Virtual Training with People Potential

It’s an uncomfortable and alien world. Training in the virtual space is a vastly different experience from training face-to-face. How do you make people feel comfortable online? How do you build rapport one-on-one when everyone is listening in on Zoom? How do you read the room and respond to how everyone is feeling? And most importantly, how can a trainer herself feel comfortable in the virtual space.

We answer these questions and more in this episode.

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Hosted by:

Terry Netto - CEO of People Potential

Marianne Vincent - Director of Training Quality at People Potential

Francis Jee - The Grandaddy of Virtual Instructor-led Training

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In this episode, we delve into the presentation skills that trainers need to master – so that they can conduct training that's (often) better than face-to-face training. 

Do you look at the camera or the screen? Do you need videos turned on? How about body language and voice projection? Should trainers sit or stand? We cover all these and more in this episode of Virtual Training with People Potential.

We finally delve into the skills you need as a trainer – to design and run meaningful and engaging Virtual Instructor-led Training (VILT). In the next few episodes, we'll be talking about trainer skills and the three broad categories of:

1. Platform Skills
2. Presentation Skills
3. Holding the Space

But first, let's talk about platform skills and how you can master technology to achieve all your training outcomes. In the second part of our two-part section on platform skills, we delve into, "How do you know that you've achieved mastery."

We finally delve into the skills you need as a trainer – to design and run meaningful and engaging Virtual Instructor-led Training (VILT). In the next few episodes, we'll be talking about trainer skills and the three broad categories of:

1. Platform Skills
2. Presentation Skills
3. Holding the Space

Ultimately, a great virtual workshop is tool-agnostic – instead, having an engaging and meaningful online training is all about the design. 

But, after a lot of research and trial and error, there are a few online accessory apps that we'd recommend.

The assumption that you can't run long virtual workshops – is not true. With the right programme design, you're not limited to 90 minutes or 4 hours. In fact, most of People Potential's virtual workshops are a full day or longer. 

With COVID-19 hitting the training sector like a tonne of bricks, all live training was cancelled, leaving trainers, corporations, and would-be learners on the lurch and unsure of what to do. Before movement controls were implemented, we saw the writing on the wall and began the process of converting our training programmes from offline to online. But it wasn't as simple as it seemed. 

Virtual learning is hampered by our previous baggage and misconceptions from our current video conferencing era. Virtual learning no longer has to be boring, nor does it have to be disengaging. Much has changed in the last 5 years – the tools, the technologies and the methodologies. And with this change comes an opportunity to reimagine what virtual training could be.