The website English Language and Usage defines “feeding the dragon” as the pouring of resources into a self-perpetuatingsituation. In business terms, organizations develop self-perpetuating resources that we nurture and evolve to provide continuity and serve our communities.
A learning management system (LMS) is often on the leading edge of our engagement strategy to educate, inform, and support our stakeholders. We should use this resource as our knowledge hub that facilitates learning whenever and wherever it occurs. This is especially true in the age of virtual conferences and the emergence of hybrid events.
The past year has changed how organizations reach and engage with their audience. By being forced into virtual events, they have expanded their audience and reached previously un-engaged participants. These events are often hosted in separate conference sites as a one-time occurrence. But this approach results in a lack of exposure and momentum for current and future organizational online education initiatives.
Integrating your virtual and hybrid events into an LMS pays long-term learning and, depending on your pricing strategy, monetary dividends. Provided below are 5 key benefits of offering your online event through your LMS:
Virtual and hybrid events represent the intersection between place-based and online learning. Utilizing your LMS will allow you to leverage a perpetual model where each engagement builds upon the foundation and continuity the LMS provides.
As registrants and then attendees access the conference, they will be able to see, register and access other LMS-hosted programs, such as e-learning courses or webinars.
All session content will already be hosted within the LMS and simply needs to be edited for post-conference access. Otherwise, content from a separate conference site needs to be migrated, requiring hours of unnecessary work.
Within an LMS, sessions can include surveys, tests, certificates and credits. Typically, not all of these features are available in a separate virtual conference environment.
Hosting a virtual or hybrid conference within an LMS allows organizations to utilize the single sign-on and authentication already in place.
Pouring resources into a one-time conference site continues an event-to-event approach. Utilizing your LMS allows you to take advantage of a self-perpetuating model and synergizes with your online education. It feeds the LMS dragon!
CommPartners has managed virtual and hybrid events for over 12 years. Our Elevate LMS is the ideal platform to host your next virtual or hybrid event. To learn more, contact Meghan Gowen at mgowen@commpartners.com
By Rich Finstein Past: CEO of CommPartners Present: President, LMS and Managed Services Divisions, Cadmium
“Innovation is the unrelenting drive to break the status quo and develop anew where few have dared to go.“– Steven Jeffes, Marketing and Business Expert
As you may know, CommPartners, along with three other companies—CadmiumCD, Ethos CE, and Warpwire—have formed a new entity called Cadmium.
The formal mission of Cadmium is to simplify the production of events and maximize the value of online learning with a single, flexible platform designed to capture the chemistry of people, ideas, and knowledge. At its core is the idea that all knowledge, whether created and shared onsite, online, or in a hybrid format is best offered through a unified strategy and a single platform. This is the basis for CommPartners moving forward at this time and becoming a division of Cadmium.
Our plan over the coming months is to incorporate our Elevate LMS, virtual conference, and webinar platforms with CadmiumCD’s event tech and Warpwire’s multimedia tools to give our clients the ability to leverage an enduring, integrated strategy for their education and community engagement. We feel organizations that embrace a comprehensive and integrated approach for onsite, online, and hybrid education will thrive. The pandemic has had a profound effect on education offerings and has expedited the convergence of conferences and online learning.
Last week, we formally announced the launch of the new website, www.gocadmium.com and began to change our email signatures, social sites, and other engagement tools. We are actively working with our new colleagues and beginning to collaborate as a single entity. These are new and exciting times.
As we transition, I want our clients to know that our leadership team and our entire staff will continue to be there for you as we always have. My CommPartners colleagues are actively working within the new framework and enjoying the opportunities that have come with our expanded size and impact in the market.
While we are excited to move forward, we recognize that with all personal and professional transitions, there is an ending and a new beginning. We started CommPartners 28 years ago in my house as a provider of fax broadcast services. National Association of Home Builders was our first client and we continue to support their education needs today. It’s been quite a journey to get to this point.
I want to thank you all for your years of support and friendship. Thanks to our staff, both past and present, who enabled us to thrive. To our families, thank you for always being there for us in good times and in bad. Finally, thank you to the association community for your support and trust over so many years.
We look forward to beginning anew, and are excited about what’s next!
Imagine going to Amazon to purchase a new book and there is no search feature. You have to scroll through every single item Amazon sells until you come across the book you wanted. Phew, nightmare over. Not only does Amazon have a search bar, but it anticipates what you’re looking for, recommends what you might want next based on previous purchases, and items are organized into categories so you can easily search for what you’re looking for on your own.
Continuing our more in-depth look into CommPartners, CEO, Rich Feinstein’s The Evolution of the Association LMS: 10 Considerations for 2020, let’s talk about organizing content. Whether you’ve just implemented your LMS and you’re starting fresh with your organization system, or you’ve had it for years and you’re learning catalog could use a critical eye, a good taxonomy strategy is essential.
