When creating a training design (or learning content design as we prefer to term it) it is tempting to believe that the media that the learning is presented in is irrelevant. That you can take the same design and use it no matter the form of the learning.

Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth.

Your training design needs to be specific to the media it is being presented in. While the training needs may remain the same, or at least similar, the nature of how you fulfill those needs will change.

In this article I’m going to identify x differences between a teleseminar and a visual or live seminar.

1. Reduce the number of points at a time to 3 maximum.

You’ve probably heard that you should only have 4 items on a visual slide. When writing a book for example you should try to limit the chapters or main segments to 7 (nine is the upper limit). There is a reason for that limitation. It’s called the cognitive limit and it describes how many items humans can mentally process. With a verbal only presentation that ability to process is reduced immensely. At most you should present the equivalent of three items on a slide.

2. Describe rather than show.

We are a visual creature. A basic rule of training is that we retain 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see and 50% of what we hear and see. When preparing your generic training design you are going to bias towards hearing and seeing. Unfortunately, your audience can’t see what you are doing. To help them you are going to have to describe for their mind’s eye. You need to help them visualize what you need them to retain.

3. Have the audience draw.

Generally speaking getting your audience to participate in a teleseminar can and often is performed very amateurish. However, when visualization is needed you can help them to draw the picture on a notepad. This is one step beyond the visualization. It can be effective both for aid and participation. However, it can be very amateurish if done too frequently.

4. Drop any sub-topic that requires a visual to explain

I’ve mentioned two alternatives to present visual information. However, they aren’t particularly effective and really can’t be used for complex visuals. In fact, if you do require a complex visual to explain your material you have two choices. You can drop the sub-topic that requires a visual or you can use a visual media instead of a teleseminar. In any case, no matter how you choose to overcome the visual requirements, you should always avoid the need for visual aids in teleseminars.

5. Give participants permission to participate.

In a live seminar, we have many ways of asking for the participation of the audience. In a teleseminar those alternatives are reduced. However, the audience doesn’t know what is or has happened on your side of the telephone line. When asking if there are any questions for the first time, it is unlikely you will get a response. Big surprise! With a teleseminar you can give the audience permission to participate by reading out questions that have been asked in the past or by email. A technique that tends to backfire when done in a live seminar.

6. Develop strategy to overcome lack of feedback

In a live seminar it is reasonably easy to determine when the audience is tuning out. The sloping, the drooping eyes, the shuffling feet, the head on hands are all signs that a facilitator hopes never to see. In a teleseminar you can’t see the body language of your audience. So you need to determine a strategy to check on their buy in and openness to what is being presented.

7. Develop strategy to overcome lack of participation.

People are unwilling to be embarrassed. And responding to a question is often seen as being embarrassing. In a live seminar, it is hard to hide from the facilitator. However, in a teleseminar it is easy. So you as facilitator need to develop a strategy to encourage participation.

Source by Glen Ford