Priyanka Virmaani

Tim slide runs a community where lots of good e-learning examples are posted. Articulate community of e-learning heroes is also a good one to check out how to cleverly use articulate for courses!

I think it's important to be open about the client's timely input, suggestions, and the scope of suggestions that can be welcomed after each iteration. Sometimes the client changes the entire scope after the 2nd or 3rd iteration. Such situations demand changes in time and costs involved which should be openly conveyed.

Once we spent weeks preparing for a webinar. The tech team, marketing team, sales team, and all stakeholders collectively worked towards this webinar. On the d-day, we hardly had any viewers. There were tech issues. Twice, the internet didn't support it. Although few people joined, there were some very intelligent questions asked by some of the viewers. All of us were disappointed. The CEO understood the somber mood and instantly arranged for a team lunch where he lifted our spirits by congratulating us on our efforts and focussed on learnings. That gave all of us a lot of hope and positivity. What's done can't be undone but the leader's attitude can help save the momentum and the spirits of the team, which are hard to build.

For me, self-help books and autobiographies have played a huge part in understanding resilience showcased by people who have achieved excellence in their field. I recently read 'The Ambuja Story' by Narotam Sekhsaria and the Berger Paint story 'Unstoppable' by Kuldeep Singh Dhingra. Both these books show numerous examples of the determination of the respective founders despite personal and professional setbacks. I guess rejection and failure appear easier to accept when you read about such inspirational stories.

Being part of communities (online or offline) specific to your domain helps to look at failures encountered by others. This way you learn from others' failures and understand that it is an inevitable part of everyone's journey so its better to reflect and learn rather than delve into self-pity and give up.

Showing personal projects created while doing an online course or certification is a great way to showcase your enthusiasm for your field or niche. Another way is to share lessons learnt from books from your field. You can even share what you newly learnt about a software used in your specific field. For example, as eLearning Instructional designers we use Articulate Storyline and Rise and there’s always new things to learn and apply that can be shared.