Speed dating for business

SBA Business Matchmaking, Ft. Lauderdale

I attended the small business administration’s (SBA) business matchmaking event last week and the best way to describe it is speed dating for business. The one day event was held down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and sponsored by the small business administration and Hewlett-Packard. The format of the business matchmaking event was very similar to speed dating. Buyers and sellers provided information prior to the event and were then matched up. The seller was then provided with all their matches and they could make appointments based on the buyer's availability. Prior to the event, I was fortunate enough to set 10 meetings with potential buyers.

The event was held on the 16th of November and it was extremely successful, not only identifying potential leads but also networking with other small businesses. As a marketing and sales professional it was refreshing to spend some time with 'real' people. All sales people can identify with the frustration of trying to get a real person on the phone or sending out a myriad of emails to potential clients with no results. It was great spending a day with potential buyers from across the country chatting about your specific solutions and networking with other motivated small business execs.

I would highly recommend these events to both buyers and sellers. The schedule of upcoming events for next year will be published at the beginning of 2007 and I will definitely be checking it out as soon as the registration opens.

eLearning risk & SCORM

Why are people important in developing CBT programs?

Each eLearning project is different. Each project is different in terms of scope, objectives, audience, method of deployment, infrastructure, size of customer’s company, eLearning elements included in the program, budget etc. What does stay constant is that people are involved in all aspects of the project. My intention with the last couple of blog entries has not been to detail every risk associated with developing an eLearning project. Quite contrary, I think that many of the risks can be mediated by selecting a vendor that is interested in working with you. Make sure that the company has a strong track record, dealing with various different projects. In addition, make sure that the vendor has a strong focus on project management. Much like any other project in business, developing a computer based training program requires a cross functional team working towards a common goal. Your eLearning vendor should be able to assist and guide you with dealing with your local computer infrastructure, computer setup, testing procedures and more. Ultimately eLearning vendor selection is the first and most important step towards having a positive experience with developing a training solution that meets your specific needs. Each eLearning project is different and the solution should meet those needs.

Moving to SCORM

Over the next few weeks I will be looking into SCORM. I will give you some introductory resources as well as looking at some shortfalls with the standard.

eLearning risk article

I found a great article that addresses some of the risks associated with eLearning development. The article also provides an overview of risk paradigms and mitigation strategies. Interestingly the authors point to the fact that most risk assessment studies focus on IT/software projects and very little research has been conducted on eLearning projects. The authors cite several studies that highlight the importance of social/cultural obstacles to successful eLearning development.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/risk_assessment_guidance.doc

Can anyone provide me with studies that specifically deal with eLearning cases?
Any idea why these studies are not more numerous considering the depth of computer based training programs?

eLearning: The intersection between people and technology

eLearning is not developed in a vacuum, nor is it implemented in a vacuum. In other words, technology is not people independent. This may seem like a very basic statement, but in my experience the intersection between people and technology is generally the point of breakdown for many computer based programs.

Obviously there are basic cases where eLearning programs are so marred by bad coding that the program doesn’t work at all. This can easily be avoided by doing some homework on the vendor prior to using their services. Furthermore, the customer should force the vendor to outline a vigorous quality assurance/testing process. Using rapid prototyping also allows the customer to test as the program develops, thereby avoiding major flaws being discovered during Beta testing.

Let’s assume that the majority of eLearning failures are not represented by the above case. What other issues could be causing failures? From a developer’s perspective the answer is pretty straight forward: people. People are involved in the development process, deployment process, testing process and support process. This means that you will need to draw on many resources within your company as well as within your vendor’s company to be successful.

The simpler your deployment platform the less issues you should experience. Deploying a program on CD is a lot easier and less complicated than deploying a program that requires interaction with network drive databases, learning or content management systems. The more moving parts your program has, the higher the risk of issues occurring. In other words the more complicated the program is the more moving parts you have and as a result the higher your rate of failure may be. Complicated programs also require the involvement of more people.

If you’re disheartened don’t be. Implementing an eLearning program can be complicated. The easiest way to avoid massive failures is to start with a small project. If this is the first time you’re using a computer program to train people then you need to start small. You need to develop and test your infrastructure before going bigger. Your company needs to build the necessary social and technological infrastructure and a small program is a great way to start. If you have existing computer based training programs then your people and technology network may be pretty effective already. Any eLearning program requires a strategy to deal with development, implementation, testing and maintenance. Select a vendor with experience and a willingness to work with your people. Ultimately any technology is only as good as the people that developed, deployed and supported it. eLearning is not developed in a vacuum, nor is it implemented in a vacuum.

Why focus on eLearning risk?

Why focus on eLearning risk rather than success?

It may seem interesting to many that I have decided to focus my early eLearning blog entries on the topic of risk and more specifically the risk of developing new eLearning projects. You may be asking yourself why I decided to tackle such a controversial topic. Why focus on risk rather than reward? Why not focus on all the positives related to eLearning development?

There are two main reasons for focusing on risk. The first one is a personal objective. I would like to see if I can get you (the readers) to share your experiences with me. Our company (Cyber Media Creations) has an exceedingly good track record with the development of new computer based programs and I will share my thoughts on why this is the case with you over the next couple of months. By focusing on this topic I am hoping to get your thoughts and your stories as I would like to see whether the common pitfalls and challenges that we have identified and remedied hold true across the board. I have written several white papers on Vendor selection, eLearning development and the implementation of eLearning standards such as SCORM, which I think are important to a successful development process. However, having a blog affords me the opportunity to ask you what your experience with eLearning has been. Was your project successful? Was it delivered on time? What the positives and negatives? I would like to learn from your experiences and hopefully I can share my thoughts with you.

The second reason for focusing on risk is related to the way that many organizations still view eLearning. It is true that many large corporations have existing learning management systems (LMS), but in my experience many large and medium companies are only now moving into the eLearning sphere. One of the reasons for this is probably because eLearning was initially seen by any as the answer to all their training needs. Many companies jumped in and got burnt early and the horror stories related to these experiences are still being told. My second reason for focusing on risk is to discuss the risks related to eLearning development and to demonstrate to the skeptics that eLearning is not the double headed dragon that many make it out to be. On the flip side it is also not the answer to all your training needs. Not to sound too clichéd, but eLearning is what you make of it. If you approach the development of a new eLearning program with caution and realistic objectives in mind you will succeed. To do this, you need insight into some of the most common pitfalls. I hope you will join me as we begin this process of discovery. and I look forward to your comments and suggestions.

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