Working from home and virtual meetings, collaborations, and training are becoming the new normal” for many professionals. Using Zoom for effective training sessions can help new hires become acclimated to your company and their job position and can keep the skills of your current employees sharp. Whether it’s rolling out a new way of doing business or simply ongoing training to ensure competence and high skill level, Zoom has the solutions that many employers seek.
Zoom’s Value
Zoom has revolutionized technology for hosting virtual events. Not only is it flexible enough for everything from tech meetings to virtual happy hours, but it’s also the go-to for the company itself to host it’s own training sessions and meetings, which speaks for the effectiveness of the platform. However, there are a few ways that you can use Zoom for maximum effectiveness.
Making Zoom Work For You
The best way to make training sessions effective is to understand the limitations of the trainees. Most people learn better when the information is broken up into digestible chunks, and this doesn’t change despite the platform. The structure of your training program makes it easier for participants to learn and retain information.
Creating engaging content is important – making your virtual training sessions relatable and user-interactive will help participants pay closer attention. Allowing questions and answer sessions and actively seeking audience participation will not only help with education and training but also help participants interact with one another, fostering a better team environment.
Planning Your Agenda
Have clear goals for your Zoom training sessions. It’s best to have an agenda set for participants and respect your participants’ time by sticking closely to the agenda and following the outlined topics. For a full day of training, plan to use 5 to 6 hours out of an 8 hour workday and include breaks every hour or so. Depending on the amount of material to cover, maintain a consistent schedule over the course of several days.
A good rule of thumb is about 50 minutes of learning each hour, with a 10-minute break for participants to tend to their needs, stretch, and check on any children or pets in the home. Zoom even has the capacity to have a “Zoom DJ” play music during these “brain breaks” – encourage your participants to get up and dance around!
Mix Up the Content
Zoom allows users to integrate videos, PowerPoint presentations, live demonstrations, and annotated slides, which gives you plenty of ways to get creative when presenting the material. Many people learn better from watching videos, so consider having a video presentation followed up by slides that reinforce the content. Participants can also opt to save the slides for later reference.
Be Thoughtful With Content Planning
How you organize your content is just as important as how you present it. Make sure that the topics flow naturally from one to the next, helping your users better retain information and connect between the different content.
You may also wish to break up training with group projects to reinforce the material before moving on to the next topics. These can include collaboration for assignments or engaging activities. Many users also like to have challenges between participants to help them put the material to practical use. The breakout rooms available through Zoom can help facilitate this.
Let’s Get Started!
Getting started with Zoom training is easier than you think. While working from home can be challenging for many who aren’t used to it, the interactive aspects of Zoom can help develop camaraderie among new hires and reinforce the collaborative teamwork of veteran teams.