Justifying the value of attending a learning event is just the beginning. 

If you want your members to return to the same event (your national conference, for example), you’ll have to convince your members — and their bosses, who sign the  travel and expense requests — that the program will be different this time.

Otherwise, your members and their bosses will think they already got everything they could out of attending, and will opt to go somewhere else. (Yes, to someone else’s conference. It does happen!)

Be proactive. Tell them about the new:

• Topics that will be covered
• Approaches to previously presented but ever-important topics (last time it was a panel discussion; this time it’s a sharing of best practices, for example)
• Content leaders and other experts you’ll be featuring this year, and how they plan to attack their topics

Answer the question your members’ boss is likely to ask:

“Didn’t I just send you to that program? What will you get this time you didn’t get then? Why should I pay for it a second (or third or fourth…etc.) time?”

But that’s just the beginning.

Mine your smile sheets and other feedback evaluations to let your members — and their bosses — know how others have benefitted from attending.

• What one thing have they implemented or done differently as a result of attending your program?
• What specifically has resulted from that implementation or change? (For example, have they reduced employee turnover because of more effective orientation materials?
• Have they reduced the time it takes to process an application or other transaction?)
• How much time or money have they saved their organization by implementing that change?  Over what period of time?

If you’re not already gathering this sort of feedback, start now.

Use the information ruthlessly. Get permission to use specific quotes and data. Use them in call-outs in your brochures and online announcements.

Convince your members — and give them the information they need to convince their bosses — that your programs have value to them. Chances are very good your competitors are doing this very thing — or will be soon.

We all know competition for our members’ time and dollars is at an all-time high. Don’t lay down in the middle of the railroad track. The train is coming.

I’m catching up on reading, which is why I’m just now coming around to posting about an article from the September issue of  T&D (ASTD’s magazine). In “Hitting the Suite Spot: How Learning Leaders and Executives Can Speak the Same Language,” Tom Kelly writes:

“The most successful learning leaders operate more like a profit center than a cost center, whether or not they actually bring in any direct revenue. This means approaching each decision as an investment — a business decision with a measured, quantifiable return in top-line revenue; productivity; or satisfaction and loyalty.” (p. 50)

Business leaders are focused on business outcomes. Learning leaders are focused on learning outcomes.

The fact is, what you’re focused on is not necessarily what your leadership is interested in hearing about.

Our association leaders are interested in whether we’re meeting budget, generating revenues, and providing value to our members so they’ll renew. I don’t mean suggest these are cold people, but really — the board of directors wants to make sure the association stays solvent and the executive director of CEO wants to make sure we stay out of legal trouble *and* solvent.

Association leaders want proof that your programs:

• advance the association’s mission and value to members
• provide information and training that will protect the association from any legal action or illegal activity
• promote the image of the association
• contribute to membership growth and revenue

What’s more, the association leadership constitutes just one of two bosses we need to satisfy.

The other boss is the member’s boss, the person who signs requests for attending our educational sessions and conferences. They also want to see results. They want to know that the money they spent for your association member to attend your event was worth it. 

• How has the professional development event enhanced the attendee’s ability to contribute to his or her organization?
• Is that person now more productive as a result of attending?
• Did he or she learn new skills or develop new ideas that can be implemented to the organization’s benefit?

Answer those questions for your members so they can justify the expenditure to their bosses, and you’ll have won most of the battle.

Most? Not all of the battle? That’s coming up in the next post…

I’m admittedly bad at titles, so I’ll summarize what you’re about to read:

Those smile sheets most of us use to “evaluate” an educational event are nothing to smile about.

Refresher: “Smile sheets” are those questionnaires handed out (or worse, left on tables or chairs) for attendees to fill out at the end of an educational session. They usually ask for a numerical rating of the session and/or presenter and are generally limited to less than a page. They’re supposed to help us determine whether the session and its presenter(s) delivered on the promise the attendees felt was given.

