Trainer’s Notebook

Ross Smith, a manager in the Security Department in Microsoft (keeps viruses, malware, trojans from taking-over your computer) reviews his group’s trust-building program, and how they measure results. Watch video.

Do top managers at your company want all their employees engaged and kicking-in their best ideas and energy?

My local Chamber of Commerce has agreed to one of my pet ideas: starting a book-study group for business owners. This comes from a very interesting presentation by Darren Short, of Avenade, at the 2006 “Future of Training” confrence. From an academic background, Darren spoke on practical channels of deploying new leadership and management methods to business owners and “C” suite leaders.

In my neighborhood in Seattle, “Small Business” ranges down from firms of a few hundred employees to mom-and-pop shops and restaurants. Some are pretty ambitious. Many are struggling to keep going.

Darren suggested that his research showed the highest ROI from $1 spent on leadership training came from a book study group. His model was this:
1) Every participant got a book, a personal journal, and a date or dates when they would meet to discuss what they’d read..
2) A particular book might be divided into 4 weekly read/journal/discuss blocks. This allowed for each person to read at their leisure, journal on what they’d gained, and process the info further by hearing and discussing other’s viewpoints.
3) People were encouraged to find ways to put what they’d read into action.

Those who participated reported higher value than other forms of structured learning - at lower cost. Ideally, the job of moderating the discussion rotated among the participants, and choosing subsequent books was a group decision.

I agreed to help get this started in January, 2009. The first book is “The Small-Mart Revolution” by Michael H. Shuman - on how small businesses, individually and collectively, can survive in competition with Wal-Mart, Costco, and other big-box stores.

Home energy auditors!
Solar Panel installers!
Green appliance salespeople!
Home insulation specialists!
Electricians!
Educators!
Who’s going to benefit most from the green revolution? I’m still hearing hiring managers report that recent high school graduates aren’t ready for this work. What most hiring managers will report is a lack of math skills, social skills, and a dearth of basic understanding of workplace values.
My friends Stacy Noland and Michael Woo have put together a 3-day introduction - a sort of mini-eco-apprenticeship. It involves everything from a lecture by a one-armed martial arts instructor to an introduction to basic personal finance by representatives of Boeing Employees Credit Union.
I’m curious about how much learning occurs in 3 days, vs. how much re-learning has to happen in the days of on-the-streets application. The apprentices immediately launch in a door-to-door campaign approaching residents of some of Seattle’s poorest neighborhoods, attempting to get lo-flow shower nozzles and compact flourescent light bulbs into use. Even a low-income household subsisting on $15,000 per year can save $300 per year taking shorter showers and turning the lights off when not in use.
More on the Moontown Foundation.
Video of the Eco-Apprentices visited by Congressman Jay Inslee.

My friend Eric Stark, formerly a marketing WIZ at WaMu, challenged me and Steve Bradford to come up with some videos on “How to make money using the Internet.” He thinks there’s not yet a definitive guide. He thought there is a lot of money in it. I started to think of the different types of businesses that are trying to promote themselves over the internet:
Online commerce site?
E-Bay auctions?
Amazon merchant?
Promoting your bricks-n-mortar store or bistro?
Branding your professional services/self?
Selling your Knowledge-Base?
Online Seminars?

The diverse array of “types of business” seems to defy a common denominator. And so many types of online promotion have failed, i.e. Slate Magazine, Yahoo Auctions, etc.

I recently listened to a podcast in which the exploding presence of online communications is driving the value of most brands down toward “zero” in terms of differentiation and loyalty. Do you really care whether it’s Coke or Pepsi? Do you really care whether it’s a Pontiac or a Toyota? Ah-hah! Caught you there, didn’t I? The new brand differentiator is defined by terms like “engagement” and “conversation.” So if you don’t have a continuous effort to re-fresh your brand by refreshing the way you engage in conversations with your audience (YouTube videos, Facebook events, etc.) the lustre will dim.

Let’s look at trainers: both those employed inside an organization, and consultants. Here are some questions to ask:
1) What comes up when people Google you?
2) What comes up when people Google your specialty?
3) Do you have a website or Facebook identity that’s engaging?
4) What’s your ongoing conversation with your network and clients?
5) What change would you like to see in the above 4 in 12 months?

