Learning should never stop, even during the pandemic! If you’re a trainer, a facilitator, a teacher, or anyone who holds learning sessions online for others, here are some important tips and tricks to ensure you can be at your best when you conduct your own sessions.
Conduct a Tech Check!
Now that almost all our meetings are virtual, we need to make sure that everything flows smoothly. Before a training session, make sure you do the following:
- Conduct a speed test and see if your internet connection may be unstable
- Test your presentation slides: Are your slides working? How about the animations? If you’re using videos, can they be heard?
- Check your microphone, and camera (ensure you’re in a well-lit area)
- If you use custom video backgrounds, make sure you change it to look more professional
- Rename yourself if needed (It won’t hurt to double-check)
- Look around and see if you might be able to lessen any background noise or even limit other devices from using up bandwidth
Focus and Go All In!
During your training sessions, you have the participants all to yourself, so make sure you give them the most value for their time!
- Implement virtual icebreakers to engage your participants
- Ask questions and call participants by name
- Incorporate activities in between your session so that your participants can immediately apply what they’re learning
- Encourage participants to respond via the chat box or by unmuting themselves
- Minimize the use of text-heavy slides and share with them only the most important information
- Take breaks when needed! Staring at a screen is also tiring for your eyes!
Prepare For the Worst
It’s not a question of if the worst happens, but it’s when! Stable internet connections, sudden power outages, and other unexpected things can happen in the middle of a training session, and most of the time they’ll be beyond our control. Here’s what you can do to ensure that when they do happen, you can get back on track and minimize the damage caused:
- Before your session, coordinate among each other about how to go about someone accidentally getting disconnected
- Prepare a list of slides or activities for participants to do in case someone gets disconnected and they’re the only ones who can facilitate for that part (you can have a slide for a quick game, or make your participants take a break)
- Save a copy of your slides in PDF, or ensure that more than one person has a copy of the slides you want to use!
- If you get disconnected and end up delaying the program, don’t forget to quickly apologize to your audience, then move forward — the show must go on!
These are only a few out of the many things you can do to ensure your participants enjoy their time with you. Of course, the most effective way to be better is to do more learning sessions!
If you’re looking for more ways to be an effective trainer, iLeap® conducts a Train the Trainer program, specifically designed to teach you the ins and outs of creating effective trainings. Message us to know more if you’re interested!
References Used:
cvent.com/en/blog/hospitality/virtual-training