Do's & don'ts for trainers in lockdown.

We are blessed as trainers. Driving in the morning to our training venue, not knowing what to expect. Getting pumped up, welcoming our first participants and then: BOOM! Energy burst, connecting to the group, being empathic and demanding at the same time. Getting feedback we really impacted someone's life: priceless. Best job in the world.

Only 3 weeks ago, our daily routines completely switched from one day to another. Stuck in our homes in order to #FlattenTheCurve. None of the above. Worrying drop of revenue. Cancellations and postponements of learning journeys. Should we wait for better times? Or is this the opportunity to speed up our virtual approach?

Reinventing yourself: now is the time!

Let's face it. We don't have a sweat-less profession. Framing client's needs, developing and facilitating learning journeys. Follow-up meetings. How much time do we spend on looking for efficacy-gains? Most of the time we are in a rush, and we keep running. Until some of us get burned out. What if this pandemic is the perfect moment to question ourselves about our daily ratrace? What advantages is slowing down bringing us ? How is this new rhythm affecting our creativity? And what are we missing the most? Disruptive times allow us to take a step back and reconsider our options.

Virtually interacting with your clients? That's not how it works...

We are personal development experts. So virtual interactions don't make sense, do they?Well, they actually do. And if we like it or not, we honestly don't have a choice for the moment. So why not try it out? Here are some of my first virtual training learnings:

Preparation is key!

Our participants should be even more prepared than for a face-to-face training. Ask them to prepare upfront by setting up a digital platform. Unlock content gradually, don't bomb your participants with all preparation tasks at once. Getting regular bits & bites is way more engaging. As a consequence, their learning starts well before the first virtual session. I would recommend you to organise a virtual kick so you share expectations and practical information about the upcoming blended training. The virtual training session itself has to be about exchanging and doing, not about listening.

Be realistic on timing & content.

Inevitably, virtual trainings are more static than face-to-face ones. Don't expect participants to sit in a virtual training for a whole day. A concentration span of 1.5 hour is realistic. You can organise two of those blocks with a break in between (preferably 30 min). Even then your training needs to be truly engaging, interactive and fun to keep participants' full attention. You'll get 3 hours together with your group. How many topics can you tackle? As said before, it's all about the interaction if we want to keep the participants focused. Don't try to rush through topics: make a clear choice of the key themes you want to address. 3h of virtual equals content wise max. 2 hours of face-to-face.

Small group - big impact.

How many participants can you host in a virtual session? As I am speaking about training and not webinars, I would say max. 6, with a preference to limit to 4. This is the maximum number of people you can 'pin' to your screen, at least if you work with MS Teams like I did. The Zoom platform offers more possibilities in hosting multiple people, yet the struggle to keep to big groups focused remains the same.

Start on time & be very organised.

Since you only have a 3 hour timeslot to work with your group, let's avoid wasting time on platform instructions. Send upfront an explanation on how they should connect to your virtual platform, and ask participants to test it before the training day. Invite them 15 min before the session starts, so you can have a (virtual) coffee or tea together. Just like in "real life".

Showtime.... cameras ON!

Everyone is in and everyone is on time. Time to get started! First thing to do is inviting everyone to put their cameras on. And yes, they will come up with reasons why they shouldn't: no business clothing, laptop is closed, sports outfit,.... Be demanding! Having a visual connection with your participants is key for interaction and impact. Tell them with a smile it's ok if they have a bad hair day. By the way, I would recommend you neatly dressed. Set the example!

Build your cases upfront (or ask them to do so).

If you are like me, you like working with real life cases. If you work with sales people, please don't ask them to sell you an elephant. In a face-to-face training you would probably request them to develop their real life cases so they can practice with those. In a virtual training this takes too much time. My recommendation is you prepare upfront a case which makes sense to them all. An alternative is to ask them as a preparation to prepare their proper real life case and bring it to the training .

Co-develop on the screen.

Your training is on fire. You are giving it energy, empathy, laughter and hard work. You had real plays, learnings.... and now you would like to draw conclusions together with the group. Where do you put your notes and drawings? On the virtual flipchart? I've tried different approaches: writing on OneNote and sharing my screen, using the Whiteboard in MS Teams. It is far from being easy to write on a vertical screen; which is necessary so that your participants can see you. An alternative is to work with a device linked to your laptop. Bamboo has one for instance. Another option is to organise your slides in such a way you can take notes by typing in a word box. My advice: consider your options and test it before the training so you are confident and making a professional impression during your training.

Conclusion of the day & next steps

You are 3 hours down the road. Your participants did share a lot, you've spend a huge amount of energy. By the way: expect this to be more exhausting than a face-to-face training It really is. The time has come you want your participants to develop their action plans and put their learnings into practice. Make sure your training is well timed so you still have the time to conclude and make them share their best learnings. Comfort them at the end that you will share your support tools (powerpoint, documents) so they can re-read and take the agreed actions. Invite them immediately for the next session and send them the invite right away with the preparation attached.

So how do participants experience those virtual trainings?

Just like in a face-to-face training, ask the group at the end how they experienced it. What did they like? What can be improved? Learn from their feedback and integrate this into your next training day. Continuous learning, nothing new here. I learned from my participants that they like interaction, security, being able to share best practices, receiving feedback, being challenged, humour and fun. Hey, exactly the same things as in a face-to-face training!

So the big question: is it as good as a face-to-face training?

I am going to be fully honest: it's not. We have a bigger impact when we are sharing live emotions, getting non-verbal hints, having the floor to move around, being able to use our body language. Face-to face remains #1.

And yet I am strongly convinced that virtual trainings do work if you take the following into consideration:

• Preparation is 90% of success. You as a trainer, your participants, your virtual setting. Start your virtual training in the best possible conditions, fully prepared.
• Set up clear rules of the game: timing, breaks, approach, how to collaborate, what to be expected. Providing clarity to participants will keep them focused during the training.
• Interactivity is the way to go : no theoretical approach nor big text slide shows. It's not about what they read, it is about what they do. "Learning is experience, all the rest is just information", Einstein wisely said.

"I have a dream"...

Yes, these are tough times. And yet, there will be time that we will get the green light from our governments to leave our homes and get back to our "normal" lives. How will we deal with this new reality ? Which lessons will we have learned? What sustainable changes will we be integrating? I truly hope the solidarity which is taking place around the world right now, will continue. I dream of a society where people really care for each other. Where we treat each other with respect, where we make the effort to understand the other instead of judging because we have different experiences or convictions.

And what about us, trainers?

There will be this moment again when we'll driving up to those lovely venues and meeting all those wonderful people. A perfect moment to bring all the virtual themes together in an unforgettable learning experience. I can't wait!

Wishing you good luck with your virtual training initiatives and stay safe.

Warm regards, Carl Jacobs

Want to react, connect or share? Feel free to send me a message: cjacobs@krauthammer.com or call me +32 474 103 110.