Studies show that 94 percent of workers would remain at a company that commits to learning and development, and that 49 percent of online training, however, lacks personalisation and engagement.
This means that although companies value the importance of training, there is an apparent gap in its implementation. The solution is not just to present the information, but to design the training experience to be captivating, inspiring and have quantifiable outcomes.
In this blog, we will discuss eight effective tips on how to design and run virtual training sessions that will keep learners focused, engaged, and motivated to learn, and how organizations can attain tangible learning outcomes.
1. Begin with Specific Goals and a Structure
Think of the end goal before delving into either design or content. The foundation of effective training lies in having clear goals that outline what needs to be known, done or even felt by the learners at the end of the training. Even the most effective sessions might not produce meaningful results unless there is clarity on the expected outcome.
Some tips to follow while defining training goals:
- Have quantifiable goals: Set a quantifiable objective such as the shortening of response time by 20 percent in client email responses in a month.
- State learning results: Find out what the participants are supposed to know upon training completion, such as acquiring software adoption skills.
A clear roadmap instills trust and concentration of the participants. Learners are aware of what to expect, when to be involved, and how success is going to be measured. This structure makes the training more of a purpose than a presentation.
2. Selecting the Right Virtual Platform
Your virtual training experience is based on the platform you decide to use. It will not only ensure the ease of your session, but also the efficiency of interaction and learning of your audience along with its retention.
A high-quality training will require a platform that is rich in features, reliable, and interactive, and one that offers the ability to promote collaboration, participation, and quantifiable outcomes.
What to consider while choosing the ideal training platform:
- Both desktop and mobile versions should be easy to use and not have any significant technical obstacles to access. This allows all learners access to the tool, regardless of bandwidth capabilities or device preferences.
- Interactive features: Live polls, Q&A, break out rooms and chat features make the learners feel engaged.
- Data analytics: The possibility to monitor attendance, engagement time, and feedback after the session can assist trainers in improving subsequent sessions.
3. Include Interactivity During the session
The secret of effective training is engagement. The point is to be interactive at all times, not only at the very beginning or the very end.
Methods to maintain the interest of the participants:
- Interactive icebreakers: Start with the polls or guessing games pertaining to the subject.
- On the spot questions: Have the learners describe their personal experiences or challenges.
- Breakout rooms: Participants can be divided into smaller groups and discuss cases or problems together.
- Gamified content: Badges, leaderboard competitions, or mini quizzes to maintain a high level of momentum.
Interactivity does not only make the sessions enjoyable, but also it improves understanding and helps build rapport. Learners gain more insights and retain knowledge for longer when they interactively learn the content.
4. Combine Multimedia and Visual Media
Most of us are visual learners. Plain text-like slides do not provoke curiosity. Adding multimedia and visual narration increases comprehension and knowledge retention.
Multimedia can be used as follows:
- Short videos: Display actual situations at the workplace or contact with customers.
- Infographics and charts: Provide outlines of statistics and processes, rather than in a textual format.
- Animations: Minimalize complicated tasks into simple images.
- Dynamic visuals: Creation of dynamic content can be used with tools, such as Canva.
Multimedia rich training can be used to ensure the learners are more engaged and their memories of the information are longer through the combination of sight, sound and storytelling.
5. Promote Unidirectional Communication and Feedback
Virtual training must seem more like a conversation and not a lecture. Promoting two-way communication will make sure that the learners are present and are involved all through the session.
Effective Strategies:
- Open-ended questions: Promoting views and personal examples.
- Take advantage of chat conversations: Establish room for real-time response and feedback.
- Check understanding: Real-time polls during sessions.
- Gather feedback: Collect post-session feedback through the use of post-session forms.
6. Appeal to Real-Life Cases and Situations
Unless there is application of theory, your training is unlikely to produce behavioral change. The use of real-life situations, case studies, and role-plays fills the gap existing between knowing and doing. When the learners are able to relate to real-life challenges that they encounter, they are more invested in the training.
How to Apply This:
- Case-Study analysis: Introduce actual problems and allow teams to brainstorm over them.
- Storytelling: Provide an example of success stories where skills acquired were put to relevant measurements.
- Role-playing: Promote a scenario role-playing to facilitate practical learning.
Learning in a real life perspective develops critical thinking, empathy, and solving problems, among other skills that are important in career development.
7. Measuring Engagement and Learning Outcomes
In the absence of analytics, you cannot find out what is working and what requires improvement. Effective training programs are based on evaluation which is supported by data to influence improvement.
Metrics to Track:
- Participation and attendance in terms of time.
- Quiz test results and feedback scores.
- Chatting/polling/Q&A interest rate
- Application of post-session knowledge.
Data-driven training also allows L&D teams to improve on the data to develop improved learner experiences in the long run. It moves the training process to a quantifiable business result.
8. Finalize with Reinforcement and Follow-Up Activities
Research suggests that individuals lose almost 70% of the new information within a day, unless it is repeated or put to use. Reinforcement makes learning become permanent behavioral change.
Reinforcement Strategies:
- Send summarization e-mails or materials after the session.
- Carry out brief follow up quizzes or microlearning.
- Promotion of knowledge sharing in peers or Slack.
- Provide incentives like certificates or digital badges.
Reinforcement will make training a repetitive process. Students can stay in touch, motivated and more willing to use new skills in a real working situation.
The Role of Airmeet in Virtual Training.
Airmeet can be listed among the most popular virtual employee training platforms, and it is designed to be interactive and provides analytics-driven features that are specific to learning settings.
It is more than just a video conferencing tool, as it provides a training ecosystem that makes the learning process participatory and interactive.
- Smooth interactivity: Airmeet offers trainers live polls, emoji reactions, and interactive chat to offer participants an unending engagement.
- Breakout and lounge sessions: Breakout lounges enable learners to discuss a particular topic or engage in a group activity in smaller groups, which promotes a feeling of learning and collaboration within a team.
- Engagement analytics: Each session provides trainers with specific details; the average time of participation, interaction rates, and engagement score This data is crucial in order to assess success and enhance delivery.
- Event branding: Trainers have an opportunity to design banners, logos, and the design of the sessions to reflect the identity of their organization, and it gives the virtual learning space a professional look.
- Recording and replays: Sessions with Airmeet are automatically recorded, and learners can go through the important sections again later to reinforce them and learn more.
Conclusion
Virtual training is an art and science to run. It is all about the combination of structure, interactivity, technology and follow-up in the most appropriate manner. Organizations can make learning experiences educational, inspirational, and produce quantifiable outcomes by identifying the desired outcomes, choosing the appropriate platform, sustaining engagement, and reinforcing learning.
FAQs
Airmeet, Kahoot, and Mentimeter are aimed at ensuring that the sessions are interactive with the help of quizzes and polls. Other tools you can consider are-
- Canva and Prezi are used to make visual aids interesting to design.
- Google Forms and Typeform make the process of real-time feedback gathering easy.
Ideally, each session lasts between 60-90 minutes. In case of longer programs, divide the content into small bites, so that they can be consumed across multiple sessions to minimize learning fatigue and enhance retention.
Promote application by use of post-session tasks, follow-ups and simulation exercises. Frequent reinforcement and check-ins by the manager can be used to encourage and maintain new behaviors.
The biggest difficulty is to keep the attention high and avoid screen fatigue. Trainers can transform a virtual session, as it is dynamic and result oriented by the integration of multimedia, storytelling, and real-time interactivity.
