainers who actively discourage participants from using the chat or questions functions to communicate with others. I’m not so concerned with that. I see the chat or questions boxes as opportunities to get to know other participants and engage with them. Most platforms will let you save the chat to your computer. That way, you can refer back to it and connect with other participants outside the formal training session.

This leads me to one of the biggest issues I see with trainers presenting online classes. It’s true that participants can engage with each other even if they aren’t in the same room; however, we must be intentional in creating communities of learning when online. This doesn’t come as easily as when you’re in person in a classroom. There is no natural inclination to talk to other people or exchange ideas when you’re attending an online class. The trainer and the students must make an effort to foster community and participate. From the trainer’s perspective, this can be something as simple as asking people to contribute their name and location in the chat box or more complex such as using breakout rooms with small group exercises. The trainer holds the key to unlocking the door to creating community online.

As we wander back to classroom training, will learners follow? The convenience of online training will continue to appeal to people who may not be able or are just unwilling to travel to an in-person class. The trainer who wants to broaden his/her reach beyond a local geography will continue to embrace and utilize the online space. I can see a move toward more “blended learning” approaches that use online training for the knowledge base and in-person workshops for the application of what was learned online. This type of online training could be static, on-demand courses or live instruction.

This still begs the question: When there’s a choice, will people continue to attend online classes? I think so. Online training existed prior to the pandemic, and it will continue to thrive. The difference going forward is the commitment trainers have to improving the online class. Its ease of use and the familiarity we’ve gained over time will make online training a viable alternative to traditional, in-person classroom sessions.

Life In The New Normal

Some days are better than others in this “new normal.” I create my daily list of things to accomplish and work through them with little difficulty. I’m inspired, creative, and enthusiastic. The sun shines, cool breezes waft through my window, the dog takes naps during my phone calls and online training sessions, and I’m working as efficiently and effectively as I can. Life is good.

Rewind that blissful video to two weeks ago. It was a day full of activity and positive outcomes. And then I tripped on the sidewalk in front of my house and began a period of lost days and head pain. What I thought was a simple tumble turned out to be a concussion. I can’t remember hitting my head, but I did.

When your daily activity is reduced to lying around and trying not to upset the delicate balance of head and stomach, you spend a lot of time thinking about what matters and how to get back to some semblance of normality. I pushed myself to get on Zoom calls and participate in a team meeting, but my body revolted. Back to bed! it said quite emphatically.

During this time of enforced rest, I had to cancel a class I was supposed to deliver online. I realized that there was no way I could deliver a three-hour continuing education class without incident. It’s one thing to fight through a normal headache to do your job. I’ve done it and managed well enough. It’s an entirely different situation to try to ignore a head injury and give students the kind of training they deserve. I missed the income, for sure, but I’m glad to have recognized that I was in no condition to be an effective speaker or trainer.

As time from the injury has passed, I am recovering my ability to make to-do lists and accomplish the tasks on those lists. I feel a real loss of time, though. Yes, I have days when all I want to do it go on vacation where I can escape the mundane. When inactivity is enforced, it’s a different situation altogether. Now, I want those hours and days back when I could have been working toward my goals. I want the joy of accomplishment. When someone asks about this period I want to be able to say I did more than catch up on listening to podcasts and “read” audiobooks. Those kinds of activities don’t necessarily advance my career or business. I feel very unproductive as a result.

I have come to recognize that this drive to always be doing can be dangerous. We get sucked into the idea that only certain activities count and that everything else is fluff. Although I was in pain, I was able to appreciate this enforced inactivity as a time to consider what I want to do with my business and life. I’ve found that I actually enjoy delivering training online. I love to write and produce content people might find helpful. The “new normal” has allowed me the space to consider how to move forward.

I am still recovering and will probably need more time to feel like I did before the injury. Things will get back to “normal” slowly, but surely. It’s hard to wait for that to happen because I have plans and ideas I want to pursue. I guess that’s a good sign that recovery has begun.

Live! And Online

Please, please stop saying “unprecedented” when referring to this global pandemic! It might be a hot mess or crazy times, highly unusual or extraordinary, but please call it something other than unprecedented. We’ve heard that before. Help me to consider the current situation in a different light and you’ll have my attention.

I’ve had to think of my training business in a different way when it became apparent that the pandemic changed how people need to get training. Online training has existed for some time. There are self-paced, digital courses available in many fields. Anyone visiting the “support” or “help” areas on websites for assistance sees many examples of training tools designed to help an end user navigate the steps necessary to do just about anything. These types of training are necessary to provide, but they don’t make up the majority of the type of training I provide.

So what about synchronous training? You know, live, in person training courses that advance a learner to proficiency in a subject or skill. Is it possible to convert that type of training to an online version? I think so. I believe there is the opportunity to engage students in the online space that is not the same as in a classroom, but can still provide a similar experience.

There is also the need to create online versions of static professional development classes. These are often continuing education courses that professionals need because a state regulatory agency recognizes the need to keep licensees updated in their respective fields. The content may not change often, but it does change over time. With no opportunities to meet in a classroom for the foreseeable future, the professional using existing digital offerings depends on classes that are updated infrequently with no opportunity to interact with the instructor or other students.

Classroom training can be converted to online opportunity. What will attract the person who wants to learn the material? In a word: Interaction. A class offered live, online can have a degree of interaction with the instructor and other participants, depending on the platform used to deliver the class. In addition to interaction, current offerings can also deliver up-to-date material.

Here are five strategies I’ve used to convert my classroom-based classes to the online environment:

  • Change the presentation to fit the online environment: You may need more or less words on the slide, depending on how you normally construct your presentations. Consider using different kinds of graphics to illustrate your points. You might want to use video and animation to break up the monotony of the slide deck.
  • Use breakout rooms: Consider using a platform that gives you the ability to assign participants to breakout rooms where they can discuss topics in small groups. Give them questions or topics to discuss in a handout (either send it to them prior to the class and/or let them download it from the platform). Have one person report out of the group when the participants reconvene.
  • Step up their participation: Use polls to solicit answers to questions or feedback. Use techniques such as “Write this down,” “Raise your hand if . . . ,” “wave if you . . . ,” “Write in the chat box . . . .” Take people off mute if they have questions or comments. If you’re asking them to give feedback in the chat or questions features of the platform, read them and respond. You have to be intentional about involving people online because you won’t be able to judge their reactions to what you’re saying as you would in the classroom.
  • Use your webcam: Yes, it’s disconcerting to think that the participants are seeing you but you are probably not seeing them. Talk to the camera and imagine you’re speaking to one (or more). Use gestures. Be animated. Don’t just read the slides!
  • Give them a break: Depending on the length of the class, consider working in a break. Most people can’t sit and pay attention for more than 90 minutes. If your class is an hour in length, there’s probably no need for a break.

All of these adaptations require work. Reevaluate the content of the class. What is essential? What is fluff? Make a meaningful experience for your participants. Give them a reason to be there with you for a live online class. Make it an extraordinary experience.