SPARK Checklist

Use this checklist to ensure that your virtual training sessions SPARK learning, engagement, and action.

Creating a Robust and Inclusive Learning Ecosystem

Every organization has a learning ecosystem, whether it was created intentionally or accidentally. This infographic includes 5 Critical Elements of a Robust Learning Ecosystem, as well as 4 Keys to Learner Engagement and Collaboration. This infographic was developed by Cynthia Clay (NetSpeed Learning) and Kassy LaBorie (Kassy LaBorie Consulting) to accompany their web workshop, Creating a Robust and Inclusive Learning Ecosystem.

Six Strategies for Engagement and Inclusion in Virtual Training

Engagement and inclusion are critical to any successful facilitated learning event. This infographic include six strategies to help online facilitators ensure psychological safety and engagement in their virtual classroom. Based on Cynthia Clay's webinar Mission Possible: Engagement and Inclusion in Virtual Training.

Delivering Great Hybrid and Virtual Training

The challenges of the past few years have rapidly transformed how we work and learn together. We’re being called upon to be more resilient and innovative than ever. We can approach these opportunities with a mindset of renewal or a mindset of resistance to change. This ebook is chockfull of ideas, tips, and practical techniques to help you maximize your effectiveness in the brave new hybrid world.

Building Successful Hybrid Workplaces

NetSpeed Learning conducted a survey in August 2021 to learn more about the hybrid workplace strategies being considered by organizations, along with the leadership skills that were most important to the success of hybrid leaders. We define “hybrid workplace” as any organization that has leaders who manage employees working from home and/or in multiple geographic locations. Employees and leaders indicated that they want to work in organizations that allow them the flexibility of working, at least part-time, from home. Their decision to remain with their current employer is likely to be strongly influenced by an intentional hybrid strategy. The past year has proven to many leaders that productivity and efficiency are possible with hybrid working models. This white paper summarizes the findings of the survey.

It's an Inside Job: Leading with Respect and Heart

Whether you work in a face-to-face work environment, lead others in a virtual work environment, or manage people in a hybrid workplace, there are foundational management skills and practices you must master. Who you are as a person and a leader is tightly integrated with how you show up for the people that report to you.

Who you are as a person and a leader is tightly integrated with how you show up for the people that report to you. This ebook describes common mistakes new managers make, and offers useful insights about how to approach management development challenges.

Great Web Engagement: Connecting, Meeting and Training Online

Great Web Engagement: Connecting, Meeting and Training Online, by Cynthia Clay, is for anyone who delivers training and facilitates meetings in virtual environments.

From the introduction by Cynthia Clay:

Whether meeting one-to-one, leading a team meeting, or facilitating a live classroom training session, you may find it challenging to captivate and keep participant attention. This ebook is full of ideas, tips, and practical techniques to create great web engagement and avoid the web meeting fatigue that sometimes sets in when participants are glued to their screens or monitors all day. From preparation and practice, through the neuroscience of attention and learning, to the need for engaging and practical designs, to the value of having a producer on board, I hope you find nuggets that will support your digital effectiveness.

Great Virtual Facilitation Tips

This little ebook contains 14 virtual facilitation tips that virtual instructor-led trainers will find invaluable as they polish their facilitation skills. Originally featured in social media posts, we have compiled them in this ebook as a ready resource. While some organizations are offering in-person training again, many learning professionals have expanded their thinking to include high-quality virtual, instructor-led training as a critical training modality.

Valuable Tips for Virtual Producers

This ebook contains 15 tips that virtual producers will find invaluable as they polish their producing skills. At NetSpeed Learning, we’re convinced that virtual training is here to stay, particularly as organizations navigate the challenges of the hybrid workplace. While there may come a day when organizations will offer in-person training again, many learning professionals have expanded their thinking to include high-quality virtual instructor-led training as a critical training modality. To ensure a seamless experience, a skilled producer is a necessity today.

Eight Essential Strategies to Lead Virtual Teams

Powerful virtual leadership happens with careful planning and conscious attention to the needs of virtual team members. Written for leaders who manage virtual teams, this ebook describes eight essential strategies used by successful virtual leaders. These eight strategies are supported by 19 virtual team leadership techniques to ensure that your team has clear processes, overcomes communication challenges, maintains balanced workloads and experiences strong team cohesion.

Use this ebook as a checklist for applying these strategies to help you get the best results from your team.

Rocking the Digital Workplace - Communicating and Leading Virtually

This ebook addresses how to approach the dramatic changes involved in moving to the hybrid workplace. With the arrival of the pandemic, virtual team leadership has become increasingly important. This ebook covers issues around virtual leadership, how to lead a virtual team and how to build conflict resolution skills in a virtual workplace.

Peer Patterns: Nine Behavior Types and How to Work with Them

This ebook will help with dealing with difficult people at work. It expands on the nine behavior patterns described in the book Peer Power: Transforming Workplace Relationships, and suggests the appropriate principles (Be Real, Take Responsibility, Build Relationships and Extend Respect) you can use in each scenario to turn them into effective collaborators.

