The Learned Man | eLearning Blog

Presentation Zen

Check out this great blog by former Apple employee, Garr Reynolds, who discusses issues related to professional presentation design.

'Better To Sell Peanuts On The Roadside'

Now this is something I can relate to very well...from elearningpost:

"Yesterday I had to give a presentation - a pitch actually - to the director of training of a very large organization for developing an e-learning course. Here's what happened:

PLAN: this guy, being a director, would be strategic in thinking. He would want to know about the benefits of the course and the design and how to make it all work. Right?

THE PITCH: collaboration and decision-making are key. E-learning needs to be made meaningful, and by that we mean social and interesting. Learners want to see different perspectives from the ground-level not subject-matter level... and so on. Basically trying to paint the e-learning 2.0 picture without using any of the jargon.

OUTCOME: After half an hour, he says, "Can you show me animations with smooth transitions? The last vendor showed some nifty ones."

It's situations like these that make me want to pull my hair out. Screw all this e-learning bit; better to sell peanuts on the roadside. At least I'll retain the dignity of having decent conversations. "

Click here to read the complete post.

UK eLearning Update: Served Fresh By Kineo

Kineo suddenly seems to be everywhere. This UK based learning & development consultancy puts out some solid research from what I have read so far. These guys are clued in and I will be watching what they have to say very closely. By the way, Kineo is greek for 'to move or stir up'

Matt (ex Epic, Futuremedia), Stephen (ex Epic, Cognitive Arts), Steve (ex Epic), Mark (ex Epic)...guys if you are reading this, great job so far. Really cool, fresh website as well!

For now I would recommend taking a look at the UK Market Briefing put out by them. It has the latest from the UK LMS market, and the bespoke eLearning market. Click here for the short audio version.

From the report:

"The Indian suppliers have placed more emphasis on a UK based account team and are becoming more sophisticated and competitive in their offerings. This will put pressure on margins unless suppliers can reduce their cost bases. Suppliers are seeking to reduce their cost base by offshoring elements of the e-learning development process. The offshoring has focused primarily on programming, flash development and testing. Whilst there have been attempts at offshoring design, graphics and scripting these have proved less successful*. The cultural issues in all three of these elements are difficult to overcome. However, there can be no question that offshoring is affecting pricing and forcing bespoke e-learning suppliers to look to streamlined tools and processes to reduce costs."

*I would like to differ slightly here and say, partly as a follow up to my previous post, that the large Indian vendors in the UK space such as Tata and NIIT have been investing in growing their teams and hiring local talent in instructional design, and media to overcome obstacles of cultural issues. And this strategy is proving to be successful and one that will be emulated by all non-local vendors who have the capacity to fund such expansions into their key markets.

Training Budgets Booming

Source: Inside Training newsletter, Training magazine

According to an Internet survey of 3,100 senior human resource and development professionals conducted in December by Waco, Texas-based Equation Research for Novations Group, a consultancy in Boston, two-thirds of major U.S. companies will maintain or increase employee training and development (T&D) this year. Only 7.3 percent plan to cut T&D, though one quarter of respondents were uncertain of their budgets at the time the survey was conducted.

That breaks down to 32.1 percent that will increase T&D, 36.5 percent that will maintain their level of spending, 7.3 percent that will reduce and 24.1 percent that do not know yet.

Perhaps even better, it seems that nearly all employees will benefit from the expanded budgets. On the question of who would be receiving T&D over the next year, respondents reported that 90.5 percent would go to first-line employees, 86.9 percent would be directed to entry-level workers, 81 percent would be received by those in middle-level roles and 70.8 percent would be used to enhance the skills of senior-level executives.

Via NetDimensions

eLearning Ireland

Fact: Ireland now has over 60 e-Learning companies.

Thats as many, give or take a few, as India has. In November 2002, the Irish Government devised its strategy to position Ireland as a global leader in the digital content industry with emphasis on e-Learning apart from digital games, digital libraries, telematics and wireless services, and non-media applications.

Over 280 companies are estimated to be involved in the development of digital products and services in Ireland.  Similar to international trends, the industry has developed in clusters, namely in the digital film and television, business publishing (including web design) and e-learning areas.  The primary cluster is located in Dublin, where it is estimated that about 87% of the companies are based.  Other clusters exist in Limerick, primarily in the e-learning area, and in Galway and Cork. (These numbers are from a mid-2003 report)

Ireland has thrown up companies such as SmartForce and WBT and houses major development efforts for groups such as NetG. The Irish government has been proactive in providing tax incentives to this sector. Smaller Indian companies have traditionally hankered for business from players like Riverdeep and ThirdForce. It is now time to see the larger picture which is one of increasing competition from Irish companies.

Reference: http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single4992

Key Account Management - Resources

Here is an excellent resource from Insight Marketing for your key account management activities. If key account management is your mandate, then download the 'KAM Planning Document' now! Download File

I will be updating this section with new and interesting resources related to KAM as I come across them.

E-learning Market Will Get More Competitive

According to new analysis from Frost & Sullivan (www.commapps.frost.com), "U.S. E-Learning Systems Market," revenues in the e-learning market are projected to reach $12.18 billion by 2010.

The analysis says that the entry of global computer giants into the e-learning market is a cause of considerable concern among existing vendors. In a bid to promote awareness of their brands and increase market share, they are pumping more money into their marketing and product development efforts.

The Mechanics of Presenting

Research indicates that what you look like and how you deliver information communicate the majority of your message. This isn’t to say that content is unimportant, it just means that it needs to be clear, concise and to the point. It also means that you need to make sure that your message isn’t diminished by your physical delivery. To avoid distracting body language and to learn how to support your message through physical delivery, it is important to understand the mechanics of presenting. Check out this paper by Tom Mucciolo, President, MediaNet Inc. Download PDF

Training Top 100

Heres a profile by Training Mag of the top 5 companies from their training top 100 list as well as the ranking for the rest of the companies on the list. Download file

Creating Sales Superstars

What makes the difference between an outstanding salesperson — a star player who consistently meets or exceeds sales goals — and someone who, year after year, plods along at barely acceptable levels? This is an interesting white paper from AchieveGlobal that seeks to identify what salespeople actually do and say to achieve - or undermine - their success and the role played by their organizations in this success or failure. Download PDF