Spending Your Money Wisely with Agencies

In my years as a graphic artist, medical illustrator, videographer, web developer, and other things creative, I've found myself on both sides of a fence that often divides a flashy, "outside" agency and an ambitious yet budget-minded client. I've been the artist executing projects for agencies and the manager running those projects, and I've also been the client in need of hiring those agencies when I worked for a large medical device company.

Project fluctuations don't give corporations the luxury of always having in-house staff develop things, so the need for outsourcing to qualified contractors will almost always exist. But how do you know which agency to hire? How do you know their price is right? How can you get great work at the best price? The following is a list of tips to help you feel good about the relationships you have with outside agencies and how to maximize the return you get on these investments:

Experience
You'll spend less money in the end when you work with an agency that understands your industry and "gets it." There's no substitute for direct experience in your business when it comes to maximizing the value added by an outside agency. Fewer things will need to be explained and more pro-active solutions will be suggested when you choose an agency that understands where you've been, where you are, and where you're headed.

Agency or Freelancer?
I've worked as both. The freelancer in me used to freak out at the rates I saw agencies charge. Sometimes I still do! But the longer I've worked, the more I realize their place and the value they provide. It's very difficult to find a freelancer who can do it all: conceptualize, hold informed conversations, manage projects, bid accurately, program computers, edit video, take photos, design graphics, and write great content. Oh, and you need it when? Freelancers have their place and should be utilized when appropriate, but often agencies are the only fit for large-scale projects that require all of the above and sometimes come with a short timeline. Also, consider the alternative of having to hire someone separate for each facet of a project. You likely won't have time to research and manage multiple resources. This is where agencies shine. The ability to provide those services "under one roof" can sometimes command a higher price tag than that of a freelancer, but keep in mind the overhead required to have resources like that ready at a moment's notice. Bottom line, focus on the value that they bring to you and your business.

Be organized.
Nothing eats up a project budget faster or is harder to swallow on an invoice than the infamous "PM Time.” Project management is not very tangible, but is necessary on large-scale projects. It's hard to budget because it's highly dependent on responsiveness from the client. Remember, it will cost you money every time a scheduled meeting with an agency gets postponed or isn't productive. No area of a project is easier to reduce the costs of than this, if a client simply remains organized and prepared. By telling the agency ahead of time how much time you can commit to a project and sticking to it, they will be able to give accurate estimates and you will best remain on-budget in this area. If you stray from this commitment, you can expect your budget to stray. Remember to budget not only money but time, too, on projects with outside agencies. The less time you can commit to them (meaning the agency has to do this work) the more you can expect to pay, so it stands to reason that a commitment of more time means a cost savings in the end.

I've Got an Idea!
Great agencies will be full of ideas. They will listen to you, ask great questions, and then proactively offer solutions to address your issues. They will also have the ability to think ahead and can foresee your "next steps" once one project is successful. Sometimes this means more cost upfront, but in the long run, the best ideas will give the most overall value.

...Ask What You Can Do for Your Agency
Sometimes taking on the work yourself is a great way of saving you money. Sometimes, it isn't and leads to more time for the agency in the end. How do you find out? Ask! A good agency will be open to recommending what things will save them time and money and what won’t. Content development, resource assembly, and reviews/edits are often areas a client can contribute to and reduce overall costs.

The Portfolio Says it All
If you don't love it their prior work, you won't love the work they do for you. Seeing examples of an agency’s work should inspire you and get you excited to see your "stuff" in place of their sample client work. If it doesn't, don't hire them.

I hope these tips will help empower you in your search for the right agencies to work with. With a little knowledge and a commitment to your projects, the right agency will often stand out to you in your search. Remember, the efforts involved in finding great new agencies to work with can sometimes be as difficult as finding good new clients for your own business when one is lost, so always appreciate what a good agency brings to the table. Successful contractor relationships will either make you or save you money in the long run.