For many associations, their LMS is the primary source for education and connection since the pandemic started and their digital assets are growing. Creating a simple way to search and find content is essential for learners. There are several taxonomy and organization strategies to optimize searching and presentation of content:
“The more robust your taxonomy is, the better you’re empowering the LMS to meet your goals and changing goals,” Arianne Urena, Elevate Implementation and Project Manager. Arianne recommends establishing a taxonomy strategy as your first step when implementing your LMS. Consider these questions when developing your strategy:
What content is offered on your site? Make a list of everything.
What is the priority of each offering? Start with the essential items for your learners and then add in the supplemental pieces.
Which assets are revenue generators? Mark those.
Who is your audience? Are they familiar with an LMS? New members? Old members? How are they accessing the LMS? Member role? Job type? Apply the necessary categories.
Use case: How will they navigate? How long does it take for them to find an asset? How do you correct any navigation delays?
What is the ideal layout for your content on your LMS? What is the first thing a learner sees on the site? Second, third, fourth?
Once you’ve organized your content and you’ve established a robust taxonomy strategy, you can apply other organizational methods:
One-click imagery or terms: Make finding content a snap by organizing it into categories and requiring only “one-click” to navigate.
Keyword search: Include a keyword search bar on your LMS site so learners can search through your well organized content library.
Personalized learning paths: To help your learners get started on their learning journey and navigate through all the content options, provide them with personalized learning pathways based on career paths, member roles, etc. with the individualized attention of an “advisor” from your staff. To learn how to create these paths, join us for our upcoming webinar Creating Personalized Learning Journeys.
Self-Assessment Quiz: This is your chance to become the advisor. CommPartners’ Elevate has a new feature that allows administrators to gauge competency and make personalized content recommendations to learners based on their quiz results. Click here to find out more about the self-assessment quiz feature.
Creating a simple and easy-to-follow path to content within your LMS will eliminate frustration while encouraging your learners to register and keep coming back for more. To learn more about organization options for your LMS or Elevate, contact Meghan Gowen at mgowen@commpartners.com.
Learners, meet your new advisor. Elevate admins can now make personalized content recommendations to learners through a Self-Assessment Quiz. The assessment gauges a learners’ knowledge of specific focus areas or quiz categories. Upon completing the assessment, the learner is presented with a list of asset recommendations designed to improve their knowledge level within each focus area. Lower scores will offer learners beginner-level courses, and higher scores will offer more advanced courses.
As the learner completes the recommended products, they are encouraged to repeat the quiz to identify areas they have improved in and target where they still need to continue their journey based on their scores.
This is a great onboarding tool for new members to gauge a baseline in certain competencies while helping them sift through your association’s extensive learning catalog. It’s not limited to just new members, anyone learning a new skill can take a quiz to receive individualized attention, “introduce the quiz at any time as a tool to provide a more nuanced and personalized learning experience for end-users,” says Eve Finstein, Elevate Implementation Manager.
To learn how to set up a Self-Assessment Quiz, click here. If you’re interested in learning how to integrate learning path strategies into your LMS or more about Elevate, contact Meghan Gowen at mgowen@commpartners.com.
Going Virtual with Kate is a weekly chat on Facebook Live with CommPartners’ Kate Ratcliffe. Kate discusses popular topics, answers questions, and shares ideas about all things virtual events during this time when many organizations are going virtual with their events. We know this decision can be a daunting task that brings with it many questions, especially for organizations that have never hosted an event online and now have to transition an entire conference to a virtual platform.
Find past episodes of Going Virtual with Kate right here, after they’ve aired on our Facebook page. Catch Kate live every Thursday at 4 p.m. EST on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/CommPartners.
Please send topic ideas or questions about transitioning to virtual events to marketing@commpartners.com.
Episode 1: April 2, 2020
This week is an introduction to our weekly live broadcasts!
Episode 2: April 9, 2020
Monetizing your Virtual Conference
Episode 3: April 16, 2020
Pairing your Virtual Conference with an LMS
Episode 4: April 23, 2020
Transitioning to Virtual with SOPHE
Episode 5: April 30, 2020
Preparing for Your First Virtual Conference Planning Meeting
Commpartners had the opportunity to speak with the American Society of Interior Design about their success with implementing CommPartners Elevate LMS. As an organization who focuses on the design and aesthetic of beautiful interiors, it was important that their platform encompassed a clean and cohesive design to match their brand. This led to one of their main deciding factors to be the ability to work with the CP team to create a fully customized site to their specifications.
ASID identified a number of core requirements they wanted to address with a new LMS, stated in the bullets below. Click the case study to learn how they overcame these challenges by utilizing Elevate LMS.
Provide a seamless user experience where the LMS is fully integrated with ASID’s web presence and database
Match ASID’s mission by focusing on design of attractive imagery and navigation elements that allow learners to easily access their content
Ensure an engaging mobile experience
Support learners’ desire for well conceived and developed on demand content.
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