Smile sheets don’t work.

• They’re overused
• They’re poorly written
• They’re inaccurate

Overused: We’re busy people, no doubt about that. To be more efficient, we take every possible shortcut, including making a generic smile sheet and using it for all of our events. What’s worse, when smile sheets are the only means of soliciting feedback and results about our programs, we are asking them to do something they’re not designed to do: assess final learning and application of that learning to the workplace.

Poorly Written: Because they’re so generic, they don’t have the specificity needed to generate helpful responses. Asking an attendee if the presenter was knowledgable about the topic or if they will be able to apply what they learned back on the job is useless. Forming useless questions in perfect ways won’t help, either.

Inaccurate: Generic, poorly written smile sheets won’t provide accurate feedback. And if you ask the smile sheet to do more than it can, you’ll believe you’re getting guidance from your members about future programs that they’re really not providing. Smile sheets are not accurate for determining whether learning occurred. It won’t even tell you whether the session had value for those attending.

Why not? Because that’s not what a smile sheet should be designed to do.

What should a smile sheet do? A smile sheet can be very useful for gathering feedback on:

• Location: Was the hotel/conference center conducive to learning? Was the city a desirable place to be for this topic, theme, or session? Why or why not? Answers to location questions can help you determine if you leveraged the local environment sufficiently for your event. If people are going to travel to attend your conference or other events, make it worthwhile. Then find out if it was.
• Content: Asking the attendees to list three things they learned that they will be able to apply back in the “real world” (whether the “real world” is at work, at home, or in other actvities) will help you determine whether any key information was new to the general group, whether any of the content “stuck,” and if what was presented was done in a way that made people believe they could do something with what session covered.
• Format: Were they engaged the entire time? If not, why did they disconnect? Were any questions they had answered?
• F&B: If your sessions include providing refreshments of any sort, ask about them. Was there enough variety? Were special dietary needs met?
• General: If you’ll be using the same location in the future, you should ask about the room and service: was it comfortable? Were they able to stay focused? Were there distractions (for example, did hotel staff disrupt the session when they came in to clear the refreshments?)?

The bottom line is that people will have an immediate reaction to their environment (“That was great! The food was awesome!”), a general idea about what they’ll find useful (“I loved that idea about using Twitter to send my cookbook customers tweets about what I’m ordering at the restaurant for dinner tonight.”), and whether they found the session interesting or not (“That guy seemed to know his stuff, but sitting for 90 minutes and hearing him talk just couldn’t hold my attention, no matter what an expert he is.”).

To find out what your members end up applying back in the real world, conduct separate, follow-up surveys or interviews.

Basing your decisions about content on smile sheets will lead you down the wrong path. And basing your ROI (return on investment) will take you down even worse roads.

Remember that alarm that went off last year? The loud one that seemed to wake up PD and education leaders in associations everywhere? Remember scrambling to figure out alternatives to face-to-face meetings and educational events because you worried that members might not be able to attend them?

Even those most reluctant to move into online learning saw real value in developing elearning for their members. Many actually implemented new initiatives or ramped up existing alearning programs.

But what happened when the alarm bell went silent? Did your alearning strategy go back on the shelf?

If you have a hard time justifying the value of elearning outcomes to your association leaders or members, here’s another piece of evidence for you:

Relative to learning efficiency, according to Brandon Hall, online learners are twice as efficient in learning times as ILT learners. In other words, depending on the structure of the course, online learners may be able to acquire the needed information in half the time they would in a traditional classroom. If a learner can jump ahead or skip around in an online module to get exactly what they need, instead of sitting in a classroom for a designated amount of time, he or she will potentially save the organization time and money.    — From the e-Learning Guild’s report, “Building the Case for eLearning”

[ILT = "instructor-led training" or classroom instruction]

Because of all the focus on collaborative and social learning, we sometimes overlook the fact that our members sometimes have very good reasons to learn individually rather than in a group, in person, face-to-face, sitting at the feet of an expert instructor.

