LifeLongLearningLab

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the great experiences I had in San Antonio was at a piano bar called Howl at the Moon. Those musicians were masters at creating a totally engaging audience experience, something so “sticky” that it was really hard to leave, even after a long hard day of conference attending.

So, I wanted to step back from the experience a bit and think about the elements of that experience. What specifically was it that made it such a great experience?  How could I translate that to learning design?

So, here are the reasons I stayed and stayed at Howl at the Moon, with some thoughts on how instructional designers might use those same approaches to keep learners engaged:

1. Relevance and emotional appeal: They played songs that I knew, and more importantly, songs from my past that carried an emotional appeal. When they sang Queen’s Somebody to Love, I felt like I was in high school all over again.
   Implications for learning design: Make it relevant to the learners; tie to what they already know or have experienced, and ideally, tie to a past experience that has a positive emotional association for them. So, for example, if you’re launching a new initiative for an organization, try to relate that experience to a successful initiative from the past.
2. Audience control: Through their requests, the audience determined what music was played.
   Implications for learning design: Allow the learner to control the environment. That’s easily done in a Web-based environment. For a classroom session, a show of hands can be used to let learners request what’s important to them. Or perhaps, you could use a flipchart as a request board.
3. Audience Expression: The audience could express themselves not only through requests, but also by paying to have their messages written on the mirrors behind the pianos. These messages could be anything–a quote, a greeting, some teasing or taunting; one guy even advertised his accounting services. They changed throughout the night as people paid to have their messages featured.
   Implications for learning design: Let audience members express themselves during your training–perhaps using something like Twitter. Or you could have a flipchart up throughout a class where they can post comments when they see fit.
4. Friendly Competition: They included some friendly competition, such as seeing who could sing louder–the men or the women.
   Implications for learning design: Use friendly competition to motivate people to try a little harder. For example, you could have teams compete to see which group can best summarize the key messages from the class.
5. Surprises: There were lots of surprises. You weren’t sure what they were going to do next, so you stuck around to find out. They previewed these surprises a bit too, like TV shows do, so you’d stay a bit longer to see how things turned out.
   Implications for learning design: Throw in some surprises. Sometimes we’re so focused on making things “user-friendly,” that we hold people’s hands too much. We take away the excitement that comes of figuring things out for yourself. Or we’re so consistent that we put learners to sleep. Every now and then we need to shake learners up so they wake up and learn.
6. Easy to Participate: They made it easy to participate. You could tap your toes, clap your hands, sing along, send money in for requests. You never even had to leave your chair if you didn’t want to. Braver souls might stand up and dance. The really daring would go up on the stage to be picked on, while the rest of the audience enjoyed the hazing from afar.
   Implications for learning design: Give people a low threshold for interacting at first. Don’t expect them to jump in and start role-playing or ad-libbing at first. Build them up to those more interactive activities. Recognize that some people just don’t want to have the spotlight on them, and give them unobtrusive ways to participate.
7. Changed Up the Leads: There were about 5 musicians–two playing piano, one playing guitar, one playing bass, and one playing drums. All 5 musicians could play all the instruments, so there was a lot of rotating. That provided a lot of variety in style and songs.
   Implications for learning design: Change up the people who are leading the learning experience. For a facilitated session, have different facilitators for different segments. For a Web-based course, use different narrators or different coach characters.
8. Pacing: They kept the pace moving. There was never any down time, so we never had a chance to think, “Maybe I should leave now.” Instead, the next song would start playing, and we’d think, “Well, let’s just stay for this one more song.” Needless to say, that went on for many, many songs.
   Implications for learning design: Think carefully about the pacing of your course and how you can optimize that. Keep learners so engaged that they never have time to think about clicking off to something else. This means catching them right away with an intriguing idea and then giving them something they have to do to follow the path of that idea.
9. Know Your Audience: They talked to us as if they knew us, and they did. Their comments, such as, “I bet you guys really want…” hit the mark pretty much every time.
   Implications for learning design: Know your audience, and be sure that they know you know them. There’s nothing so satisfying as feeling that someone understands you and knows what you need.
10. Appeal to the Senses: The experience at Howl at the Moon was definitely multi-sensory. There was a lot to look at, especially when people were willing to get up on stage and make fools of themselves. Of course, there was great music to hear. The beer was good, so we had something good to taste. I can’t say much for the smell, and I don’t think I really touched anything, but the kinesthetic sense of dancing to the music felt good.
    Implications for learning design: Think about classes you attended in the past where all the materials were bullet points in black and white. Dulled your senses, right? Think about adding some color, some sound, some motion, maybe even a little taste to your learning materials and activities.
11. Involved the whole body: When they played a good song, it was almost impossible to sit still, and the musicians encouraged people to get up and dance. So, my whole body was engaged in the experience. I was singing, clapping, dancing, laughing. It was as much a physical experience as an emotional or mental one.
    Implications for learning design: Look for ways to involve audience members physically. This could be as simple as providing play-doh or pipecleaners on the table so that kinesthetic learners have something to play with while they learn. Or provide activities that force learners to get up and move to different parts of the classroom. Set up stations and have them travel to each station to complete activities. Current brain research shows that exercise prepares the brain to learn and increases intelligence. So, think about staging a few optional physical activities for ice-breakers or optional break activities.

