Imagine a movie that debuts in the theaters without anyone knowing in advance it is coming. Would that film succeed? Not likely. Hollywood knows better. Even a terrible movie can be pushed over $1000,000,000 by imaginative publicity. Consider this summer’s blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean. In spite of the fact that the movie is a sequel to a popular film, Disney took no chances. There were TV commercials, inserted mentions on Disney’s ABC network, reports about historical pirates on TV networks Disney has an ownership stake in, including the History Channel and Lifetime, a web site, tie-ins at Disney theme parks, children’s meals at fast food places, a website with interactive features, Pirate’s themed cell phone rings tones and Pirates video games. All these efforts were directed towards a goal of making potential attendees aware of, and exciting about attending, the upcoming release.
Now imagine the members of two different business teams both signed up to attend the same training event. On one team, there is no communication about the coming event. It simply creeps up on the attendee. The attendee’s leader doesn’t realize that the team member will be gone for the day and asks for a project deliverable. When the leader discovers that the team member will be at training, the leader’s face shows consternation. During the event, the leader pages the attendee twice with questions about the project. After the training event, the leader tells the team member that he is glad to have the team member back on the job because of some pressing issue that was stalled while the team member attended the training. The training is never again mentioned.
On the other team, the attendee receives information about the event in advance. The trainer emails the future attendee, introducing herself, stating the course objectives, suggesting preparatory readings and assignments and offering support in any way possible. The attendee receives a hard copy official invitation in the mail expressing excitement about their upcoming attendance. Included are directions to the training location and expectations about what to wear, when lunch will likely be, and when the course will likely end.
This team member’s leader approaches the team member in advance and mentions the upcoming training. That leader begins the discussion with enthusiasm, saying, “Hey. I see that you are attending the training next week. Good for you. It’ll help you meet our team goals.” The leader then asks the team member what expectations that attendee has for the training. After receiving a response, the leader concludes by saying, “I’d like your observations about the course. I’d like to know how you plan to apply what you learn back here on the job. Let’s discuss it in our next one-on-one meeting.”
Both scenarios occur in real life. Unfortunately, the former is more likely than the latter. The cost of the second approach is high. One study indicated that 30% of all attendees do not try the new learning out when they return to the job and another 10% try some facet of the learning but soon abandon it. That effectively leaves the trainer with a success rate of 10%.
Just like the Hollywood movie scenario, a learning event without successful marketing will likely fail. How can you, like Hollywood, “market” your training. You do not of course have control over the actions of leadership. But there are other things you could do to stage the environment.
For the learner
Send out expectations in advance
Explain the learning objectives in advance
Call and introduce yourself
Ask the trainee what their hoped-for learnings will be
Create an information sharing blog for past attendees and invite the future attendee to visit it
Send an action-planning document
For the learner’s leader
Talk to the leader and explain the learning objectives
Ask what the leader would hope the learner gains from attending the class
Send an engraved presentation to the event to the learner’s leader for presentation to the trainee
Send the diploma from the class to the learner’s leader for presentation to the learner
Provide the future
The downside of such a marketing approach is that, like Hollywood, no amount of advance publicity can make a bad event work for very long. The public cannot be fooled for long. Your event must be stellar if you hope to successfully stage the next event. In addition, a movie cannot play if no theater will carry it. A team leader who doesn’t value the training program will not be supportive. Learning professionals can only control what is within their scope. That control of course includes the quality and aptness of class itself. But in a larger sense that control also includes the reputation of the training team. If the training you deliver is perceived as relevant and timely, leadership will be more inclined to support learner attendance.
The responsible trainer is the one who insures that, like the Hollywood movie promotion team, every possible avenue for furthering the message is used. For although training does not have Hollywood sized budgets, if you stage the surroundings, you can still produce a blockbuster.
Lenn Millbower, BM, MA, the Learnertainment
Tags: classroom, learning retention, presentations, seminars, training, training results, transfer of learning