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The
Bridge to Balance
by Gail Howerton, MA, CLP
I
believe we need to walk our talk. Since
I promote balanced living and
peak
performance through playful professionalism, I've found a way to bridge
work
and play.
Bridges
Enter
bridge-lines, tele-seminars, and Internet classes. Using these tools
affords
me more time at home and makes me more affordable to clients who don
't
necessarily have the time, facilities, budget, or coordinator to arrange
for
an on-site program. They can
train their staff in real-time over the
phone,
or at their computers while staying in their office. Utilizing
| tele-classes
and other Internet distance learning options creates a very cost
effective,
interactive way to educate employees. It saves time, money, and
effort
on the part of the participants as well as the instructor and the
employer.
These state of the art educational tools can also help meeting
planners
in their jobs by decreasing the amount of logistics needed to
arrange
training workshops. |
These
state of the art educational tools can also help meeting
planners
in their jobs by decreasing the amount of logistics needed to
arrange
training workshops
|
Since
there is virtually no on-site
coordination
necessary such as coffee breaks, transportation, or room
rentals
to contend with, the meeting planner has time to coordinate
tele-classes
while focusing on other live workshops and meetings, which helps
balance their work schedule.
A
tele-class is a conference where you rent a bridge line for the telephone
for
up to 30 people for around $10 per hour.
Bridge lines for 150 people
cost
more. I have found several helpful Web sites where you can rent a bridge
line
and advertise your class for free. At
www.teleclass.com
you can list
your
public class along with hundreds of other classes either for free or
for
a fee. If your class is free, then your use of their bridge line is
complementary.
If you charge a fee, then you pay to rent their bridge line.
You
can rent your bridge line elsewhere and just utilize their ad space to
market
your class. They also send out notices for upcoming classes and
provide
you with hints and form letters to use with your students/clients.
Another
web site for public tele-classes is www.teleclass4u.com
if you are
planning
an open class. It has a similar
set up for advertising your class
along
with other classes on their web site. In
order to get your free
listing
here; you are on the honor system to help promote their site in your
marketing
materials. Potential
instructors must also take a free course
that
is one hour per week for four weeks and gives tips on facilitating
successful
tele-classes. The instructor
training is all done by telephone in
a
tele-class.
Other
options for combining tele-classes and Internet training are sites
such
as www.avidlearn.com
and www.mentoru.com
. These sites offer some classes
which
are completely Internet based and some classes which are phone based
and
some video or CD-ROM based. Other distance learning options include a
self
directed learning mode, text-based information which is on a website
such
as www.aerolearn.com
. This type of training is the
least interactive
with
the instructor and is virtually a workbook
that is read on the web
site.
Record
your classes
By
using a digital recorder or a portable cassette tape recorder with a
110-minute
tape, you can capture the information of your
class and use it
for
future training. Electronics
stores sell adapters for audio taping
through
the phone with your own cassette tape recorder for around $20.
Be
sure
to make all participants aware that they are being taped. Add more
value
by e-mailing your students an outline of the class and bundling
similar
transcripts with your tapes for resale or for future in-house
training.
To
increase the synergy of some of my classes, I have teamed up with other
experts
to create a series of tele-classes on various topics about energizing
your
life. I have my guests e-mail
me 25 questions and then we do a
talk-show
style interview over the phone for the tele-class. The
participants
get double the value by having two guest experts facilitate the
tele-class
and they are encouraged to ask questions either in the tele-class
or
e-mail questions to the facilitators before the class to ensure their
needs
are met.
If
you are promoting a public tele-class, industry average suggests free
classes
draw about three percent of your market along with high dropout
rates.
The fee-based classes draw one percent of your target market with
less
of a dropout rate. In order to
draw enough participants to make the
class
worth while, you must have a large database, or have an in-house
training
workshop with mandatory training requirements and attendance.
With
our whirlwind schedules, if it makes sense to leverage our time by
taking
advantage of the new technology to help balance out our days. By
using
the phone lines and modems, we are better able to balance our work
schedules
and create dynamic learning that is cost-effective for everybody
involved.
With more balance and less stress in our daily schedule, we can
play
more at our work and work more at our play to bridge the balance
between
our personal and professional lives.
 Gail
Howerton, MA, CLP is the CEO (Chief Energizing Officer) of
Fun*cilitators
and is a professional speaker facilitating fun and
effectiveness
to energize your enterprise and promote peak performance
through
playful professionalism. Gail
is the Author of Hit Any Key To
Energize
Your Life and similar tele-classes. Find out about her classes or
about her facilitating one for you by calling 800-930-6096 or
at
www.funcilitators.com
© 2001 ExpertMagazine.com
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