Buzz
Once again, design topped the list of hot topics, with several posts providing tips for making learning more engaging. Tied at the top of the list were posts on useful tools.

Also hot:

• The brain and learning
• Social media

Buzz in the Professional Organizations

ASTD Learning Circuits: March’s Big Question: What Is the Scope of Our Responsibility as Learning Professionals? There are now a bunch of responses to this question, so check them out.
E-Learning Guild: Review of serious gaming software developed by IBM. (not updated since last time)
ELearn Magazine: How to measure success for a Web site for which the goal is personal enlightenment
Training and Development Blog: Cites a recent Novations Group study that showed that most diversity training does not include tools to reinforce the training, does not have metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of the training, and did not address any of the organization’s development or advancement practices.
The MASIE Center: 1) References a research paper conducted by Cisco that confronts myths and assumptions about how people learn and the role of media in the education process. 2) Provides a link to an article about how the CIA is using podcasts for language training. 3) Talks about how the room dynamic changes when a trainer/facilitator sits down with the class. 4) Lists features that learners have requested be included in LMSs.
Training Day: With more and more asked of workers, productivity may be increasing, but is quality suffering? How do companies measure productivity, and what metrics can help ensure quality along with quantity?
Educause: Understanding communications: a key to effective leadership; Teaching in Second Life: a report from the trenches; How Flickr embodies Web 2.0 technology
HCI featured blogs: 2008 National Human Capital Summit Blog provides blog posts for key sessions of this conference.

Bytes

Multimodal Learning Research conducted by Cisco
This research paper, commissioned by Cisco, provides current information on how people learn, and how media can facilitate learning.

Multimodal learning through media
Provides a brief overview of Cisco’s Multimodal Learning research paper, which Elliott Masie pointed out in Learning Trends.

25 Tools Every Learning Professional Should Have in their Toolbox—and All for Free
Whittled down from a list of 100 must-have tools, this is an interesting list of tools that the author says learning professionals should have.

Social Media How Much Is Too Much?
Good article that describes all the ways that Brandon Hall will use social media for their upcoming conference, but also questions whether or not it’s too much.

Nadira Hira Talks about Generation Y
Really good recap of a presentation by a Generation Y writer at Fortune magazine, with lots of links for more information on recruiting, hiring, and training Generation Y.

10 Emerging Technologies 2008
Technology Review’s list of 10 technologies that they think most likely to change the way we live.

Here’s a bit more on informal learning at ASTD’s TechKnowledge:

Catching up with old friends: I ran into my friend, David Serdynski, who went to work for Root Learning about 6 or 7 years ago. It was great to see him, and he seems to be doing well. I will always think fondly of David because we once shared one of those eyes-flooding, stomach-seizing, breath-stopping laughs that went on so long that the guy in the office next door came in to see if we were all right.

Learning about audience engagement at Howl at the Moon:   On Wednesday morning, as I was walking over to the convention center, I happened to talk to a woman who told me about a piano bar called Howl at the Moon, where she had had the time of her life the night before. She urged me to go there if I got the chance. So, we  decided to stop in for an hour or so to check it out. Several hours later, just before closing, we finally forced ourselves to leave so we wouldn’t be too exhausted the next day. I kept waiting for the piano players to play a song I didn’t like, so it would be easier to leave, but that never happened.

