For those of you unfamiliar with Virtual Classroom Technology (also referred to as a Webinar), it allows you to deliver synchronous (live) training to remote learners. This means that your learners are listening and responding to a live event with an instructor, but the learners are accessing the course or class from their computer in a remote location. The learners attending the session can see any document or application at the same time as the instructor. The students can behave in a similar fashion to a traditional classroom session. They can virtually raise their hand, ask questions through instant messaging or even “drive” the software application being presented by the trainer. (Webinars are extremely useful for teaching software applications.)

Companies are migrating to this technology because it saves airfare, hotel and meal expenses. Relative to the potential expenses incurred for a face-to-face delivery, Webinars are inexpensive but there are some caveats:

• Are you delivering training or a meeting? Training means the attendees will be able to perform some activity at the conclusion of the session, not just listen and watch PowerPoint slides. If you are delivering training, use a training version of the software. Many Webinar companies offer meeting tools and training tools. Use the correct version of the software because it affords greater interactivity between the trainer and the learners.
• Delivering effective Webinars isn’t easy. Remember, you can’t see the faces of the learners. You can’t tell if they are engaged like you can in a traditional classroom. The solution is a highly interactive Webinar that lasts 90 minutes or less and engages the learner in some activity every 3-5 minutes. There shouldn’t be more than 15 participants in a session. If you are planning a session with 50 people, it’s a meeting, not training.
• As trainers, we have all “danced” in front of a class when we thought we were losing the audience. War stories, flipcharts exercises and other games allowed us to re-engage the class and keep it moving. With Webinars the challenge is the same; to keep the audience engaged. Once they start to check their email or surf the web, it’s over! The best way to prevent this from happening is a script. Yes, a script. A Webinar is like a Broadway play with multiple acts, and each act must be scripted down to the finest detail.

Webinars take great preparation. It’s very difficult to “wing it” and be successful. Instructional design skills specific to Webinar technology are important. If you have more then 25 people to train and you will be delivering the material multiple times, perhaps we can help. It’s important to find a good partner/vendor who offers support in both instructional design and delivery. Depending upon the number of learners and the subject, Virtual Classroom Technology can be an affordable option that delivers the training quickly and effectively.

One of the most exciting new developments in digital imaging technology is the incorporation of Movie Recording in digital SLRs. This is great for still photographers who also shoot video, but what does this mean for the traditional “still” photographer?

The goal of a good still photographer is to tell a story by capturing a single moment in time. Recording a good video presents an entirely different goal. A good movie (or video) tells a longer, more complete story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Sounds simple right? Well, yes, and no. It’s not just running footage that makes for a good movie. There are many elements that not only add interest but are essential to a creating an engaging video. Sound Track, Visual Effects, Narration, Graphics, Music…

Sound Track

Try watching a movie or TV show with the sound turned off. You will quickly understand what impact a good sound track has. A good music bed sets the tone; sound effects emphasize important moments; narration embellishes the story or adds key points. A good sound track is usually created first and the video layered on top. It becomes the foundation of the project. There are many good stock sites to purchase music inexpensively.

Graphics

Titles, credits, and graphic elements add another layer of detail and information. If not, they add elegance to a movie. If not designed well, the result can be a cheesy execution. Graphics can make the difference between a well-crafted professional movie and an amateur video.

Editing

Here’s the biggest challenge of all. Still photographers are used to selecting a single picture from a range of images, then enhancing it in a program such as Photoshop®, Aperture® or Lightroom®. Movie recording on the highest end SLR (i.e. Canon 5D Mark II) is 30 frames of image per running second (fps) and means a much more involved process,* especially if there is critical adjustment required to individual frames.

Reviewing and selecting clips, or portions of clips that will be used is a much more time-consuming process. After the sound bed is created, those clips are brought into a timeline where all elements are synchronized to work together. This process requires a sophisticated software such as Final Cut Pro, Premiere, etc.

I have attended several seminars and workshops recently given by still photographers who very cavalierly said, “You can make great movies; now you just have to learn something like Final Cut. Then there are programs like “Color” where adjustments can be made to clips: saturation, color correction, etc.” Ask any video editor how easy this is! Good editors spend YEARS with these programs learning their craft. It’s like saying just sit down and learn Photoshop in an afternoon. Not too realistic!

Solution

So what’s the solution for a still photographer to enjoy the “wonderfulness” of the new SLRs with movie recording? And I can honestly say, it is Wonderful! I’ve been shooting both still and video since the 1980’s and am really excited about this new technology that I can carry in one camera, with HD quality.

The excitement of shooting the video with an SLR will become tedious if you can’t produce a completed video in a short period of time.

A much simpler version of editing software is a good place to start. Apple’s iMovie is a basic program meant for beginners and casual users and is very intuitive to use. It will instill a good set of basic editing skills with a smaller learning curve.

Another really good option, and one I strongly recommend for more serious shooters, is Photoshop video editing. Professional photographers, and most enthusiastic amateurs, already have a working knowledge of Photoshop. Learning more skills in an environment that is familiar will be less intimidating. The tool kits are familiar. The filters are the same for still and video. And the really awesome part is that those filters/effects can be applied to an entire clip, or single frames of the video, and quite easily.

Check back soon for a quick and easy tutorial on editing movies in Photoshop.

Are you responsible for developing, designing or delivering training? Do words or acronyms such as: WBT, LMS, asynchronous, ILT, Webinar, CBT, LCMS or virtual classroom send a shiver down your spine? (There’ll be a quiz at the end.) You’re not alone. There are two types of learning professionals; those who were born to do it and those who had it thrust upon them. Either way, training is difficult! Everyone thinks they know how to do it better, there’s never enough money and the deadline is yesterday. But it doesn’t have to be confusing, expensive or boring.

Successful training involves a blended learning approach that doesn’t focus on one method of delivery. Training shouldn’t be an event (“I went to that training class and it was great!”), it should be a continuum of activities that will help the learner achieve their learning objectives. Quality training engages the learner using different modalities for delivery. For example, it might combine a web-based module that teaches the key facts needed to participate in the traditional classroom training scheduled later in the month. That’s followed by a live Webinar where everyone spends time in a “virtual classroom” reinforcing the tools, methods or processes covered previously.

A blended learning approach can mean a host of things depending on your learning objectives as well as your business objectives. When these sets of objectives are elegantly intertwined, and crafted into an engaging learning experience—one that lasts 10 minutes or even ten days—the winners are the individual learners as well as the company and its long term strategic goals.

(To be continued)

You’re trying to extend your markets. With everyone talking about globalization, you realize that there are billions of people out there and many of them could use what you manufacture or sell. You want to expand to the next city or half way around the world but you don’t know the culture, the language, or the customs. Unfortunately, in these economic times expansion is difficult and could be expensive. And what if it doesn’t work?

“All we have to do is translate our marketing materials into the local language and we’re ready to go.” Gaining entrée to customers outside your traditional market isn’t quite that easy but it isn’t impossible either. Translation is just a small piece of the puzzle. It’s really about aligning your brand with the culture and mores of the new market. It’s about being sensitive to the target population, understanding how they live, what makes them tick and adding a new dimension to the research you would typically conduct when launching a new product to a traditional market.

Your success may depend on whether the new market perceives you to be a local vendor or an outsider. Research coupled with proven “best practices” can make the transition to new markets productive and profitable. There are proven steps you can implement to ensure success. Some of those steps will also vary by market.

(To be continued)