Sharing the Visual Wealth Slideshare.net just announced its World’s Best Presentation winners. Slideshare.net allows users to upload their PowerPoint presentations for general viewing or for select group viewing. Kind of like YouTube for the PP geek set. You can look at the winning presentations and get ideas on graphics, font sizes, colors, etc., as well as find presentations on information that might be similar to yours for some stimulating ideas. Or a deck on “Beautiful French News Girl” which has nothing to do with yours.

Managers before training have the number one responsibility for making sure training sticks; however, getting manager buy-in can be difficult. What ways have you found to effectively get managers enthusiastic about sending staff to training and becoming involved in making sure training transfers? Write us at EzineEditor@BobPikeGroup.com. We would love to share your great ideas with others who struggle. Or if you have other creative training tips (ways to choose group leaders, tips for choosing a great facility for training, new technology or websites as resources, effective visuals, etc.), let us know about them!

Hi, this is Learning Oddfellow. I am an “avatar” created by Elliott Masie and I live in a virtual world called Second Life. As an “avatar,” I am both High-Fidelity and also other-worldly. And, as my name implies, I am all about learning. My life is a bit different and I’d like to let you use me as a tool to better understand the world of gaming and virtualization for the world of learning. So, I’ve asked my creator, Elliott Masie, to interview me with some unrehearsed and probing questions: Masie: Why would anyone want to leave the very real world to go to a virtual world for important corporate learning?

Participants at a recent BPG Boot Camp ranked “Learning and Retention” as their number one need-to-know area of interest for the two-day session. We’d like your input on how you increase learning and retention in your training and presentations or how you’ve modified activities (adapted, adopted and applied) and information gleaned from us. Contributions will be featured in future ezines or our sister publication, Bob Pike’s Creative Training Techniques. Email us at ezineeditor@bobpikegroup.com with your thoughts. Be sure to include your name, company, title and location.

The internet has become, more than ever before, a forum for social change! With two clicks, I can now show you a cool site instead of just trying to describe it or email you the link. And there are so many useful tools available on the web. When trying to do training well, you are not alone and there are tons of sites to prove it! As I read industry journals, ezines, e-letters and press releases, I come across dozens of websites that have relevant information that can help trainers become even better at what they do. So now there is a site where you can see my favorite training “bookmarks” and you can add your favorite training sites to mine.

HR and Training Jobs Secure With many human resource professionals retiring, companies trying to rein in healthcare costs and regulatory agencies instituting new requirements, HR job availability should increase. According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics... FREE PodCast on PodCast Creation Do you create PodCasts for your training? Management Meets Employee Expectations Half of the Time Krauthammer International, Brussels, surveyed people from various industry sectors researching the behavior employees seek from their managers. Managers did not meet expectations about half of the time.

There are generally considered five different levels at which a training or learning intervention can be evaluated, ranging from “Level 1” (which simply captures learners’ reactions to the intervention) up to “Level 5” (which calculates business-level return on investment). [This widely-used labeling system is based on an evaluation model first developed by Donald Kirkpatrick.] Simpler evaluations are less expensive than more advanced levels of evaluation, which can require significant investments of time and effort. Therefore, careful consideration should be given to determining the appropriate level of evaluation for any given specific curriculum, course, or learning initiative. Different courses or curricula need different evaluation strategies, and you should always keep in mind that it may not be necessary to do all levels of evaluation.

In this last of three articles designed to compel you to start putting the point back in PowerPoint, compare your top four strategies with mine. Here you will discover my next four pointers and why you need an Xtreme PowerPoint Makeover (see fall conference brochure for contest details). STOP using PowerPoint as a delivery mechanism! It is a support media for your message. Before my next four ideas, let’s see if you can fill in the blanks at random from my first two in this series:

Free Open Source Learning Content Coming The Learning CONSORTIUM is launching an open-source learning project. Training Tax Credit Bill Introduced A Senate bill entitled "Competitiveness through Education, Technology, and Enterprise (COMPETE) Act of 2007" was introduced March 9. Soon-to-be Tech Trends A new report identifies six emerging technology trends expected to have broad adoption in higher education within the next one to five years.

It all started when my beloved laptop of seven years started to slow down and I decided it was time for a new laptop. I purchased my new laptop and discovered it included software for building web sites. Then I also learned that the computer store gave free computer lessons on how to use the software. In addition, I learned my internet service provided “free” web space where I could practice posting my new web site as I learned the web software. How could I resist?