The key learning here was in audience engagement. Those entertainers really knew how to connect with their audience and involve them in the show. I started to write down all their tricks here but decided that was probably another blog post for another time.  

Finding a kindred spirit in Barbara Wright: Barbara had attended our session on Wednesday, and she was like a third presenter. We joked with her about how perfectly her questions and comments set us up for what we wanted to share. She joined us for the closing session, and long after the session had ended and everyone else had left, we sat in the auditorium discovering that we were birds of a feather. For one thing, she had instantly pegged us as perfectionists like herself, and she had nailed me as the goody-two-shoes, which I reluctantly admit that I am. We were having such an entertaining conversation that we continued it along the Riverwalk and into an English pub for lunch. It has since continued via e-mail.

Remembering the importance of slowing down to rock and talk: Whoever thought of putting old-fashioned rocking chairs on the concourse in the airport was a genius! After rushing to get to the airport, we discovered that we had two hours to kill. So, we got some snacks and found some empty rocking chairs and sat and talked for an hour. I think the rocking motion made us giddy, or maybe we were just tired, but we ended the trip swapping outrageous skiing stories and laughing our guts out.

. Hard to believe—ASTD TechKnowledge was two weeks ago! And here I am still thinking about what I learned. In today’s post, I want to summarize some of the great informal learning experiences that I had.

Learning from Rob about creative services and genuineness:
When you spend a lot of time with someone, you tend to learn through osmosis. It’s an immersive learning experience that allows you to quickly absorb new perspectives. For example, I’ve absorbed and internalized more about good project management by working with good project managers than I ever could from a book.

Hanging out with Rob was a great learning experience in creative design and in interpersonal skills. When it comes to creative services, Rob’s done it all from graphics design and production to video and voiceovers. So, he’s got a lot of knowledge to share. But where I learned the most was in the genuine way Rob relates to other people. He has a positive and engaging personality and conveys genuine interest in helping others. Having witnessed Rob in action close-up, I now have a “genuine interest” state, which I can connect to when needed.

Noticing the age range of people attending the conference:
One afternoon as I waited outside the Expo, I noticed that the crowd was generally older–middle-aged or more. I looked for younger people, but they were few and far between. I’m not sure why that was. Are younger people not interested in training and development? Are organizations more likely to send more senior (and therefore older) people? I don’t have the answers, just the observations.

Learning about translation and localization services from Dan and Jessica of TransPerfect/Translations.com:
Before the conference, I’d exchanged e-mails with Jessica and found out that my company was talking with Dan at Transperfect about translation services. So, it was nice to meet them face-to-face and learn more about their services. They showed me that a partnership with them would result in more than just translation services. For one thing, they also provide “localization,” that is, guidance on what works and what doesn’t in various foreign countries. And, they could even bring us business with other multi-national companies.

Learning about a new way to distribute Flash-like content from Jared Vishney at our face-to-face session:
Jared introduced us to his company’s software, Flypaper, for creating, editing, and sharing Flash-quality content that can be used in presentations or distributed over the Web. I haven’t had a chance to try the software yet, but from Jared’s demo, it looked fairly easy to use. So, even someone without Flash experience can create engaging Flash-like content. But what’s really interesting about Flypaper is the business model. I describe it as a You-Tube or Flickr for Flash content. Flypaper plans to distribute their software for free. Then, people can create templates and post them to the Flypaper Web site to distribute to others.

Talking with Amrit about India at lunch: On Wednesday at lunch, Rob and I sat down with Amrit Garg of Upside Learning Solutions. Amrit had come all the way from India to attend the conference. It was interesting to talk with him about the incredible changes happening in India right now.

