Is it Live or Is it Virtual? by Brian Buck
Who remembers the slogan, “Is it live or is it Memorex?” Some of us will remember buying a vinyl record and playing it once while simultaneously recording it to a chrome tape (metal, if you had the extra dough). From there, we’d store the album and play just the tape — over and over. Eventually, we moved from vinyl to CDs to MP3s . . . and now back to vinyl. The same is currently happening with how we train people. We went from instructor-led live training to CBTs to eLearning . . . and now back to instructor-led live training. But with the advent of virtual, here’s the question we’re most commonly asked: “Is virtual as good as live?” First, let me be clear about what I mean by “virtual training”: Our virtual training is actually a live, instructor-led course that’s happening virtually. There are real instructors, and they’re teaching a real live class. No recordings, no Memerox. Our instructors are real negotiation consultants, and they’re working with a small group of real people to help them become better negotiators. Secondly, you do not have to wear special gear. This is not virtual reality. Our medium of interaction is virtual — that’s it. We conduct sessions over a virtual teleconference platform that allows us to see, hear, and engage with our audience. The only thing you need is a high- speed internet connection, web cam, microphone, and speakers. Most modern-day laptops have all of this technology already built in. With that addressed, let’s talk about the questions that we’re asked most frequently about our virtual training. “Is it really the same content as a live event?” YES! Remember, this is a live event . . . done virtually. The content that we teach and use virtually is the same content that we teach and use in our live events. The only difference is that it’s being delivered in a virtual environment. “Are you still filming your participants negotiating?” YES!
As we do in a live training, we still film participants negotiating, and we play the recordings back to them so that they can see how well (or poorly) they’ve done. This is precisely how we do it in a live setting. Except, when it’s done virtually, we’re all doing it from the comfort of our own workspaces, instead of in a conference room or at a hotel. “Is the technology easy to use?” YES! On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being “hard” and 5 being “easy”), our virtual participants give us a 4.63 rating on ease of technology use. We do a lot to make this as easy as possible for all participants — from detailed pre- course instructions on how to get everything ready to tips for creating a comfortable work environment. But for the most part, our participants just click the links that we provide, and we take care of the rest. And in the rare case when someone needs a little extra help, we’re there to
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