Are you looking to boost your or your team’s senior care skills?
Many dementia care trainings are being done virtually these days and that’s great for lots of folks. However, some learners may still benefit more from an in-person event. When should you consider attending a non-virtual event instead?
Here are three factors to consider:
1. Consider Learning Styles and Personality Traits
If you are a kinesthetic learner, standing, sitting, squatting, swaying, and imitating motions as you hear information is the way you like to learn. Yes, you can do all of that in front of your zoom screen, but it doesn’t ingrain the content as well for you and might make some of the other attendees dizzy!
Perhaps you are an extrovert and being with other people energizes you. While a workshop training is not a social gathering…for you, it is! Together, you laugh, you cry, you swap phone numbers and emails. It’s all about being with other people and learning together.
If you prefer interpersonal learning and communication, you are compelled to share ideas with others, talk to a partner, and figure things out as a team. Breakout rooms on Zoom fall short in the depth of that experience.
2. Grow Relationships with Networking
You are all about the networking opportunities. As people introduce themselves, you make notes in the columns of your manual about who to connect with at lunch to brainstorm ideas or ask about something they mentioned. You hope someone is interested in your new program and your gears are turning on who has resources and connections that will be valuable.
Networking is the way you gather ideas and apply information in new ways. You find out what others do and compare notes. You share resources. Networking can expand all kinds of possibilities. In a live in-person training, you can connect briefly with others, or sit together and have a passionate conversation about new opportunities.
3. For Some, Real is Better
There is a benefit to our social interactions that is hard to duplicate virtually. Social cues and body language have been limited to a six-inch frame around your face. Some trainings are challenging to do virtually.
For example, the PAC Engagement Leader Certification is so interactive with materials and resources, you’d spend a day on a scavenger hunt around your home just gathering the supplies to work with. There is a touch and feel component of discovery with those materials that cannot be done just by talking through the possibilities.
Conclusion
You have highly skilled and trained team members available right in your area ready to deliver the hands-on training that will give you the interaction and practice to become well equipped in Positive Approach to Care.
The Changing Minds team has over 70 years of experience with dementia and 10 years of PAC experience. Let our passion and knowledge help you improve your interaction and satisfaction with those you care for on the dementia journey.
First published by Debi Tyler Newsom OTR/L, PAC Client Relationship Director at https://teepasnow.com/blog/3-situations-when-in-person-training-beats-virtual-alternatives