Last week, I wrote the first of two blogs around Remote Delivery. 

In that blog, I suggested that Remote Delivery is here to stay and that, for those who haven’t previously used this method of delivering training, it will become another string in your professional bow.

I went on to look at the first requirement for effective Remote Delivery, the system you use. In this blog I want to look at how to adapt your method of delivery to make a successful transition from classroom delivery to Remote Delivery.

Method
When we move towards delivering training remotely, it’s very easy to make the mistake of thinking we can deliver training to a lot of people at the same time. Of falling back into delivering training that is presentation based, rather than facilitating training that is learner-led, memorable and inspirational. 

So, let me be clear, I firmly believe that to be effective, Remote Delivery needs to differ wildly from what the word ‘webinar’ is likely to conjure in your mind.

Training delivered remotely doesn’t have to mean reverting to ‘tell mode’ or giving information. It can be experiential, powerful and inspirational. And it can involve learners discovering their own learning.

So, how can you deliver inspiring, learner-led training remotely?

I’d like to suggest two basic rules:

Bitesize Learning
I think Remote Delivery works best when you deliver training in bite size chunks. Attention spans are likely to be reduced when delivering remotely and too much screen time isn’t good for anyone. 

Besides, bitesize learning fits well with the modern business and social culture and if you don’t have the travel costs of bringing people together from multiple locations, why wouldn’t you deliver the training in bitesize learning sessions? 

It means you can deliver punchy sessions that are focused and which you can then build on in later sessions, each of which provides an important opportunity for review too.

Small Groups
It may be harder to keep everyone involved and engaged in a group discussion over the internet, and it can be harder for you, as a trainer, to control the conversation too. Despite video, there are verbal and non-verbal clues we can miss in this environment. 

So, for Remote Delivery, I prefer to keep group sizes small. In fact, I prefer groups that are smaller than I would comfortably manage in a classroom environment, with perhaps, no more than 10 participants on any one session. 

This might seem counterintuitive but keeping the group size down helps to ensure the session can be participative, that everyone is involved and that the learning is effective.

What rules would you add?

Next week, I'll explore this topic further with a blog that looks at content but, in the meantime, if you’d like some assistance getting Remote Delivery off the ground, give us a call. We’re here to help.