An impressive competitor: Elicitus software
Topic: Value

Elicitus

(from the website:)
Leverage the Elicitus Suite all the way from PowerPoint? to interactive e-learning. Elicitus SlideConverter accurately converts PowerPoint? content and allows you to add further content, multimedia, interactivity, questions and tracking. The award-winning Elicitus Content Publisher helps you rapidly create SCORM and AICC standards-compliant e-learning courses, which work with leading Learning Management Systems. Elicitus Interactivity Builder, world's first and only Rapid Interactivity Authoring tool, allows you to add sizzle to your courses. Elicitus ProgressTracker allows you manage learners, deploy courses, capture progress information and produce tracking reports.

At first glance from the Seek website, elicitus looks very impressive. The sample lessons are in Flash with a lot of dependency on rollovers and boxed highlights for interaction.
And the list of customers is nearly overwhelming.
So is the pricing.
Elicitus provides less functionality than my software for about 3 times the price -- and that is without a LMS to track student progress.

The question is: How did they sell this capable, but less-valuable system to so many large companies?


If a proof-of-concept is needed for customized training, the 'How customers use elicitus' page offers it.

A Moving Picture Is Worth
Topic: Sales

Company gets a better response from its direct mail campaign by sending out video catalogs. (from Inc magazine)

You can spend thousands on a direct-mail campaign only to find you've filled more wastebaskets than orders. Polymer Plastics Corp., a company based in Mountain View, Calif., that sells printer circuit-board products, found a way to bypass the circular file. "If customers got a videotape in the mail, I figured they were going to have to look at it," says CEO Larry Stock. "Curiosity alone was going to kill them."

They don't just look. Stock estimates that when video catalogs accompany the paper catalogs, they generate 20 times the response of paper catalogs sent alone. After the videotapes were introduced, stagnant sales of one product line leaped from $10,000 a month to more than $20,000. Sales for Polymer's products have tripled to $2.3 million in the two years since the company started sending out the video catalogs.

Stock targeted the videos at customers, but "it's a real benefit to distributors, too," he says. Because the tapes demonstrate how to use the products, they serve as a sales and training tool that distributors can use in customer calls.

Evaluating Customized eLearning
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Value
Evaluating eLearning Custom Development Companies

By: Cheri Thompson

Most people are shocked when they learn the cost for customizing eLearning content. According to a recent survey of buyers and sellers of custom content, investments can range from $14K per finished hour (for no frills) to $100K per finished hour (simulation)?. Why so much you ask? There may be many reasons, but the bottom dollar is vastly contributed to one word.... Customization. Essentially, the only use for this development is within your organization. It is not reusable or resellable and has no value to others. More...

Successfully Implimenting an eLearning Solution

By: Cheri Thompson

While the rewards of a successful eLearning solution implementation certainly outweigh all the challenges, we must be aware of (and develop contingency plans for) the common obstacles to be encountered. The most common challenges we have observed with implementing eLearning have been:

1. Failure to Conduct a Cost to Benefit Analysis (CBA)

2. Not Implementing Change Management Simultaneously

3. Not Compensating for the Lack of Human Contact

4. Not Developing Contingency Plans
More...

The Role of Small Business
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Small Business
There are many more small businesses than big businesses, but big business gets all the press and publicity. Yet small businesses employ as many people as big businesses and account for most of the long-term job gains, according to government statistics. You don't have to be big to make a difference. Most sites on the Web are small. That doesn't make them unimportant or uninteresting.

In fact, small businesses -- whether they're called SOHO (small office, home office), Home business, or just Small Business -- provide about 70% of the jobs and economic activity in a healthy economy. Yet the training needs of this market segment are often overlooked. A good question is: Why?

Most small business owners will tell you they don't have time to worry about training. They're too busy running their business.

Let's start from the practical, and see what conclusions come to mind.

Here are five ways to market your work at home business that you may not have thought of before:

1) Enhanced Business Card - Get a business card with color, an eye catching background, and add your picture to it. Maybe you could also have a cool quote or a free offer on it, plus anything else you can think of to get peoples attention.

The point is you need to make it stand out among all the other business cards someone might see in a month. Make sure your website URL is on it in a highly noticable place. Then, leave it everywhere you can, and hand it out to everyone you meet.

2) Give away freebies - Underpromise and overdeliver! That is the best business marketing strategy ever thought up. Pretty much all the "big-dogs" use it in their marketing campaigns. You can too by giving away free stuff at your website, or in your newsletter, without telling anyone they will be receiving it.

Say someone visits your website from an ad you placed that didn't mentioned anything about getting a free ebook. They will be absolutely delighted to find the extra free gift.This is a great way to get people to not only return to your site, but tell their friends about it too.

