I’ve been giving quite a lot of technical demos lately, so I put together this quick list of what I’ve learned. Some of it came from working with people who have a heck of a lot more experience than I do in demoing to potential clients. And some of it came by “learning the hard way.” Coming from a programming background, live sales demonstrations to groups of people may not come naturally. But with a little bit of preparation and experience, they provide a great opportunity to learn about what needs are really driving clients, and how your solution can (or will!) meet those needs.

-          Have a script. Prepare for and practice the best way and best order to access the features you’re going to be showing.

-          Know your product. You have to be willing to jump off that script to answer questions as they come up, so you have to know the product inside and out. Don’t get too far off script though – be sure to come back to what you planned after answering a question.

-          Understand your audience. Some audiences are technical and want to be focused on specific capabilities. Some audiences are more “idea-people”, and they want to be focused on possibilities. They don’t know specifically what questions they want answered yet . Some audiences are more focused on making sure that your team has the technical capability to build a large, capable system more than the features of any existing system. Knowing what your audience is hoping to get out of a demo will help you decide what to focus on.

-          Provide a context. Showing off features and functions doesn’t mean anything unless the audience can visualize how those features would be useful in a specific setting. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the specific context that the client plans to use the product in, but they should be able to see how your product was utilized to solve a specific need. Then, talk with them to help map the solution’s capabilities to their specific needs.

-          Listen. Don’t dominate the discussion. Don’t try to have a slick, completely pre-built speech. Clients don’t want to be “presented to”, they want to have a conversation.

In today’s social media craze, using these networks for business is the latest trend. Here is the age breakdown of the audience your message is reaching.

http://www.bnet.com/2403-13237_23-366331.html?promo=713&tag=nl.e713

In full disclosure, I unashamedly borrowed this blog title from the WSJ article that inspired it by Sue Shellenbarger. I figured if it were good enough to ensnare me, that it would capture some TiER1 followers just like you as well!

Building upon my previous post about personal knowledge management, this article discusses Shellenbarger’s experience trying out three time management systems. Two you might be familiar with, Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen and Focus by FranklinCovey, but one you probably are not: The Pomodoro Technique by Francesco Cirillo. If putting a plastic, tomato shaped kitchen timer on your desk doesn’t sound like time management, think again.

The Pomodoro Technique forces its followers to work on tasks in 25-minute intervals, called a Pomodoro, with a small break between tasks. Essentially, this technique draws attention to all the distractions that can derail you throughout the day. By working exclusively on a defined task during a focused period of time, we could all accomplish more. Whether you need a tomato timer or not is up to you.

To read the full article, including more about GTD and Focus, go here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704538404574541590534797908.html?mod=loomia&loomia_si=t0:a16:g4:r3:c0:b0

What time management technique(s) do you use? Let us know!

Covington, Ky. – TiER1 Performance Solutions announced today that they received a Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) award from the 711 Human Performance Wing, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The Phase II contract, totaling $750,000, will develop a comprehensive training system using innovative accelerated learning methods and an interactive environment to train military supervisors to recognize potential insider threats.

According to Dr. Terence Andre, Principal Consultant for TiER1, “Our solution will provide a comprehensive training delivery platform that employs serious games and instructional support features for supervisors to practice skills in cyber threat detection.” The project, known as XL-CITR (Accelerated Learning for Cyber Insider Threat Reduction), is designed to properly teach military supervisors to detect and prevent insider threats to cyber networks. XL-CITR will efficiently decrease time required to meet learning objectives while tracking learner performance for certification.

This is TiER1’s first Phase II award and represents a growth area for the company. “Winning this highly competitive award provides a strategic entry into the fast growing field of Cyber Security, and positions TiER1 as a leader in training solutions required to combat these threats to our national security,” added Normand G. Desmarais, TiER1’s Co-Founder and Chairman. 

About TiER1 Performance Solutions  

Founded in 2002, TiER 1 Performance Solutions provides end‐to‐end on‐line learning and knowledge management solutions to large distributed organizations.  Its core service offerings of Learning Solutions and Knowledge Management are supported by a suite of technologies that act as solution accelerators for clients in solving human performance challenges.  Visit TiER1 on the web at www.tier1performance.com   

About the Department of Defense Small Business Innovative Research Program   

The Department of Defense (DoD) SBIR program funds a billion dollars each year in early-stage R&D projects at small technology companies — projects that serve a DoD need and have commercial applications. This program encourages small business to explore their technological potential while providing the incentive to profit from its commercialization. For more information, visit http://www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/overview/index.htm

About IITSEC and the Conference: The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) promotes cooperation among the Armed Services, Industry, Academia and various Government agencies in pursuit of improved training and education programs, identification of common training issues and development of multiservice programs. Initiated in 1966 as the Naval Training Device Center/Industry Conference, the conference has evolved and expanded through increased participation by the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Industry. In 1979 it became known as the Interservice/Industry Training Equipment Conference.

