5 Reasons You Should Be Using a Virtual Training Platform

One way to ensure your training sessions are inclusive, accessible, and engaging is to host them via a virtual training platform.

It is essential to weigh up the pros and cons of both in-person, and online training, to decide which one works best for you.

However, as we have outlined below in terms of inclusivity and accessibility, online platforms can be beneficial, and enhance your company’s training programme.

To help you understand the benefits of online training sessions and workshops, we have put together a list of 5 reasons you should use a virtual training platform.

Whether you’re looking to save on costs, boost engagement, or minimise the time employees spend travelling, or away from their desks, hosting sessions online can help you to achieve this.

So, let’s begin with what virtual training platforms are, and what they have to offer.

What is a Virtual Training Platform?

A virtual training platform helps to facilitate remote training via video call, including features such as screen-sharing, breakout rooms, and chats, to foster an engaging learning environment.

This type of platform can provide a great alternative to the traditional form of learning in a conference or meeting room setting, as they can offer the same benefits, and facilitate interactions across the globe.

Providing training sessions online can be helpful if employees aren’t able to meet all together in person, but equally has many benefits if your company is office based.

Therefore, virtual training platforms can be beneficial if your company is fully remote, hybrid or in-person, as group work, debates, discussions, and practice tasks, are all achievable during online sessions.

This type of training can offer more inclusivity than in-person sessions, and due to the digital nature of the platform, there are always updates and improvements to increase the quality of the sessions you can provide.

5 Reasons You Should Be Using a Virtual Training Platform

There are multiple benefits to using a virtual training platform in place of an in-person training session, but for this post we have narrowed it down to 5.

Whether your company is looking to save costs or boost employee engagement with training, online platforms can ensure that the sessions you provide are helpful, interactive, and inclusive.

So, with that said, let’s get straight into our 5 reasons you should be using a virtual training platform.

Increased Inclusivity and Accessibility

The ability to provide training to a global audience is one of the main benefits of using a virtual platform, making it an inclusive choice.

Regardless of where your attendees are, it is still possible to offer inclusive training as it is easy to adjust timings, intensity, conditions, and speed.

This is because virtual training can be personalised, unlike in-person events, making conferences and workshops accessible for everyone based on their individual needs and preferences.

For example, if your workforce is spread across the globe using a virtual training platform can make your sessions equally available to everyone, as you can choose a time that suits more than one time zone.

This means geographically spread trainees can come together to attend, and work virtually as a group.

Saving Costs

For in-person training events, expenses can add up before the training begins, as there are various costs to factor in, such as:

• Venue
• Travel
• Accommodation
• Refreshments
• Full days away from work

All of these costs come before paying for the training session itself, whether this is physical materials, or hiring a guest speaker to conduct the training for you.

Overall, that can add up to one big budget.

With virtual training, you don’t need to worry about these costs as you can schedule virtual training for when people are working remotely, and host your session online.

This already saves travel expenses including petrol, and public transport costs for employees that are attending, and eliminates the cost of the venue.

Equally, some training sessions may span over multiple days, or be held in a distant location, meaning accommodation is necessary for attendees, however with virtual training, all of these costs disappear.

Providing sessions remotely not only removes accommodation and travel costs, but it allows extra flexibility within your budget.

Ditching in-person events and switching to a virtual platform can help stay in line with your company’s budget, and can leave you with a larger amount left to spend.

This means you can filter this remaining training budget into investing in a training platform that offers all the features you need, to provide a successful workshop or session.

It is also easier to extend training to more team members than originally planned, or allow for additional online classes to ensure all employees have access to the training they require, at little to no added cost.

Boosting Engagement

Virtual training platforms mimic the feel and experience of live in-person workshops by using features such as polling, chats, and breakout rooms.

This allows attendees to work individually, or as part of a team and creates a cooperative training environment.

For example, you may propose a task that requires employees to work in small teams on a project together for part of the session, and this can be done by providing breakout rooms.

This way trainees can be exposed to others’ input whilst working remotely, and share knowledge with one another.

This can help to solidify the training provided, making it much easier to incorporate into work life as once the training call is over, employees can put what they have learnt straight to use.

Equally, this encourages attendees to get involved and work together, rather than heavily relying on the instructor or team member running the event, which may happen more often when attending in-person events.

This is due to employees having a range of learning styles and some attendees may be more introverted than others, which we will get onto below.

Flexibility to Learning Styles

Providing sessions via a virtual training platform caters to a variety of different learning styles, as the platform creates a space for all attendees to flourish.

Hosting a workshop online can level the playing field among all employees who are attending as it is possible to include both individual and group tasks.

For example, the session may be split into one section which involves a screen-sharing presentation, and one section which involves problem-solving in larger groups in breakout rooms.

This makes virtual training platforms more accessible for introverted learners, who prefer to learn through reading quietly and thoroughly, without involvement in group work sessions.

This further supports the accessibility and inclusivity of using an online platform to provide training sessions, as flexibility and learning styles can be taken into account when planning a workshop for a small or large group.

Increased Time Efficiency

As we touched on earlier in this post, travel time doesn’t affect virtual training sessions, and this includes travel time outside of working hours to get to and from the training venue.

Trainees can join the platform from home, and then log off at the end of the session, meaning they haven’t had to travel at all, promoting a healthy work-life balance to your employees.

This balance is further enhanced by going remote and removing early morning departures and late night returns, meaning your employees are rested and ready to take part in the session you are providing as they can simply log on, and join.

Equally, if your virtual sessions take place for a short period, for example 1-2 hours within the working day, this allows employees to smoothly transition back into working remotely and apply their learning straight to the job.

Another time-saving advantage of using a virtual training platform to deliver workshops is the decrease in employee time spent away from desks, as due to the session being remote, saves travel time.

It is important to remember that virtual training platforms can help to condense the content you have set out for employees, as instead of a 2 day training trip, you can provide a virtual training afternoon.

This doesn’t jeopardise the amount of content or the quality of the training but it helps to reduce the noise and extra padded out material, so you can focus on the content that is more important and relevant to the course.

5 Reasons You Should Be Using a Virtual Training Platform

From increased inclusivity, to flexible learning styles, virtual training platforms can benefit the training sessions you provide for your employees.

Whether your company is office based or remote, it is important to consider the benefits an online platform can provide to enhance your workshops.

Providing sessions online can help to enhance engagement as training can be made to suit attendees all over the world, and can help to save your company time and budget.

We hope this list of 5 reasons has inspired you to consider using a virtual training platform for your next session or workshop, to deliver engaging content to your attendees.

At iVent we specialise in connecting people all over the globe through our virtual event platform, that can be used for anything from conferences and meetings, to careers fairs and training workshops.

To find out more about our platform and its many features, get in touch!