I think these questions will be a jump-off point to answer the question “How can I make money using the Internet?” whether you’re a soft-drink, a commercial strip-mall merchant, or a consultant.

Learning is a big part of the exploding online social networking surge. How big is online social networking? Forrester Research has just published findings that show a surge from 57% of online adults participating in 2007 to 75% in 2008. If you’re not in on the surge personally (Myspace, Facebook, YouTube communities, Twitter, Biznik etc.) you might not grasp how to leverage the surge professionally. Does your organization promote peer-to-peer learning through blogging, bulletin boards, creation of short videos, narrated PowerPoint flash presentations? If not, maybe it’s time for some R&D.

Some steps:
1. Set a personal goal of establishing trial “memberships” in 3 to 5 social networking spaces over the next few months.
2. Try searching for friends. Career networking sites like LinkedIn have made this easy, and networks like Facebook make it even easier.
3. Find someone among your friends (or your teenage offspring) who’ll sit by your side and show you some tricks. Personalize your identity with photos. Try uploading a short video. If a few things blow up on the launch pad, chalk it up to necessary research costs.
4. Look how organizations are representing themselves in online communities. Got a favorite Nascar driver? Political candidate? Cellular provider? How do they represent the brand in social networking sites?
5. Brainstorm ten or twenty creative ideas for rolling out your online presence. Then take a look at this article in Advertising Age that talks about brands like Dell and Zappos online social networking presence.

Are we getting outside our comfort zone yet? Well good!

We were thinking the “Make Vids” process has particular pertinence for two segments of the hospitality industry:
1) Certain types of hotels/inns would use this process to engage their staff - and create training and promotional videos for the site. This might be totally revolutionary for this industry.
2) A facility near some type of attraction mounts an effort to market a “We help you make a video of your visit” program. Historic sites, winerys, nature restoration or eco-tourism destinations. The resulting videos would also be helpful in promotion.
Note: This is not about some professional video people writing your script, setting up the shots, lighting, sound, etc. It’s about your team creating the script, storyboards, and operating the gear. We coach a little and edit the final project, complete with titles, music, rolling credits at the end.

One of our clients asked if we could help all 100 attendees at a conference have a fun experience making videos - essentially low production-values educational videos for the client’s new hires. They recognize it’s going to be important to have a video presence if they want to hire the best and brightest. They realize 20-somethings think making videos is creative entertainment.

What a lovely assignment! We had fun doing it. We divided the group into 8 teams of 12. This is actually a pretty common team size for anything but the biggest commercial video productions. It takes a lot of specialists in screenwriting, makeup, lighting, sound and editing to do a project. Few people are well-versed in everything. We found instructors at local tech schools here in Seattle. They were producer-advisors to each of the 8 teams, but team members came up with the concepts, wrote the scripts, and held and operated the gear. Producer’s role was to help the team get past stumbling blocks and dead-ends. In two evenings the teams wrote scripts, created storyboards, and shot their footage. We then edited-out the projects into 3-4 minute projects with titles, music, rolling-credits.

We showed the videos at a wrap-up lunch for the attendees, and they were amazed and amused (howls of laughter and applause) to see what they had created.

The client wants 3 more! Yea!

Our new Drupal website on team-building video creation:
www.vidteams.com

We’re testing the functionality of Microsoft’s LiveMeeting webconferencing product for the American Society for Training & Development Puget Sound Chapter. Microsoft uses LiveMeeting for thousands of tech learning events every year. You can record the conference and people can view and hear the content anytime afterward. I’m told they never show video, and I’ve wondered why?

First, keep in mind most people at Microsoft think their PowerPoint slides are pretty good and if they don’t talk too fast, sprinkle an audience involvement trick in once in awhile and throw in some humor, it’s fine. Microsoft actually has a rating system for speakers for awards and prestige. Woot! Problem is, of course, the whole rest of the world is flowing to video like a tidal wave.

We used a high-end camcorder for our “Beta” meeting last week, and recorded the event. When you go to view the recording what do you actually see? No video. If the speaker is walking around the room, taking questions, and we are using the zoom functionality to show the audience asking questions, etc. it stands to kick up the “people” aspect of the event for the remote viewers, yes? But none of this is played back on the recorded version - just the PowerPoint. And let’s say someone’s PowerPoint is just average - lots of wordy bullet point slides.