Presentation Tips

How often to you attend a training presentation that is interesting, compelling and memorable? The proportion of great presentations to poor ones should be much higher, considering the few, simple principles that elevate a mediocre presentation to greatness. Here are two tips for today:

Presentation Slideware
Go to black screen as much as you can, by pressing the "b" key on your keyboard. Bring back the slides by pressing "b" again. Try to spend as little time as possible on slides. Impossible? Consider these points:

• Watching a PowerPoint presentation and listening to a speaker at the same time doesn't increase retention, it reduces it! How well do you listen to someone and read at the same time? Reading and listening results in cognitive overload and very low retention levels. If all you're going to do is read you slides to the class, save everyone some time and simply send out your notes.

BAD

• Trainers don't just share information: they convince, expound, motivate, illustrate, and inspire. How well can you do that standing off to the side of a darkened room while everyone looks at a screen? If you want to motivate a group, you have to see the whites of their eyes, and they have to see yours--without a screen coming between you.

• Think you're reaching the visual learners? Not with a screen full of bullet points. There is nothing picturesque about a bunch of bullet points on a screen, and they are not stored in the learners' brains as visual images.

• OK, OK, you can use a slide deck when necessary. Need to show a new product, or the method to deploy a new device? Go ahead, pictures are fine--they're worth a thousand words, after all. But if you need to convince your learners to sell that product, or to believe that this really is an improved technique, you'd better turn off the projector, turn on the lights, and look them in the eye.

GOOD

Tell a Story
Trainers need to do more than create an intellectual connection with their learners--they need to reach the heart and gut. If you want people to embrace your ideas, you've got to reach them emotionally. How do you do it? Stories.

A great presentation is a series of brief, relevant stories that anchor a key point. Stories are engaging, convincing, and memorable. Don't just give your audience sales statistics from a pilot program testing a new sales approach--tell them the story of a sales rep who saw her sales skyrocket. You want them to pay attention to the proper deployment technique for a medical device? Share the horror story of the rep who didn't pay attention.

Use stories to not only illustrate and anchor your key points, but also to drive home the benefit to the learner--and watch them sit up and focus on every word you say.

How to reduce your training expenses by 30% or more

Would you like to free up 30% of your training budget? Are you constantly requesting a budget increase for training only to granted with a hold or decrease? Is most of your time spent bouncing from training session to training session, week after week?

You may be suffering from the trainer’s dilemma. What is the corporate trainer’s dilemma? It is a very common pattern seen in company after company all around the world. Here’s what it looks like. A company hires a training manager. Many times this training manager is a subject matter expert for the area in which they have stewardship. The new training manager does what any trainer should and what management expect--train. They set up classes, labs, and events to train their learners on whatever knowledge and skills are needed. If the learners are located off-site, the trainer either brings them in to corporate or travels to conduct regional trainings. Year after year, the program grows and the need for training grows. More classes are added, more travel is required, and more trainers are needed to support the additional classes. Fairly soon there are so many events that a training coordinator is needed to keep track of them. It doesn’t take long for a training budget to creep into the millions when building a program in this way. Once the company reaches a tolerance for training spend, the budget becomes limited and scrutinized. What is the training manager to do? They need to respond to the growing need for training, but don’t have the resources to meet those needs. In the process they are working themselves to a frazzle traveling from city to city with a cell phone in their ear during breaks. This is the trainer’s dilemma.

What if the trainer’s dilemma could be solved? Many training managers are doing this by implementing a high-impact eLearning program. Notice the qualifier “high-impact” before eLearning. This differs from the average eLearning program familiar to most people. Experts state that a majority of eLearning programs in place at corporations today are either underutilized or not used at all. Why? Because they aren’t high-impact. A high-impact eLearning program gets learner buy-in and fosters retention through using the latest techniques on multimedia learning theory, attractive and visually stimulating interactions, creative implementation of concepts, and a variety of digital mediums (video, animation, 3D, games, and simulations) to create a high-impact learner experience.

What happens when a high impact eLearning program is employed as part of an overall training strategy? Growth occurs without the expense of live training and without productive time lost due to travel. Let’s look at a real world example.

Meet Susan

Susan is a real world corporate trainer with responsibility to train both field-based representatives and in-house employees. Her budget is $1,000,000 and she has just hired an additional person to assist her with management of the program and facilitation of courses. She offers 40 courses per year at various locations around the United States, but most are located at corporate.