Yes, it’s true!

If your association membership includes competing entities (for example, medical supply companies that compete with each other for the same customers), then you might have attendees who would prefer not to reveal what they don’t know. In this case, they might avoid attending a face-to-face session that they *would* take online, privately.

If your association membership includes individuals within the same organizations but at different levels of responsibility, online learning can appeal to those who’d prefer to review basic information privately, online, than to expose their need publicly at a face-to-face event. For example, if I’m relatively new to my industry and I know that I’d benefit from attending a certain session, I might be reluctant to register because I don’t expose my knowledge gap to my direct reports or peers. Even if I attend, I might be less willing to fully participate, which won’t result in the best learning outcome.

If your association members possess a range of educational and experiential levels, providing face-to-face events that adequately cover all needs is impossible. Providing online learning that allows everyone to register and to skip around the content as needed, then you will have leveraged the online event to meet the maximum number of members for the best financial investment, resulting in targeted learning for the attendees. In this case, it’s important that you avoid emphasizing “completion” of the course or module; instead, suggest skipping content that’s already familiar and focusing on what’s needed. Even better, design the content so they only need to access and pay for what’s needed — i.e., create brief segments based on specific topics or a problem that needs solved, versus developing a broader module or course.

You can do this.

You need to do this.

If you don’t do this, your members will eventually drop out, fading away just like the blaring of that persistent alarm a year ago.

Just discovered the Upside Learning blog and knew right away I wanted to share what Amit has to say about selecting an LMS.

Take a look at Five Things Not to Do While Selecting an LMS.  Great advice from someone who knows the tech side of elearning much better than I do!

When I first saw “edutizing” mentioned as a way of building business (see Judith Lindenau’s post: http://www.realtown.com/Judith2/blog/edutizing) I had a gut-level, negative feeling about it.

Now I’m thinking… maybe that’s what most trade associations are doing anyway — using education to help members buy into membership.

What do you think? Are we “edutizing”?

Bill Brandon, editor of e-Learning Guild’s Learning Solutions e-magazine, published a review of aLearning: A Trail Guide to Association eLearning that called the book “a stunning success.”

Thank you, Bill! As someone posted to my Facebook wall after reading the review, “If Bill says it, it must be so!”

If you’re not familiar with the e-Learning Guild, consider joining — their basic membership level is designed for the types of budget restrictions common to non-profits and associations — it’s free. Their next level, which provides a terrific value for the money, is just $99/year. Their focus is on elearning development, with a mission to provide specific, practical, applicable, implement-able (!) information and training.

Even if you’re not a techie, it’s important to know enough about the tech side to be able to ask a question that the techies will understand (and translate into their own geek-speak). The eLearning Guild can help you with that.

Most of their members are Web developers, instructional designers, project managers, graphic artists, and others engaged in building elearning, either in-house for large organizations (including large associations) or within vendor companies.

Over the years, they have expanded their conference tracks to include management and strategy, so those of us who oversee online learning can benefit from the practical workshops and tutorials they provide.

If you’re considering hiring a company (for Webinars or custom courseware) to develop elearning for you, or if you’re looking for a good LMS or LCMS, the e-Learning Guild’s Annual Gathering (coming up again in March of 2010) is a MUST. You’ll learn more and make more contacts for potential vendors here than at any association-specific event.

I’m not just saying this because Bill had such great things to say about my book. And he does say this:

This is one of the best-executed books I have seen in some time on the topic of learning strategy. In my opinion, every association should have a copy of this to refer to during creation or revision of the professional development curriculum.

It will be particularly useful to associations with small staffs (and no professional development staff). It will also be useful to vendors who have little or no experience or insight into the challenges faced by associations as they adopt e-Learning. Finally, consultants on the staff of associations, who are more and more often asked to help their member organizations create a comprehensive learning strategy that includes online and social media components, should definitely have a copy of this.

