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MULTIMEDIAHow To Get Employees To Actually Engage In Learning

and Improve Overall Internal CommunicationsHow To Get Employees To Actually Engage In Learning

and Improve Overall Internal Communications

2ELM | MULTIMEDIA

You spent an hour interviewing a senior executive, then two more crafting management’s important thoughts into the

perfect e-mail message. Several teammates dedicated time to editing

it—and they suggested five new subject lines. After an entire afternoon

glued to your inbox securing sign-off, you hit send and …

Then they hit ‘delete.’

Sure, you might have complied with an HR requirement, slightly bolstered morale by inviting everybody with January birthdays to the break room for cake, or announced the winners of the Q3 sales contest. Chances are good, however, that all you did was contribute to the mountain of mindless messages that lead to employee burnout and hinder performance. We’re all overloaded with information, and the last thing anybody wants is to hear unnecessary blather from the bosses. (Sorry to be so frank, but it needs to be acknowledged).

Too often, employees tasked with conveying critical company information to sizable or remote staffs go through the motions and settle for dismal results. They fail to incentivize their teams with the same degree of excellence as they do their customers. They say they don’t have time or resources to do it right. They suffer the consequences in turnover and lapses in productivity.

(the average open rate of large organizations worldwide) of your staff clicks through and reads thefirst paragraph of all your hard work.

Was it worth it?

It doesn’t have to be this way.

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With some strategic effort, an understanding of how the human mind works, and the right

combination of multimedia, it’s possible to measurably improve internal learning experiences

and a variety of other internal communications.

The rest of this book will cover:• What multimedia is and how it enhances engagement and learning• The shift from static communications to multimedia• Case studies on companies who’ve seen success• Making the case for multimedia: Overcoming the barriers

When it comes to learning and development,

a similar scenario often seems to unfold.

You spend time and resources creating learning modules to ensure the success of your team

members, and your organization. But more often than not, if you pay attention, you’ll hear the

background chatter of employee complaints:

“What does sales training have to do with my role?”

“Insert common learning complaint here”

“Ugh I have to sit through another one of these boring training modules when I could be getting

work done.”

WORK

PLAN

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What is multimedia 5

Shifting the focus 8

This is what success looks like 9

Multimedia Solutions 12

Your Turn 13

Table Of Contents

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Multimedia can be defined as the combination of narrative, images, video, audio and animation, created with the aim to engage users.

When our team here at ELM works with a client, we use this research to ensure we are incorporating each of these necessary elements whether we create a digital learning experience, an infographic, or an animated video.

What is multimedia and how does it enhance things like learning and

engagement?

Video Audio Animation Narration Photographs

Infographics Graphics Illustrations Images Podcasts

Did you know that people only spend 1 minute on average looking at a text only website, but research indicates that they’ll engage with videos, images and audio for four minutes or longer. That’s a HUGE difference in engagement, especially when it comes to other types of digital communication.

Your team should be considering one or a combination of the following alternatives to the firing off another text only memo or learning resource:

The best multimedia learning is consistent with how the mind works.Companies looking to succeed at multimedia learning would be well-served to study what the experts say about formulating narratives and the right combination of formats to maximize it.

Look no further than Dr. Richard Mayer, University of California Santa Barbara psychology professor. His research indicates that people learn better with visuals that enhance words—but not all visuals are created equal. They have to be arranged in a way that promotes cognition. Most brains are processing inbound information in the following stages, which are good to keep in mind:

Connecting with a clear topic

Following a logical narrative

Integrating the information into pre-existing knowledge

“People learn better from multimedia messages when they are designed in ways that are consistent with how the human mind works and are consistent with research based principles.”- Dr. Richard Mayer

University of California Santa Barbara

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Completing hundreds of client learning projects, we’ve learned a few key things when it comes to the

success of using multimedia effectively:

• Each digital learning experience or internal communication requires individual analysis to determine the right combination of multimedia. The right multimedia needs to be determined by a few factors,

such as an audience analysis, environment analysis, and content analysis. To make the right choices

here, we recommend consulting what we call the “learning designer”. On our team these are designers

who use creative instructional design, but also understand and consider UX principles.