Talking with Anders Gronstedt of the Gronstedt Group about Second Life: I signed up for a face-to-face session with Anders Gronstedt of the Gronstedt Group because he was listed as a Second Life expert. Last year, I had been experimenting with Second Life, but then my system started crashing every time I went in world. When I searched through the help materials at Linden Labs, I discovered that I did not have a powerful enough graphics card. To me, this seemed like rather a huge hurdle for getting corporate America into Second Life. My computer is a fairly standard issue Dell. So, I assumed that if I was having problems, lots of other people were. Certainly, several other people in my company were also having problems. But Anders assured me that it was NOT a widespread problem, and that any computer less than 3 years old should be able to handle the Second Life graphics. Since that 20-minute conversation, Anders has provided me with lots of good information on both Second Life and podcasting. And it looks like he may be presenting on Training in Second Life to my company.

Learning about conference organization at dinner with Silke Fleischer and friends:
After attending the Develop Professional-Quality Simulations session with Silke Fleischer and Matt Hanzel, Rob had asked Silke to help him with an Adobe Captivate problem. Their mutual problem-solving session ended in an invitation to dinner for Rob, and by default, me. We met Silke and the others at The County Line for the biggest beef ribs I’ve ever seen. Since Silke’s friends included TechKnowledge organizers Frank Nguyen, Jim Javenkoski, and Bob Mosher, talk centered on what was going well and what wasn’t at the conference. Rob and I told them about the technical problems we’d had in our session, and they listened carefully. It was an interesting crew and interesting conversation. I caught a tiny glimpse into all the effort and thought that goes into pulling a conference like this together.

More to come…
As you can tell, there was LOTS of informal learning going on around the formal structure of the conference. Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow.

Mass Exodus??

The much-discussed mass exodus of Baby Boomers into retirement starts this year, as the first of the Boomers turns 62. All kinds of organizations are trying to figure out what this means for them and how they’ll deal with it.

Today, I’m guest-blogging on this subject over at the Training Day blog.

If you live near the Chicago area, you can go hear Josh Bersin of Bersin & Associates talk about this topic in a half-day workshop on March 18 entitled:
Uncovering Potential Through Strategic Assessment: Talent Management that Drives Business Results.

As a service to the company for which I work, I’ve been doing a biweekly summary of hot topics of conversation on learning-related blogs. It occurred to me, with a little help from Michele over at the Bamboo Project blog, that this information might be valuable to people outside my organization as well. So, here’s the first installment of Buzzin’ on the Biz for the worldwide audience.

• ASTD Learning Circuits: March’s Big Question: What Is the Scope of Our Responsibility as Learning Professionals?
• E-Learning Guild: Review of serious gaming software developed by IBM.
• ELearn Magazine: Graduate student experiences of how they learn through blogging.
• Training and Development Blog: Big brother is watching your Internet use.
• The MASIE Center: Use of emerging technologies in the political campaigns; and a video about the Starbucks training shutdown.
• Training Day: Make sure you’re not trying to solve every problem with training.
• Educause: The value of feedback; and how people can experience the flight deck of the Space Shuttle in Second Life.
• HCI featured blogs: So many Internet postings—does anyone work anymore?; result-Performance Management; d-Future business blog; reference to a blog with ideas about creativity, marketing, advertising, branding, interactive, social networking, web 2.0, design, democratization of the web etc.

Bytes

Check out these top-notch posts:

100 Ways your iPod can up your IQ
Need some ideas of how to use iPods for learning? Prepare to be overwhelmed with GREAT ideas!!

Welcome to Creepy Valley - Motion Portrait - 3D Facial Animation
This is absolutely amazing technology that converts a static image to an animation. The face actually follows the movement of the cursor. You can output the animation to PC, TV, Game Console, and Mobile devices.

5 Ways to Make Linear Navigation More Interesting
There’s a great slideshow here that provides 5 great tips for making learners WANT to click that Next button.

Wikiful Thinking
Talks about considerations for making wikis successful as enterprise tools.

Instructional Design Conversations
For the past month or so, there’s been an interesting discussion about whether or not people need a degree to be an instructional designer. This post adds to the discussion, but provides links to other parts of it. Really interesting!

Are Social Sites Good for Educating? 
This is an old post from last fall, but provides some insight into 1) how schools are handling social networking and 2) the online and social networking usage of the 9 – 17 age group. Fascinating stuff. The link to the report in this post is wrong. Use this one instead:
http://www.nsba.org/SecondaryMenu/TLN/CreatingandConnecting.aspx

I’m just back from the ASTD TechKnowledge conference in San Antonio. I forgot how intense conferences can be, especially when you’re presenting. I had planned on blogging every night to share what I was learning. But most nights, by the time dinner was over, I was so exhausted, I just went to bed. And then there was the piano bar night, but that’s another story.

