Mark Wizenheim over at SNIgrabbed my attention (after several polite and persistent invitations) to check out a free training session on negotiation. Don’t laugh. I am glad I went, not just because I tend to give everything and anything away for free and need to get a backbone, but because he reminded me of some very good virtual learning techniques we might forget. As you read, compare these to the average sit-in-a-big-virtual-room-with-speaker-slides-poking-in-peoples-profiles-distracted presentation you last attended.

1. Use spatial memory

I dropped in late to Mark’s presentation on negotiation skills to find him dressed as Santa and all of us at the North Pole. “What th…?” was my initial reaction. Then I discovered the power of it Mark was going for. Mark had a story (perhaps Mark’s been reading Pink) and theme for each main segment of his presentation putting his concepts as firmly as you could hope for into our mushy brains. In this case, negotiating with the Santa’s people to demonstrate always have another option to give position of power in negotiations.

Ever since Erica Driver and I had that amazing aha moment about the value of 3d on memories by invoking more powerful spatial aspects of the memory, even for hum-drum data, I think this is the most powerful difference 3d immersive spaces bring to any presentation or learning situation. Ever had that nostalgic longing for a sim you remember that is no longer there, that cozy spot that has had its electrons rearranged? Now imagine the power of that feeling associated with something you are learning or conveying, spatial memory. Let’s see you try the same in a 2d alternative. Remembering being somewhere is much more powerful than remembering the page something else was on. There really is something to this presence stuff.

2. Keep ‘em moving

When Mark had us move between major segments into another themed room, well, it reminded me of a church service I have been to where they changed rooms for different parts. When I was younger I always thought that was just to keep the old church-goers awake. Doing this changed our mindset, solidified memories, and, yes, kept us awake, mostly. No one wants to get left behind and explain why during the session.

I am embarrassed to say I have never seen nor used this technique in any virtual environment, but I found it incredibly powerful. Our physically-biased brains don’t think, “Hey, let’s make an entire room for each bullet point.” The virtual space gives you the power to do it at relatively low-cost. It doesn’t have to be too fancy, something simple works wonderfully, as Mark used.

In groups over 20 I would hesitate on this one until you have taught them all how to move. But this group had a sufficiently diverse age-group of avatars and did wonderfully. It actually gave you a sense of anticipation, “Oooo, wonder what the next room is.”

3. Require participation

Slides, they have to be there, right? Yep. Mark had slides, but his slides where on these amazing three-fold presentation like boards that he only rezzed at the end of presenting the point with story and included a 4-part multiple-choice question to go with the content AND A B C D sections the group could all walk onto based on their answer. He then asked a few people standing on their answer to talk about why. If you were left sitting in the back (like he caught me doing on one while IMing) he mentioned you by name politely asking if you (I) needed help making a choice. I had to participate. No lurking in the back doing a dozen other things. We did get a chance to read profiles, meet people and hob-nob after the topics had been covered in the followup and feedback session. More on that later.

4. Check understanding, have proxy if possible

The greatest danger to any presenter or educator in any virtual environment is the loss of visual clues revealing the realmindset of those in the audience or group. I have watched an avatar presenter slowly lose his real life audience watching a big screen and not even know it—especially when the backchat of other virtual participants is also visible.

The cure just might be what Mark did, he constantly asked for responses and opinions to different points through the presentation. He also rezzed a great vote-with-your-feet multiple choice quizz sort of question at the end of each segment, with matching theme area.

One step further if you are mixing your audience between virtual and physical might be to have a proxy in the room with the real audience that has the courage to speak up when needed to represent the unspoken concerns or missing points on the faces of the physical group.

5. Ask for feedback, foster relationships

Asking for feedback is so obvious we often forget to do it. Mark not only asked at the conclusion and was courageous enough to discuss it with us, he also had a web form for people to submit their feedback as well. At that point, having just sweat lots of pixels together keeping up with the level of engagement Mark had adeptly set up, we were happy to discuss this and anything else with our new group of friends. Here again is that magical sense of presence that 3d immersion gives more than anything. We read profiles, learned, and discussed for quite some time afterward. In fact, I fell off for about 40 minutes to take a manager phone call and returned and discover lively discussion still happening between participants. Asking for feedback shows you care about what they got out of it and fosters a real relationship between you as well as between participants. To my way of thinking, this relationship building is the holy grail of any presentation and learning experience.

Bottom line

Mark and his gang weren’t particularly what other SLers would call master builders, (although I love the columns on their building), but they didn’t need to be. Virtual presenters and educators that succeed, like I think Mark did, are those that invest in preparing material enough to create an interactive environment for that material. Mark, like others before him, has shown that even boring business topics can employ a appropriate level of fun and interactivity to invoke spatial memory and active participation for real learning.

Please post any examples you have of such, or any essentials you’d add to this list

by: Mo Hax - http://imohax.com/