• A clear, engaging storyline that is relevant to the user can either make or break a communication. Relevancy is important, not only to

the person’s job function, but to their previous experience.

• Whether it’s a learning experience, or a communication series, desired learning outcomes arise when content is spaced out over time, and the information continues to build upon the previous content. As

Dr. Richard Mayer found, learning builds upon previous knowledge. This is why spacing works so well

when properly combined with ways to retrieve the previous knowledge.

• In more cases that not, illustrations are the superior choice to stock photography. (We have a list of reasons why here) Animation

and illustration are overall far more versatile when compared to the

sometimes-stiff, always impersonal stock photo.

• When cognitive strategies are incorporated into modules, such as repetition, summarizing meaning, the use of imagery, reinforcement, etc., in addition to feedback and social interaction, leadership training can be an exceedingly effective way to train young leaders. While millennials choose the latest tech as

their top tool for impact, many learning programs out there are ineffective and underwhelming because

they are outdated, not crafted for how learning takes place, have content that is either too condensed or

seems irrelevant and volatile; and finally, they are usually standardized and non-personalized.

• Visual storytelling (something our team uses including things like the

use of multimedia, beautiful UI/UX, a witty, conversational voice, and

emotional connection) enhances engagement. Inspired multimedia

messages do everything plain text can’t. Video and audio create a

higher quality of interaction that is lost in text-based digital learning.

• Digital learning programs are most effective when paired with an internal marketing plan to communicate the purpose and the details of the program to employees. To reiterate: “100% of learning fails if nobody

knows about it.” - Jack Mahklouf, Chief Learning Architect at ELM

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To get an even deeper understanding of why multimedia creates mean-

ingful engagement, and overall, better learning, Dr. Mayer’s research uncovers 12 principles surrounding multimedia and learning.

Coherence PrinciplePeople learn better when extrane-

ous words, pictures and sounds are

excluded rather than included.

Pre-training Principle People learn better from a multi-

media lesson when they know the

names and characteristics of the

main concepts.

Signaling PrinciplePeople learn better when cues that

highlight the organization of the es-

sential material are added.

Modality PrinciplePeople learn better from graphics

and narrations than from animation

and on-screen text.

Redundancy PrinciplePeople learn better from graphics

and narration than from graphics,

narration and on-screen text.

Multimedia PrinciplePeople learn better from words and

pictures than from words alone.

Spatial Contiguity Principle

People learn better when corre-

sponding words and pictures are

presented near rather than far from

each other on the page or screen.

Personalization PrinciplePeople learn better from multimedia

lessons when words are in conversa-

tional style rather than formal style.

Temporal Contiguity PrinciplePeople learn better when corre-

sponding words and pictures are

presented simultaneously rather

than successively.

Voice PrinciplePeople learn better when the narra-

tion in multimedia lessons is spoken

in a friendly human voice rather than

a machine voice.

Segmenting PrinciplePeople learn better from a multi-

media lesson is presented in us-

er-paced segments rather than as

a continuous unit.

Image PrinciplePeople do not necessarily learn bet-

ter from a multimedia lesson when

the speaker’s image is added to the

screen.

Mayer often says, “Instructional development is too often based on what computers can do rather than on a research-based theory of how people learn with technology.”

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Inspired multimedia messages do everything plain text can’t. Video and audio create the same quality of interaction as grabbing drinks at happy hour, pulling an all-nighter for a big client, or a constructive 1-on-1 evaluation. There will still be mundane e-mails to send, but executive teams who are willing to be discerning and authentic in their communications can and should identify opportunities to go big and all-in on multimedia. These periodic bursts of strategic creativity set the tone and make all the other messages tolerable.

Shifting the focus from text-based

communications to

multimedia is the game-changer.

Then we’ll challenge you to consider how you’ll wow your people.

How much could you change your company culture with just three truly creative multimedia communications?

Probably a lot, if you’re intentional about it.

