Live training is usually the best way to upskill your employees. They get all the essential information at once and an instructor to answer their questions. But the workplace landscape has changed in the past few years. With 58% of Americans working from home at least once a week and 35% doing so full-time, remote work has become the norm. ON24 allows you to keep that live interaction element even when your employees aren’t in the same location.
ON24 is a live training platform for upskilling employees. It comes with tools to keep employees watching, such as polls and surveys. By asking questions often, employees are less likely to get distracted. These tools also help you determine if workers understand what you are saying. If the results are unfavorable, speakers can clarify ideas or provide new examples of a given concept. Directing everything from how your video plays to how others interact with it allows you to deliver engaging training that asynchronous experiences can’t recreate.
1. Interview employees
Synchronous training won’t engage employees if you teach skills they don’t want to learn. So before the event, ask the employees you want to upskill about the skills they need to work efficiently.
Book interviews with a wide range of employees who would benefit from the training. You want an accurate view of what everyone values, not what one or two employees want to learn. Look for skills that are often repeated; these are the ones you need to teach first.
Beware of leading employees to a specific answer. This usually happens if you add unnecessary adjectives and modifiers to questions. For example, asking, “How helpful are your office hours?” implies they are helpful when they might not be. It’s better to ask employees about these meetings’ weak and strong points. You might get more negative responses, but they will better reflect employee opinions.
2. Create a script and a storyboard
Live training doesn’t just mean a person speaking on a Zoom call. Incorporate videos into the presentation to break up the flow and keep the audience engaged. Create a script to outline your plan for the presentation and build some storyboards for short videos you can scatter throughout. These documents help prepare you in advance and allow your team to give feedback about unclear sections.
Start by writing bullet points with the key ideas you want to share. Keep the bullets short but detailed, giving you an overview of the topics without spelling out exactly what you’re going to say. They should be reminders to keep you on track, not speaking lines. For a short instructional video, a four-part structure might be enough. For example:
- Share the skills employees will learn
- Explain why the skill is worth learning
- Share examples of where employees could use this skill
- Teach the steps necessary to master this skill
Arrange your script in the following two-column format so the voice lines and your video ideas match. First, add what your speaker will say in the Audio column. Then, in the Video column, write what could happen on screen when speakers say these lines. Let’s say you will add an animated character explaining an abstract concept. In that case, the video column could have notes around adding charts, specific props, and character movements.
Illustrate how your supporting video will look in our storyboarding format. Draw each scene on the squares. Don’t worry too much about perfection—you just want to get the point across, not paint the Mona Lisa. Then add your dialogue beneath these sketches. Does every visual match your script’s story? If everything looks cohesive, show it to your team for one last round of feedback.
3. Make your video with Vyond
It’s nearly impossible to explain every topic using just words and body gestures. Because of the many props, charts, and characters, animation lets you simplify complex or abstract ideas. Speakers can use this format to ensure employees understand every lesson.
Start by creating a free Vyond account. Once you’re logged in, click on “Create a Video” on the right side of the homepage. Pick an animation style that suits your brand so people relate this and future videos to your work. Now you’re inside the animation interface, where you can enter the character panel on the left. Choose a pre-designed character or create one from scratch that looks exactly how you want.
Select your character to reveal the Actions and Motion Path menu on the top right. These make your character move however you need them to—like pointing or looking in a specific direction—to clarify your point.
Finally, prepare to produce audio that anyone can listen to for the presentation and pre-recorded videos. Record in a furnished space with few glass doors or windows to avoid echo. It’s also a wise idea to take a hot drink with you to the recording space and the day of the event. Drinking it prevents your voice from sounding rough.
4. Upload your video to ON24
Once you have your video made, upload it to ON24 to get access to its exceptional tools for live training. The platform allows you to host breakout rooms during live training. Use them to assign challenges to random teams during your live course that workers can overcome together. These activities let them meet new colleagues and learn how to work together, inside and outside the course.
The benefits of ON24 don’t end when your presentation does. Once the event is over, you can keep a recording of your live training in a content hub where employees can find pre-recorded courses on relevant skills. Employees who didn’t attend the live training can watch the lessons to learn new skills. Those who attended the training but still have doubts can rewatch it as a refresher.
You can upload videos to ON24 from the webcast menu on the left side of the dashboard. Click on “Slides & Video Clips” to add your video. Upload it ahead of time to ensure the videos are playing correctly and fix them if they’re not.
5. Design an eye-catching thumbnail
One of the most influential factors in making someone buy a book is its cover. Use an uninspiring cover, and fewer people will look at the book. It’s no different for webinars. An unattractive thumbnail can make employees ignore your live training or recording.
For years, Netflix studied what makes a compelling thumbnail. They found people click on those that evoked the most extreme ends of emotion. For example, a picture featuring an expression of shock will attract more attention than one of mild surprise. Look at an emotion wheel to find the right emotion to convey.
To stand out from other webpage elements, the graphics and background that go with your character should use contrasting colors. Use a color palette generator to find contrasting colors. Pick one that suits your brand and matches the colors inside your video.
Canva is a design software anyone can use to make thumbnails, from students to C-suite professionals. Create a free account to make an eye-catching thumbnail.
6. Analyze what could improve
Track the performance of your live training to make it better in the future. Each metric that isn’t performing well is an opportunity to improve your training.
ON24 measures how attentive employees were during the training. It gives a higher engagement score to someone answering polls and asking questions than to an employee simply watching. It is essential to find these engaged employees, as you can turn them into course advocates. Their interest in the skills you teach makes them likely to help you improve future versions of the course.
The platform’s analytics tell you which training section people interacted with the most. Suppose most employees were engaged during a section. In that case, they will probably appreciate it if you create a follow-up course on the topic it discusses. This data also points to sections you can remove in your next installment.
Use Vyond With ON24 For Your Employee Training
You can create animated videos to present during live training with Vyond. Our vast library of props, actions, and customization options allows you to depict any scene and concept you like, no matter how complex it looks. Those who aren’t confident in their animation skills can use our template gallery to start and finish a project quickly.
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