Academy for Ads: On-The-Go Training for Google's Ad Products

Academy for Ads: On-The-Go Training for Google's Ad Products

By linda linklink   10:00 AM   No comments:

Becoming a digital advertising expert takes time, and it’s important to get off to a good start. Only 50 percent of marketers say they’re confident in their knowledge of digital advertising,¹ despite the wide range of educational materials available – sometimes “more” isn’t the same as “better.” You’ve told us that you want quick, bite-sized training in more interactive formats. And we heard you.

We’re pleased to announce Academy for Ads, a new digital training platform designed to help you learn how to use Google’s ad products in a mobile-first world. We built Academy for Ads to promote learning on-the-go, whether you’re on a laptop, a desktop, or a mobile device.

Grow your Google product know-how
Guided by input from our team of product experts, Academy for Ads courses cover the topics that matter most to Google advertisers – from AdWords basics and the essentials of campaign management to bid strategies, reporting, optimization, and more ways to successfully advertise with Google.

Learning paths, Assessments, and Achievements
We’ve organized the courses into “Learning paths” that you can walk through at your own pace. At the end of each path, take an Assessment and earn an Achievement to show that you know your stuff. Earning an Achievement for AdWords helps prepare you to take the AdWords Certification exam in Google Partners, or try deeper education offerings such as AdWords Academy.

A few example Learning paths:

• Digital concepts: Learn the essentials of online ads, including third-party ad-serving, programmatic buying, remarketing, and more.
• Get started with AdWords: Learn the basics of AdWords and prepare for the AdWords Certification exam offered by Google Partners.
• Get started with AdWords Display: Learn how you can show ads to your online audience via the Google Display Network.

Academy for Ads also offers training for DoubleClick clients, with Learning paths covering Bid Manager and Ad Exchange – and more to come.

Get started
If you already use Google Partners, you can sign in through the Partners portal at g.co/learnwithpartners — or, you can go directly to g.co/AcademyforAds to sign up and start sampling courses and Learning paths. We’re constantly adding more content, so if you like what you learn, keep coming back for more.

Posted by Tracy Bizelli, Head of Academy for Ads

1. 6 Fundamentals to Managing Digital Marketing in 2015, TFM Insights (January 2015)

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Spirituality and Stress

Spirituality and Stress

By linda linklink   1:14 PM   No comments:

The stress management training I provide often incorporate work with gratitude, meditation, discussion of meaning, a model based on the serenity prayer, and other work that could be considered "spiritual." I do this because it is what works, so was was glad to find this is an article on spirituality and stress.

"As a cancer and hospice physician, I care for people at the end of their lives. The average survival time for patients we see in our hospital is about 22 days. Daily I see the importance of spirituality as individuals reach out for consolation and strength from outside of themselves. The name that they use for this higher power may be different. It may be God, Prophet, Lord or Allah — or it may be an unnamed force.

I've come to believe that the need for spirituality — belief in a higher power — must be inherent in humans, much like the need for water and oxygen. We may have different belief systems, but at the end of the day we all reach for something over and above ourselves. As many of you have commented, taking care of ourselves includes nurturing our spirituality."

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Creativity Day-Festival

Creativity Day-Festival

By linda linklink   1:00 AM   No comments:

Creativity Day-Festival

-Would you like to rediscover your natural creative talent?

-Would improved lateral thinking help your work or just be more fun?

-Would you like to reconnect to the spirit of discovery and play?

This event is a smorgasbord extravaganza of creativity activities. Drop-in to mini-workshops on creative thinking, drumming, theatre games, spontaneity, singing and more. The day is a chance to discover hidden talents, bring more innovation into your life and have fun.

Come if you’d like to:

• Unleash your innovation!
• Gain practical tools for living
• Activate dormant talents
• Use your whole brain and exercise your imagination
• Become even more interesting!
• Play Exploding Zombie Tag and The Indiana Jones Game!
• Try being an alien
• Have holistic fun and make friends!

Workshop leaders include Jane Hunt (whole brain thinking), Francis Briers (presence and spontaneity), Chris Tero (rhythm collective), Adrian Harris (being an alien), Niki Davey (chakra singing), Judi Goodwin (creative thinking and writing) and Pilar Orti (theatre games).

Saturday 20^th March - Brighton 10.30am-5.30pm

Location - Ki Centre, Queens Square, Brighton

5 min walk from Brighton station, 1 hr from London Victoria).

