My Transition to Quality Webinar Delivery - Tip #155

In my early years as a learning professional decades ago, face to face events were my go-to learning delivery approach. Then my own journey led me to the discovery of webinars. That's not to say that I do not value classroom training. However, with its primary benefit of reaching more people, virtual delivery enabled me to connect with more learners globally. I was ecstatic!

So, my new life now revolves around providing more refreshing, yet provocative approaches to quality webinars and virtual learning. Equally important is that I am now able to share my experiences with others through the Masterful Virtual Trainer Workshop.

​Let me share with you how I reinvented myself.

1. First, I needed to deeply reflect

First question I asked myself was, “Why do I love doing classroom and face to face sessions?”

I realized that I really love it because of the warmth of being with people. There is no substitute for the catharsis and exchange of moving emotional conversations.

The face to face conversations are sweet moments I cherish. The experience of hopping on airplanes and the opportunity to travel to other locations and just to be with people is exhilarating. It is what I primarily appreciate about it.

Then it dawned on me that there were these “me” moments that were the reasons I enjoyed these in-person sessions.

I love...

• hearing myself talking with people and entertaining them
• the sound of laughter
• the jokes
• seeing smiles
• the warmth of rapport with learners

But are my learners really learning?

This insight I gained may or may not be true but let me share it with you. You let me know.

Sometimes the warmth, entertainment and the fun side of face to face and classroom learning GETS in the way of better usage of learning time. In essence, it may not necessarily result in learning.

This awesome discovery has helped me gain a huge change of perspective and approach to my learning sessions.

2. Here’s my next question

How then can I help learners learn more and yet experience the fun side of learning?

AHA… Eureka!

I can accomplish more in virtual learning and webinars, because I can PROVIDE LEARNERS MORE TIME TO REFLECT AND APPLY IDEAS THROUGH ACTUAL PROJECTS.

WOW! This impacted me so hard. It was an amazing discovery!

In the classroom...

• the day is cramped
• the schedule is so tight
• very little time is spent on applications and reflection
• there is not enough time for reflection
• there is no room or space to distance oneself from the noise
• one’s energy is drained by the end of the session

In webinars, if the workshop is divided into 5 sessions spaced over a few days, learners now have ...

• time to breathe with spaced schedules
• experience some silence / almost no noise
• time for reflection
• time to rethink
• an opportunity for application time
• time to check with their company peers and bosses
• have enough time to focus and practice on the projects

3. My life as a learning catalyst is forever changed

I still miss doing face to face events. Yet, deep in my heart I know I need to give up certain side benefits of the classroom setting for the sake of my learners.

Looking back, I am thankful for the other benefits gained from my virtual sojourns.

• My family (wife and kids) is happy because I am home more often.
• My back no longer aches from having too many plane rides...(and no need to worry about being yanked out of my United flight - *smile*)

Conclusion

In-person events have their own benefits and purposes.  But the world of virtual delivery and webinar presentations provides an opportunity for those of us who have gathered wisdom through our years as learning sojourners, to share this with other professionals in the field of learning that otherwise we would not be able to do. It is both a privilege and a responsibility we take seriously so we all can become masterful virtual trainers.

Ray Jimenez, PhD

Vignettes Learning

"Helping Learners Learn Their Way"