Title: Medical Simulation: Solving today’s needs with tomorrow’s technologies

Logistics: Wednesday, 2 December • 1400 – 1530 • Room 202, Orlando Convention Center / Demonstration Area will open 1300 and remain open until 1630

Abstract: The role of simulation in medical training and education is growing and questions remain as to the efficacy, situations, and level of fidelity required for efficient and effective use of simulation. In this special event we have four recognized experts who will discuss the current situation, requirements in their area of expertise, and opportunities for using simulation. The intent of this special event is to provide a description of the complex environment and to paint a picture of the future of simulation and training going forward. The experts gathered here represent the best minds from Emergency Medicine, Surgical Simulation, and Pandemic. They are:

• Dr Stephen Barnes MD, FACS, is Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief of the Acute Care Surgery Division at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Prior to departure from active duty, Dr Barnes served as Director of the Critical Care Air Transport Team training platform, Director of the Advanced Clinical Simulation Program, and Tier I site coordinator for the Disseminated Human Patient Simulation Program at the USAF Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (CSTARS) Cincinnati. His extensive simulation experience includes product development for traumatic brain injury training. He remains active in clinical care, surgical education and research at mid Missouri’s only ACS Verified Level I trauma center.

• Emergency Medicine: Dr. Mark Bowyer, After 22 years of active duty military service as a Trauma and Combat Surgeon, Dr. Bowyer remains the Chief of Trauma and Combat Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (the military medical school) in Bethesda, MD. In this role, he is responsible for the training of current and future military doctors learning to care for those in harms way. As a faculty member of Advanced Trauma Life Support, Definitive Surgical Trauma Care, Definitive Surgical Trauma Skills, Emergency War Surgery, Advanced Trauma Operative Management, and Anatomically Based Surgery for Trauma Courses, Dr. Bowyer is an international force in trauma education.

• Pandemic: Karen Ngowe, Center for Disease Control (CDC) Training Services Division. Before coming to the CDC, Karen served in the Michigan Department of Community Health Office of Public Health Preparedness as the education and training (Focus G) coordinator.

• Surgical Simulations: Dr. Rick Satava, MD, FACS, is Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington Medical Center, and Senior Science Advisor at the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command in Ft. Detrick, MD. He is currently a member of the Emerging Technologies and Resident Education, and Informatics committees of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), as well as on a number of surgical societies. He has been continuously active in surgical education and surgical research, with more than 200 publications and book chapters in diverse areas of advanced surgical technology, including Surgery in the Space Environment, Video and 3-D imaging, Telepresence Surgery, Virtual Reality Surgical Simulation, and Objective Assessment of Surgical Competence and Training.

Each expert will detail their experiences and their wishes for the future role of simulation and training for their respective area. This will be a highly interactive session with all participants having the opportunity to ask questions of the experts.

In addition to a highly interactive session there will be a demonstration area that includes the chance for attendees to view, up close and personal some advances in medical simulation. Displayed will include:

RDECOM – Virtual Sick Call definitely, TC3 game (ECS) and Moulage Kits (VRMC)
PEO STRI – METI ECS Patient Simulator with some moulage wounds
TATRC – Powerpoint slide of their initiatives
Florida Hospital – daVinci and Simbionix Surgical Simulator
STOPS – Tent and live actors for Hyper-realistic Training
Navy – working w/ them to get PULSE (a game) displayed

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last couple of years, you’ve probably heard of Twitter. When I first heard about Twitter, I didn’t know what the heck it was. Someone invited me to join, I logged in, created a free account and thought, “so what?” It really seemed like a nothing site to me, so I forgot about it. Then, six months later I began hearing about celebrities tweeting and politicians reading and sending tweets during State of the Union addresses. I cataloged it in my brain as another social networking site along with Facebook and LinkedIn, and I thought it seemed really intrusive and a bit narcissistic.

I still hadn’t tried it.

Mad Men Mania

What got me hooked on Twitter was the TV show Mad Men. Or rather, the ardent fans of the show, which have created a sort of 24-hour ongoing Twitter cocktail party. I am a huge fan of the show, so I decided to check it out. There was the suave Don Draper, his icy wife Betty, the uber-competent Joan Holloway—it seemed that every character was tweeting, using clever inside references to the show and to 1960’s pop culture. I wanted to join the party, so I created a new Twitter account using a character name (I won’t tell which one—that would ruin the fun.)

Unlike Facebook, MySpace, or other social networking sites that have cropped up, Twitter has a different flavor. When you have a Facebook account, people know your business (if you share, which is the expected norm). But Twitter is deliciously anonymous. You can be—or pretend to be—whomever you want. You don’t even have to be a person. Someone tweets as the Xerox machine in the office at Sterling Cooper.  Another is an ant from the ant farm that Don busted with a Jai Alai stick.

