Secrets of Facilitation group discussed using some of the activities from the book by Sivasailam Thiagarajan and Tracy Tagliati called, "JOLTS! Activities to Wake Up and Engage Your Participants."  It was also shared that he has coauthored a book called PHOTO JOLTS! 

Maintaining interest during sessions means getting the participants involved, several ideas that were shared include social media. One person introduced "key terms" to a group of new managers and for homework asked them to go to YouTube and search the words. They were instructed to bring back what they learned which opened up the discussion and kept their interest levels high. 

Polleverywhere (a free polling program) was discussed by each group and those that have experience think it is a great tool.   Movie clips or YouTube videos were discussed as ways to spark good discussions and keep interest.  Asking the group to share "real life" situations in a session allowed others in the class to be interactive and use their problem solving skills. Also allowing the trainer to know what the team knows and doesn't know helps to develop future topics for the group.

Engagement is by definition a structured method to create communication opportunities between employees and management, yet differs from one organization to the next. Engagement structures are a sub set of the "surveys" that are conducted on an annual basis.

Most engagement opportunities employed by participants were periodic meetings focused on both the business outcomes (results) and teamwork (relationships) within departments and divisions, such as trust levels and open communication.

Participants in the roundtable session dedicated to Measuring Training and ROI all seemed to agree; "Measuring the effectiveness of training is not being done to any great extent, is sorely needed to be able to make good business decisions, and seems very hard until you take the time to break it down into simple tasks".    One really great comment was that "any measurement I start doing tomorrow is better than the one I am not doing today", which gives a clear message that small steps can be taken on the path to complete ROI measurements. 

The handout from the session highlights three easy steps to start the measurement process, 1. Understand what you want training to change and begin to measure it (called a KPI, Key Performance Indicator), 2.  Use a post-training survey tool to gather data on how participants are applying the skills and knowledge from the training,  3. Communicate the results of the KPI change post training, linking the change to the training through the survey data collected.  Examples were given of graphs, scorecards, and charts that could be sued to communicate important training measures.

Participants in the roundtable discussion focused on e-Learning and Technology were all given handouts that showed them the resources available on the ASTDSWFL.org website for members.  

You can learn a lot just by logging in to our website and going to the Members Only pages. They were also provided with a process and project plan for converting live standup training into online e-learning.

We opened with the acronyms of e-learning, html-5, html, lms, lcms, SCORM, swf, flv, and mp4. That led to plenty of questions to discuss. The final take away was, "This is pretty complex."

Chapter Board Meeting at Cracker Barrel from 8:15am - 9:15am on Wednesday, October 2nd.  

Monthly Meeting at Keiser University, Wednesday , September 18th from    11:30 am to 1 pm. 

Wednesday Coffee Social will be September 25th at Books-A-Million, off Colonial in Ft Myers.  Join us starting at 5:30 pm to socialize, discuss the most recent chapter meeting, or brainstorm on any topic you would like.

Master Class - Ignite Event will be Friday November 1st, Keiser University, from 9 am to Noon.  Registration is from 8:30-9:00am. Stay tuned for more details!