Join Adobe and Brookwood for an informative FREE webinar focused on making the most of your online Meetings and Trainings.

All attendees will receive a free Podcast and whitepaper on eLearning Best Practices.

Use the below registration link to for this free, one-hour sessions.

Tips and Tricks for Using Adobe Connect Pro
November 17, 2009 at 2pm EST; 11am PST

In this content building session, you will expand upon your understanding of Adobe Connect Pro. Learn the tips and tricks to make your meetings great, straight from the pros!

In this free webinar, you will come away with an understanding of:

• Tips for creating a Lobby
• Tricks for tiling pods
• Strategies for opening and closing a meeting with smooth transitioning
• Best practices for screen sharing
• And much more!

http://www.adoberegistrations.com/government/2009/eSeminars/AdoAcroConnectWebinar_200910/index.html  

Laura Haas Business and Budget, Green Solutions, Seminars, Training, eLearning

http://www.adoberegistrations.com/government/2009/eSeminars/AdoAcroConnectWebinar_200910/index.html

Join Adobe and Brookwood for two informative FREE webinars focused on making the most of your online Meetings and Trainings.

All attendees will receive a free Podcast and whitepaper on eLearning Best Practices.

Use the below registration link to register for one or both of these free, one-hour sessions. We recommend you attend both for the best understanding of how to make your online meetings capture the attention of your audience.

The Best of Online Meetings
October 8, 2009 at 2pm EST; 11am PST

In this content building session, you will gain an understanding of how to run a live meeting using Adobe Connect Pro. Find out why so many government agencies, including DISA, Federal Highway, and the State Department chose to use Connect for their online Meetings!

In this free session, you will learn how to:

• Upload Content, including PowerPoint, Flash Objects, and Digital Video
• Use sophisticated audio and video capabilities to give your meeting depth
• Use the reporting engine
• Share content with others in a meeting
• And much more!

Tips and Tricks for Using Adobe Connect Pro
November 17, 2009 at 2pm EST; 11am PST

In this content building session, you will expand upon your understanding of Adobe Connect Pro. Learn the tips and tricks to make your meetings great, straight from the pros!

In this free webinar, you will come away with an understanding of:

• Tips for creating a Lobby
• Tricks for tiling pods
• Strategies for opening and closing a meeting with smooth transitioning
• Best practices for screen sharing
• And much more!

Laura Haas Business and Budget, Green Solutions, Seminars, Training, Twitter/Facebook/Blogging, eLearning

Its funny how extreme circumstances produce extreme behavior.  The economy seems to be crushing the business we used to take for granted.  I look at things a little differently.  My business is booming.  What business you ask?  - eLearning.

Fundementally, my business is something all businesses should be looking to in this economy for communications, training, and knoweldge transfer.  The all encompassing term “eLearning” really should be pared with “eSaving”.  The difficult task for those of you who only have a slight understanding of what eLearning can do for you is the amount of research that you would need to do to find the right solution for your organization.  My suggestion?

Take a step back, if just for a moment, and call on a company who does eLearning for a business.  Now is the time. 

Make a list of what your organization is doing now in way of training, meetings, and other communications, include cost where you can.  Make a scond list of what you feel could change, for the better, though technology - or a eLearning solution for training and communications.  Take one of the ones you picked as an example and call an eLearning expert like Brookwood for a quick discussion.  You might be amazed to learn what can and cannot be done with eLearning and the positive impact what can be done will have on your organization.   This is a great way to explore the possiblities of eLearning, get free advice as well, and learn something along the way.  Who knows, you might end up developing an eLearning solution that will save your organization tons in time, money, and effort just with one call.

We have trained groups large and small for pennies on the dollar, almost eliminated travel expenses for meetings, and created assetts for organizations - just through eLearning solutions. Pretty remarkable,  huh?  www.brookwood.com

Ed Stengel Business and Budget, eLearning

Well, here we are… it’s Friday… could be any Friday, but this one is the first Friday of the 3rd month of the year.  How far along are you with planning, budgeting, and developing your organization’s eLearning program?  Most organizations use the wait and see factor on training because of cost, travel, lodging,  and maybe hard costs like printing - looking to cut corners in a down economy.  Well, these are EXACTLY the reasons you should be in the midst of developing and promoting your organization’s eLearning program.

Did you know that eLearning can actually cut the costs of training in an organization?  All eLearning developed becomes an asset simply by being reusable, easily edited, and because it can be used as a resource for information almost anytime.  Additionally, there are no travel costs, lodging, and most of the time, no printing.  Why is it then that most organizations view eLearning as a wait and see item?  Tradition?  Timing?  Or is it a Trade off?

None of the above… most organizations lack the experience in approach, or resources.  This delays processes and promotes a last minute rush to complete this type of  initiative.  Here are 7 things to consider now, to be able to effectively deploy a successful eLearning program in the next month or two:

1. What is your organization’s learning culture?  Define it and make a online model of it.  The information is right in front of you, now you need to put it online.

2. How will your organization view this change? Is it really a change from how things are done, or just making it better for your organization?  Position your training online as a competitive advantage and a valuable asset for your organization long term.

3.  What are your resources? Define what and who you will need to make eLearning a success in your organization.  Find valuable resource partners (like Brookwood).

4.  What type of training?  What, and more importantly where, is the content you plan to convert to eLearning.  Remember, always start with a topic that speaks to a larger audience to gain acceptance starting out.

5.  What is your strategy?  Planning to deploy effective eLearning will require a map, usually within or part of a blended training program.  See what fits best online, and what works better in person.