Twitter for Business

I know what you are thinking—this is all in good fun, but what does it have to do with my business? Plenty. The founders of Twitter see it as less of a social networking tool than an information tool, and this is certainly how it is being used today. Beyond the fun, party atmosphere is a deceptively simple, yet powerful way to communicate.

Here’s why Twitter is something you should be paying attention to:

• It’s easy. There is something daunting about most social networking sites—with all the features, applications, and setup required. Twitter has none of this. The interface is simple, and signing up for an account takes about one minute. Use the search feature to find people you know, or people you are interested in. “Follow” them with one click. “Unfollow” them with one click. Block people you don’t want on your account with one click.
• It’s free. All you need is a valid email account. That’s it.
• It’s mobile. This is one of the greatest features of Twitter. People can (and largely do) use it from their iPhones or BlackBerrys. It’s portable, immediate, and with you all the time.
• It’s public or private, depending on your needs. Most folks have public accounts, but if you want to “protect” your tweets, this is an easy matter as well. In order to follow protected accounts, you must have the user’s permission.
• People are paying attention. Even if you’ve not tried Twitter yet, some people in your organization have. Yes, it may very well be a fad, and something else new and interesting will come along in a year, but why not ride the wave of interest?

Training With Twitter

Here are some examples of how you could use Twitter as a training or change management tool:

1. Brand your training. Create a Twitter account with the name of your new training curriculum or change management initiative, and invite your staff to follow you. Then provide interesting updates and useful links to raise their awareness.
2. Prework. Once you have a nice following of your new training initiative, send out thought-provoking questions or mini research assignments to folks who will be taking an upcoming class.
3. Use it during class. This one is a little more unorthodox. Log into Twitter during your class and project your computer screen so that everyone can see it. Then invite people to post questions. This could be especially useful during presentations with large groups (where they will all be using their smart phones anyway!)  You can also have someone tweet main points of your presentation in order to bring their attention back to the front.
4. Follow up. Keep interest and momentum going post-training by providing useful insights and tips on an ongoing basis.

In today’s post-media world, everyone has news and everyone is a reporter. Don’t be left out—join the conversation. Happy tweeting!

Guess what The Brain and Behavior Blogger is having for dinner tonight.  CROW!!!!

As he is wont to do, The B&B Blogger pulled somebody’s chain – and that somebody (this time, eminent neuroscience researcher, Gyorgy Buzsaki) pulled The Blogger’s chain back.  Here’s how it went down…

The B&B Blogger hyped a research project conducted by GB.  But, thinking that he caught a slight overstatement, joked that GB “got a bit full of himself” by claiming that the study was the first example of a well-defined pattern of activity in the brain that had been reliably and selectively eliminated.  Oh contrarimondo, the B&BB pontificated.  Todd Sacktor was the first to do that!

Here’s the reverse-chain-pull by GB:  “The statement is absolutely true. Nobody has ever selectively eliminated a well-defined brain pattern before. A brain pattern means that a constellation of neurons fire together and give rise a mesoscopic activity that can be recorded as a ‘mean field”. Todd Sacktor’s findings with PKCzeta are fantastic but he did [not] eliminate a brain pattern. The enzyme may be activated by sharp wave-ripples or other patterns and the drug his group used to interfere with plasticity is downstream from population neuronal patterns. Thus, it is not not known that the blocker would affect ripples but even if it does, I would be surprised if the effect would be selective to this particular brain pattern. Hope you can see the difference between electrical patterns and molecular events.”

Well, Dr. Buzsaki, thanks for your comment.  I’m sure that you are correct and I apologize for the mistake at this end.  More nobly still, I concede the point fully – even though I’m kind’ve weak on the electrical patterns vs. molecular events distinction as it applies here.  I used to “see” things like this.  But, that was before I stopped smoking those funny cigarettes.

Keep up the great research!

Eat, drink Think fast and be Merry?

Okay.  It’s 2:15 on the second full day of training.  The trainees are antsy.  Your jokes are flat-lining.   People are getting Carpel Tunnel from checking their watches.  You are desperate to change the mood.  NO PROBLEMO!!!!  Just make everybody think fast about something!

Scientific American Mind reports on six studies conducted at Harvard and Princeton that all agree:  When people are required to think quickly about something, their activation level goes up and their mood becomes more positive.  See how fast you can Find Waldo.  Better still, see how fast you can find him with a timer ticking irritatingly in the background.  Get this:  Watching clips of I Love Lucy in fast forward also did the trick.  Same thing with, “First one to name six dog breeds that start with the letter N wins a dollar.”  Whatever.  You can change the classroom dynamic in just a matter of minutes.