If Bill says it, it must be so!

Thank you, Bill! And thank you to those of you who have already purchased your copy – I’m happy to help and you know where to find me if you have questions not answered in the book!

And for not a huge investment, either…!

After months of writing and weeks of editing and printing, the book is now available in print and downloadable editions through Lulu.com.

Here’s the most important thing to know about this book: it’s about elearning in ASSOCIATIONS, not corporations. And it focuses on associations operating with a small staff — we don’t have a slew of internal graphics or Web people, so how do we handle the requirements of online learning? This book discusses ways to do just that.

And it’s affordable. Some people said, “You could charge a hundred bucks for that book, Ellen!” And sure enough, a book of this size – nearly 300 pages, chockfull of charts, activities, and other ways to get you to move from what you’re reading to what you need to get done — is probably worth more than the sticker price. But I know about budgets — tight ones and that — and wanted to price the book so it would be affordable for just about any association. Get a print copy for $35 plus postage and handling, or download it for just $25 (the green alternative, too).

Curious to see what’s covered? Here’s the Table of Contents as a preview:

INTRODUCTION:  WHY A STRATEGY? WHY A TRAIL GUIDE?                                       

PART ONE: TRAIL SIGNS, TRAIL GEAR, AND TOPOGRAPHY  

1.             Trail Signs:  E-Learning Basics and Choices                                                                

2.             Trail Gear:  Technology Basics                                                                                   

3.             The Topography of eLearning                                                                                      

PART TWO:  CHOOSING THE TRAIL                                                                                  

4.             Strategic Alignment, Mission, and Purpose                                                                  

5.             Needs Assessment                                                                                                    

6.             Environmental Scans                                                                                                  

7.             Narrowing the Choices                                                                                              

8.             Mapping Content to Delivery                                                                                      

9.             Deciding Which Direction to Go: Development Methods                                              

10.          Checking Your Compass on Learning 2.0                                                                    

11.          Who’s on the Team? And What Are They Supposed to Do, Anyway?                          

12.          Marketing                                                                                                                 

13.          Estimating the Budget                                                                                                

 PART THREE: HIKING THE TRAIL                                                                                      

14.          Writing the eLearning Strategy                                                                                   

15.          Getting Buy-In                                                                                                           

16.          View from the Summit: RFPs, Legalities, and Other Necessities                                   

17.          Evaluating the Program                                                                                              

 CONCLUSION: Just the Beginning                                                                                           

 APPENDICES

A.            Examples of Asynchronous Courses                                                                           

B.            Sample Budgets: APFI Case Study        

For more information, including how to order, click here.

If there’s something the book doesn’t cover in the detail you need — drop me a line or make a comment here in the blog, and I’ll gladly provide additional information.

And please, if you see something in the book you disagree with, or have done things differently that worked better, please, please, send a comment and share your discoveries and successes! I might be a loud voice in the alearning world, but I know I’m not the only one that should be heard.

Looking forward to hearing Your Voice

We spent the days leading up to Memorial Weekend along the Illinois River, hiking and biking, and — ever curious — learning all kinds of things beyond the essentials of living in a very small space.

For example… after watching the barges from the Starved Rock State Park bluffs, we ventured out to watch them close up, calling out questions to the workers on the barges — who traded info by asking us for our local restaurant recommendations (in the great tradition that is “knowledge sharing”). We knew how the locks worked that got the tugs and barges safely around the dam and from one level of river to the next.

What amazed us was how carefully fitted the barges and locks are: cabled together to float three abreast, the first tug we watched maneuver the lock pushed two rows of three each — six barges. Some were empty, the bargeman told us (okay, that’s probably not his official title). “It’s been slow,” he said.

Like clockwork, as soon as that load was through the lock, the next tug lined up. We watched, mesmerized. The patience and experience it took for the captain to steer his nine barges into place was inspiring to watch. And as we watched, we realized that the lock didn’t look big enough to hold nine barges and the tug.