Susan’s budget before implementing a high-impact eLearning program

$750,000 Travel, hotel, facilities, and meals for trainees
$80,000 Second trainer’s salary
$40,000 Print materials (development and production)
$130,000 Misc. (special programs, professional development, etc.)
$1,000,000 TOTAL

What if Susan took $100,000 of that training budget and invested it into building a high-impact eLearning program?

• She could replace some of the days and hours of didactic and knowledge-based training with online training, which allows fewer days in the classroom and less unproductive time spent traveling



• Suddenly the time spent in the classroom would be spent on high-impact activities like scenarios, role playing, or lab work instead of information transfer.



• Once she started to build the base program, she could continue replacing low-impact classroom time with high-impact eLearning and capitalizing on her initial investment



• Now that she has converted her classroom time to all high-impact, she also has less need for an extra person to manage and facilitate. Her new Learning Management System (LMS) can do this for her in just a couple minutes per day.

Susan’s budget 3 years after implementing a high impact eLearning program

$400,000 Travel, hotel, facilities, and meals for trainees
$20,000 Print materials (development and production)
$100,000 High-Impact eLearning budget
$100,000 Misc. (special programs, professional development, etc.)
$620,000 TOTAL

Susan is a hero!
She reduced her training expenses and increased her effectiveness. Now, instead of 40, one-week long courses, she facilitates 25 courses that are only a day or two and have more of a workshop feel than a traditional classroom feel. She also has one less person to manage. She uses an LMS to manage all of the things that used to take her hours.

If you would like to learn more about creating a high impact eLearning program, the friendly folks at Maestro eLearning would be glad to help you plan your resolution to the trainer's dilemma.

10 Sites Every Training Manager Must Know

The internet is a wonderful, powerful tool for developing any training program. Everyday we find new ways to simplify and streamline processes and exchange information. Below are sites that are high-impact tools for low cost.

box.net—Want to provide access to 100s of megs, even gigs of information and have it be password protected? Want groups of people to see only one source of information? Want others to be able to provide the same? This site provides an easy way to share and manage FTP services.

Bonus: There is a free option or minimal costs per month based on number of users and storage space needed.

yousendit.com—Need to send someone a 100MB video today? Enables users to send, receive and track large files on-demand over the internet, replacing the need for FTP transfers, overnight couriers or email attachments to no where.

Added value: There are services to meet the needs of individual, business and corporate usage.

PBwiki.com— Gone are the days of having to manage emails from multiple sources and remember which is important, which needs follow up and which is the latest version. Wikis provide simple, secure collaboration in a centralized location for an easy way to post text or documents so a group can make comments or reviews.

Added bonus: This site includes WSIWYG editing tools, storage space, automatic email notifications and access controls.

WordPress.com—Set up a free blog and write interesting commentary that relates to your training topic. Blogs can be used as pre-learning or follow-up commentary. Blogs are also great tools for providing just-in-time updates on products, sales specs, technical bulletins, etc. Encourage your learners to express themselves on the blog as well. Everyone will benefit from others' successes.

Added value: More communication and learner exchange without another meeting.

SurveyMonkey.com—Find out where your learner’s heads are by requesting they fill out an online survey. Easy to setup and create with no additional software or long-term commitments. You can evaluate the effectiveness of your program or marketing.

Added bonus: Results can downloaded and analyzed.

Localendar.com—Set up a calendar to schedule one-on-one’s. Just as professors have office hours, you can post open slots so that your learners can schedule individual time with you without the hassle of back-and-forth communications.

Added value: The calendars are customizable and can be added to a website or blog.

InstantConference.com—Always wanted to record your call but didn’t know how or didn’t want to hassle with reserving access codes with your company? This site answers provides your own national call-in number and more; up to 150 people on a call for as much as six hours of time!

Bonus: it has features like conference summary reports emailed for free. See who was on for how long!

LinkedIn.com—A professional network for the exchange of information, ideas and opportunities. LinkedIn has options to start your own professional group as well as learn more about people you teach or contact. It’s free and offers many options for connecting with others in your related field, company, topic or school.

Bonus: Referrals are a great pat on the back.

istock.com— Bring your presentations to life with vivid images. Reduce the text on screen and tell a story with a compelling photo. Find royalty-free photos, illustrations, and video very quickly and efficiently. This pay per use site has just added subscription options so if you have a month you know will need many visuals you can get what you need at a reduced price. Good quality and reliability and lots of choices for almost every key word.

