Carl Franklin

.NET Wonk

Surprising number of clients want remote classes

We recently announced remote attendance of our classes at franklins.net, and much to my surprise several companies who were considering sending people to public classes are more interested in this option. Apparently it's more important to avoid travel than it is to be trained in person. I was very surprised.

The tool we are using is UltraVNC. It's been around for a long time in various incarnations and works on everything. Unlike other similar tools, this one allows multiple connections to a single machine. We're using phone conferencing for audio, and it works great.

Posted: Mar 02 2004, 03:26 AM by Carl Franklin | with 3 comment(s)

Comments

-e said:

I'm not at all surprised. Travel is expensive, and a lot of people don't want the hassle. Plus, if I am in training, but also in the building, if there is a crisis, I can go fight the fire. Not that that is a good thing, but you mention corporate training, so I put on my PHB hat...

But seriously, training is a very mixed bag - some people make good trainers, so mediocre (myself, back when I played that game), and some just plain suck. From all of the material you have posted, and all of the audio available, it is clear that you are a decent trainer. So, if I am 1000 miles away, why shouldn't I be able to come to your class? But if there is a similar class in my town, then it comes down to convincing the accountants that its worth the extra $1000+ to travel to New London. Accountants and subjective criteria (ie. your class is better) don't always go together...
# March 2, 2004 8:29 AM

M Kenyon said:

You know I praise you for your informative training. I thought that the mentoring program was excellent! What a great way to train. (Sorry my boss is taking only half days with Dino tho.)

But now you're adding this! You're gonna need more bandwidth, but you've just extended your territory tremendously!

Keep up the good work!
# March 2, 2004 9:16 AM

Dan K said:

Do you mail out 5 boxed lunches also? The session would not be complete with the grub, and maybe a few black and tans that the remote participant must consume after each day's session?
# March 3, 2004 11:35 AM
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