3) Sponsor Events - A great way to spread the word about your business is to sponsor events in your area. There are many games, events, charity drives, intramurals, little leagues, etc... That are just waiting for people like you to give a little bit of your money to help out.

You will usually get your business name on a T-shirt, a sign, a flyer, or something else related to the event. A lot of people will be seeing these events and YOUR business name. It's a great way to drive local traffic to your online business website or offline business if you have one.

4) Blogs - Having your own business blog can be a great marketing tool. With a blog you can quickly and easily offer free business advice, information, fun stuff, resources, tips, or anything else you want.

If you have a very interesting and/or informative business blog people will keep returning for the great stuff that your blog offers. Update it every day or two with fresh info and you can build a strong following fairly quickly.

I have used this marketing technique successfully for the past few months. You can see one for yourself by visiting Trent Brownrigg's "home biz tips" blog.

5) Guestbooks - There are many people that have guest books on their websites that you can sign. Most of them allow you to put a link to your website when signing. This can be a good way to bring some traffic to your site and get a one-way inbound link that those search engines really love.

Make sure you don't just post a random comment or spam the guestbook. You should actually check out the website and leave a useful message. This will keep your reputation intact and provide the webmaster with usable information. A win-win situation!

Alright, now you are armed with five more work at home business marketing techniques to bring traffic to your website and customers to your business. Get going on them now so you can increase your profits this week!

Top Ten Design Myth-busters
Mood:  happy
Topic: Design
The Top 10 Things They Never Taught Me in Design School
by Michael McDonough

1. Talent is one-third of the success equation.
Talent is important in any profession, but it is no guarantee of success. Hard work and luck are equally important. Hard work means self-discipline and sacrifice. Luck means, among other things, access to power, whether it is social contacts or money or timing. In fact, if you are not very talented, you can still succeed by emphasizing the other two. If you think I am wrong, just look around.

2. 95 percent of any creative profession is shit work.
Only 5 percent is actually, in some simplistic way, fun. In school that is what you focus on; it is 100 percent fun. Tick-tock. In real life, most of the time there is paper work, drafting boring stuff, fact-checking, negotiating, selling, collecting money, paying taxes, and so forth. If you don’t learn to love the boring, aggravating, and stupid parts of your profession and perform them with diligence and care, you will never succeed.

3. If everything is equally important, then nothing is very important.
You hear a lot about details, from “Don’t sweat the details” to “God is in the details.” Both are true, but with a very important explanation: hierarchy. You must decide what is important, and then attend to it first and foremost. Everything is important, yes. But not everything is equally important. A very successful real estate person taught me this. He told me, “Watch King Rat. You’ll get it.”

4. Don’t over-think a problem.
One time when I was in graduate school, the late, great Steven Izenour said to me, after only a week or so into a ten-week problem, “OK, you solved it. Now draw it up.” Every other critic I ever had always tried to complicate and prolong a problem when, in fact, it had already been solved. Designers are obsessive by nature. This was a revelation. Sometimes you just hit it. The thing is done. Move on.

5. Start with what you know; then remove the unknowns.
In design this means “draw what you know.” Start by putting down what you already know and already understand. If you are designing a chair, for example, you know that humans are of predictable height. The seat height, the angle of repose, and the loading requirements can at least be approximated. So draw them. Most students panic when faced with something they do not know and cannot control. Forget about it. Begin at the beginning. Then work on each unknown, solving and removing them one at a time. It is the most important rule of design. In Zen it is expressed as “Be where you are.” It works.

6. Don’t forget your goal.
Definition of a fanatic: Someone who redoubles his effort after forgetting his goal. Students and young designers often approach a problem with insight and brilliance, and subsequently let it slip away in confusion, fear and wasted effort. They forget their goals, and make up new ones as they go along. Original thought is a kind of gift from the gods. Artists know this. “Hold the moment,” they say. “Honor it.” Get your idea down on a slip of paper and tape it up in front of you.

7. When you throw your weight around, you usually fall off balance.
Overconfidence is as bad as no confidence. Be humble in approaching problems. Realize and accept your ignorance, then work diligently to educate yourself out of it. Ask questions. Power – the power to create things and impose them on the world – is a privilege. Do not abuse it, do not underestimate its difficulty, or it will come around and bite you on the ass. The great Karmic wheel, however slowly, turns.

8. The road to hell is paved with good intentions; or, no good deed goes unpunished.
The world is not set up to facilitate the best any more than it is set up to facilitate the worst. It doesn’t depend on brilliance or innovation because if it did, the system would be unpredictable. It requires averages and predictables. So, good deeds and brilliant ideas go against the grain of the social contract almost by definition. They will be challenged and will require enormous effort to succeed. Most fail. Expect to work hard, expect to fail a few times, and expect to be rejected. Our work is like martial arts or military strategy: Never underestimate your opponent. If you believe in excellence, your opponent will pretty much be everything.