Fee: £40 payment in advance (includes all activities), places limited

Online Payment and cheque details: http://integrationtraining.co.uk/training_payments.html

Contact: Mark Walsh – 07762 541 855 warkmalsh@yahoo.co.uk

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Why E-Learning Doesn't Work

Why E-Learning Doesn't Work

By linda linklink   10:06 AM   No comments:

Training Zone has published an article of mine on Why E Learning Doesn't Work that is proving popular..well, controversial at least :-) Here it is in full:

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E-learning is increasingly popular but there’s a problem: it’s not really learning and it doesn’t really work. What! How can I say that? It’s all modern and uses computers and everything! I’m being somewhat flippant but here’s my point – e-learning is good at certain things and rubbish at others. This article explains why.

First, I should explain my own perspective as I’m not an impartial observer. I’m a specialist in experiential, interactive and “embodied training”. I use this approach both because it fits my values and because I’ve found that it’s what’s most effective. I would be equally happy writing an article called “why traditional classroom learning is a total waste of time” too. I am also no technophobe enjoying Twitter, blogging and my I-Phone.

What is Learning?

The majority of people in the Western world now have the close to the sum total of human knowledge at their fingertips via the internet, To be more precise they have information, and e-learning is a part of this boom (as is this article). Information isn’t however wisdom as almost any viral internet phenomena will prove! Like the web, e-learning is great for learning about things. Like most people I use Google and Wikipedia to find about things and e-learning makes this more efficient collecting relevant data in one place, but this is not to learn to do things. Think about driving – yes, the theory test is useful, but there is no substitute for lessons. HUman Learning any skill whether it be driving, speaking French or leadership skills, takes real-world practice and bespoke human support. E-learning often misses these two critical points. To be fair, not always, and the use of video, customer support and real-time “synchronous” e-learning is growing and generally viewed as making e-learning more effective (more a driving simulator to continue the analogy). Note however that this is making e-learning more effective by making it more like traditional training!

The Human Touch

Being able to see delegates, resonant with them emotionally, pick up on subtle nuances of communication and respond appropriately is the very essence education. I believe passionately that training and coaching are not about getting a “thing” from one head to another, but are an intimate dance that transforms both parties. We are not computers and if we treat people as such they will rightly resist and rebel.

I highly recommend the new film Up in The Air staring George Clooney. In it a company that makes people redundant tries to switch from face-to-face firing to video conferencing. The film explores the issue of removing this vital “human” touch. I use this fictitious example to protect the guilty in the real world. I would regard some e-learning “solutions” I have seen applied to human issues (and this definitely includes stress management and leadership training) as not only ineffective but dehumanising and ethically dubious.

Retention of Knowledge

Tell me by e-mail I forget. Show me I may remember. Involve all of me (and not just by clicking through a few games) and I really learn.

Second Order Learning

A whole level of learning that Wikipedia doesn’t touch is when the learner themselves changes. This “second order” or “ontological” learning is what is required for lasting behavioral change and therefore impact on bottom-line results. Let’s take stress and time management training which I provide regularly. I’ve seen bad e-learning programs which are just like Power Bore slide telling people about stress and time management. This in no way helps with people’s actual stress or time management. More advanced interactive e-learning programs may encourage people set goals and establish practices like regular deep breathing or list-making to support behavioral change in these areas. This is a bit better. I have never yet however seen an e-learning program which works effectively at the level at being. What do I mean by this? For example - does a person have a set of beliefs about workload that mean they will always be overwhelmed? Is there an embodied tendency to say yes? What is a person’s unique emotional pay-off for consistently being overwhelmed? Unless this level of highly individual learning is accessed “tricks and tips/ tick-box e-learning won’t be effective, and any money spent will be wasted.*

This applies to other areas too, from leadership which I hope is very obviously not learnt from an I-Pad, to health and safety. Can a person really safely learn manual handling without being given feedback targeted to their specific body and tasks? Traditional class-room learning (which itself can be non-interactive and “cookie cutter” in its approach) often fails to shift lasting habits – how much more so a few slides which may or may not even be read?

But What About...

What about all the advantages of e-learning? It’s cheap right? Yes, so is the clock I bought from Poundland that doesn’t work either. If not effective at producing behavioral change (and therefore better results) e-learning is hardly good value. Likewise, it can be standardized but this is not usually a good thing for learners and therefore outcomes.

