Corporate training seminars represent one of the more difficult audience groups a presenter will ever encounter. Pulled away from their desks and to-do lists, attendees’ minds are often engaged elsewhere. In order to break through and engage with this type of audience, a presenter must go above and beyond the normal rote training tactics.
In this post, learn how taking an interactive approach by using today’s gamification tools can make the difference between a productive training session and a waste of time.
Have a Conversation
Today’s interactive presentation tools can turn even the driest material into a lively two-way conversation. Using audience response technology, a presenter can insert questions into a standard powerpoint presentation. Users can then answer the questions and see the results from the entire group displayed on their personal device or projected screen for everyone to view at the same time.
Not only does this provide a great way for attendees to offer honest feedback and input without having to face disagreeing with a boss or peers verbally, but differing response can provoke frank discussions and brainstorming sessions to use the group’s collective wisdom for the greater good.
Because responsive technology of this nature can be employed even with very large training groups, it is easier to keep even the folks sitting in the back engaged and present to absorb the material.
Generate Some Friendly Competition
There is a reason kids just want to play, play, play all day long – play builds everything from motor skills to neural connections, teaching skills and tools that will last a lifetime.
Millennial employees got their play fix mostly in the form of video games, while more seasoned employees grew up avidly watching game shows on television. So introducing new concepts and ideas in the form of play can not only make a training seminar fun, but can also showcase hands-on uses for the material that will be much less easily forgotten later.
There are a number of options for “gamifying” training seminars using the same type of interactive response technology. Questions, polls, surveys, quizzes and other options allow for competitions based on accruing points through speed of response, accuracy and other measures.
Peer to Peer Learning Groups
When peers work together in small groups to absorb information, there is more positive peer pressure to participate and contribute to the group’s goals. This automatically makes it less easy for attendees to “check out” during presentations in the way that is so common with top down information dissemination (lecture style learning).
In this model, it is both interactive and competitive. By using response technology, the presenter can prompt the group to absorb each module through sending discussion questions, debate topics, group exercises and other group learning tools to each team’s computer. The presenter can then monitor responses and tally results using the response technology as the small groups come back together for a whole-group discussion and recap.
An Overview of Responsive Technology Itself
There are many ways for companies to incorporate responsive technology into the workplace for training sessions, team-building exercises, brainstorming meetings and other uses.
There are three main components to a responsive technology learning platform:
– Polling software. Software collates responses from response devices into a useful format to promote discussion.
– Response devices. Response devices permit participants to submit answers via small handheld keypad devices.
– Data receiving devices. Whether through closed circuit networks or WiFi, these devices ensure the data responses reach the polling software.
Given that there is an initial investment to incorporate interactive gasification-based learning into any work place, different sized companies often approach adoption in different ways.
Here are three common ways companies begin to bring responsive technology to their workforce:
– Hire an outside presenter or consultant to facilitate sessions through responsive technology.
– Rent responsive technology software and response devices for special events such as training sessions, conferences and conventions.
– Acquire the software, hardware and response devices for ongoing use throughout the company in many different applications.
The approach that is right for one company may not work as well for another. Small startups may want to use responsive technology for larger meetings and events only, while larger corporations may need in-house on-demand responsive technology to use daily to bring a far-flung global workforce together to discuss topics and issues.
Regardless of the method employed, personal response technology-based interactive gamification is proven to boost information retention, stimulate learning and participation and most importantly, create more opportunities for productive and creative play in the workplace.