BENEFITS OF VIRTUAL, INSTRUCTOR-LED TRAINING, by Jerry Houston

I can clearly remember making the statement, years ago, that HPISolutions would NEVER offer training on a virtual basis… fast-forward to today and we are in our third year of virtual training and expanding our offerings at a rapid pace. WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?

There are many factors to support VIRTUAL TRAINING as a clear alternative to a classroom approach (That is not to say that classroom is a bad approach; quite to the contrary it is a very impactful method for adult learners)
Here are the facts:

• Virtual training eliminates most or all of the travel costs associated with training programs.
• The time that it takes away from the workplace is greatly improved because participants can come online from wherever they are (we once had a participant sitting in her car in a Walmart parking lot because she didn’t want to miss a class while she was travelling).
• Attendance in sessions dramatically improves because of the ease of scheduling virtual sessions.
• Everyone in the class can see everyone else, all the time!
• Smaller organizations can put participants in a mix-company class, allowing them access to world-class training, that would be unaffordable on site.
• The cost of training materials is reduced including the cost of developing the materials, shipping and set up costs.
• There develops a strong connection between the facilitator of the process, the participants, and in our case, sponsors (high-level leaders at our client companies) are all able to be online as required.
• In between sessions, other learning activities can be organized and participants can share across the online technology, preparing for the next formal learning session.
• Physical locations are no longer a barrier; the most remote of your people can still participate.
• There is a wide array of technologies tools that can be employed including video, audio, chat rooms, polling and many more.

In the end, there are almost endless possibilities to enhance the learning experience. All virtual, all classroom, or a hybrid of both approaches. The key to adult learning is the retention of the knowledge gained, and real-time opportunities to apply the concepts of the learning in order to anchor the principles and use these new skills at a very high level at your organizations.

We invite you to ask us about our Virtual Management Development Program, and our all-new Virtual Executive Leadership Program, or request an opportunity to sit in on an existing class. Check out our current classes, schedules and pricing.

Yes, I have eaten my words, and once again, I have been taught not to say NEVER or ALWAYS!