A must-have for virtual learning
During the pandemic, most of the training they used to deliver was virtual. That makes things extra challenging for the presenters as they are unable to observe peoples’ reactions and engagement levels in a physical setting. Debbie uses polls, surveys, and quizzes to gather as much feedback as possible to analyze if people can understand the content they’re delivering.
Mentimeter helped us to shape training in a virtual way. It enabled us to measure where people are at in terms of their knowledge - it’s about giving people information, testing their knowledge, and making sure they’ve understood what we’re trying to say.
Inspiring younger generations to join the Council
Debbie uses Mentimeter to deliver presentations at universities to showcase their employer brand and attract students to join the Council. These Student Insight events aim to demonstrate how the Council works, how it’s been digitalized, and to show them the endless possibilities it can offer in terms of training and employment.
By making these presentations interactive, they allow students to actively engage and talk about their expectations and the issues they think are important to them.
"They want to make the world a better place, a greener place. Most young people are interested in working in that area - they want to make a difference in the world they’re growing up in, and the world that’s going to be there for future generations. I find it fascinating how you get that level of understanding and insight just by allowing young people a voice."
Tailoring the messaging on the fly
One of the most significant advantages of incorporating live Q&As and feedback surveys within the training sessions is it allows you to adjust the content to suit the needs of the participants.
Debbie studies the insights gathered during the sessions to customize the content, learn from every event, and plan how they will deliver that particular session going forward.
It’s the just-in-time response you can give to questions, that matters the most. We begin the session with a set agenda, but by the end of the day, we realize we’ve delved into a lot more areas than expected. We have a much wider understanding of what people need from us.
Her advice for other learning and development professionals
About ease of use
Debbie believes they are on a journey of exploration with Mentimeter; trying to find new ways of leveraging the tool to shape their training programs and create unique experiences. She suggests others follow suit without worrying too much about technical implementation and adaptation.
Don’t see Menti as something new that will take time to learn and embed in practice. The most important thing about the tool is you can just go into it, get a feel for it, and start to use it immediately. Then you explore more and grow your use.
"I’m not great at following instructions, so Mentimeter lends itself to people like me. It’s a fairly intuitive and self-explanatory tool. You can create your first presentation in 20 minutes. It doesn’t require pre-learning or time-consuming onboarding activities to get to a place where you can use it professionally."
About increasing usage
Several of Debbie’s colleagues use Mentimeter to host individual and one-to-many training sessions, post-training evaluations, employee reviews, etc. They’re testing the waters with various teaching partnerships, and even introducing Mentimeter in universities. The council has organized two large public conferences for the end of this year and they want to use the tool to boost engagement at the events. It’s still early days, but they’re confident that the use of Mentimeter will only continue to grow from here.
"I want to understand if we’re making a difference. If we’re doing what needs to be done to get that return on investment. That’s where Mentimeter comes to the fore."