Well, I encourage even strangers on a bus to read Edward Tufte’s “The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint - Pitching Out Corrupts Within” so I’ll just drop the reference in one more time. Can we say “Screenshot?” How about:
- cartoons
- photos of people
- diagrams
- Google Maps
- Agendas
- Mind-maps
- Pie Charts
I will just put in this “Bravo” for our June speaker, Stephanie Bell, her PowerPoint was above average:

My friend Jeffrey Shilling told me recently I might want to put some updates on my interests and activities into a blog. I thought this was ironic because I have told myself many times in the past few months that “This would be a great thing to put in my blog.” But didn’t do it. So a brief update:
- Completed a 2-day presentation skills workshop for a large architecture firm, using the Marcus Buckingham “Strengths” as a basis for helping people find a path to get more fun and zest out of pulling together and delivering presentations.
- Completed a work-up on a course on best practices in webconferencing. Delivered two of these through the local ASTD chapter.
- Completed a new curriculum on classroom facilitation. The model for this was Bloom’s Taxonomy - and specifically using open-ended questions that access the higher levels of processing in the brain.
- Completed a “Make Videos” workshop for 100 employees of a large public accounting firm. We formed up ad-hoc teams, the teams created storyboard scripts and shot video, serving as production staff and talent. We edited-out the videos into short 3-4 minute videos and showed them at the wind-up lunch for the conference. I was thrilled by the howls of laughter and spontaneous applause. People came up to me after the lunch and told me this was one of the most creative things they’ve ever done at an educational conference.
- Researched how to use a camcorder as a webcam for webcasting meetings and presentations. This is easy to do with a firewire-enabled camcorder set back in the audience, plus a low-impedence mic and some inexpensive enabler software. We will likely start webcasting the local ASTD chapter meetings in coming months leading up to a major focus on webcasting at the October 2 “Future of Training” conference at the Seattle Central Library.

I finally got into Edward R Tufte’s new booklet “The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within.”
If you use visual aids and want to reach the visual learners in your audience, it’s well worth reading - it’s only 30 pages.
It would also be valuable for people who do financial presentations, use visuals in the courtroom, pitching to Wall Street, or in the boardroom.
I’d been ignoring Tufte’s rants about PowerPoint in recent years. A lot of bad visual aids are created out of ignorance and laziness. But someone recommended it to me, and I must admit I think that he’s onto something.

First, for the faint-of-heart, I’ll warn you that Tufte shows the actual PowerPoint slides that led to the Space Shuttle Columbia’s disasterous re-entry from orbit in 2003. Was the risk analysis botched, then obscured by faulty PowerPoint slides? You can judge.

Tufte has taken his criticism beyond ignorance and laziness. He says that PowerPoint is as disasterously flawed as the Ford Pinto gas tank. It is built to mis-manage decisions, fluff-up faulty ideas and make them appear palatable, to lie convincingly. He says PowerPoint is a child of the software industry, and implies that it’s design is warped by the need to sell vaporware, persuade customers that bugs and security problems don’t exist, and inflate features and profits.

Putting aside these arguments, he nails the inherent incompatibility of meeting rooms, projection screens, and the human field of vision. If you’re 30 feet away from a 5′ X 5′ screen you can’t see much unless the type is VERY LARGE. That means you can’t put much on the screen if you want people in the back to read it.

Now, having said that, I had a GIANT EPIPHANY this week. I was laughing so hard I actually did cry while reading the 2nd half of Tufte’s book. It is full of zany, awful visuals. It all became clear how valuable a 2 or 3 projector system is for leveraging visual aids and learning. One of Tufte’s contentions is that the linear nature of PowerPoint makes it difficult for the audience to compare, contrast, go back, suggest different perspectives, or ask “What if…?” or “What else…?”
A very wide projection surface not only makes it easier for people in the back, it is ideal for these side-by-side comparisons.
For more info on multiple-projector presentations go to www.trizenter.com.
I have one of these 3 projector systems and love to show it off to people. And NO, projectors don’t cost half what they used to.