Are you ready to send out the invites for your upcoming online training event? Before you do, read this article to discover the top 8 mistakes to avoid when hosting an online training webinar.
What To Avoid When Hosting An Online Training Webinar
Online training webinars are an engaging and interactive addition to your online training program. They give employees the chance to break the ice with co-workers and gain valuable insights from team leaders.
Not to mention, provide eLearning feedback to improve the online training course and voice their concerns. Here are the top 8 pitfalls to be aware of when hosting an online training webinar, as well as tips to avoid them.
1. Choosing The Wrong Video Conferencing Platform
You must choose the best tool for the job. A video conferencing platform should support the desired number of users and allow you to incorporate multimedia elements. Of course, your budget is also a factor when choosing the ideal software. Try out some free trials or demos to see if the features are worth the investment and if the video conferencing platform offers the level of interactivity you require.
2. Lack Of Preparation
Online training webinars require careful planning and organization, especially if you want to stay on topic and respect your employees’ time. Thus, you need to create a detailed outline or script to map out your strategy.
Narrow down your learning objectives and goals, then use them to develop key online discussion points. You can also invite employees to suggest topics they’d like to explore during the online training webinar or analyze your LMS metrics to identify knowledge and skill gaps you need to address.
3. Treating Participants Like Passive Observers
One of the biggest mistakes webinar hosts make is lecturing instead of leading a meaningful online discussion. Your employees are there to engage in the online training experience, not sit idly by while the host talks at them for minutes on end. Ask questions and invite their input. Open the door to your attendees so that they can share their ideas and thoughts. You might even consider a Q&A session at the end.
4. Trying To Cram Too Much Information Into A Single Online Training Event
Chances are, you’ve attended at least one online training event in the past that left you feeling overwhelmed. The host bombarded you with numerous facts and stats, and your brain simply turned off halfway through. A truly effective online training webinar is targeted. You must focus on one topic or learning objective to prevent cognitive overload.
This also gives you the chance to explore the ideas and concepts fully without having to skip from one category to the next in quick succession. It may be wise to get your Subject Matter Expert involved, as they can help you sort through the information and pick out what’s important.
5. Foregoing Rich Multimedia
High-quality audio is a crucial component of your online training webinar. However, it’s not the only consideration. You should also integrate other sources of media to enrich the online training experience, such as images, graphics, online training characters, and charts to cater to different learning preferences.
This also helps improve knowledge retention and employee engagement. The key is to include just the right amount of multimedia. Only add audio and visual elements that are relevant to the subject matter. In addition, avoid distracting images and background tracks that overshadow the key takeaways.
6. Skipping Social Media
Online training webinars should never be standalone activities. It’s best to pair them with real-world activities, brainstorming exercises, and social learning tools. Namely, social media groups or pages where employees can carry on the online discussion, even after the online training webinar has concluded.
You might even create a hashtag for the event so that employees can exchange ideas and share feedback in real time. In addition, upload resource links to social media sites after the fact to encourage self-guided exploration. This gives employees the power to improve their comprehension whenever it’s most convenient.
7. Forgetting To Record The Online Training Webinar
You’re missing a golden opportunity if you forget to record the online training webinar. Not only do absent employees miss out on valuable information but you also aren’t able to use the recorded online training webinar as a just-in-time online training tool. For example, you can break it into topic-centered sections and add them to your microlearning repository.
You can even transform it into a mini online training course by integrating supplemental online resources, such as real-world activities and online assessments. This is yet another reason why it’s so essential to find the right authoring tools. Ideally, the Webinar platform should make it easy to edit your recorded online training webinar and embed resource links.
8. Failing To Gather eLearning Feedback From Attendees
Employees who attend your online training webinar are able to provide a unique perspective of the experience. They can tell you what needs to improve, what’s working, and which topics they’d like to see in the future. Thus, you should never pass up the opportunity to gather eLearning feedback from participants.
Conduct online surveys or polls after the fact to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses. Invite the attendees to a focus group where they can express their honest opinions. You can even use social media to gauge their interest and get the inside scoop, as they are more likely to open up in a less formal setting.
After you gather the data, use it to continually improve your hosting strategy as well as your eLearning course design. For example, create more personalized online training materials to cater to their needs.
These mistakes can decrease the value of your online training webinar and call your online training credibility into question. Fortunately, this article can help you avoid them altogether and keep your employees engaged and entertained. Just remember that it takes a significant amount of planning, scripting, and content curation to host a winning online training webinar.
Do you need more tips on how to host a successful online training webinar? Read the article 8 Tips To Host Online Training Webinars For Your Global Workforce to discover 8 tips to host winning online training webinars for your geographically dispersed employees.
Leave a Reply