The Beauty of Being Virtual
July 14, 2010My wife has long ranted about the ills of my business travel (I have four kids all under the age of 12). Today I’m on a quest to end this arcane practice of old-school business with a little help from my friend the virtual workshop. To understand the virtues of the virtual workshop we must first understand the good and the bad of the live workshop.
The good: live workshops are an organic experience (yes, I spelled that right). No two workshops are alike. The people are different; the questions are different; the venue is different; you get the idea. The way we facilitate live workshops makes them very spontaneous, and most participants appreciate that. The average participant enjoys learning in a group environment, especially one that allows them to contribute to the conversation if they are so inclined, or to quietly observe and learn from a distance. There is a social element to the live workshop. Participants often sit among colleagues and friends, bringing an extra level of comfort knowing they are not alone in their quest for knowledge. Live workshops allow the facilitator to use many different forms of communication: verbal, visual, kinesthetic (I’m surprised I even know what that means). For these reasons and more, live workshops are a popular service requested by our clients.
So what is the bad? Live workshops take a lot of time and money to execute. Getting a financial planner to and from the venue involves days of travel, airfare, hotels, meals, etc. For the sponsor it involves registering participants, making sure rooms are available, having equipment hooked up and ready to go, and any other logistical concern that is enough to keep at least one person in HR tied up for a while. If there are too many participants then live workshops can get out of control if too many people start asking too many questions about too many different things. Also, a large group can be intimidating, and some participants may feel nervous about asking certain questions either because they would prefer anonymity, or they may think everyone else already knows the answer and they don’t want to appear less intelligent. There can be know-it-alls and other personalities that you have to compete with as a facilitator to try to keep the whole bunch engaged. On the other side you have low participation rates, which can happen especially with hourly shift employees who often find attending a 90 minute workshop before or after shift something less than appealing. You can combat this by making attendance mandatory, or by offering incentives for participation, but the challenge remains.
So is there a way to capitalize on the good aspects of live workshops while reducing the negative aspects? I’m glad you asked. The virtual workshop, or webcast as we like to call it, can offer the same benefits of the live workshop, but with less of the problems. Really?!?! Really. Let’s break it down:
I said the benefits to a live workshop include uniqueness, spontaneity, group learning, social connectivity, camaraderie, and the ability to teach using different forms of communication. Believe it or not, the same is true of the virtual workshop. In fact, they’re better. In a virtual workshop you can have participants from all over the country learning together in an interactive environment that includes polling questions, highlighting, internet, workbooks, slides, calculators, and more, all with just a computer and a phone (or VOIP). What you don’t get from the virtual workshop is a lot of time and expense. No bodies to move around, no rooms to reserve, no chairs or equipment to set up, no reason to get out of your pajamas (don’t tell my boss). Plus, for participants who prefer anonymity, they can ask questions without fear of embarrassment. You’ll still get your occasional know-it-alls, but we can easily deal with them by muting their phones.