Resources

Interviews with Jo

We are always pleased to be a guest on webinars for other organisations, and here are some of the best recordings

  • Virtual and hybrid engagement webinar

    This was a small ‘masterclass’ for the ILP Australia, focusing on virtual and hybrid engagement, including great discussion and questions from the audience.

  • Experience Design for the Virtual Classroom and Beyond

    Learning Experience Design, LXD, is focused on ensuring learning through activities. On this Training Magazine Network webinar, sponsored by Adobe, Jo explores what LXD is and how to make the most of this for live online delivery (needs a free Training Magazine Network account).

  • What virtual training still needs to improve

    Virtual instructor led training has come a long way since the Covid pandemic – but there are still many areas for organisations and teams to improve, with Jo sharing her input with Speexx, the personal language and business coaching people (register for free recording).

  • Planning your hybrid meeting and training sessions

    Hybrid meetings, events and training sessions are becoming much more popular – but what is involved in planning an event where some people are physically together, and others are live online? Jo shares her insight on this webinar for the Boussias Project Management conference.

  • How to ‘see’ and connect with your attendees in live online learning

    For so many people the virtual classroom feels like a barrier, as if they are talking at a computer screen and it can be easy to lack focus on the learners that are live and with you. For this Boussias L&D conference Jo shares different ways to be able to connect with your attendees live online.

  • What Your Virtual Learners Really Want

    The ‘new normal’ since the global pandemic has meant that virtual classrooms and digital learning offerings are more important than ever, and so is getting it right. What do our learners really think of the live online learning sessions we are offering? Jo shares research for this Learning Guild’s Learning Summit to gain insight into what we need to design and how we need to facilitate.

  • How to Improve Your Virtual Classroom

    Challenges with virtual classrooms include trying to directly replicate a physical classroom experience and our own approach in understanding how current training and learning skills convert to work well in the virtual classroom. Jo Cook shares strategies on how to make the most of your live online delivery in this Speexx webinar (register for free recording).

  • Principles for Professional Virtual Classrooms

    We know that facilitating a virtual classroom learning session is different from face-to-face training, but just what is it that works live online sessions and what needs a rethink? This World of Learning webinar focuses on five principles to make sure your virtual delivery is engaging for you, your attendees and the meets the needs of the business. Check out the accompanying visual summary drawn by Krystyna Gadd

  • Coffee Chat: Fresh Virtual Activities

    This is a low key chat with a group of learning professionals about ensuring our virtual activities stay fresh – by exploring Padlet, Mural and more. Hosted by Shannon Tipton of Learning Rebels.

  • Stepping Up: Virtual classroom brilliance

    Rather than just using virtual platforms as the back-up plan, how can you really ‘learn to fly’ online? How can you rediscover your depth of expertise as a learning designer or facilitator in a virtual classroom and be as confident as you already are face-to-face? In this webinar with Breeio, Jo reflects on how to deal with remote audiences, digital body language and more. All Breeio first steps webinar resources here.

  • Digital body language – How to ‘read’ your virtual audience

    Reading the virtual room is a fundamental skill for facilitators. When we’re in the same physical space as other people, body language and visual cues are essential for understanding those around us. On this Breeio webinar Jo shares some straightforward features available in any virtual classroom platform and how to use ‘digital body language’ to help interpret participant responses more effectively. Webinar resources here and here.

  • Designing brilliant virtual sessions

    How do you design content for live online events that engages and excites learners? Is it possible to make virtual classrooms just as effective as your face-to-face workshops? Jo shares how to do just that in this Breeio webinar. Resources here and here.

  • Delivering engaging online learning sessions

    Using online platforms to deliver live learning sessions doesn’t have to be a headache for facilitators or boring for learners. In this Breeio webinar Jo shares how to pack a punch so that your participants really remember your core messages and keep attendees motivated. Resources here.

  • 5 Key Tips on Designing Stellar Virtual Classrooms

    Designing for the virtual classroom is different from face-to-face training – what translates to live online sessions and what needs to be different? This webinar for the Adobe eLearning World Conference looks at best practice tips and techniques to ensure that your session meets the needs of the business, the learners and engages them throughout (needs a free account on the Adobe Community).

  • How to move your learning into the virtual learning environment

    Your face-to-face sessions have been running really well, but the world has suddenly changed. Now Zoom learning sessions are the way forward so how can you make sure that the great sessions you used to deliver can still work but in a webinar or virtual classroom format? Find out in this webinar for the Institute of Employability Professionals.

  • How to make Live Online Learning Engaging

    Technology has enabled us to learn separately but together. How can a virtual classroom create the right learning environment, and how can we as trainers and facilitators work with people we can’t see, through a computer screen and still keep people engaged in their learning? In this webinar with the Institute of Employability Professionals Jo tells you how.

  • Design and the virtual classroom

    We all know that various theories, methods and approaches to instructional design make a difference to our e-learning components, materials and face-to-face sessions. But what learning theories and approaches work for virtual sessions and how does the technology get in the way, or even enable learning? Jo shares her insight in this Learning Network webinar.