Anyway, since many presenters spoke about formal, non-formal, and informal learning, I thought that I would provide a quick summary of all the things I learned–both formally at the sessions and informally the rest of the time.

This post summarizes the formal sessions. Stay tuned for my informal learning anecdotes.

David Pogue’s opening session:
Despite a last-minute hard-drive crash, David gave an interesting and entertaining overview of four key technologies to watch, including:

• Phone and internet devices, such as Voice over IP
• Ala carte TV and movies
• Wireless everywhere, beyond laptops
• Web 2.o

He ended his session by putting his musical talents to work with some side-splitting renditions of popular songs, for example a song about long waits on help lines sung to The Sound of Silence.

Will Thalheimer’s Measuring Learning Results:
Several years ago, I happened upon Will’s Work-Learning Research site and have found it very helpful in finding ways to make learning as effective as possible. So, when I saw him on the schedule, I went to the session to see him in person as much as anything else. It was a great session in which he guided the group through some thinking about how to best measure learning results, including:

• Conducting assessments at different intervals after a learning event
• Conducting assessments in different contexts
• Making tests as authentic as possible

Some of what he presented, I recognized from a wonderful tutorial called Don’t Forget Forgetting that he published on his blog about a year ago. Because of that tutorial, I have been focusing training designs more on transference to the job and on-the-job support. This session just reinforced that shift.

Lance Dublin’s Exploring Emergine Learning 2.0 Technologies:
In this session, I learned a new term: “nonformal learning,” which is a structured form of informal learning. Lance gave a whirlwind overview of the evolution of Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 and predicted the future of the Semantic Web in which the computer can look at your patterns of online behavior and begin to suggest links to you. He also gave many good examples of how various Web 2.0 technologies have been applied for learning.

Joe Miller of Linden Lab’s overview of Second Life:
Joe provided a nice overview of Second Life. Much of it, I already knew, but I heard about some exciting new features, such as 3D voice, mobile clients for cell phones, and revamped search capabilities. He also talked about some sites I’m interested in checking out, such as Vassar’s Sistine Chapel inworld. And he also showed some examples of “Mixed Reality” situations where live events had Second Life components.

UBS’s case study on developing simulations using SimWriter:
It was interesting to see the thought processes behind the design of the simulation, and we got to try out the SimWriter software.

Kevin Jones’s Learning 2.0–The Learning Revolution:
This was a very valuable session for me because Kevin laid out 7 key things to consider when implementing Web 2.0 technologies in an organization, including:

• The current learning environment
• Which technical principles to capitalize on and when
• The type of environment that will be best for the organization and when to introduce pieces of the solution
• How to implement the human principles of social learning
• How to anticipate and overcome objections
• How to introduce and manage the implementation
• Creating a plan to build momentum

Kevin had recently completed a Learning 2.0 project for a client/employer, so he had good stories to tell about what worked and what didn’t. The worksheet he provided for thinking through the implementation will be useful to me right away.

JIMPACT Closing Session:
Jim “Mr. Energy” Smith did a great job of bringing the session to a close and helping us to see how we could apply all that we had learned. He offered a wonderful 5-step process for anchoring your learning:

1. Get on your manager’s calendar right away so you can tell him/her about what you’ve learned and how those learnings could help your organization. If you’re having trouble getting in touch with your manager, send e-mail teasers.
2. Show your manager what you learned in an engaging way. Get him/her involved. Make your presentation a good experience for him/her.
3. Show your manager your plan for implementing what you learned. Be sure to include how you’ll measure results.
4. Put together an affinity group to help you achieve your goals; make sure you’re not the smartest person in the group.
5. Believe in you!

I also loved some of Jim’s pithy quotes like: “You’ll always get what you’ve always gotten until you become the person you’ve never been.” and “You are the CEO of You.” and “Grow through the conference.” and “Does your difference make a difference?”
He also talked about creating a highlight reel every month of your accomplishments–great idea!