So we watched the tug position the float of barges, then reverse out of the way of the gates. “How will they get the barge out of the lock without the tug to push it?” we asked a man whose job it was to rope the barges securely to the side of the lock. “Cable,” he called back, pointing to the side of the lock. “It’s along here.”

Sure enough, they secured a cable to the side of the barge, then used a sort of dockside winch to pull the cable — and the barge — through the gates when they opened. Now the tug would come through, reconnect with its float of barges, and go on down the river (or maybe up the lazy river).

It occurred to me that each barge captain had a decision to make regarding his cargo. The first captain opted for six barges — less cargo (and likely less money to haul it) meant his tug and barges made it through the lock at the same time. The second captain opted for nine barges — more cargo (and likely more money), but it also meant he had to navigate the lock twice — which took more time. Each captain had to decide which was the better financial decision: more cargo, more lost time… or less cargo, but a better pace?

Too often we think we know the best way to go with our online learning — something that seems to be the obvious choice might not be the best choice at all.

For example, are you thinking through all the best reasons to hire a Webinar production company, versus doing it yourself? Are you assuming that because products like Rapid Intake’s ProForm make it so easy to create a stand-alone course that it’s really the best answer for you?

Think about what’s most important (time or cargo load, if you’re a tug captain)… so you can use your resources as efficiently as possible, too. Remember: time is never a free resource. Just because your staff members aren’t paid the way consultants are paid doesn’t mean they work for free. Are you using their time to your best advantage? Their skills? If you’re not, then you’re wasting money. You’re wasting your members’ dues and your sponsors’ donations. worse than that, you’re wasting your staff members’ talents, which — eventually — can compel them to jump ship.

Just as the tug captains factor in the time it will take to get through the locks as they haul their cargo along the river, you need to consider time as a resource, too. Don’t wait. Start today. Time’s  a-wastin’!

I’m living that old adage — it’s not raining, it’s pouring!

First things first — many thanks to the folks at Digitec Interactive for letting me share a case study in their recent Webinar. If you missed it, and want a quick overview of how one small association decided where to start with online learning, what we did, and how it all turned out, you can see it via this link: http://www.knowledgedirectweb.com/webinar.cfm

And many, many thanks to those of you who tuned in and texted your questions! The chat dialoge was great and gave us all a chance to think about the various challenges involved in initiating an online learning curriculum.

Now to the rest of the story….

Just as I was putting the final touches on the aLearning: a Trail Guide to Association eLearning book, we sold our house. This is no small feat in the suburbs of Lansing, Michigan, where the economy is pretty sour and is projected to get even worse. Our house had been on the market for two years, and after dropping our price periodically over that timespan, we finally found the sweet spot and the right buyers appeared. I gave notice on my association position (for those of you looking for me there, my last day was May 8).

What’s next? My husband and I have been planning to full-time RV for several years, and suddenly we were in a position to do just that. The last few weeks have been a dizzying whirlwind of packing, selling, tossing, scanning, and shredding. Tomorrow we hand over the key to the house and put the other key in the ignition.

Why this lifestyle? Well…. we travel whenever we can, and it seems as though everywhere we go we want to “buy a little place for retirement.” Choosing one spot seemed impossible — so we decided to choose them all!

So my apologies for the delay with the book — (Josh, I did see your note about the RFP chapter) — know that it remains a priority with me, and that I hope to have it available for purchase in the next month or so.

Having said that, you can tell that association elearning is still running in my blood, probably thicker now than ever, because I’ll be able to spend more time focusing on it, in between the hiking, biking, fishing, shopping (but not buying anything — do you know how little you can store in a 400 square-foot fifth wheel?!?).

I’ll announce here when the book is available, with full details about how to purchase copies.

Till then — you can keep track of our travels at http://bobandellen.wordpress.com

Maybe we’ll see you on the road!