9. It all comes down to output.
No matter how cool your computer rendering is, no matter how brilliant your essay is, no matter how fabulous your whatever is, if you can’t output it, distribute it, and make it known, it basically doesn’t exist. Orient yourself to output. Schedule output. Output, output, output. Show Me The Output.

10. The rest of the world counts.
If you hope to accomplish anything, you will inevitably need all of the people you hated in high school. I once attended a very prestigious design school where the idea was “If you are here, you are so important, the rest of the world doesn’t count.” Not a single person from that school that I know of has ever been really successful outside of school. In fact, most are the kind of mid-level management drones and hacks they so despised as students. A suit does not make you a genius. No matter how good your design is, somebody has to construct or manufacture it. Somebody has to insure it. Somebody has to buy it. Respect those people. You need them. Big time.

Color is Important
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Presentation
Color, the amount of color, and its intensity, are one of the most important aspects of presenting elearning.

(Pushed the wrong button, I'll have to finish this later.)

... from Color Preferences Reveal Your Personality

by Geraldo Fuentes

According to the creator, Doctor Max Luscher, the colors have deep rooted psychological significance. Dr. Luscher's explanation takes us back to a time when humans were living in the wild. Daylight, symbolized by bright yellow, signified a new day, a bright beginning and a welcome relief to the deep blue or black of night, which carried with it the fear of the unknown and the time to hide and bundle up in animal skins for a period of resting and recharging. The green of vegetation promised nurturing in the form of food and medicinal plants and came to represent the a degree of control over nature. Red, especially the brownish hue that he selected, was to represent the color of blood and was therefore linked with the hunt and aggression.

In more recent times, marketing and package designers noted that sugar and other sweet products did not sell in packaging that was green while cosmetics suffered the same fate when associated with the color brown. In open ended tests, green was associated with astringent or tartness while blue seemed to best convey sweetness.

Modern dyes and tints now allow for a wide array of colors unknown in nature. This is why the instructions warn of association with things like clothing and common objects. Ideally, the colors will have appeal (or the lack of appeal) based on their association with the other colors in the set and this is the most reliable way to "read" our unconscious and inherent interpretations.

Supervert's Color Test is a Shockwave implementation of a standardized psychological test developed by Dr. Max Luscher. Basically it asks you your favorite colors, compares your choices to a table of responses, and then "analyzes" you accordingly.

Although the body does have quantifiable physiological responses to color — for example, red is "exciting" because it causes blood pressure, respiration, and heart rate to increase — Supervert does not intend to endorse color psychology by making this standard test available in Shockwave format. The intention, rather, is to demonstrate how projective psychological tests can be automated with software, thus making the analyst useless.

A Definition of Interactive Design
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Design

Interaction design is concerned with the behavior of products, with how products work. A lot of an interaction designer's time will be spent defining these behaviors, but the designer should never forget that the goal is to facilitate interactions between humans. To me, it's not about interaction with a product (that's industrial design) or interaction with a computer (that's human-computer interaction). It's about making connections between people.

Since behaviors and mediums are always changing, the discipline of IxD shouldn't align itself to any of these in particular. The rise of digital devices and the internet created a greater need for the discipline and many, many new opportunities for interaction designers. But it isn't the only place for our talents; analog situations can use our talents too, to create things like work flows and systems of use. As the internet and digital devices become more and more ubiquitous, interaction design will be involved in nearly every aspect of our lives.
-- from Danny Saffer's blog on his Masters Program at Carnegie Mellon University

One thing we, as Instructional Designers, have to do is remember that we are not just Instructors, but Designers. Our job is not just to put a course online (or on a CD), but also to make the content interesting and evocative.
Yes, evocative.
That's one of the main failings of many LMS systems today: They are simply an attempt to mimic a classroom on a webpage.
Moodle, an Open Source LMS that I truly enjoy, unfortunately falls into this category. For all the 'social constructivism' that drives its constantly increasing number of activity modules, it's still an attempt to put a classroom on a webpage.

It's the design of that webpage that makes or breaks the social constructivism and activity goals. If it ain't attractive, energetic and evocative, it don't matter how many good ideas are hidden behind a boring presentation (read:design).

