Training Industry Magazine - January/February 2021 - 34

Instructors will also need to keep any
dithering out of facilitation. In their
Harvard Business Review article, " How
to Get People to Actually Participate
in Virtual Meetings, " Justin Hale and
Joseph Grenny recommend mixing facts
and stories as one engagement tool, as
well as keeping talking points " brief
and succinct. " They also recommend
to " never go longer than five minutes
without giving the group another
problem to solve. " Structuring the course
with a mixture of interaction and limited
lecture can help with this.
As Hale and Grenny state, the best
virtual facilitation contains deliberate and
succinct explanations. It's much easier
to confuse people with verbosity in a
virtual session. Think of it as the poetry of
facilitation. Well-written poetry omits any
filler or unnecessary words, and words are
chosen deliberately to create intentional
images and messages. The same is true
for excellent virtual facilitation.

PREPARE FOR
TECHNOLOGY SUCCESS
WITH A PRODUCTION TEAM.
Ideally, facilitators will conduct virtual
sessions with the support of a technical
producer or producers. Even facilitators

with a high degree of comfort with
technology platforms will benefit from
a second pair of hands keeping things
running smoothly.
As part of the new kind of facilitator
prep, working with technical producers
will be vital to conducting smoothly
transitioned sessions.

LEVERAGE THE TOOLS
AT HAND TO INCREASE
ENGAGEMENT.
The best virtual programs fully leverage
the interaction opportunities available
within the platform they use. A deep
understanding of the technology helps
facilitate this. A 2016 study by M. Tan and
K.F. Hew published in the Australasian
Journal of Educational Technology
examined how meaningful gamification
impacted student learning, engagement
and outcomes in a blended learning
setting. The study found that " students
in the [gamification] group posted more
messages in the discussion forums
than the [non-gamification] group.
Furthermore, the quality of group
artefacts produced by the participants
in the [gamification] group was overall
higher than those in the [non-gamification]
group. All students in the [gamification]

group strongly agreed or agreed that
they found the course motivating.
However, only about half the participants
in the [non-gamification] group found the
course motivating. "
When distance or technology separates
groups of people, engagement is harder to
achieve than when the group is physically
together. Facilitators and learners should
incorporate web cams when possible
to pick up on visual feedback, facial
expressions and physical cues. When
incorporated thoughtfully, gamified,
creative and frequent interactions can
only enhance engagement.

CREATE RESONANT
EXPERIENCES FOR
LEARNERS.
Successful adult learning hinges on
relevance and resonance. Early in the
training, create opportunities for twoway communication with learners using
polls or direct verbal feedback. Build in
a degree of adaptability in the program,
so audience feedback can steer areas
of focus in the course. This can be
accomplished simply by spending
extra time on topic learners identify as
important or may be struggling with during
facilitator debriefs.

The " new normal " as a result of the pandemic has created the need for training and development professionals to
pivot to virtual learning. While one-way communication webinars and eLearning can check a box, they often don't
deliver meaningful, memorable learning experiences. The best practitioners preserve the most robust aspects of inperson learning and adapt those components into a virtual setting. This is accomplished by:

Taking an inventory
of the best qualities
of in-person learning.

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Bridging those qualities
into virtual spaces with
breakout rooms and
teamwork, fully utilizing
the virtual platform's
interaction tools.

Bringing the content
to life with creativity,
gamification and other
engagement boosters.

Keeping the learning
experience relevant
and succinct.

Realizing that
facilitation in a virtual
space is not the same
as in the classroom
and upskilling
facilitators to pivot.

https://www.hbr.org/2020/03/how-to-get-people-to-actually-participate-in-virtual-meetings https://www.hbr.org/2020/03/how-to-get-people-to-actually-participate-in-virtual-meetings https://www.hbr.org/2020/03/how-to-get-people-to-actually-participate-in-virtual-meetings

Training Industry Magazine - January/February 2021

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