When restrictions are reduced, will companies go back to in-person meetings and training sessions? Or will it stay virtual?
Let’s examine the trend of e-books. In the e-book industry, they predicted that everyone would be reading them. But what happened? They certainly grew, but at the end of the day, they only represent a third of book sales – a lot of people are still buying books. The same will happen with virtual training sessions and meetings.
There are several intangibles to getting together face-to-face with people but counteracting against that is the cost of actually bringing people together for meetings. Think of a typical meeting that may have 10-20 people, it will cost several thousand dollars to get those people to the meeting, especially if they are driving or flying.
Will virtual training continue once restrictions are reduced? Here are some benefits to staying virtual. Click To TweetOld Habits Die Hard
It is an expensive proposition to bring people together. Often, even if it is a training session the cost of all extras such as travel, hotel, and expenses will be even more than the cost of training. Many companies are now examining how to cut down their travel budgets. Their people should have to justify why they need to get together and make sure that there is a true benefit from that.
Ultimately, old habits die hard. Some more seasoned leaders will want to go back to in-person meetings and training sessions. Personally, I am not looking forward to losing travel days and going out to do one or two-day meetings. At the end of the day, the customers will decide.
Our Experience
When we initially offered virtual training, we did not know if it would take. We started with one virtual training studio, and then we made a series of investments where now we have two full multi-camera virtual training studios. We have been getting excellent feedback from our clients as to the impact that it is having. In some cases, we are even doing hybrid sessions where we deliver from the studio, and on-site helpers work with the classroom to make it highly interactive.
In the end, a chunk of business and meetings will stay virtual forever. Companies need to take this as an opportunity to invest strategically into the audio-visual capabilities of their meeting rooms. The biggest challenges for many are, does the camera do a good job of showing everyone and does the audio system allow people to be heard during virtual sessions?
Take this opportunity to ensure that your company is capable, so that the next time you have to send technicians off to learn a new piece of equipment, you can save on travel expenses. This can be done by simply connecting to those vendors using Zoom or Teams, or any other platform that is available to you.
Whether you decide to go virtual or in-person, we are here as your partner to develop the best team leaders, supervisors, and managers that you need to achieve success.