When I first looked at Danny Saffer's blog, I said, "Ack! -- White on Red?!" My first thought was that this was gonna be a hard read, no matter what he had to say.
But I was wrong. Danny breaks up the in-your-face and anesthetizing color combination with frequent bold-gold, oversized links, images and an engaging arrangement of pages that keeps the blog moving. In fact, it's fun to read, even if he does get a little academic at times. (see above)

Another good example is CustomGuide eLearning site.
Initially, the site looks pretty mundane. The loading module is intentionally boring, with muzak (Am I showing my age here?) rolling idly by as the lessons download.
But once the lesson is there, the pace is quick, easy to follow, and the interaction is well-timed to keep the learner's attention.
A good comparison is with the Atomic Learning site, which is clearly designed by teachers for teachers. It's done in Quicktime movies. Essentially, one teacher lecturing another in a movie.
No interaction other than going from module to module. The modular design is its best feature; and it covers a lot of software.
Atomic Learning is more a audible, visual, example-driven Help file.

In the current marketplace, both online learning platforms are affordable, which makes them both -- for different reasons -- invaluable for anyone who really wants to learn software.

A weakness in both systems, AtomicLearning and CustomGuide, is depth. Within the limits of each elearning platform's presentation, the user can 'drill down' into the quirks of the software. -- But if the modules don't cover it; it don't exist.
To its credit, CustomGuide does touch on some strategic concepts in certain presentations, like MSProject.
I think both follow well Mr Loewy's MAYA principle.
It's an aspect of Information Technology that's frequently decried: By the time you build it, its outdated. Scope creep must drive MAYA mad.

What's missing is two steps, as I see it:
1) Case studies that take what's learned (or explicated) in the modules and illustrate how to use it;
and 2) interactive problem solving based on the learners' own needs and goals.
The strategies that are missing need to be made into examples. Then those strategies need to be made responsive to the goals and requirements of the business.

That's where I want AEmeritus to begin: with the business' needs and goals.

Design is Design
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Brainstorming
Anyone who thinks the problems of today's designers are unique should read Raymond Loewy's 1951 book Never Leave Well Enough Alone. It's a glimpse into a time when another design discipline, industrial design, was in its nascent stage, just like interaction design is today.

Loewy, for those of you who aren't up on your design history, was one of the premier industrial designers of the mid-20th century. He (or more correctly his firm) did a staggeringly broad selection of designs, from refrigerators to trains to logos, and changed the look of products forever. His most famous dictum is the MAYA principle: Most Advanced Yet Acceptable.
Loewy summarized his design philosophy with the acronym, MAYA - Most Advanced Yet Acceptable. It served as a guiding principle for Loewy and those in his employ reminding them not to push a design, however excellent, beyond the threshold of acceptability to consumers and manufacturers.

Loewy’s belief that every object, no matter how simple or complex, has an ideal form that expresses its function with economy and grace, was characterized through his work.

A couple of good online learning systems
Mood:  bright
Topic: B2B


"My firm, Credit Suisse First Boston, estimates the postsecondary education sector to be approximately 9 percent of the total for-profit industry, or $9 billion. The postsecondary market will remain a very attractive sector for the foreseeable future, offering a 15 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next five years. Indeed, when compared to K?12 education and corporate training, I believe the higher education sector can take greatest advantage of the increased use of technology, especially the Internet, in delivering the educational product. Distance learning via the Internet will drive tremendous growth." ?Greg Cappelli
Senior Equity Analyst for Credit Suisse First Boston from the book, " TheWired Tower: Perspectives on the Impact of the Internet on Higher Education" By Matthew Serbin Pittinsky

Atomic Learning provides software training using a unique, just-in-time approach. Our library of thousands of short tutorials on dozens of applications are focused on answering the common questions teachers, students and anyone else may have when learning software. We like to call them "atoms of learning" and they are easy to access whenever and where ever you need them.

Atomic Learning is intended as support for schools and teachers. Their lessons cover a wide range of software, including Open Source (read: Linux). The short, modular format is energetic and easy to use. Because they cover an ever-expanding range of software, they are an invaluable resource for learning.
Unfortunately, the lessons are not interactive. They're done as Quicktime movies.

CustomGuide makes all our computer training courseware and eLearning available online for free evaluation — preview any title and compare it to the training materials you're using. We also post all of our prices online, so whether you're interested in purchasing a single book or a global eLearning account, you can expect straightforward and honest pricing.

CustomGuide produces the Personal Trainer book series as a complement to its eLearning system, complete with lesson files drawn from its online lessons. The lessons are interactive, short, and modular. Their presentation is professional and easy to use.