From the introduction by Cynthia Clay:

In our Peer Power classes and webinars, we find that all participants recognize several of these patterns in their own workplace interactions. It's been extremely gratifying to watch participants gain new insights into how they can start making these less-than-ideal relationships more effective and enjoyable. I hope you have a similar experience reading this ebook.

Peer Problems: Workplace Advice from the Experts

Do you find it frustrating to interact with some colleagues? Do you wonder whether people take secret pleasure in driving you crazy? Does it sometimes feel like a coworker is deliberately going the extra mile just to make your job more difficult? Then this ebook is for you. Dealing with difficult people at work is a fact of life in every organization. This ebook presents actual workplace challenges and practical advice from Cynthia Clay and Ray Olitt, so you learn how to manage interpersonal conflict in the workplace.

The Other Side of the Desk: Five Leadership Guidelines for New Managers

This ebook is for the first-time manager who wants to build people management skills. Making the transition from staff to management can be rocky. You're good at what you do and have always enjoyed a sense of accomplishment. But now, you must learn to get work done through others. Being a self-starter, you may not be sure how to "start" someone else. This ebook describes five leadership guidelines that can support you in bringing manager communication skills to a new leadership role. Find out about your current leader behaviors, and learn simple techniques that may help you be even more effective.

That's Using Your Noggin! Brain-based Principles in the Virtual Classroom

Our brains need to be stimulated and challenged to keep our attention. If you understood the brain's needs, what might you do differently to engage your learners when training online? This ebook covers brain-based learning principles you can apply to deliver engaging virtual training and help learners retain information. No matter what web conferencing platform you use, you are sure to discover some tactics and tools here that will help you uplevel your virtual learning game in your next web workshop. By understanding the brain's needs from a neurological perspective, we can make virtual instructor-led training one of the most engaging and interactive learning modalities available.

Maximum Retention in the Virtual Classroom

You’ve probably heard all about the Forgetting Curve, the observation that learners forget 90% of what has been learned without a week of a classroom or online learning experience. Brain research continues to make new discoveries about the impact of the six-brain based learning principles in this infographic. From the neuroscience of learning, this infographic introduces these principles for helping people achieve maximum retention in the virtual classroom.

You've Got This! Tips for Better Virtual Facilitation

This ebook is packed with tips and insights to help you transform your virtual training to engaging, online synchronous learning that makes multitasking impossible. You'll find virtual facilitation best practices and tips for how to make virtual training effective. Bring your best facilitation skills to the challenge of leading interactive, engaging online training as well as facilitating productive, effective virtual meetings. No matter what web conference platform you use, you’ll find the mindset and the tactical tools described here will help you get better results in your next web event.

Bring Your Mojo to Virtual Learning

Bring Your Mojo to Virtual Learning, by Cynthia Clay, is packed with tips and insights to help you transform your virtual training to engaging, online synchronous learning that makes multitasking impossible. You'll find virtual facilitation best practices and tips for how to make virtual training effective.

From the introduction by Cynthia Clay:

In this eBook, I share the techniques, tips and ideas that have been the foundation of our success at NetSpeed Learning Solutions. We'll explore preparing yourself and your learners; designing an engaging experience; capitalizing on the strengths of technology (and minimizing the weaknesses); as well as, facilitating with high energy and interaction. I hope that you take away strategies that will significantly grow your personal mojo! All of these techniques are taught in our Virtual Facilitator Trainer Certification course and applied by our instructional design teams when we help clients repurpose their face-to-face programs for the virtual classroom.

20 Questions About PowerPoint in the Virtual Classroom

Conventional wisdom about designing PowerPoint for face-to-face meetings does not necessarily apply to the digital experience. The twenty questions posed and answered in this ebook describe the most common mistakes or misconceptions that we address with clients that are facilitating virtual training or virtual meetings.

Supercharge Your Virtual Meetings

This short ebook was written to provide basic tips and tricks to help you succeed when facilitating virtual meetings. No matter what web conference platform you adopt, you have the ability to adopt and apply the virtual facilitation best practices presented in this ebook.

From Chalkboard to Keyboard: Transitioning to the Virtual Classroom

The ebook offers tips and insights to help you transfer your training to effective virtual instructor-led training. Full of virtual facilitation best practices, this ebook is a handy resource to help you learn how to make online learning more engaging. If you are just entering the world of virtual learning, or if you want some new ideas to spice up your webinar delivery, you're sure to find some good tips to support your delivery of engaging, interactive web training. At the end of the ebook, we offer you the opportunity to attend our Virtual Facilitator Trainer Certification course at a significant discount.

Training Impact Map for the NetSpeed Leadership® Training Program

This training impact map demonstrates how NetSpeed Leadership produces a positive impact on strategic objectives. It addresses questions such as "What business objectives drive the need for this program?" and "What key indicators will tell us that training has succeeded?"

Brain-based Learning in the Virtual Classroom

Two animated videos by Cynthia Clay covering the six principles of brain-based learning applied to facilitating virtual training. The neuroscience of learning can increase the effectiveness of your blended training solutions.