4 Responses

1. Grab their attention …
   by getting a couple of high profile people in your organisation involved by having a “shadow” for the day. Or get them to do a “Back To The Floor” stint. Lots of in-house publicity about it going to happen then helps to publicise the day, then you can follow it up with the key learning points afterwards.

   I have also used the canteen or reception areas on these days to stage “learning experiences” either from the inhouse Open Learning Centres; short talks about standard Courses available; displays/stands from Local Colleges advertising evening classes or even “learn to juggle” sessions.

   Hope it goes well for you.

2. Make the most of learning styles
   We have used videos, presentations, quizzes, crosswords and different games to get people involved. We once had a French speaking colleague giving some conveersational French lessons which grew into a full blown course after the Learning at Work Day and was very well received. We have tried to get everyone involved (especially senior managers) as it can be a great icebreaker with people you don’t know within the company.
   The worst experiences have been when the learning has all been work related. I think there needs to be some different activites unrelated to work which will get more but in from people.

3. Do something different
   Faye,

   What I’ve done previously is to create a page of resources on our intranet that people can dip into on the day (or leading up to the day) of special events and links they can follow up, some of which are online and some which involve face to face.
   For example, free online sessions and links to desktop yoga, stress management, language training, meditation, origami, IQ tests as well as the more traditional business and soft skills. The key message being that everyone should aim to ‘learn something new today’ whether it takes 10 minutes or an hour.

   The Campaign for Learning website is always a great place to start for freebies and links taster sessions.

   Good luck

4. Learning at Work Day?
   I’ve never heard of it. When is Learning at Work Day? It sounds nice. WE should participate in this to better serve our internal customers.

   Sincerely,

   Kari Uhlman

   Probation Training
   County of Sacramento
   California, United States