10 Damaging E-learning Myths
Make no mistake about it, the e-learning industry is going through troubled times. The current economic climate isn’t conducive to providing top quality e-learning and there are mixed opinions about the success of this type of training. We can argue about the causes of this phenomenon forever. However, this article presents 10 damaging myths that we feel are contributing to the problems facing our industry. These myths seem to be spreading at an infectious pace. This list isn’t intended as a criticism of any existing e-learning company – we have tremendous admiration for anyone who works in this difficult industry. Rather, this list gives us an opportunity to look again at the assumptions and beliefs that have come to define our dealings with customers.

Posted on: March 3,2003 | Read more...

Fortunately, these guys are in the UK. I'm in Australia. They have a lot of good ideas.

A couple of excerpts:
1. Volume = value
E-learning tends to be priced in terms of hours of learning content produced. Customers ask, "How much will it cost to produce a one hour e-learning programme?" Suppliers also talk in those terms: "we currently charge ?10,000 per hour of e-learning, with reductions for volume". Here lies the danger: value is becoming equated with volume of content rather than the degree to which a solution meets the training need. This is generally leading to conformity within the industry and a reduction in quality.

Currently, it would be difficult for a supplier to make the following argument:
"If we spend more time in the analysis and learning design of the project we can probably think of a way of meeting your training need in half an hour instead of an hour. However, because we need to spend budget on the extra thinking time, we still need to charge you for an hour. You still get a better solution though: your trainees will spend less time away from work and will probably get a more focused learning experience. You are paying for value or service, not volume."

We’re waiting for the day we can make that argument.

2. We are producing content
Many customers still approach suppliers with the question, "How much will it cost to turn this content into e-learning?" They think they are in the content delivery business instead of the 'improving user performance' business. The language that customers use also betrays this bias. They talk about ‘content producers’ and ‘scriptwriters’ rather than learning designers or instructional designers.

We wish clients would come to us and say, "How can we use e-learning to solve this performance issue?" This would set the focus firmly on people and performance rather than content. It doesn’t matter how much quality content I produce if it doesn’t lead to a change in learner knowledge, attitudes or behaviour.

What companies use Custom Training in Australia?
Mood:  bright
Topic: NEIS
Banking
Adelaide Bank
CBA
ING
Rabobank
RAMS
Resimac
Westpac

Finance
ASX
Challenger
Colonial First State
CSFB
GE Commercial
IPAC
MLC

Insurance
AIG
AMP
CGU
GIO
Lumley
Royal Sun Alliance

Accounting/ Law
Blake Dawson Waldren
CCH
Deloitte
Ernst & Young
Freehills
PWC
The College of Law


IT
AXE Group
Compaq
CSC
Decide Interactive
EDS
Getronics
Milestone Group
Peoplesoft
Praxa
Solutions from Silicon
Sun
Unisys

Telecoms
British Telecom
Hong Kong Telecom
Hutchison Telecom
ITV World
Lucent
Objectif
Ozemail
Redfern Broadband
SingTel Optus
Teletech
Telstra
Vodafone

Industrial
Australand
Barloworld
Boral
Clorox
Halliburton
Hanimex
Honeywell
Meadow Lea
Shimadzu
Tyco
Unilever
Zip Heaters

Government
Attorney General NSW
Audit Office NSW
CCSU
Environment and Conservn
Family & Community Services
Fire Brigade
Parramatta Council
RTA
State & Regional Devt
State Revenue
Sustainable Natural Resources
Treasury NSW
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies
Aeronautical & Maritime Research Labs
Air Services Australia
Australian War Memorial
Bob McMullan MP
Civil Aviation Safety Authority Australia
Department of Defence (Australian Government)
Department of Premier and Cabinet (Victoria)
National Archives of Australia
Melbourne Museum
National Library of Australia
Pacific National (was FreightCorp)
Rail Corp (NSW)
Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Botanic Gardens
ScreenSound Australia

Health
Baxter Healthcare
Breast Cancer Inst
Cochlear
Deaf Educn Network
Eli Lilly
Medical Applications
Merck Sharp Dohme
Pfizer
Poplars Private Hosp
Proteome

Utilities/ Transport
AGL
Country Energy
Energy Australia
Integral Energy
Nemmco
Qantas
Rail Infrastructure
State Transit
Transgrid
USC-MITS

Retail/ Distribution
David Jones
Jigsaw
John Fairfax
Liquorland
McDonalds
Metcash
NSW TAB
Pasta Pantry
Star City
Woolworths

Education
AGSEI
Catholic Schools
Macquarie University
NextEd
Rivkin Institute
University of Newcastle
University of Sydney
UNSW
Australian Guild of Music and Speech
Anutech Pty Ltd (ANU)
Australia New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG)
Department of Education (DET)
Monash International (Monash College)
Office Of Training And Tertiary Education (Victoria)
The Australian National University, Medical School
University of New England
University of Technology, Sydney (UTS)