When companies ditch text-only and start getting creative with visuals to connect with employees they:

Educate and entertain at the same timeSee higher engagementEnsure a message is received and understood.Create more personalized, human-centric messaging.Grab people’s attentionCreate more enjoyable and memorable communications

We’re going to give you three examples of how multimedia has helped some

of our clients solve some of their most challenging problems.

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Case Study 1: UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital’s CEASE California Program: Creating Meaningful Engagement

is what success looks like.This

The CEASE training program has shown meaningful progress in helping pediatricians identify and approach their patients’ parents and caregivers to provide assistance for them to quit smoking. Unfortunately, the in-person training deployment is very costly (including costs of travel, staff time, etc.) and the expense was too high to sustain and scale. Amongst cost, other barriers from scaling the program to help children nationwide include the lack of time amongst pediatricians to complete an in-person training, and staff turnover requiring new staff training sessions.

Using our neurolearning methodology to support engagement, each learning objective in the module was supported by strong visual interpretation (and custom illustrations) combined with meaningful challenges (such as drag and drop interactive context combined with short quizzes) after each objective to ensure the learner understood and retained what they had learned. Everything from the voice narration to the content was created to play upon pediatrician’s previous knowledge, and a strong storytelling element was implemented to help the learners better implement CEASE at their practice in a way that would strongly relate to their patients perspective.

A randomized study of 156 participants trained with the new module was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the solution ELM created. The ratings of both the in-person and online trainings were of high quality with ratings greater than 4.5 on a 5 point Likert Scale for both groups. There were also no significant differences between the trainings in ratings on convenience, effectiveness and ability to engage participants. This proved that the online module was effective and gave the ability to scale the training across the U.S. and impact more children’s lives. The online training allows for an easy solution to train new staff members, and allows pediatricians to complete and absorb the material at convenient points in the day for them, creating minimal interruption in workflow.

CEASE California is a non-profit, clinical effort and evidence-based training program combating a devastating issue in the United States: second-hand smoke exposure in children.

The Challenge:

The Multimedia Solution:

The Results:

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Case Study 2: MillerCoors: Creating More Engaging Onboarding

MillerCoors needed to find a way for their internal departments to better interact and understand each other’s business objectives. Unfortunately, their onboarding was uncompelling and skimmed over by most of their employees and new hires. The company came to ELM to craft a solution that meshed with their fun, engaging company culture.

ELM developed an interactive learning experience that challenged the MillerCoors employees in understanding the four main functions at MillerCoors. The multimedia solution was built with modern, on-brand design, that was supported with an engaging, funny, and relevant narrative. The script was crafted in a way that did a very important thing: relate all of the new information to the learner and describes exactly how each department is able to support the learner’s current role. Finally, the learning experience was kept short, using a microlearning approach to not overwhelm the learner, and to make it easier to take the learning without interrupting the work day.

Once this new onboarding experience was launched to onboard new MillerCoors employees, the company saw a drastic increase in user participation and engagement.

MillerCoors is a alcoholic beverage brewing and marketing company which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Molson Coors.

The Challenge:

The Multimedia Solution:

The Results:

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Case Study 3: A Large Global Consulting Firm Needed a Way to Effectively Communicate an Important Internal Message

A large consulting firm has grown rapidly over the years, and with that came some growing pains. Employees were feeling a lack of work-life balance. In an effort to communicate to employees that leadership was listening and working on resolving the issue to be a more people-centric organization, they organized a company wide meeting. The purpose of this meeting was to inspire, motivate, and explain how they are solving the issues at hand. They wanted help on the best way to communicate this important message to employees, so they came to ELM for help.

ELM brainstormed a visual metaphor and story behind the message. ELM set the visuals to accompany the speech of one of the company’s executives in an engaging and meaningful way to capture not only employee attention, but connect with employees on an emotional level.

After the speech a team member provided the following feedback:

The Challenge:

The Multimedia Solution:

The Results:

“You can imagine the type of reaction

you’d like to receive, but you know

it’s never going to be as good as

you imagine. However, in this case,

the video completely blew away our

dream response. ELM helped us

change the way we communicate

within our business.”

