ASTD 2001

Orlando, June 2001

 
Here are the handouts from the entire conference.

Every conference should adopt this idea.

 

Conny Weggen, WR Hambrecht

Pat Galaghan, ASTD Editor in Chief

Clark Aldrich, Simulearn

Dave Egan, Thinq

Brook Manville, Saba

Kevin Oakes, Click2Learn

Peter Martin, Jeffries & Co.

Internal Marketing

Mark Van Buren, ASTD Director of Research described the results of a joint ASTD/Masie Center study, E-Learning: If We Build It, Will They Come?

When an employer invites employees to attend a voluntary, work-related eLearning session, only 32% show up. If the eLearning is "mandatory," 69% show up.

The study found that internal marketing gets them there; support keeps them going. Companies that used four out of these five were more successful:
· Testimonials
· Formal communication
· Inform people more than once
· Internal champion
· Use managers to tell them about the course

Blend is a better draw than "e" only.

People begin an eLearning portion because of the learner's view of
· Value of the skills taught
· Extent of support
· Non-financial incentives
· Unfamiliar technology
· Course perceived as voluntary

Four out of five learners were satisfied. Subject matter and tech support were key to satisfaction.

38% preferred eLearning to classroom learning. 31% preferred classroom to eLearning.

Mark noted that a learner identifies all eLearning with his or her first eLearning experience. A learn will say, "I'm taking Digitial Think" or "I'm taking Saba." If this first experience leaves a bad taste in the learner's mouth, it taints all subsequent eLearning experiences. Few vendors offer e-orientation before plunging into content. This creates an overload for first-timers. (Internet Time Group advises its customers to provide a prerequisite, free-standing, how-to-learn-here module.)

N.B.: The ASTD/Masie study only addressed eLearning starters. FInishers could make for a truly dismal study.

Pat Galaghan led a most informative panel session.

First question, "Content was king; now apparently LMS is king." What happened?

  • Training landed on a larger playing field, human capital management.
  • Content comes and goes; LMS is infrastructure, more lasting.
  • LMS is the key to efficient administration, internal communications.

(Or, as Cisco's Tom Kelly says, "Content is king; infrastructure is God.")

Clark's taxonomy of eLearning has six major components:
1. Off the shelf content
2. LMS
3. Virtual classroom
4. Content management
5. Integration (e.g. the Big Five)
6. Cusomer content

LMS hail from Oracle, Peoplesoft, SAP. Users want simpler ways to manage skills.

Kevin: standards are weak. (AICC is so old that determining what version you're compatible with is an issue). The pieces of the eLearning puzzle don't fix together tightly.

Dave: the issue isn't monarchy, it's putting that puzzle together.

Brook: there can't be a king because you need it all.

Clark: it's the small-chunk vendors who are most religious about standards.

Kevin: SCORM. Who knows what it stands for? (No hands go up.) Covers standards for content and for LMS.

Dave: But standards generally reflect the past, not the future.

Clark: SCORM has no clue how to handle sims.

Alliances

Peter: Lots of moving parts in an eLearning system.

Brook: The important aspect is what business processes are imbedded in the LMS. ERP doesn't have what's needed.

Clark: "What's the ROI of eLearning?" is a dumb question. It's situational.

Predictions

Conny: Consolidation (partly because the Big 5 will acquire). LMS underpriced compared to other enterprise software.

Clark: Incredible changes coming. Prices are going down, not up. Anyone who thinks more than two years out when making buy decisions is fooling himself.

Dave. Enterprise penetration. The "e" is history.

Brook: Integration. HCM. New convergences. (Kudzu)

Kevin: EPSS

Peter: vendor bumps. Europe will be tougher than people expect. M-Learning.

Last year the American Society for Training and Development became just ASTD. This year Training & Development became just T+D. The new format is certainly more inviting; the look is clean, contemporary, professional.

On the Expo floor, the eLearning companies had gigantic exhibits. These were surrounded by 10x10 and 10x20 booths of the traditional training vendors. The contrast was amusing.

