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I've searched high and low for a platform other than Zoom to better facilitate live virtual training for corporate clients. I used to send physical training materials, then with the pandemic, we went to sending printable PDF training materials. The problem is that most people don’t have reliable access to print the materials.
Course Sales Platforms
I looked at Thinkific and Kajabi, but these platforms are more for marketing and selling courses. I’m not selling courses to individuals. There were some workarounds, but too complicated and I realized that most of what the platform offers I don’t need.Â
Adobe Connect?
I have a trial with Adobe Connect, but the platform seems overly complex and requires attendees to download a desktop file versus just clicking the link like a Zoom meeting. Has anyone successfully deployed AC for live virtual training? Â
Easy Access to Training Materials
Ideally, I’d like the training materials available in the virtual “room” where participants can click and open documents. I have been able to create editable PDF documents, which bypasses the need to print physical copies.Â
Has anyone found a live-virtual facilitation platform they’d recommend? Â
Thanks for reading,Â
Jamie Resker
Founder and Practice Leader
Employee Performance Solutions
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Replies
Jamie: We use Teams, not because it is amazing, but it's what our company uses. I don't think the minor functionality benefits of a separate tool are worth the added learning load we'd be placing on our learners. Sadly, I've not found a meeting/training platform that's intuitive enough to use without some instruction. On top of the things you've mentioned about Adobe Connect, we found the camera support to be jerky and distracting and the audio controls are overly complicated.
That said, we augment Teams with two tools - Miro for whiteboarding, and ahaSlides for quizzing and added interaction.
We also produce fillable PDFs and they are distributed through the LMS, email, the Teams chat, the files area inside of Teams, and they can also be added to any Miro board we might share during the session. Perhaps because we make them available SO many ways, learners still have challenges finding them. If your learners don't have two screens, juggling the meeting window and the PDF window will still be a challenge. I tell our trainers to make specific time for any work we expect the learner to do in their books and to make the meeting "room" boring (no slides or screen share), relying on voice cues to bring everyone back together. It just reduces the distraction by one, hopefully creating some space for focus.
Hi Christopher, thank you for responding. I've used Teams from the client side, but there are always issues with the breakout rooms (people dropping and having to log back in and lag time). I'll take another look. My last experience with Teams was about six months ago. Thank you for sharing tips and challenges on file sharing. I've figured out how to create editable PDF forms so that's a big plus.
Hi,
Two responses from LinkedIn:
Cindy Huggett: A few come to mind! First, Zoom makes it super easy to transfer files & documents via chat during an online class. Second, for access to documents before, during, and/or after, GoToTraining can easily support that. Especially with its recent update, it’s a platform to consider!
Christina Mead:Â Does Jamie have an LMS where learners can access the training materials? And perhaps also access the link to the virtual room from?
Hi Jo, I've not yet looked at GoToTraining, so I'll look into that option. I'm a consultant so I don't have an LMS, but have explored Thinkific and Kajabi. Â
Hi Jamie,
did you try VIAhtml, a canadian virtualclassroom software built 15 years ago, especially for education :Â https://www.sviesolutions.com/via-html5/
I had trained professionnal for virtualclassroom training for 20 years and I teached 15 years in university with the old version. The new one is in html5, no install and all you need is included : screen and audio sharing, library, annotation, break sessions, etc.
the team offers demo, they speak english of course. Also I can invite you from France in a session, but my english isn't very good...:-(
you can contact David Robitaille 1.866.843.48.48 with my name
They also have a very good LMS
you can join me on frederic.remonte@univ-rennes2.fr
oh just a last thing, I don't received money or what ever from them, it's just I love their approach and philosophy ;-)
Best regards
Frédéric Remonté
Hello Frédéric,
I've not heard of this platform. It's great to hear that this works well for you. No worries about the English...you're English is 100 times better than my French :-) I'm guessing that the LMS is more for a corporate/educational organization versus a training provider with a focus on client work. Â
Hummm I think the both but It's better to have answer from the enterprise. the lms runs the pedagogical sides but also the orgnization, financial and process sides
Hi Jamie
The requirements you describe would definately be met with Adobe Connect.  The key thing with Adobe Connect is to use multiple 'layouts', and, to understand that you are creating a virtual room where everything is persistanr, you create your room layouts once, and they exist forever / until you delete them, so, spending time designing your sessions is required, it's the opposite to a dynamic / one time use session like Zoom .  You also uplaod content into the room during yuour design.
there is no need for participants to download the adobe connect desktop app, but, it is better to use it for hosts and presenters.
I'm a Connect partner, if you need any help with setup / design then please feel free to reach out.
We've been using AC, Zoom, and MS Teams. AC will be deploying an update in the next few months that eliminates the need to download the app. That platform is the best for sharing files and have persistent layouts that you can easily call up for different learning activities. If you teach the same class many times, the persistence really saves a lot of work. The new backend has much better video and audio.Â
I'd be happy to share some examples if it would be helpful.