How to Become a Virtual Trainer | Virtual Training

There is more to being a virtual trainer than taking your training slides and presenting them online via a virtual platform. There are a host of nuances and skills that virtual trainers employ in order to obtain successful learning transfer.

But some organizations are unsure how to get started. How to get seasoned in-person trainers to the level of confidence and competence that we require for virtual delivery and in a time efficient manner?

Find a Train the Trainer Program
At VTT, we recommend finding a Virtual Train the Trainer program to enroll in. These courses are specially designed to help traditional, classroom trainers transition to virtual delivery.

Many in-person training sessions can be easily adapted to the virtual environment, but it takes the skill and knowledge of how to change them to suit their new environment that can catch new virtual trainers out.

At VTT, we offer our own Virtual Train the Trainer Program. It is made up of six Masterclasses; -

• Delivery Masterclass
• Design Masterclass
• Creating Interaction Masterclass
• Platform Masterclass
• Practice Masterclass
• Practice Masterclass

Check out this short playlist of videos, where Catherine goes through what each module entails in our Virtual Train the Trainer Program Masterclasses?

TVTT Train the Virtual Trainer Programme: Step 1/6 Delivery Masterclass VTT’s Train the Virtual Trainer Programme.

See which are the skilled you need to know as a Virtual Trainer.

Surprising Benefits of Virtual Training

 Virtual Training, also known as VILT (Virtual Instructor-Led Training) is on the increase with over 86% of organisations either already using VILT or planning to do so soon.

VILT replicates a face-to-face (F2F) learning workshop in an online environment; with learning designed and delivered by skilled virtual trainers that are as interactive and effective as a well-run F2F workshop.

If you are looking to zap any misconceptions and/or convince others of the merits of virtual training, then the following is worth considering:

1. Improving learning transfer
2. Increasing time efficiency
3. Making cost savings
4. Matching a flexible workforce
5. Enhancing wellbeing
6. Encouraging digital
7. Facilitating collaboration
8. Enabling global reach & inclusivity
9. Reducing Risk
10.Limiting carbon usage
11.Being recordable and reusable

Let’s have a look at each of them.

1) Improving Learning Transfer
We believe that well run VILT workshops can rival F2F training in terms of learning transfer. Research in this area over the last few years has demonstrated that VILT can produce a learning transfer that is as good as, if not better than that of F2F.

By its nature, VILT is bite-sized and normally runs for around 1-3 hours. This approach allows participants to process focused sections of learning and then apply specific actions and behaviour changes both during and after a workshop.

This then gets layered up with VILT programmes as participants alternate between learning and application.

Due to travel and related costs, most F2F training is delivered in day long workshops (or even more sometimes). This can encourage some trainers to ‘cram’ the event with multiple key points, models, processes etc. As a result of this, too much content can be offered, which may not be fully absorbed and subsequently used by the participants. Using VILT avoids this and helps to provide quality results in creating  lasting learning transfer.


Get all virtual training benefits in detailed visit us.

Virtual Design: Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Virtual design is a huge field with plethora of rules to learn. It is during this process that Learning & Development teams can feel despondent that their program will never go live as it will never be good enough.

It is incredibly important to ensure that virtual training is designed with the participants in mind. But if trainers hold back on releasing their course due to the fears of not being ready, they will not receive the feedback and experience that they need to make it better.

That being said, there are some significant virtual design mistakes that can be avoided to ensure that participant needs are met. Courses don’t need to be perfect in order to start but being sure to avoid these common mistakes is key.

 
Trainers Just Read the Slides
Every schoolchild knows that when using a slide deck as a tool for relaying information, it is always much better to use the slide as a prompt with bullet points than a wall of text.

Trainers will find that they quick lose their participants’ attention and trust if they simply read word for word what is on the slide in front of them.
Instead, encourage your trainers to use the slides as prompts and ensure designers keep the information that is displayed on the slide minimal, so as not to tempt trainers to use them as a crutch.

Want more on Virtual design? Steps by Steps Process to Design for the Virtual Classroom

Overloading on Information
Information overload happens when trainers get carried away with their material and depth required for them to go into. Particularly when it is a topic that they are passionate about or has a lot of research around it.

This isn’t necessarily a content issue as an organizational one. Everything included in the course may be beneficial, but if the slides are too information-heavy, trainers will find that their participants quickly become overloaded.

Instead, each session should be structured around one key point, one specific outcome that the trainer wants to achieve and split the rest across more workshops.

Virtual training is designed to be bite-sized and one of the benefits to its online format is the potential for more regular, shorter workshops, rather than longer, information-heavy ones.

See more common mistakes of virtual design and visit us.