Commercial
Amcor Fibre Packaging Australia
Australian Stock Exchange
Australian Services Roundtable
Australian Stock Exchange
Cochlear Ltd
Automotive Training Australia
Cochlear Ltd
Fuji Xerox Australia
Hewlett Packard Australia
Konica / Minolta
Mercedes-Benz Australia
Mac1 - Apple Centre Canberra City
Nestl? Australia
The Human Dimension
TV - Channel 9
Ventracor Ltd
LifeStyle Financial Services
IronBark Custom Homes
Perfect Weekend
Cathouse for hair and beauty
Childcare Training

About U -- Free Learning about Anything
Mood:  quizzical
Topic: Brainstorming
From the page:

Welcome to About U., a collection of free online courses from About.com.
Each online course is sent to you via email on a daily or weekly basis and is designed to help you learn a specific skill or solve a particular problem. There are no grades or degrees, only a whole lot of free online learning.

-- This is a novel way to collect opt-in emails and market software. The tutorials are done professionally and are no waste of time for a novice. And once the mind is opened a little to the possibilities (read: wet the taste buds), the ads link to wider and more expensive possibilities.

Changing culture through blogging
Mood:  flirty
Topic: Corporate
(Comment: This is outright theft. Too bad, its too close to my own thinking to bother to change.)

The new mantra: lies are bad Robert Scoble's 21 things to remember when writing a corporate blog (the short version)

1. Tell the truth. If your competitor has a product that's better than yours, link to it. [People] will find it anyway.

2. Post fast on good news

and bad. Someone say something bad about your product? Link to it … and answer its claims as best you can. The trick to building trust is to show up!

3. Use a human voice. Don't get corporate PR professionals to cleanse your speech.

4. Make sure you support the latest software-web-human standards.

5. Have a thick skin. Even if you have Bill Gates's favorite product people will say bad things about it. That's part of the process.

6. Don't ignore slashdot [a non-corporate technology blog].

7. Talk to the grassroots first. People trust stories that have quotes from many sources. They don't trust press releases.

8. If you screw up, acknowledge it. Fast. Give a plan for how you'll unscrew things. Then deliver on the promises.

9. Underpromise and overdeliver. If you're going to ship on March 1, say you won't ship until March 15. Folks will start to trust you if you behave this way.

10. If Doc Searls [US techno journalist and blogger] says it or writes it, believe it.

11. Know the information gatekeepers. If you can't call on those who know during a crisis, you shouldn't try to keep a corporate weblog.

12. Never change the URL of your weblog.

13. If your life is in turmoil and/or you're unhappy, don't write. When I was going through my divorce it affected my writing in subtle ways.

14. If you don't have the answers, say so. But, get them and exceed expectations.

15. Never lie. You'll get caught and lose credibility that you'll never get back.

16. Never hide information.

17. If you have information that might get you in a lawsuit, see a lawyer before posting, but do it fast. Speed is key here. Your competitors will figure it out and outmanoeuvre you.

18. Link to your competitors and say nice things about them.

19. BOGU, or "Bend Over and Grease Up". I believe the term originated at Microsoft. It means that when a big fish comes over (such as IBM or Bill Gates) you do whatever you have to do to keep him happy.

20. Be the authority on your product-company.

21. Know who's talking about you.

Employees 38% more valuable
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: B2B
Here are some excerpts from the eLearning blogs:

Comment: This is another illustration of a cutting-edge company being a little too far ahead of the curve for most users. Not just in technology, but in practical pricing, 3D simulations of the work environment are going to be a part of workplace training soon, I don't doubt.
At this point, it reminds me of what Raquel Welch said when she auditioned as a model in LA: "They thought I was too much in every way!"

One company states that simulations can make employees 38% more valuable to their managers.
To an academic organization, the students will learn more and care more in less time.

But the biggest problem right now to pitching a broader simulation based curriculum is that there are not enough truly great business simulations out there, nor organizations that have a competency in rolling them out.

The other point that has to be compensated for is that simulations right now is a loaded word. Everybody thinks they know what a simulation is, and everybody's view is different.

• Tradition instructors think of simulations as a live, real time role-play.


• GenXers and GenYers think of simulations as entertaining computer games.


• IT and engineer types think of simulations as predictive models.


• Pilots and military people think of simulations as providing hands-on, highly transferable experience.


• E-learning people think of simulations mostly as branching stories, interactive spreadsheets, and reskinned games.


• Web designers think of simulations as virtual products.

A Emeritus simulates a person's actual work as an interactive tutorial.
A Emeritus assesses the employee by independent, internationally-recognized testing.
Without going into the expensive realm of 3D simulations, A Emeritus offers cutting edge technology that is already familiar to most trainees and companies.

