Imagine for a moment that you have been asked to lead a team to create a training program for a medium-size organization.

This organization has around 25,000 employees and roughly 12,000 of them have to go through the training program. The training is designed to shift a fundamental way that the business fulfills their work-orders, so it is rather complex in nature.

Naturally there are many complexities when it comes to creating programs for an audience of this size, but most of the time projects like this will start with developing a training plan.

In this plan the key stakeholders and considerations will be identified. Also identified in this plan is the delivery method of the training.

In my experience training initiatives like this will require a few delivery methods. It’s not a question of using either live training or elearning. Both will be used.

But did you know you also have an often forgotten about third option available? That’s right, in addition to instructor-led training and elearning you can also use virtual instructor-led training (VILT).

“So… Webinars?”

No, not really.

Saying VILT sessions are just webinars is kind of like saying that elearning is just Microsoft PowerPoint – it is only a superficial (partial) truth. A VILT event often uses webinar technology, but it shouldn’t be mistaken for a simple webinar.

In fact, designing and delivering content in VILT requires a different set of considerations when compared to traditional instructor training, and even elearning. In some ways it is actually more difficult to create effective VILT as it has to combat the issues that exist in both elearning and live training.

However, done correctly and VILT is a tremendous asset. It is a great way to add a personal touch when subjects are complex and the audience is dispersed geographically.

It can fill the gaps that elearning and live training alone cannot fill in a cost effective manner. What’s more, a VILT event can be recorded quite easily so the efforts are re-usable.

In some cases VILT might be your best option for course content delivery.

So as you develop your training plan don’t forget about this valuable tool in your training arsenal.