Smart planning for training through web conferencing

A recent article by Darlene Christopher, written for the American Society of Training and Development* and featured on her blog, discusses the PREP model for delivering training through web conferencing. The approach helps ensure a smoother, more successful delivery through good planning and preparation.

Ms. Christopher defines PREP as Planning, Rehearsal, Execution and Post Mortem. This last step, for the uninitiated, means that you review what you did to determine its effectiveness. The approach helps a company transition from traditional live instructor-led classroom training to training via web conferencing. The cost savings have resulted in a steep increase in the number of companies employing this method.

The essay points out that the folks in your company’s training department, or those tasked with training, need to avoid the temptation to simply convert their training slides to a web conferencing tool. There is a certain amount of preparation, beyond this simple approach, that will increase the effectiveness and success of the web conference training session.

The components of the PREP approach

The author suggests that trainers begin by becoming intimately familiar with their web conferencing platform. She proposes that having a thorough knowledge of the technology will allow the presenter to focus solely on the presentation and not the features of their conferencing platform.

Next, she covers logistics. If the web conference-based training is going out to participants in other time zones, or even other countries, the trainer should be aware of the time of day at each location. In the case of participants who span several countries, she suggests that the trainer consider holidays or days that participants may be away from work.

Logistical considerations extend to how your participants will receive the audio transmission. Will participants require headphones? Ms Christopher suggests that you test the audio equipment and the bandwidth capabilities at each location first.

Content should be kept succinct and engaging and opportunities for interaction should be inserted to keep the audience alert and connected. A script should be prepared for the facilitator and should include a timeline for each slide used during the training exercise. Delegate the primary roles for the training session including the facilitator, the subject matter expert and the producer.

Get it right before the actual session

The next step in the process is to get all key members of the facilitator team together and rehearse. This helps coordinate the roles of each member and provides for a smoother delivery. After rehearsing, the author has several suggestions for the actual execution of the event. She states that the facilitation team wants to log in a half hour early. Be punctual with your start and end times.

Displaying the dial-in number and audio information on the participant’s screen aids them with this key information. Provide instructions to participants about how they can interact during the training session and have an additional computer near you, logged in as a participant, so you can share their experience.

Ms. Christopher urges facilitators to do a post-mortem or a review of how the training session went. This involves feedback from both the participants and the facilitators. Participants can complete an online evaluation at the completion of the training exercise. Feedback from both groups aids in adjusting and tweaking the training to make instant improvements.

*PREP for Web Conferencing Success by Darlene Christopher. http://www.astd.org/lc/2009/1009_christopher.html

Choosing a Conference Call Provider

Green Business Tip: Save Money on Travel with Conference Calling

With all the talk of a green economy and reducing emissions, conference calls make a good solution for those looking to reduce their carbon footprint. Business travel often represents half of a business’s CO2 emissions. Another source of high emissions, employee travel to and from work will represent about 25% of most companies’ carbon emissions.

Using Conference Calls

By using conference calls for the majority of client meetings, companies make a large impact on the global air quality and help reduce global warming. Allowing employees to telecommute and take place in company meetings through conference calls, employers reduce the carbon footprint and make happier and more productive employees.

Green Environment and Green Cash

Still, there are few businesses willing to make such changes only for the sake of the environment. Businesses want a different kind of green. They are seeking to save money in their operations. Think of all the traveling salesmen and executives make in their business. How much of that could be saved simply by switching most meetings to conference calls? Conference calls are become the preferred method for meetings for good reason.

Measurable Costs

Traveling expenses include the cost of airline tickets, vehicle rentals, hotel stays and meals. All of these costs can be reduced or eliminated through the use of conference calls. Whether used for sales and marketing meetings, worker training or client consultations, conference calls can get the job done without the traveling expense.

Conference calls offer an easily measured way to reduce company expenses, showing a real value to executives considering a switch in policy. Not only will the company save dollars, it will save emissions, giving the PR department another tool for promoting the business.  For more information on conference calling services, check out flyconferencing.com.

Why Conference Calls? Practical Uses For Any Business

Conference calls are a vital service for your business. They can be used in training, marketing and customer service. Your company image comes through on conference calls, just as much as they do in phone calls and face to face meetings. This is why choosing a conference call provider is a process that should be taken seriously by your business.

Ease of Use

With the advent of the Internet, communication speed has become breathtaking. The faster we communicate, the more we can discuss and accomplish. This means your conference call service must be easy to use and simple to navigate. The service should be a tool that facilitates quick communication and should not hamper the conversation while you fumble with its functions.

Call Quality and Customer Service

Conference calls convey more than just communications. Every interaction you have with clients and customers are Public Relations moments. They are times when your professionalism and sharpness must be perceived by the client. This means you need clear communication lines and good customer support, should there be any problems with a conference call. You need to be able to fix any problems quickly and efficiently to move on to the subject at hand and minimize disruption.

Conference Call Costs

While price is a factor, be careful not to choose from the bottom of the barrel. In business, you get what you pay for. Free services are not likely to convey the professional image your business needs to succeed with clients. Because free service providers are out there, you should not be paying large fees to your conference call service. However, if you want a good service provider, some nominal fees should be expected to maintain the technology and pay employees to provide the good customer service.

