This year spurred many changes, some of which will be lasting here at CMKG. We are a training company that teaches in many areas related to data & analytics, category management and presentation skills, primarily for retailers and suppliers. Last year required us to pivot our live classroom training into virtual training sessions in the online space – and I’d like to share more about that with you right now.
So first, what do I mean when I refer to virtual training?
Virtual training at CMKG refers to training done online in Zoom or other software to simulate the traditional classroom.
Our training is instructor-led – usually by me — and sometimes with a guest speaker.
Our virtual training sessions are highly interactive and provide an opportunity for participants to roll up their sleeves and get some work done.
Types of Virtual Training
We have different types of virtual training available – whether it’s just in time to meet an immediate need, for a national or regional meeting, spaced out over time, or part of a blended learning program.
We have many topics to draw learnings from to meet your needs – in fact, we have over 70 courses of content. You can choose a topic, choose a series, or work with me to build your own program to meet your specific needs.
In net, we’ve got the content to help you create the best approach for your team and budget.
Virtual Training in Action!
Here’s an example of a more complex example where a client was looking for a blended learning program that combined online courses and virtual training. Their overall goal was to build better insights, and then turn those insights into compelling, fact-based presentations as part of a year-long program. So we built this program with their learning & training team to meet those goals.
See Examples of CMKG.ORG Virtual Training
How Virtual Training Works
Our team also takes on the responsibility of following up with students, nudging them to complete their courses and homework and helping them to successfully complete their program – obviously alongside reinforcement from their managers who we will also nudge with reminders of milestone dates.
With some of our more popular topics we can configure a program with both online course requirements followed by a virtual session. This is a great approach to use because participants come to the session with knowledge that we can then explore further in the virtual session.
For one of our clients who wanted to move their team to more strategic insights and presentation skills over a longer period of time, this became a one-year training program that included an assessment to kick off the extended learning curriculum.
Once again, we'll work with you to determine the best approach for your team.
Engagement is key in virtual training.
A student favorite is the knowledge challenges that we run to test their knowledge in topic areas and to then discuss their answers.
We get them to answer on their mobile devices or in a web browser, then show the correct answer and discuss.
And we even can use leaderboards for a competitive component. These challenges are fun and also a great learning exercise that really keeps individuals on their toes.
Another highly effective engagement tool that we use in virtual training is breakout groups – we can divide students into separate meeting rooms online, get them to work on a task, whether it’s data or a presentation or a role play – and then have them present back to the group.
This option is great for analyzing data and drawing insights, creating or revising content based on learnings, and/or to solve a puzzle or challenge.
In our virtual sessions, students quickly appreciate that they truly are there to learn – we incorporate many tools into the session to ensure they want to stay engaged – and we work with our clients to successfully achieve their goals for the training.
Ready to Start?!
I hope I’ve helped you to better understand our instructor-led virtual training options. In net, we can customize a one-off session or a series with or without an online homework component to help meet your needs. Please contact me or book time to discuss your needs.