6. What’s your budget and whats’ the cost?  Believe it or not, most eLearning has a positive ROI for the organization.  Brookwood can help you with our ROI calculator services.

7.  What is the business case for the implementation of an eLearning program in your organization?  Most organizations utilize eLearning as a competative edge in communications or education, whether internally or externally, where they can deliver a measurable and consistant amount of information.  When planning your business case, where in your organization can you reduce or eliminate training costs via eLearning?  Detail what content needs to be conveyed in a standardized format.  Summarize the benefits in measured results.

Ed Stengel Business and Budget, eLearning Strategy

Did you know that Brookwood has a referral program? Refer 5 NEW people (not in Brookwood’s database) and receive a 1G USB drive as thanks for your participation. If someone you refer to Brookwood registers for a course you will receive a $50 gift card to your choice of: WaWa, Target, Best Buy, or The Olive Garden.

Don’t miss out! This offer expires March 31, 2009 and it limited to one offer per person.

Call 215-717-2788 to learn more or email your list of referrals to laura@brookwood.com to participate.

Laura Haas Business and Budget, Training

The days of classroom based training and education are fading.  Today, more than ever, organizations are seeking to provide more information and training with less cost, effort, and resources.   eLearning is the answer.  A blended learning environment will not only provide information anywhere and any time, but alos reduced training time, paper waste, and becomes a resource that is recycled over and over for maximum ROI.  The abiltiy to edit without waste is a major benefit of eLearning vs. traditional; allowing new content to be utilized with out the traditional outcome of outdated paper based learning when new materials become avaiable.

Ed Stengel Business and Budget, eLearning

There was a time when doing business outside your town, state, country, or continent meant taking a car, bus, train, or plane to get there.  Endless hours of being “on the road”, preparation time like calling a travel agent, or even worse, doing it all yourself.  Then we had to lug all our materials in a briefcase..or two for the big presentation.

That was then… and this is now…

Almost every company world wide is going global.  How?

1. Technology - Technology such as online meetings and web based training, internet based communications have opened up a new world of business beyond our imaginations in 1985…  (So I am dating myself)  Companies have a new business model - a global one, and the successful businesses utilize these technologies daily.

2. Training  - Keeping up with the Smiths and Jones has become keeping up with latest competitive edge of technology that allows for and provides a global out reach, bridging oceans and deserts, ending in a little Cat5e line to the back of their computer.  More and more often I find that anyone is more available and more accessible for an online meeting than in person…most often with amazing results.   People of every walk of life eat this stuff up.

3. Tactic - What is your plan to meet the global needs, and demands of the new century?  Has your organization invested in the latest technology to survive or compete?  More importantly, have you invested to succeed?  Your target market knows what it wants, but do you know what it wants?  First and foremost, a global presence today is needed to survive, a global command to succeed .

4. Timing  - Global organizations knew when to go global… and it’s now.   This is not the internet boom of the late 90’s… this is reality, and to survive at a minimum you need to look and feel like a trusted global organization.  I see it more and more as off shore companies compete for my business.  This begs the question of why not compete for theirs on their home turf?  We will all be competing globally before you realize it.  Catch the wave early.

5. Teamwork - The essential part of any new business model is team work.  There is “no army of one” in a global market.  Organizational knowledge is one of the key factors in a global initiative.  Together the parts of an organization that makes the whole should work together to create a global strategy that works for each and every department, slowly weaving the parts together for a solid foundation to a global business model.

Ed Stengel Business and Budget

In a marketplace of doing more with less, Brookwood can make the defining difference in achieving your training goals. Our years of experience assessing, creating, and deploying enterprise and custom eLearning solutions produce effective and engaging learning results.

From consulting and strategic curriculum development, to custom design, development and enterprise eLearning roll outs, Brookwood has the experience, expertise, and resources to effectively meet your organizational training objectives on time and within budget.

Brookwood Capabilities Include:

• eLearning Strategy and Consulting
• Instructional Design and Support
• Custom Module Development
  • Audio
  • Video
  • Multi-media
  • Assessments
• Strategic API’s
  • eUniversity
  • mLearning
  • Interactive real-time
  • LMS Lite
• eLearning Development Templates
• eLearning Best Practices Guides
• Enterprise eLearning Deployment
• eLearning Support
• Training

Brookwood Partnership Provides:

• Industry Leading Technology and Solutions
• Veteran Experience in Solution Development
• Proven Capabilities that Yield Results

Ed Stengel Business and Budget, eLearning

A green solution (from Brookwood) can extend the budget you have by reducing hard costs associated with traditional business operations.  A green solution incorporates efficient work flow processes though application development that improves processes by reducing or eliminating time, effort, waste, or spending.  Simply streamlining a manual process with workflow automation can impact an organizations bottom line expense in varied ways driving profit margins little by little, and some times great.  How can you improve your organization’s processes today through automation? Think about it, everyone can, how can you?

The implementation of eLearning in place of or in addition to instructor led training may have some up front cost, however the return on investment by deploying a system of knowledge transfer that is easily accessible and self paced will not only reduce the cost of that knowledge, but also can become a competitive advantage overall.  ELearning as part of a blended training program can yield higher results by always being available as a corporate or client resource of information that requires little effort to maintain.  This in and of itself can be a service differentiator that will win extra business for your organization, or provide the right answers to those who seek it, driving visibility and credibility.  How can you implement some type of scalable eLearning program within your organization? It can make a big difference in the way you do business, and the way your clients view your business.

Ed Stengel Business and Budget, eLearning