However, there is one big caveat.  Fast and varied thinking causes elation.  Fast and repetitive thinking triggers anxiety and depression and saps energy.  Thinking the same thoughts over and over and over – that’s neurotic – not a good way to improve mood.  And people with bi-polar disorder can become pedal-to-the-medal-manic if required to think fast.  Their minds “race” (thus the pedal metaphor) and may not stop when the exercise is over.

So, to be on the safe side, get people to think fast but vary the kind of thinking involved and don’t let the exercise last more than 8-10 minutes and they’ll be fine.  And, so will you.

Original references for any studies, books or articles cited by the Brain and Behavior Blogger can be obtained by contact with his very dear friend, Dr. Rob Snyder (r.snyder@tier1performance.com), an organizational psychologist with a severe neuroscience-research reading habit.

We recently had a client come to us looking for some ideas on a new distance education program. Their two main objectives were to reduce the costs associated with bringing groups in for live instructor-led training events, and to have a fun learning program that would be engaging to the younger demographic that they were trying to recruit. Their first thought was that Second Life would provide an optimal environment for rolling out this program. After some discussion though, we decided to take a step back and think about some other solutions that might meet their needs.

Second Life is an Internet-based 3D virtual world created and operated by Linden Labs. Each user has their own 3D avatar that they use to interact in the shared virtual space. Organizations can purchase and customize their own virtual environment, restricting it for private access or opening it up to the public community. Second Life has been increasingly used by the educational community – both academic and corporate. In some cases, a “virtual campus” is created to mimic a standard meeting or classroom environment. In others, a realistic model of a real-life location is created for the purposes of simulation and practice. In one example, the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago created a detailed Second Life model of their entire hospital, and then used it for immersive group simulations of emergency response planning.

A Second Life virtual meeting area created by Cisco Systems

This example shows the real sweet-spot of Second Life – immersive and synchronous distance learning events. As mentioned in the previous article, “Our training focus in Second Life is on situations where spatial context, and real time group communication matters.” But not all distance learning falls into these categories. And to get back to our client’s needs, a learning event doesn’t necessarily have to be immersive or synchronous to be engaging, fun and educational.

This chart shows some excellent examples of technologies that have been applied to meet a variety of learning needs. As I mentioned, Second Life is an excellent tool for cases where the fidelity of a simulated environment and group interaction is key – immersive and synchronous.

XL-CITR (Accelerated Learning for Cyber Insider Threat Reduction) was a research project that Tier1 proposed for the United States Air Force. In this program learners would engage in pre-scripted simulations in an immersive Air Operations Center environment to practice detecting behaviors associated with insider threats. Each learner would experience their simulations independently, allowing them to retake scenarios for additional practice or skip over scenarios they have already mastered. This is a case where it’s important for the event to be immersive and asynchronous.

An interactive conversation in the XL-CITR prototype

“Immersion” typically implies that an environment is realistically modeled, and a user feels that they become an active part of that environment. However, there are cases where this is not the most appropriate technique. For non-spatial activities that require more abstract, conceptual thought an immersive environment may be distracting. As an asynchronous example, consider the game Budget Hero. This game gives the learner the opportunity to try to balance the US federal budget, balancing income from taxes with various spending programs, while trying to achieve various user-chosen goals such as “energy independence” or “national security.” A “realistic” environment might have put you in the role of the President sitting at your desk in the Oval Office, reading various bills and deciding which to sign. But obviously, this adds nothing to the engagement or learning of the activity. The interface shown below, while not fitting the above definition of “immersive”, is still entertaining and highly interactive.

Budget Hero, produced by American Public Media

Finally, in some distance learning events, synchronous group interaction is still very valuable but being in an immersive 3D environment provides no real “bang for the buck.” In these cases, a more traditional virtual classroom environment can allow a group to communicate and interact with each other, while simultaneously viewing the same learning content. Adobe Connect is one such application that provides ways for groups to interact such as voice and chat discussions, interactive polls, breakout discussion groups, and even independent interactions such as application simulations.

The breadth of tools and techniques that are available in the e-learning industry today give us many options when it comes to synchronicity and immersion.

What other tools have you used that fit into these categories?

Other than immersion and synchronicity, what decision points do you choose when thinking about highly engaging and interactive learning events?

TiER1 won a Davey Award for our Change Management Primer. http://www.tier1performance.com/change/

The Davey Awards are international awards that are targeted towards small businesses whose annual billings are less than $10-25 million a year.

“The largest and most prestigious awards competition exclusively for the “Davids” of creativity.  David defeated the giant Goliath with a big idea and a little rock – the sort of thing small firms do each year. The annual International Davey Awards honors the achievements of the “Creative Davids” who derive their strength from big ideas, rather than stratospheric budgets.”

For more information – http://www.daveyawards.com/home/