Taking meetings to the next level...

How often have you attended a meeting or training session or taken an e-learning program and then failed at applying your learning to your job? Often this results from one of the following causes:
• Because the subject matter was brand new to you, you didn’t know what questions to ask in the class, so when you tried to apply your learning to your work, you find that you now have questions, but no resources available to answer those questions.
• You thought you understood the instructions in the class, but now that you are trying to apply your learning, you find that there was something you really didn’t understand, and now you are stuck.
• As you try to apply your learning, you run into a problem or obstacle that you didn’t foresee and that wasn’t covered in the class, and you can’t seem to solve the problem or get around the obstacle.

These types of problems are common, and are even more common when you are taking an e-learning program, because there commonly is nobody available to answer questions that arise as you take the program. And when you get stuck and cannot apply your learning to your work, you lose the benefits from taking the training, i.e., there is no return on your or your company’s investment in the training.

A cost-effective solution to these types of problems is to conduct a “virtual follow-up session.” A virtual follow-up session is used to reinforce learning that took place in an instructor-led seminar or e-learning program. A virtual follow-up session is a 60- to 90-minute web conference or tele-conference led by the instructor (from a live seminar) or a subject matter expert (for an e-learning program).

Here’s how a virtual follow-up session works:

1. For an instructor-led seminar or workshop, you schedule a virtual follow-up session for two to three weeks after the completion of the seminar. This also sets the expectation with the participants that they will apply what they learn to their work. For an e-learning program, tell your target audience that you expect them to complete the program by a certain date and then schedule the virtual follow-up session two to three weeks after that date.
2. One week before the scheduled virtual session, you poll the participants for questions, such as:
a. I thought I understood topic X in the seminar, but now that I am trying to apply it to my work, I find that I didn’t understand it as well as I thought I did. Could you go through this topic again?
b. Here’s a question I didn’t know to ask until I tried to apply what I learned to my work. Can you help me with the answer?
c. I tried applying what I learned to my job, but I ran into this obstacle. Can you help me figure out how to overcome or get around this obstacle?

3. Provide the results of your poll to the instructor or subject matter expert who will lead the virtual follow-up session so that he or she can prepare to answer the participants’ questions.

4. On the appointed date, convene the web conference or tele-conference. You should have one person who handles the logistics and keeps track of questions that may come in during the session, allowing the leader to focus on answering questions or providing additional instruction.

Virtual follow-up sessions are very low in cost because they use the existing web conference or teleconference services supplied by your company. If your company doesn’t have a contract with a provider of these services, ask your internal information technology or telecommunications group to make the needed arrangements to hold a session. If you want to try this and don’t have a contract with a web conference company, most of the companies that provide this service offer a free trial of their services.

The benefits from conducting a virtual follow-up session include:
• Better ensuring mastery of the material to be learned
• Better ensuring that what is learned in the classroom or from an e-learning program is applied correctly to participants’ work
• Better ensuring that you get a Kirkpatrick Level III or Level IV return on your investment in the learning program.

I welcome your comments on and experiences with virtual follow-up sessions.

Dan Tobin is a consultant, author and speaker on corporate learning strategies.  This blog entry is adapted from his personal blog that can be found at
www.tobincls.com