We started making the stupidest mistake of all - to look for SME's through well-rated professors, great speakers, and successful authors. These were all masters of linear content, which is much more distracting than useful.

• My corporation/institution created/bought a lot of low-cost content.


• The end-learners were not impressed.


• Simulations are the hot new thing.


• How can we cheaply build a lot of simulations?

See that last question? I wish these guys would talk to me at AEmeritus!

Articles from eLearningpost
Mood:  vegas lucky
At the Gallup Organization, CEO Jim Clifton monitors flow by sending an email to more than 1,000 employees every single day, asking them to rank their positive energy level on a scale of one to five. "When someone hits a five, I assume they are in flow," Clifton says. He can sort the results geographically by office to catch patches of entropy quickly. (From: the Fast Company newsletter, Issue 97 | August 2005)

Csikszentmihalyi's research has shown that to achieve flow, you need consistent feedback. The best way to do that, simply put, is to care about your coworkers. The best way to measure flow, says Gallup's Clifton, is to ask employees if they have a manager who loves them.

Let's look at books also as technology. The advantages of books are mind-boggling. But the limitations of books have not fully been appreciated and compensated for, namely the amount of content that had to be ignored to make the medium work. There is the old quip that you can't learn how to ride a bicycle from a book. Lectures and movies have the same limitations. The alternative to books for learning used to be labs and apprenticeships, all very expensive and unscalable.

eLearning or eTraining?
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Presentation

"Creating experiences is a challenge for any industry. There was a time when market was governed by selling and buying of commodities interpreted as simple products or things to be used in a certain manner. Today, experience is the differentiator that drives the consumption of both products and services, irrespective of the segment of industry."

One of my pet peeves is the easily-acquired addiction to eLearning technology, and not a focus on the principles of learning. Many LMS systems imitate the classroom, not the workplace.
The tools of learning are not the latest-and-greatest software. The tools of learning are (in AEmeritus' terms) Engagement and Motivation, which lead to Achievement.

Even in electronic formats, trainers must create an experience as defined by L. Ravi Krishnan and Venkatesh Rajamanickam in their insightful blog.

A simple example is a plumber.
A plumber enters with his toolbox and looks over the problem.
He (or she) sees the steps required to fix it.
Laying out the tools for the first step, he (or she) begins.
First step finished, some tools are put away and others taken out.
When the job is done, the plumber puts the tools away and tests the results.

Another plumber might have a toolbox filled with shiny new tools.
The latest-and-greatest tools always look impressive.
He (or she) may not know how or if any of them work.
This plumber is going to look very slick though.
This plumber may not finish the job that day.
Why? He (or she) is too fascinated by the new tools.
The experience he (or she) has created has been for himself (or herself.)

Whether you're dealing with old tools or shiny new ones, you finish the job first. The job is to teach, whether that means vocationally or academically.
The craftsman uses the tools; the tools don't use the craftsman.

How important can it be?
Mood:  cheeky
Topic: Why?
How important can custom training be? -- Look for yourself.

Dozens of members of an elite team of federal airport screeners received as little as 15 minutes' training before starting to inspect baggage for bombs, a development critics call a threat to passenger safetyElite federal airport security team started work after 15 minutes' instruction" ..

Now that may sound a little self-serving, since I don't know that A Emeritus would have been hired from Australia to provide the 100 hours of training required. Then again, if the experts can put it on a computer screen, A Emeritus can deliver it in a number of media quickly.

Why?
Mood:  bright
Topic: Why?
I presented my project to the small business incubator group at Chisholm. Long before they had seen all the aspects of the program, one entrepreneur-minded young aussie asked over and over, "What's your distinction?" -- It was like dealing with a small child who kept asking, "Why?" every time an adult gave an answer.
Problem is, he was right. It's not easy to see the distinction between customized, targeted, goal-, or business-oriented training and any other sort of online, usually MSOffice or software, training if you haven't been in business for a while.

Question: Who would use your services?
Any size business or person who needed to be able to do a specific job.
Comment: Pretty weak answer; not clear; even a little grandiose, despite being short.

Question: Can you give me an example?
Your company hires a lot of skilled casuals. Despite their documented skillsets, they take weeks to train to do anything, even mundane jobs.
Permanent staff or supervisors have to constantly show them what to do. That takes time from their own jobs; and you still don't know that the casuals do the job right. So it has to be checked -- Taking more time from the permanent staff or supervisors.
The most common answer to this dilemma is to hire more or less permenent casuals.
In Australia, that becomes a legal tightrope. If you keep a casual employed for more than 3 months in the same job, they're considered an employee. Your company has to do withholding, pay WorkCover and Super. If you don't, your company can be sued by the casual or the government.