The First Pinnacle of Parenting
When my daughter was 3, I thought I had achieved the Pinnacle of Parenting when she would BEG me to take her downtown to the Natural History Museum. She was really into dinosaurs at the time, and I naively thought that she couldn’t wait to see the huge skeletons again and learn more about them. Then she started bypassing the museum and heading straight to the gift shop. I realized that this was NOT a learning experience for her. It was a SHOPPING experience. (Well, OK, so the toys she wanted were educational.)

The Second Pinnacle of Parenting
Anyway, yesterday, I was once again thrown off the Pinnacle of Parenting. Two weeks ago on a Snow Day, I had devised a “homeschooling” program to keep Caitlin productively occupied while I got some work done. I was determined that she not spend the day in front of the computer and the TV. She loves lists, so together we made a list of all the subjects she studies at school, including art and PE. Then for each subject, we identified a few activities she could do. For example:

Language Arts

• Play a language arts game online
• Read for 1/2 hour and fill in her Reading at Home worksheet
• Do her Wednesday word work (school homework)
• Write a one-page story

Math

• Do 2 pages in a study guide
• Do math on Study Island
• Play Monopoly with me
• Make up a Math Facts game

Science

• Watch Mythbusters and write down 3 science facts
• Make crystals with a kit we have
• Look for electricity experiments online

Social Studies

• Draw a comic strip that illustrates the early struggles leading up to the Revolutionary War

PE

• Bed baseball (don’t ask)
• Dancing

Art

• Basket weaving

French

• Do her French homework

Some of the activities we did together. And when I had to take a teleconference, I would have her circle 4 activities that she was going to do on her own. Then I would check them when I got off the phone.

I thought she had a GREAT day!
She seemed to enjoy the activities. (She’s not shy about telling me when she doesn’t want to do something). I had asked her to categorize the activities as Fun and Not Fun, and only a few were considered Not Fun. I was so proud of all that she accomplished: She wrote a wonderful story. And she made up a really cool Monopoly game based on Math Facts. She won the Bed Baseball game. And she had completed all the school homework that she would have had if there had been school. Even better–she hadn’t spent the day watching TV.

I thought I had found a winning formula.
I drafted a blog post to share my great discoveries with other parents struggling to keep their kids productively busy on a snow day.

And then the e-mails began to arrive.
They came to my daughter, but she read them to me. Apparently, she had e-mailed all her friends to let them know that her mother had “homeschooled” her. They were all appalled! “OMG! How did you stand it?” “I would kill my mom if she tried to homeschool me.” Even worse, she begged me not to “homeschool” her on the next snow day. Suddenly, she was more than capable of finding things to occupy her time, besides watching TV and playing on Webkinz.

So, I deleted that “Productive Activities for a Snow Day” post, and wrote this one instead.

Overwhelmed 1.0
During Overwhelmed 1.0, I was bogged down writing storyboards for converting hundreds of hours of instructor-led training to e-learning. Then, when learners couldn’t stand taking that much e-learning all at once, I was busy combining e-learning with classroom sessions and job aids to create a “blended solution.”

Too Many Possibilities
With Web 2.0, I’m overwhelmed all over again, but in a different way. Now, I’m overwhelmed with all the possibilities for blending–so many tools and technologies to deliver content, training, and information to my target audience. Just when I’m starting to figure out to use a blog or a wiki in my training solutions, I discover that perhaps I should find out about Twittr. Then suddenly, all my friends are inviting me to join their social networks on LinkedIn, Facebook, and ning. Oh, and I can’t forget the whole new world that text-messaging opens up.

Learning Takes Time
I love these tools. Their potential excites me. But to really use a tool well, you need time to play with it and get to know it. My colleague, Rob, is a genius with Adobe Presenter (formerly Breeze). We’ve worked on several projects together, and he never ceases to amaze me with the clever ways he works around the “walls” of the tool. If someone says, “Presenter doesn’t do that,” Rob takes it as a challenge to figure out how. He refuses to take “no” for an answer. And because he works with, and more importantly, plays with Presenter almost everyday, he knows its rules well enough to break them.

