I am a Trainer and I have been into Training for more than a decade and have delivered various Training workshops through physical and Live virtual. There were participants ranging from 15 to 60+ in my earlier Training programs. I trained more than 13000 people in the last 10 years. Until COVID-19 inception, all my training workshops were done through a classroom and conducted more than 450 physical training programs in various countries and all over India. Since April 2020, I have moved to the Live Virtual model for all my Trainings. During April 2020 to December 2022, I have delivered more than 325 Live virtual workshops.
I wanted to share my observations between the Physical and Live Virtual Training from my experience and hence I am writing this article. This can be useful for both Trainers and also for the Participants if you want to know a quick comparison between Physical and Live Virtual Training modes.
I have prepared a brief video that explains how my Live Virtual Training is conducted. Have a look at the video below to get a quick glance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nDmsm3qDks&t=8s
| Parameter | Physical Workshop | Live Virtual Workshop | Comparison Conclusion |
| Travel | The trainer has to travel to the city where the workshop is being conducted. Participants also have to travel to the venue to attend the Training. Depending on the distance from their home to the training venue the travel time varies. If it is a multi day training then participants have to travel 4 times in 2 days and the Trainer has to book accommodation in a hotel. | Both Trainer and Participant can join from their convenient locations using online. | I observed that Live Virtual Training is better for this parameter because: Both the Trainer and the Participant saves time and money |
| Training Cost | Training cost is more for Physical training due to the Travel, materials, logistics, hotel accommodation, venue etc. The same has to be included in the Training fee. So the price to the participant is more for Physical training. | There is no cost involved for training venue, travel, material etc so the price to Participant will be less. | I observed that Live Virtual Training is better for this parameter because of cost effectiveness. |
| Preparation | The Trainer has to set up the Training room with various activity related logistics before the Training. For the Participants there may not be much preparation required to attend the Training except going through some videos or reading material.. | The Trainer can use some digital tools like drawing Apps and prepare the necessary activity related logistics and reuse the same for every training by copying them. The Participants may have to go through some videos or read some material or register to some collaborative tools for activities before coming to the Training. | I observed that Live Virtual Training is better for this parameter because: For Trainer it is considerable time saving and for the Participants it will be more or less same effort. |
| Participant Count | More participants can be engaged through activities and direct interactions during the workshop. | If participants are more, then it will impede the interactions and engagement. | I observed that Live Virtual Training is better for this parameter because: There is a cap limit set for the Live Virtual Training participant count and also there are collaborative Training platforms such as Zoom which provide features like breakout rooms for better engagement. |
| Material | The material has to be printed upfront and courier or personally carried to the training venue by the Trainer. Participants also have to carry the workshop handout all the time throughout the Training duration. | The material can be simply emailed or shared through a Google drive like option to the Participants. | I observed the Live Virtual Training is better for this parameter because: In Physical mode the material sometimes will be insufficient if the number of participants count increases suddenly in the Training, it is not easy to get the additional copies printed immediately. One more challenge is if the material has to be changed then any old printed material will go to waste. In Live virtual mode above problems can be avoided. Anytime material can be shared to the participants in a PDF format and easy to address the changes dynamically. |
| Eye contact | No doubt in Physical class the eye contact is more effective provided the class size is small. However the Trainer can walk to different tables during the training to maintain good eye contact. | Only when all the participants keep their video on then only eye contact is impactful. | I observed that Physical training is better for this parameter because: Even though I ask the participants to keep their video on in live virtual training, most of the time they do not follow due to internet bandwidth issues. Moreover, reminding participants often about videos makes me look like a convent teacher. |
| Activities | Physical movement can be involved as part of the activities in the Training where people move around so that they will be more active. | Breakout room based activities can be conducted through collaborative learning platforms such as zoom. | I observed that Live Virtual training is better for this parameter because: I planned activities through Mural, google Slides, Google sheets, Trello, Mentimeter etc activity tools. Moreover, every activity can be planned with a different group of people in Live Virtual so for every activity participants can work with different people. Also, as a Trainer I can see the activity work that all the room participants are doing from outside (main training room) and if any team is not able to proceed, I can immediately join that room to help. There is a possibility to send text and voice messages to all breakout rooms in Zoom that will make it more interactive for the activities. As a Trainer I can verify all teams’ work instantly and give feedback. In Physical training as a Trainer I have to walk to each and every table to verify the work done by the participants. It is time consuming. |
| Back to Back Training | If the Trainings are scheduled in different cities back to back, travel time may create restlessness to the Trainer so it may impact on the subsequent Training sessions. | As the Trainer joins from the same location via Live virtual, back to back training sessions can be handled effectively. | I observed that Live Virtual training is better for this parameter because: No travel is involved in Live virtual training so Trainer can have enough rest before the next training session. |
| Question handling | Participants can ask the questions directly to the trainer. | Participants can raise their hand and ask the question. | I observed both Physical and Live Virtual have more or less the same impact for this parameter. |
| Focus of Participants | As the participants will be in a closed Training room environment they will not be deviated other than accessing their mobile phones at times. | As the participants join the Live Virtual training using their laptop/desktop mostly, they may get diverted to access other resources on their Laptop. | I observed that physical training is better for this parameter. However I believe “Your learning is your OWN responsibility”. So if anyone is determined to learn, whether it is Physical or Live virtual they will be more focused in my opinion. |
| Risks | Involves certain risks including:
| No major risks invoiced as everything is done Live virtual and no travel involved. | I observed that Live Virtual training is better for this parameter because almost zero risks involved in Live virtual training. |
| Future reference | After the physical training is done, the participants can only read the given material or any additional material provided. | Live Virtual training can be recorded and the recorded video link can be shared to the participants so that they can go through the video in future for any further reference. | I observed that Live Virtual training is better for this parameter because future reference video can be provided to the participants. |
| Feedback | We have to handover a physical feedback form at the end of the training to collect the feedback | We can use online tools like Google forms, Survey monkey to collect feedback | I observed that Live Virtual training is better for this parameter because: In Physical training, participants will be in the rush of leaving after the training so they may not fill the feedback. However, in Live virtual I observed 25% more feedback forms filled compared to Physical. It helps the Trainer inspect and adapt on the training methods. |
To conclude, based on my experience from both Physical and Live Virtual Training sessions, I feel the Live Virtual
Training is better but both the Trainer and Participants should take care of the below points to make it effective, and productive:
- Trainer and Participants should co-create a strong working agreement
- Share the required material upfront
- Ask Participants to go through any pre-reading material before joining the session
- Participants should register to any activity related platforms upfront to save time in the training
- Participants should be attentive in the class
- Video of both Trainer and Participants should always be on
- Trainer should use interactive teaching methods through activities
- Participants should equally active in participating in the activities
- Keep sufficient breaks time to time
- Trainer should use collaborative learning platforms such as zoom, mentimeter, trello, polls, quizzes, mural etc
- Create small group activities using breakout rooms
- Encourage people talk to each other and share their knowledge
- Make sure participants move every one hour for some stretching activity