You have to love a book title like Flip Chart Power: Secrets of the Masters. Or how about Showmanship for Presenters: 40 Proven Training Techniques from Professional Performers?" Be the 'star' of your session or presentation with these fabulous theatrical techniques! You'll learn the secrets of popular entertainers and use them, along with your own personal style, to elicit interest laughter, and applause from your audience."

Yahoo!

If you didn't figure out the message of the simplistic book, now you can take the course.
   

IBM Mindspan Rocks!

The Docent racecar has about as much to do with an LMS as the exhibits in competitors' LMS displays.

Duelling Aloha shirts, the Centra team in blue, 24/7 University in black/red/green.

Elliott Masie visits virtually.

Vendor marketing (1)

I stopped by nearly every major vendor's booth, asking, "What have you got?" or "What have you got that's different from what everyone else has got?"

Every single vendor began telling me what they had, rather than asking me what I needed. Eventually, one in three asked, "What is Internet Time Group?" I would say that I advise eLearning vendors and their customers. How many probed beyond that? None.

Isn't this odd? No one asked me what problem I was trying to solve. No one asked what I do for eLearning customers. This is a far cry from consultative selling. (When I mentioned this to Wayne Hodgins after the conference, he said, "Even the used car salesmen do better than that. They ask, 'What are you looking for?'")

If I were talking with a marketing manager or company executive, I'd dig deeper.

  • Have you documented what your customers feel they're receiving in terms of ROI?
  • Do you have substantive case studies of your product in action? Do you have at least half a dozen solid, referenceable accounts?
  • Can you explain how your offering fits in if XYZ is already in place? Do you have routines for dealing with legacy systems and content?
  • Do you do lost deal analysis? Have you ever had a third party ask your prime accounts what they think of you?
  • If a prospect is hung up making decisions on eLearning (which in turn holds up your sales), do you have services to accelerate their decision-making process?

I'm a tough customer and I'm biased. I wasn't in selling mode but Internet Time Group now offers these very services to eLearning vendors. My questions were market research. Providing marketing services to eLearning vendors appears to be a great opportunity.

KnowledgeNet displayed a new level of chutzpah, giving side-by-side comparisons of SmartForce, Digital Think, and their own stuff. Most people saw through the gimmick.

Cisco's Tom Kelly
"The more you invest in people's future, the less likely they are to leave. In high tech, people stay where they can stay current."

Cisco believes eLearning is a holistic change, not just a training situation.

Email - people spend an hour or two a day, and they do it in five-to-ten minute chunks. With sufficiently small chunks, they can do the same thing with eLearning. Cisco believes in a personal learning web site for each learner, akin to an email box. You or your manager can see if you're keeping up with the learning aspects of your job.

At Cisco, eLearning takes 40%-60% less time to get to the same place. Saved $35-50 million in travel the first year.

"At Cisco, everything is on the web. I have a file cabinet in my office; I keep shirts in it."


"Build your ideal employee" works only
if you want to employ Mr. Potato Head.

Unlike Cisco, trainers will never go paperless.

Kinko's sold lots of handouts at $3 a pop.

My shutter wasn't fast enough to catch AchieveGlobal's trampoline stars.

 

 

 

Vendor marketing (2)

What vendor claims this?

"Our award-winning eLearning business solutions mobilize organizations to meet strategic objectives and provide measurable business results. "

And who is this?

"Our eLearning services are transforming companies into more agile businesses that swiftly adapt to change and continuously accelerate their performance."

Vendors desperately need to differentiate themselves in this me-too marketplace, but instead most claim to be able to do everything. Think you know the players? Take our quiz.

 Rules? We don't need no stinkin' rules.
   

Distance education without the net.
One evening we were treated to a thrilling light show and thunderstorm. When I left the Conference Center for the airport Wednesday, rain was coming down in buckets.

 

 
   

 

  
   

 

  
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