But There Is No Time
You can’t know a tool that well if you’re trying to learn 12 different tools at once–at least I can’t. I get overwhelmed. And yet, it’s my  job to know enough about these tools to help my clients use them to meet their needs.

So, what’s an overwhelmed person to do?
Well, my answer to that question is to use my network. I don’t have to know all about every tool because I have colleagues who do. I can specialize in one or two, learn their rules (so I can break them). Then when I need help with LiveWriter, I can turn to Dennis. Or I can ask Cindy about wikis, Laura for Facebook, Joe for Flash, and of course, Rob for Presenter.

That’s the beauty of a social network, right? It’s like a zone defense. If we each cover a couple of tools, we’ll have the whole field covered. And we can still sleep at night.

So, what’s your answer?
How do you keep up with all the new tools?

Through some strange trick of the subconscious, my first thought one morning last week was: Does our company really need a blogging policy?

Is a blog different from any other public appearance?
I don’t know why, but it occurred to me that in a few weeks I’ll be presenting at ASTD’s TechKnowledge conference in San Antonio, and no one has briefed me on a “presentation policy” to make sure I don’t do anything too crazy there.

By the same token, companies don’t define a “training class” policy with guidelines like:

• Don’t monopolize class discussions
• Don’t behave like an overbearing Know-it-All
• Don’t air your company’s dirty laundry to perfect strangers
• Don’t be rude to other participants

I don’t think anyone has ever thought that was necessary, even though we’ve all attended classes with embarrassing participants.

And I haven’t seen anything called a newsletter or publication policy that tells me what I can and cannot publish in the industry.

Why should a blog be different?

My Answers
First of all, in a blog, there’s tangible evidence, which can be spread virally and quickly. But probably more importantly than that, the blogosphere is a totally different culture than a corporation. What many of us love about the blogosphere is that it’s the place where everyone can be heard. But that can be a scary notion for someone running a corporation. Corporations are still trying to figure out blogs, as the launching of the Blog Council last year demonstrates. Some have already done a lot; others are just starting. Perhaps in a few years when corporate blogs are as common as newsletters and Web sites, the whole idea of a blogging policy will go away. But today, when to many, blogging can seem like unchartered territory run by a bunch of wild savages, perhaps it makes sense to spell out the rules as clearly as possible. Perhaps today, a blogging policy is like those reminders that teachers give students before a field trip: “Now, remember to stay with your buddy. And please listen politely to the tour guide.” Also, it’s probably a good defense against possible lawsuits: “Well, we have a policy about that.”

Other people’s answers:

• IBM–a month or two ago, I attended a Webinar in which two ladies from IBM talked about their approach to blogs. They mentioned that IBM does not apply a lot of rules to blogging. Instead, they tell employees to think of blogging as any other business behavior and to follow the organization’s ethical guidelines and values. Makes sense.
  That said, they do have a published blogging policy that covers issues such as: disclaimers, confidential and proprietary information, copyright laws, and overall behavior
• The New PR Wiki lists a number of blogging policies
• Charlene Li of Forrester offers a Blogger’s Code of Ethics

What keeps CEOs and corporate lawyers up at night?
When you think about it, what a company is really worried about is:

• Looking bad in the industry
• Getting sued
• Incurring some other type of penalty, whether financial or reputational
• Having confidential information leaked

What blogging policies cover
As I looked through a variety of corporate blogging policies, here are the types of issues that they addressed:

• Being clear on whose opinions are represented
• Obeying laws
• Not disclosing proprietary and confidential information
• Behaving properly; being respectful, especially of those who disagree with you
• Referencing and linking to others
• Admitting mistakes
• Identifying when employees can blog (on company time or not)
• Handling any media contacts

So, do we really need a corporate blogging policy?
It seems like most of these are already covered in my company’s Ethics and Information Security policies. So, now I’m back to: Do we really need a corporate blogging policy?

Also, just to see what others were saying, I Googled “Corporate blogging policy.” The first two pages of returned links were all posted in 2005 or 2006. Have blogging policies already faded away into irrelevance?

What do you think?
Do any of you know? Are corporations still worrying about corporate blogging policies?  Or have they realized, as Jay Shepard noted on his Gruntled Employees blog a year ago, that all they really need to do is remind employee bloggers to: Be professional!