Online training vs. face-to-face training - a qualified résumé

Especially in the first year of Covid-19, we very often used producers for our online trainings. Their main task? Technical support! We have strayed from this trend for months. Our experts are now so well versed with the individual platforms that additional support is no longer absolutely necessary.

In hybrid trainings, the trainer and a part of the group get together in a classic face-to-face training room. This format is called "hybrid" because other participants connect to the same training via an online platform.

Unfortunately, I don't have enough space to really go into detail about this topic here. I just want to say this much: as tempting as a hybrid training may sound, please don't do it! ... Interested readers are very welcome to read about the background of this quite blunt recommendation here.

While twelve participants can be trained very well offline, such a large number of people is actually worth considering when it comes to online trainings. The main reason for this is the attentiveness of the group: During an online training, we have to activate the participants much more often so that they feel seen and do not pay attention to other things on the side. Above all, this costs one thing: time.

The more participants we have in an online training, the more time we have to spend on activating them. The resources which we invest in that goal are ultimately lacking for the content of the training. Our recommendation for online trainings is therefore: eight participants is optimal, ten is a good number. If you want to have twelve people, you would have to add extra time or come to terms with less content or less focus on attention control. The choice is yours! ;-)

My personal assessment is that the results of online and offline training for INDIVIDUALS are comparable. However, the situation is different with online training courses for SEVERAL PARTICIPANTS: In my experience, the learning effect here can be around 25% lower.

This is due to time constraints [six hours online is NOT six hours offline] and the attentiveness of the participants. In addition, not all groundbreaking exercises, simulations, role-plays, ... can be carried out online.

During the last three years we have often noticed that some participants do not turn on their cameras and that they leave online trainings to come back after minutes or hours. This is MUCH less the case with face-to-face training. Of course, our experts always address this situation to the participants. Nevertheless, as an external service provider, our hands are often tied here. In the end, we can't do more than "ask kindly".

May I share an extreme example with you in this regard? In a memorable online training session, one of our top experts sat across from nine participants for a full day, who neither activated their cameras nor collaborated or responded to questions. THAT was definitely not a pleasant situation, which our trainer still mastered with flying colors [final grade for this training: 1.17].

Face-to-face events are perceived much more as an incentive than corresponding online trainings.

Last but not least, it should be mentioned that face-to-face training is much better at helping to build up networks within the company. Where else does the engineer come together with the mechanic, where do accounting and marketing meet if not in a common [on-site] training room and the associated coffee breaks?

Recent studies show that such cross-departmental networks significantly improve the performance of an entire company; even far away from the actual training topic. According to the motto: "I know Dave from seminar XY, I'll give him a quick call and ask for help/feedback/input."