I had a chance to attend a webinar entitled “eLearning Visual Design Trends for Non-Designers.” It was sponsored by the eLearning Guild and facilitated by Bianca Woods (if you’re looking for graphic design resources and ideas, be sure to check out her website).
I confess that I normally multi-task while “attending” webinars. I’ll check email. If a colleague walks by with a question, I’ll take out my ear buds and happily respond. I generally approach a webinar hoping for some nugget of inspiration, but a lot of times I’ll disconnect completely after 20 minutes or so. This is why this webinar had so much impact on me that I decided to write about it.
I walked away from the experience thinking that it was one of the most helpful webinars I’d ever attended. After one hour, I had three concrete, actionable next steps that I planned to take.
What Made the Webinar Successful?
Was it her slide deck? No. Although she did have a very well designed deck of slides (if you’re looking for an example of a clean, effective set of slides, please scroll through her deck and steal some of the design principles she used).
Was it the polls or opportunities to type questions into the chat box? No. Although those instructional design elements did help break up the presentation and give me an opportunity to interact with everyone else in attendance.
The key moment for me came before I even logged on yesterday. Just by happenstance, I asked a co-worker if she was interested in attending the webinar after I had enrolled. She was. I blocked off a conference room and we huddled around my laptop.
Attend a Webinar; Get In-Person Discussion
As Bianca walked us through the content, my co-worker and I discussed (in real time) how we might apply some of the concepts to our work. We walked out of the conference room having brainstormed ways to better integrate video into our training, identified a specific story line for an infographic we will create for an upcoming meeting and we were pointed in the direction of a free online tool to create said infographic.
Sometimes when I’m designing and delivering presentations, I forget what it’s like to be in the learners’ shoes. Sometimes I forget that learning truly is a social activity. Two heads are better than one.
As presenters, it’s crucial to allow learners an opportunity to interact and discuss the ideas we’ve presented. They’re more likely to come up with ways to use our content that will be most meaningful for them.
Yesterday I also learned that for best way to attend a webinar, invite a friend or two. Who knows how you might be able to apply the content when you start putting your heads together.
I agree that webinars, and even asynchronous courses, can yield greater context and application when taken with a buddy.
Can you tell me the name of the free infographic tool that was mentioned in the webinar?
Thanks for another great blog 🙂
Thanks Shannon.
The tool Bianca mentioned was: https://infogr.am/
I have not yet checked it out, but it seems promising. I definitely recommend going to Bianca’s resource website (link is above in the blog post) – she has links to TONS of resources that can help non-designers create professional-looking design elements!
Hi Shannon,
Brian gave you the link to the infographic tool I mentioned in the session, but here are a few other sites to check out:
Venngage: https://venngage.com/
Diagrammer (it’s a site for diagram templates, but these can be used as infographic building blocks): http://www.duarte.com/diagrammer/
The Cool Infographics tool list: http://www.coolinfographics.com/tools/
Enjoy!
Ooooooo. Thanks Bianca. Always helps to get the info straight from the source.
Definitely gonna have to check these out.
Great points, Brian! There’s nothing better than being able to take a beat to brainstorm how to apply what’s being presented to that real-world assignment on your desk.
Thanks Jackie. Yes! I’m not sure why this was such a revelation for me. I guess there’s often an assumption with webinars – that they’re a form of elearning so their “natural state” is that in which you just do it on your own. Which is certainly an advantage – definitely more flexible when you don’t need to coordinate with others.
On the other hand, there’s just so much more that I think 2 (or more) can derive from sitting around, attending together, and being able to discuss concepts and transferable lessons, in real time.
Brian, Not only an excellent learning tool, but an excellent marketing tool! Thank you.
Hi Pam – Yes, webinars can certainly have multiple “bottom lines”. It’s tough to have anyone in the audience master anything in an hour (or however long the webinar might be), but it can certainly be an opportunity to whet their appetite and raise their awareness/interest level about the topic at hand!