When companies have employees in multiple locations that all need the same training, what is the best way to accomplish this? Virtual training is becoming an ever popular option. Gina Giannitelli, our expert in virtual training, offered some advice on the matter.

Gina Giannitelli's experience stems from serving on the Talent Development Advisory Council and then more importantly on the Talent Development Strategy Team for Deloitte Consulting.  In that capacity, she learned a great deal about training delivery strategies.  Deloitte was making decisions on whether to invest in a bricks and mortar training facility, and when/how to deliver training virtually.  Like many companies, they were seeking effective, cost conscious ways to develop their talent which was distributed across multiple geographies.  They developed a whitepaper on Talent Development (after various industry research) and held a leadership summit to inform the talent development strategy.  That included reviewing the best delivery approach for "Technical, Industry, Professional and Leadership" knowledge and skill development.  After the strategy work was done, Gina later worked closely with a team of Instructional Designers on the AERS TD Management team to implement the strategy in that business environment.  She learned a great deal about training design and delivery methodology while serving on the AERS TD Management team. 

Learners today are faced with many challenges, one of which is short attention spans. Thanks to the large amount of information available on the Internet instantaneously, Smartphones, and people's busy schedules, an adult's attention span can be reduced to mere minutes.

Keeping someone's attention during training is extremely challenging when most trainings are hours, even days in length. In most cases, a normal attention span for an adult is approximately 15-20 minutes.   What is one to do when there are several hours of material that need to be covered?

Here are a few things that may help you when planning your next training:

Learning Format. Many people fall into the routine of showing PowerPoint slide after PowerPoint slide. People have seen these bulleted slides over and over again. Fewer slides tend to be better. Make sure to mix up your fonts and use unusual colors. You want them to be enjoyable to look at. Can your slides can be read from the back of the room? There is nothing worse than being in the back and not being able to see what is on the screen. Want to mix it up? Try Prezi, easel.ly, or Powtoon. These are only a few options, there are many more online that offer an alternative to the standard Power Point. The key is to have great visual impact and to capture the audience's attention. 

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