Much of what I have said is also not fair to all e-learning providers so feel free to “yeah but...” this articles and advertise quality wares that address the issues I raise. My sense is that e-learning is definitely improving (there are some great companies here in Brighton alone - hello Brightwave, Kineo and Epic!). I also don’t think that the e-learning train is likely to stop, I do however hope it picks up the essence of what learning is all about along the way.

The Future

Perhaps blended learning solutions are the future - bringing together the best of e-learning and traditional training? Getting some factual learning across electronically before an interactive course and having good e-follow-up for example can make better use of “contact” time. I also think e-learning is a good challenge to stagnant traditional trainers as now they have to offer something that Wikipedia cannot. A concern I have is that increasing demand for e-learning will replace subject matter experts who know their material and how to work with people deeply, with tech wizards and companies large enough to afford the outlay of e-learning design. Time will tell, and ultimately what works will prosper.

I hope this article I’ve clarified some of the less obvious weaknesses of e-learning to balance its apparent strengths .

* See also Kirkpatrick’s work on learning evaluation theory.

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Mark Walsh is a UK pioneer of embodied training. Based in Brighton, Sussex, he heads Integration Training - business training providers specialising in management and leadership training, team building, stress management and time management training. Contact Mark on 07762 541 855 or visit his training blog.

Summary Points

• · E-Learning has gotten popular but may not be good for certain things
• · Learning about is not the same as learning to do or be
• · The human touch is essential
• · Cheap isn’t the same as good value
• · Not all e-learning is equal
• · Blended solutions may be the future

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Help for Parents from Business Training

Help for Parents from Business Training

By linda linklink   8:49 AM   No comments:

How can business help parents? Simple - we'll sell your children. Only joking.

I lead business training courses and in these participants who are also parents often say, "Wow, that's great, I can use that with my kids" or similar. The joke has become they get a free "help for parents from business" workshop as well as the business training course. With this in mind and my impending uncledom :-) I have decided to write an article on this area explicitly rather than just helping parents by mistake. Please note, I am not a parent but have worked with children on five continents since I was one in various fields, so know a bit, but not a lot about children. I am including what parents on my training courses have told me is most useful.

Stress Management Training

Children are really stressful (as well as wonderful). Mindfulness, embodied techniques, good social support and cognitive reframing are all very useful for parents. Here are my top stress management resources and tips. I am particularly interested in resilience training currently and being a parent seems all about this! The research shows that talking about feelings, social support, good physical health and the meaning people make of events are all important for resilience.

Time Management Training

One reason I am in awe of anyone who raises children is that I wonder how they get anything done as kids are so demanding??!!!? With that in mind here are my top time management tips. Being able to say no and ask for help are critical as is understanding when you have made a commitment, and when children wreck your plans - how to renegotiate commitments in a way which looks after relationships and dignity.

Communication Training

Communicating with children and teenagers (retch) can be demanding. Good emotional intelligence skills are essential - listening often being the one that training course participants find the most useful, and I have noticed working with children that those that seem healthiest have parents who can listen well and encourage them to both express and manage their emotions. Looking for underlying needs, separating observations from evaluations and making clear requests are also all very helpful communication skills. Here are my top communication tips.

Leadership Training
Being a parent is being a leader. After about two years age children have to be lead and the core leadership skills for business people are the same for parents. I work with "embodied" approaches to leadership in particular which are particularly good with young people who pay more attention to what you do and communicate non-verbally than what you say. Here are some further details on leadership training (and a video). Note that good leadership is authentic (children have great BS detectors), and leading by threats and coercion will only get you so far (sooner or later you will get either rebellion or resentment). And as a final thought I would remember that all good leadership is servant leadership.

I hope these have helped - it is not my intention to tell anyone how to parent, only to offer what I have learnt form the business training world. Feedback welcome.

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Managing Difficult Behaviour Training

Managing Difficult Behaviour Training

By linda linklink   1:30 PM   No comments:

We have uploaded a new page for one of our core offers : Managing Difficult Behaviour Training Courses.

"Our managing difficult behaviour training courses are effective and enjoyable. We provide practical behaviour management training, resources and communication tools to help people get the job done. We work with individuals and organisations interested in managing difficult people and behaviour in Brighton (Sussex), Birmingham, London and the South East. We also take an ethical and respectful approach not focusing on -difficult people- but learnt behavioural strategies and ways to develop new ones. We find avoiding labelling and judging to finding underlying motivations and get behind the -difficult- behaviour creates mutual understanding and is what is most effective. "...

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