  • Can you really facilitate an online group?

    Part of the Training Journal series of webinar discussions with professionals in their field, Jo hosts and contributes to the discussion about whether true facilitation works when a group is live online. Spoiler: she knows you can!

  • The TJ Virtual Christmas Party 2018

    The Training Journal webinars series ran a number of different virtual Christmas parties and this is just one example of having festive fun live online!

  • On a purpose quest

    Join Paul Westlake and Jo Cook as they discuss the importance of understanding who you are, what truly matters to you, and the impact you want to create in the world on your as they search for their own personal purpose.

  • Running an L&D business

    In this conversation, Holly, Bianca, and Jo discuss their business origin stories and the challenges faced by women in running their own business.

  • What Comes Next Podcast

    Live online learning has changed since the pandemic, Jo joins Tom McCallum to discuss just how so. Video option also on this page.

  • People Unplugged: You’re on mute!

    You’ve heard it a million times, “You’re on mute!” and other such virtual delights. In this virtual delight Jo joins Paul Westlake to discuss her approach to virtual delivery, reading digital body language and more.

  • Facilitating Virtual Classrooms

    How can facilitators enhance the online learning experiences they offer? Jo lends her voice to Emerald Works podcast episode 234 to explain all.

  • Running a Small L&D Business

    Jo joins the discussion offering tips and advice for people thinking of setting up their own L&D business in the Emerald Works podcast 228.

  • Producing Live Online Learning Sessions

    In the Learning Uncut Disruption podcast series from Michelle Ockers, Jo shares about producing live online sessions – just what a producer does and the amazing support they can be for any live online event.

  • Emotion at Work in Digital Body Language

    Digital body language, being able to read people’s communication without them being right in front of you, is the subject for this in-depth conversation between Jo and Phil Wilcox on the Emotion at Work podcast.

  • Can you facilitate online?

    Yes you can train people in virtual sessions, but can you really facilitate group discussions and activities? Training Journal Editor Jon Kennard interviews Jo about whether you can or can’t.

  • Why are most webinars so terrible?

    We’ve all been on terrible webinars of one sort or another. Jo joins the Good Practice podcast episode 120 (now the Emerald Works podcast) to discuss some of the sins but always ways to improve those live online events.

  • How do L&D professionals share ideas?

    Obviously when we train people in virtual design and delivery, it’s about professional development – so Jo gets involved in the discussion on the Good Practice podcast episode 35 (now the Emerald Works podcast) to discuss how to do that.

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  • Curated resources to help with your live online learning

    Knowing where to start with your virtual journey can be a challenge, but this post can help you. From absolute basics, to focusing on design or advanced concepts, Mike’s curated content of podcasts and videos will point you in the right direction.

  • Does video increase trust and engagement?

    It’s tempting to put video in eLearning or dictate that everyone has their webcams on during a virtual event, but what does the evidence say? Whilst webcams increase engagement, it can also create anxiety. Read some info and make the best informed choice for your organisation.

  • Fees for virtual workshops?

    When you are freelance or run an independent company it can be a difficult to know what to charge for your training or services. When they are live online some people may expect them to be cheaper, but others think that there’s more involved. Have a read of some of the recommendations from our Community to help make your own decisions.

  • Producer documents to assist in delivery

    Some trainers have producers or co-facilitators to help them with the delivery, others are out on their own. Whichever category you fall into, our advice and examples on producer documents will help you work as a team or cut down the workload of an individual.

  • Design: how to decide about your interactions

    When we design our live online sessions, we want interactions, but we don’t want them repetitive and boring. Just how do we select the right approach? This tool, designed in associated with Breeio, can really help you consider which activity to use in which situation for your session.

  • Pictures, text on slides and narration – research

    Should you talk through the text on your slides, or let your learners read it for themselves? Does it add something when you talk but also have text-rich visual aides? Luckily the answers are all here for you.

  • Where to find free apps?

    There are so many free ‘apps’, or programs you can use on websites, but where can you find them? Some are shared here, and of course you are welcome to add to the list and tell us about your favourites!

  • Online fatigue and how we should design our online programmes

    Zoom fatigue became quite the buzzword, and we know we don’t want to put our colleagues and learners through another boring virtual session. This post explores how the design of our sessions should look at cognitive load and avoid that dreaded fatigue!

  • Should you use chat in large webinars?

    Using the chat panel in a virtual classroom is a given, it’s an amazing way to interact with everyone. But what if you are running a webinar with hundreds of people? What if those people might be competitors out to sabotage you or learners that might be a little naughty? We think you should still use chat, and this post discusses why.

  • Hardware considerations for your organisation

    Just what should you be buying when you are delivering live online events? Do you spend on monitors or microphones, headsets or accessories? We share our top tips for affordable and professional level hardware to make the most of your live online delivery.