• PREP model

    PREP for Web Conferencing Success

    October 24, 2009 /
    With training budgets tightening everywhere, more organizations are turning to web conferencing to deliver training programs online to save money and time. According to the 2008 ASTD State of the Industry report, the percent of training hours devoted to live instructor-led online training is growing rapidly. Between 2006 and 2007, the amount of live instructor-led online training jumped by 50 percent, from 4.24 percent to 6.39 percent.
    Instructional designers and facilitators new to web conferencing may feel overwhelmed by the prospect of converting live instructor-led courses to courses delivered via web conferencing. While tempting, simply placing the slides used for classroom training into a web conferencing tool and launching a training event will not result in an optimal learning experience for your audience.
    For web conferences to be successful, instructors need to devote time to planning the event, including optimizing the content and exercises for a virtual classroom, getting the right facilitation team in place, rehearsing for the live delivery and finally, evaluating what happened. These steps are the key steps of the PREP (Planning, Rehearsal, Execution and Post Mortem) Model for Web Conferencing. For more information on this model, view an article in ATD Learning Circuits.
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  • PREP model

    PREP Model for Web Conferencing: POST MORTEM

    January 28, 2009 /

    The final step of the four-step PREP model for web conferencing that I’ve been writing about for the last few days is the Post Mortem.

    The Post Mortem is simply a review of what you did. One component of the post mortem is an evaluation by participants (such as a level 1 online evaluation, at a minimum). The importance of soliciting feedback and making adjustments cannot be understated. Since we cannot see our participants, the evaluation is even more important. Another component is a debrief by the facilitation team. Talk with the team about what worked well, what needs to be changed to improve the delivery.

    Both of these tasks should take place immeidately after the event. Make the changes to your course as soon as possible…before you forget what they are and before you forget to do them altogether! The last thing you want to happen is to log in for your next delivery of the session and then realize that you didn’t make the changes needed (to the content, exercises, etc.) from the previous delivery.

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  • PREP model

    PREP Model for Web Conferencing: Execution

    January 26, 2009 /

    Over the last few days I’ve been writing about a four-step model for web conferencing known as the PREP Model. PREP stands for Planning, Rehearsal, Execution and Post Mortem. Today’s post elaborates on the Execution step.

    In the Execution step, you are ready for the formal launch of your training. By the time you reach this step you have planned and rehearsed, you are ready to go!

    A few tips to make sure your delivery goes smoothly are:

    · Log in 30 min. early; ask participants to log in 15 min. early.

    · Start and end on time.

    · Display conference call number or audio information on screen.

    · Engage the audience early, exposing them to the variety of methods they can use to interact.

    · Give audience time to respond to questions, polls, chat. Some silence is okay.

    · Have a second computer next to you so you can see the participant “view” at all times.

    · Disable email arrival notification pop-ups and chimes.

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  • PREP model

    PREP Model for Web Conferencing

    January 14, 2009 /

    Web conferences that require the most amount of time and effort are web conferences for formal events. Whether the purpose of your web conference is to teach college students irregular verbs in Spanish or to teach staff how to have a performance management conversation with their manager, there are core steps that all web conferences have in common. Planning, Rehearsal, Execution and Post Mortem, or PREP, are core areas to consider for a web conference. Let’s look briefly at what I mean by each core step of the PREP model:

    Planning: In this model, the majority of your time will be spent planning. Simply taking the slides from a face to face training and uploading them onto a web conferencing platform will not result in a positive learning experience. You will need to re-think and adjust three main areas: your content, exercises and language.

    Rehearsal: There are many moving parts in a web conference, therefore, it takes more time to practice and rehearse. If you have been delivering a course in a face to face setting, give yourself time to practice the delivery in a web conference. Even if you know your content inside and out, you need time to rehearse to see how it flows, based on all the adjustments you made to your materials in the planning stage.

    Execution: When delivered properly, a web conference can be just as engaging as face to face training. This is the execution step and an engaging and flawless execution means that you have planned and rehearsed. It also means that you have the right facilitation team in place.

    Post Mortem: A post mortem means “a review of what you did.” This step includes a debrief with facilitators and an evaluation from participants.

    I’ll go into each step in more detail in future posts.

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