A better answer is to provide the casual with interactive training that shows them how to do certain jobs. They learn to do it right. -- The way you want it done. And they don't tie up supervisors' or permanent staff time.

Comment: Is this a good example? No, not by itself.

Response: That answer opens up all sorts of questions, and the best of them is:
Does anyone use customized training?

Yes. Name any of the largest companies in nearly any field you can think of. IBM has been doing 'customized' training for decades; they call it 'in-house' training.
IBM trains its employees to be specialists in its product lines. Their people walk into any situation confident and ready, not just to demonstrate the technical aspects of their products, but also knowing how to present those capabilities to the business.
Another example is McDonald's.
When someone goes to work at McDonald's, they are trained by CD or video tapes on what's expected of them as employees; how to work with the equipment; and how to deal with the customers.
The quality of the work and product is maintained across the world because of the way the employees are trained.

Question: But my company is small. I only have a couple of employees. Why do I need customized training?
Answer: You've got the same quality issues to manage as the largest companies and franchises around the world.
In fact, your issues are more personal and significant for your business. Your employees represent you personally in such a small company. How they act affects not only the reputation of the business, but your own reputation -- for better or worse.
If you don't set a standard for your business that's professional and efficient, who will?

The Biz Stone Theory of Limitations
Topic: Marketing

When Steven Spielberg was shooting Jaws, he didn't have a dream budget. Ideally, Steven would have liked to film an incredibly lifelike mechanical great white shark attacking and consuming weak humans en masse. The problem was that an incredibly lifelike mechanical great white shark was incredibly expensive.

So he had to think of something else. Something creative. Something cheap. He decided to shoot the unsuspecting swimmers from the shark's point of view (with scary music), and it resulted in a classic memorable sequence.

While we're talking about Spielberg…remember the scene when Indy is approached by a sword wielding ne'er-do-well in the first Indiana Jones movie? The one where the bad guy flourishes his sword with practiced skill? The original screenplay called for a duel, but Ford had a bad case of diarrhea that day, and he could work only for a few minutes at a time before he had to run (pun intended). Ford consulted briefly with Spielberg, and when it was time to shoot the long, arduous swordfight, he brandished a pistol and shot his opponent. Another classic scene.

So what do all these Spielberg movies have to do with blog design? What's the connection? How do they relate? Alright already, stop with the questions.

When your back is to the wall, you get creative. It's as simple as that. Some of the most ingenious solutions have come into existence under circumstances with limited resources at hand. That's why those scenes in Spielberg's films are so good.

Well, if anyone wonders, that's how I decided to market my services using blogs instead of more conventional avenues.

Oh, and the quote is from Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content
By Biz Stone

No project too small
Topic: Primary School
Someone's bound to ask: How did you get interested in this stuff?

My partner at the time worked for a medium-sized primary school in Australia. Once a month, she would come home frustrated and annoyed because of the school newsletter.

The school did their newsletter on MSWord. One person in the office staff was in charge of it. It was an integral and expected part of the school functions. Parents, students, teachers, school board members, and the community read it.
The newsletter had to have a professional appearance.
To save some money on postage, the Principal wanted the newsletter to go out as email whenever possible. However, because the school logo and other images were scanned, the resulting Word file was consistently too large (often over 3Mbytes!) for the education department email system.

I tried a couple of times to explain how to solve the problem, but at those times my ex was hardly interested in listening. She just wanted to vent. -- The whole thing struck me as funny, month after month.
Then the government got involved.

Victorian State Premier Steve Bracks kept a campaign promise to maintain the technology levels available to public schools. Every 3 years or so, every school got brand new computers, laptops, and upgraded MSOffice software.
Impressive.
The hardware and software soon outdistanced the teachers and administration staff who were supposed to use it.
So...

The Bracks government contracted for tens of millions of dollars to take blended software training to the schools. Since it cost the schools nothing, many schools signed on. -- On the face of it, a perfect solution.

Unfortunately, the school staff struggled to be free for an hour once a fortnight to spend with the trainer. The three hours practice a week on school time was impossible!
Result: The whole office staff, including casuals and some volunteers, came away dazed and wondering at their new Cert III in MSOffice -- and the school newsletter still couldn't go out by email!!

I used to tell the story to friends as a joke.

Using my online Cert IV in Training and Assessment as an excuse, I prepared for my final project a training website to show the school how to produce the newsletter in MSWord and send it out via email.

About the time I finished the course, the school hierarchy had an epiphany: We'll do it in MSPublisher!
As far as I know, it still doesn't go out via email though...
And that is how I became interested in vocational elearning.