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Multimedia solutions are quickly becoming the norm for thriving organizations.

Companies report that video communications, specifically, are worth the investment. Some of the top-rated benefits include:

Humanizing C-level executivesImprovement in training proceduresMeaningful engagement with remote staff

A multimedia campaign is also an effective way to promote your internal learning programs.You put a ton of resources into creating a learning initiative for your team, all just to have it be neglected to wither away in an LMS graveyard. Sound familiar?

Maybe you even tried to send out an email to drum up support–and still; nothing.Clearly, an internal email isn’t doing much to inspire your employees to take action and use the learning program.

We put together internal multimedia campaigns for our clients to market their internal learning programs and get employees not only engaged with the learning platform, but to explain the basics of where it’s located, how to access it, and why it’s relevant to them.

To get your employees attention, tell a story with your messaging by putting together a launch sequence of multimedia communications.Sending one email to your team announcing the launch of your latest sales training, or leadership development program is not only uninspiring, but honestly, a little lazy.

Remember this: Isolated pieces of communication often feel like white noise. Our brains are hardwired for story, so whether it’s our marketing materials or our internal communications to announce a new program, you get the best results from connecting each message in sequences.

Each piece must represent a part of the whole story you are trying to tell, and launch in the right order to keep your audience engaged. This can and should be more than just emails. Videos, GIFS, animations, illustrations, podcasts, PDFs, and a world of available content options offer you the ability to get creative and spur your employees to not only use the training, but spread the word about the initiative for you.

A leading internal communication research and training organization found that 93% of teams see video as an essential communication tool. 67% of respondents plan to increase their video budget.

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Of course you’d love to drop loads of cash on fancy internal communications multimedia—but that’s

not how things work in your organization, right? Wrong. Excuses won’t solve problems. Every major

organization implementing this strategy knows the value of allocating pre-emptive resources to team-

building and efficiency. Multimedia is also much more affordable than it was previously. Even more important: Savvy advocates for multimedia know how to secure sign-off from key decision-makers.

The top challenge most L&D departments are facing is having a limited budget to work with according

to Linkedin’s Workplace Learning Report for 2017.

Your turn.

1.

2.

3.

Think of your multimedia spend as part of your company’s staffing retention budget. It costs a lot to replace an unhappy employee who quits and leaves the organization in a jam. According to Forbes, the average cost to replace a millennial employee is between $15K - $25K. Retention is a significant economic issue.

If your department isn’t in position to lead the multimedia efforts, make a compelling case to the decision-makers to partner with a company who is knowledgeable in the area. With your company knowledge and understanding of employees combined with experts in learning and multimedia design you’ll create compelling, and effective learning experiences. Lead with that when you take the team’s key stakeholder to lunch.

If your department isn’t in position to lead the multimedia efforts, make a compelling case to the decision-makers to partner with a company who is knowledgeable in the area. With your company knowledge and understanding of employees combined with experts in learning and multimedia design you’ll create compelling, and effective learning experiences. Lead with that when you take the team’s key stakeholder to lunch.

If it’s never been done before, be prepared with examples. Use the ones in this resource, make a script and sample video with your iPhone, or suggest spending a small amount on three test cases to measure effectiveness before more significant funding is invested.

Know which stories you’d use multimedia to convey so colleagues can visualize the solution and benefits with you

What are some of your biggest challenges where multimedia could be an effective part of the Q?

We put together a few compelling ways to advocate for a bigger budget.

Now, tell us how you’re going to solve for them! Send to marketing@elearningmind.com

Also, use the hashtag #ELMideas to share your strategies and best practices on social media.

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About ELM

ELM is an award-winning creative design agency that creates custom digital learning experiences for the world’s largest brands.ELM engages today’s professionals through the use of compelling visual

storytelling and learner-centric experience design. The company helps clients

through a methodology called neurolearning combined with learning designers who understand both ID and UX design principles to create digital learning that helps businesses solve their most challenging problems.

Have A Project?Contact us here: info@elmlearning.com

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