Added bonus: Check out the dollar bin button for inspirational or seasonal visual solutions.

PresentationZen.com— Captivate your learners. This blog provides ideas EVERY DAY for how to effectively communicate through a presentation. Garr Reynolds has a brilliant perspective on communications. The blog is an off-shoot from the popular book Presentation Zen, and it provides both instruction and inspiration.

Added value: Connections to other sites, books and links for more inspriation!

Healthcare Compliance Training Done Right

It's that time of year again...GROAN.

Why does everyone feel this way about compliance training? Is it maybe because they are forced into an inconvenient situation of poorly constructed required training that doesn't apply to their job? What if there was another option?

Healthcare industry representatives have specific needs and interests when it comes to compliance training programs such as HIPAA, Bloodborne Pathogens, and Operating Room Protocol. Personal and patient safety can be directly affected by the proper training through programs such as these. Adverse events can be avoided through behavior change if the learner finds the training relevant, convenient, and engaging. Too often, compliance training programs are structured in a way that interfere with the basic needs of a learner.

The Basic Needs of a eLearner

Safety - Is the content true and correct? Does the provider have credibility? Will my learning be assessed fairly?

Relevance - Does this apply to my job or life? How will this training help me?

Esteem - Will I be recognized for good work?

Self-Actualization - Will I have the opportunity to make choices for myself? Will I be able to be successful?

Maestro eLearning has created a series of compliance training courses specifically for the healthcare industry representative (medical, pharmaceutical, and bio-tech reps). These courses have been designed by representatives for representatives. With a simple purchase process, engaging interactive content, and relevant topics, these courses provide exactly what the learner needs in the way they need it. AORN certification on specific courses allows CE credit for individuals needing contact hours.

Maestro Compliance Training Library

• Bloodborne Pathogens


• OR Protocol


• HIPAA


• Radiation Safety


• Healthcare Compliance (aka Advamed)

Visit the compliance training store to learn more http://www.maestroelearning.com/products/compliance/

The Nine "Musts" of a Corporate Learning Management System

What LMS partner is the right one? How do I make a decision? What factors should I really be concerned about? What pitfalls should I avoid?

These are all terrific questions that aren't easy to answer. With over 800 LMS platforms to choose from in North America alone, it can become a full time job just searching for the right LMS. Many companies seem to switch LMS platforms every couple years because they can't seem to find the right partner. It doesn't have to be like that. Here are some tips that will help cut through the clutter and possibly save you days (or even weeks) of searching. If an LMS doesn't meet the criteria below, keep looking.

A corporate LMS must:

1. Only require a half day of training (or less) to become an expert. If it requires more, you must question how intuitive the system is and how enjoyable it will be to use.

2. Be so intuitive that it can easily be administered by support staff in less than a few hours per week. Busy training professionals should be spending time on high impact activities like human development, not building query logic for reporting.

3. Require no time or support from IT. (boycott help desk tickets)

4. Have a simple pricing structure and purchase process.

5. Include training and support as part of one reasonable price. If a company offers these for an additional fee, how confident are they about the ease of use of their product? They probably know you’ll be calling too often.

6. Have a clean, simple, and appealing user interface for both learners and administrators. Learner buy in is extremely important and a cluttered page of links and options causes confusion and anxiety.

7. Support your training program by facilitating the infrastructure for a centralized training hub. This includes online courses, searchable resource library, calendar registration for instructor lead training and events, immediate learner access to transcripts and certificates.

8. Support engaging SCORM compliant multimedia (video, 3D, flash) content authored on a variety of platforms. Expectations of training materials are raised every day as learners are exposed to great multimedia everywhere else on the web.

9. Offer branding capability to support your precious brand. Your learners should feel at home in the learning portal.

Additional thoughts for healthcare companies....

Healthcare companies have very specific needs when it comes to choosing the right Learning Management System. Not only does a healthcare company require the standard set of features found on any LMS, they also require features that support the strict regulatory environment in which they are operating. It is important to clearly identify any necessary features and requirements prior to researching solutions.