I've had a passion for working with speakers since high school. While I'm not a professional speaker, I know that creating an online course can add tremendous value to the back of the room sales for any speaker. I had the privilege of talking with Jane Atkinson of The Wealthy Speaker University. Jane shares some of her success tips to creating an online course for her audience of speakers, but she also shares the times she learned what didn't work for her audience.
Jane Atkinson has been helping speakers catapult their businesses for over 20 years. As a former speaker’s agent, she has represented numerous speakers, celebrities and best-selling authors. Today, Jane coaches some of the industry's hottest stars, who have vaulted to the top 3% of the field. Her clients are the who’s who…. Executive VP’s of Fortune 100 companies, Editors-in-Chief of Top Magazines, Bestselling Authors, Adventurers, Ivy League Professors and regular everyday people who have a strong message.
The Online Course Coach Podcast Show Notes
I've been using LearnDash on several projects over the years, so I wanted to get the founder on the podcast to talk. In this week's Online Course Coach Podcast, Justin Ferriman talks about what this LMS plugin is, what markets can benefit from it and some good marketing strategies. I like this LMS for its flexibility, quiz features, gamification (badges, points, leaderboard, etc) and that they are constantly coming out with new features. I'm using LearnDash on a current project which will have 5 full video-based courses on it and we'll be adding more courses in the future.
To learn more about LearnDash and it's features and benefits, click here.
While the term Instructional Design may seem too intimidating for many online course creators, it's important to know what it is and it can improve the quality of your courses and eLearning projects. Anna Sabramowicz shares her experience in this field and how important it is to get the student's feedback throughout the project. This will help you create a better course, learn the pain points of why they purchased your online course and help you build a community around your course. I had a lot of fun with Anna on the Online Course Coach Podcast and her engaging personality comes through in the interview. It was my goal to find someone to bring on the podcast to talk about Instructional Design in simple and easy to understand terms, and she did just that. I work with a lot of people who don't consider the learning process that a student will take and what all the student will learn throughout the course. It's easy to breeze through the course creation process and packing the course with all the knowledge you have. But, it might be more important to step back and determine the few things that the student wants to learn. The best way to do this is through beta testing your course with your ideal student base. The more feedback you get throughout the process of course creation, the better your course will be. This process works similar to the Lean Startup model and can be applied to your online course and eLearning projects.
Anna Sa•bra•mo•wicz is the founder of ElearnerEngaged, an boutique elearning studio, responsible for award winning scenario based learning like "Broken Co-worker: Interactive eLearning Scenario." She published her own online course on learner centered instructional design, Skillagents.com, which has been described as “eating a box of chocolates”. Anna makes no claims to be a technology expert, but loves to empathize with the learners’ experience. Oddly enough, her advocacy for learner centered design and results driven education—where training time really matters—has made her a complete contrarian.
One of the things that many people struggle with are not just creating the course material, but how to put it online for their students to access it. While some people have the technical expertise to create their own website and sell the course through it, others want an easy solution, and that's what Ruzuku does. Abe Crystal talks about this platform, how it got started and why you may want to consider using it. Abe offers some solid advice on how to best market your online course and recommends similar strategies as to what I recommend, so pay attention to those in the interview.
Registration is simple and the more you share it out, the more chances you have to win! I would be honored if you were my guest to FinCon 2016.
Abe Crystal, Ph.D. is a co-founder of Ruzuku. Ruzuku’s online platform makes it ridiculously easy for you to create your own online course or coaching program. Ruzuku has hosted over 10,000 courses serving over 80,000 students around the world. Abe specializes in learning design and user experience research, and earned his Ph.D. in human-computer interaction at UNC-Chapel Hill.
*In order to win the FinCon 2016 ticket, you must be a new attender to FinCon.Free ticket contest only covers the cost of one ticket to the 2016 FinCon conference and not travel, meals, or other expenses.
I had the privilege of attending FinCon in Charlotte, North Carolina recently. And while this conference is primarily for those in the financial industry, I loved attending. I share my thoughts and takeaways. I also was able to interview 6 people at FinCon who have online courses or membership sites and they gave a favorite tip and tool that they use in their online courses.
Registration is simple and the more you share it out, the more chances you have to win! I would be honored if you were my guest to FinCon 2016.
While there are many different types of courses that you can create for your audience (I like to call them students), these 5 items below are some options I like to start off with when I'm coaching someone who wants to create an online course. I go more in depth in the podcast, so listen and think if one of these would work well for your students.
Brian is a serial Entrepreneur. He loves to start, run, and invest in small businesses. With experience in online marketing, sales, and corporate finance, he wears many hats! Currently, he runs Hyperion Financial Group, an online financial publishing company. He also sits on the Board of Betwext.com, a cutting edge text message platform for small business. Brian also invests in and consults with small businesses in a number of different industries. You can reach Brian here.
Steph Halligan is the entrepreneurial cartoonist behind Art To Self. She's also the creator of You Deserve More, a 7-day course to help freelancers and entrepreneurs charge what they’re worth. Get her free 6-lesson mini course and free scripts for raising your rates at YouDeserveMore.co
David Stein is host of Money For the Rest of Us, a weekly personal finance show. He also runs the Money For the Rest of Us Hub, an online educational platform on money, how it works, and how to invest it. Previously, he was Chief Investment Strategist and Chief Portfolio Strategist at Fund Evaluation Group, a $35 billion institutional investment advisor. At FEG he co-lead the 20 person research team and managed assets for endowments, foundations and financial planners. You can find him at www.moneyfortherestofus.net or on Twitter @jdstein
wellkeptwallet.com *In order to win the FinCon 2016 ticket, you must be a new attender to FinCon.Free ticket contest only covers the cost of one ticket to the 2016 FinCon conference and not travel, meals, or other expenses.