Good technology and customer service will ensure your company's image is projected in the best light during conference calls. Sales can fall through for any number of reasons. Do not let your conference call service provider be one of them.  For more information conference calling for business - visit, http://www.flyconferencing.com.

Organizing Your Conference Calls

Conference calls can become cluttered and confusing when there are more than three or four attendees. To keep things orderly and productive, the moderator needs to take a leadership role and lay down some ground rules. Introductions go a long way in keeping things running smoothly.

The first thing to do when moderating a conference call is to help members keep track of who is in the “conference room”. In person conferences allow meeting members to see each other’s faces. A similar means of identification can be accomplished in a conference call by setting up a “clock” in the beginning of the meeting and assigning locations to new arrivals as they enter the call.

“The Clock” is a well-known device for frequent conference call moderators. It allows the participants to create a visual representation of the other conference call members. Assign each attendee to a different time position on the clock. If you have more than twelve members, use ½-hour times as well. When each person is assigned, introduce yourself and then have the members introduce themselves in clockwise order.

If attendees are late entering the meeting, simply pause the meeting and assign a position to the new attendee so that those already in the meeting can assign a visual location to the new person. Ask the new member to give a short introduction and quickly state his or her purpose in the meeting. In order to minimize the disruption, simply allow to call to continue rather than going through introductions again.

For more information on affordable conference calls visit FlyConferencing.com

Must Have Home Business Tools

If you have a home based business, there are five basic tools that you should have. Your home office is your communication center and working quickly and efficiently allows you to maximize profits. These five must have tools for your home based business will keep you working smarter instead of harder to maximize profits.

Computer

Obviously, you need a computer. But not just any computer will do. The basic features you will need in a computer are a good operating system, high-speed USB and a fast CPU. When it comes to operating systems, there are many business owners there who are not crazy about Vista. High-speed USB is needed for all your peripherals and a fast CPU will ensure you can jump from application to application with little waiting time.

Scanner

Scanners are usually needed for home based businesses, allowing you to eliminate the filing cabinet and lost paperwork. Be sure to choose one with auto-feed so you can quickly digitize multi-page documents. You can organize documents in folders by client or adopt a document imaging software that allows you to manage the documents into many searchable categories and subcategories.

Website

A business simply cannot compete without an Internet site that provides potential customers with information about your business and what you can offer them. A blogging site is the accepted norm these days, allowing you to publish material that shows the authority you have in your line of business. When customers read what you have to say about the business, they see that you are a professional who knows what you are doing.

Internet Fax

While fax may seem like a thing of the past, it is still alive and well for many. Having an eFax service is essential for reaching customers, especially in Business-to-Business environments. These services are usually low cost and user-friendly, allowing you to send fax messages by email.

Conference Calls

You can reach customers world wide with the Internet, but you can’t have a good conversation with multiple members of a potential customer’s business without conferencing. Conference call providers make it easy for the small fish to swim like a big fish, offering all of the services of fully integrated telephone and web conferencing systems. By choosing a reputable service that offers both reserved conference calls and reservationless calls, you get everything you need to present your services in the best light to potential clients no matter where they are located.

How to Set Up a Conference Call

Using a conference call provider to enhance your organisation's effectiveness is quickly becoming the norm for many people today.  The beauty of conference calling is that it can bring together a number of people at one time, and this can facilitate business at a level that, for some businesses, has been previously unheard of.

Imagine being able to turn on your computer and make an instant connection with any number of associates in your field of business.   Then imagine being able to conduct business at high speed, with emails being sent in seconds, and roll-outs of new projects being completed within hours.

Meetings happen quicker and much more effectively with online conferencing.   The company representatives can identify a time for a meeting to take place, and then request that all of the relevant people are there at that time,   and then he can prepare all of the relevant documents and upload them to his system.  

Then when everyone is ready, he can simply upload the documents of all to see at the central web server that the provider as made available.   At this point all of the people involved in the meeting can simply look at the relevant documents and add to the creative thinking that is taking place.    All every easy, and all very quick.

If you are in any way responsible for the procurement of communications systems in your organisation, then take the option of online conferencing seriously.   It could very easily be the solution that can transform the way your business gets things done.  Please visit www.flyconferencing.com for more information.

How to Conference Call: Go Green, Save Money and Save Time!

Conference calling and web conferencing have rightly become the standard way of doing business online.   In the field of meetings, having the ability to be able to conduct meetings and conferences online from the comfort of your own office has amazing benefits.

However, perhaps the biggest benefit comes in the shape of a reduction in the danger to the environment.   This is often overlooked, but having the option of not sending an executive by public transport has a definite impact on the environment.

It prevents the massive amount of carbon emissions that result from a single air trip.   It also stops the carbon damage that comes from using a car to travel from one place to the next.   This makes for a greener company.

On top of that, the savings in a financial sense can be considerable too.   Take the aforementioned air trip.   The thousands of dollars that can result from having to send someone executive class can be saved by hooking up the executive on the Internet, and having the person or people he was going to meet with online too.   The meeting takes place, and money is saved in a very big way indeed.

In fact, there really are not any arguments against online meetings.  Technology is getting better, so the meetings themselves are conducted under clearer conditions.   And you are guaranteed to save money if you conduct online meetings, simply due to the nature of the beast.

If you are responsible for the communications technology in your organisation, find out more today.   You could end up saving more than you think.

For more information please visit www.flyconferencing.com .