Published on: 10 Jan , 2025

The Ultimate Guide to Set Virtual Instructor-Led Training

C

Chethna NK

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Every SaaS company begins its customer education journey with one goal: to make users self-sufficient. E-learning has been the go-to solution for scaling this effort. It’s efficient, and scalable, and ensures every customer has 24/7 access to resources. If your company has successfully implemented a robust e-learning platform, congratulations—you’ve achieved a significant milestone in customer education.

But is it enough?

Even with the perfect e-learning setup, there comes a point when scaling alone isn't the answer. You might notice that:

  • Support tickets keep coming in, even for issues addressed in your content.
  • Customers ask for live guidance to solve their unique challenges.
  • Product adoption isn’t accelerating as fast as you’d like.

These aren’t signs that e-learning is failing; they’re signals that your customers are ready for something more.

This is where Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) can take your education efforts to the next level. A well-designed VILT program does more than just share knowledge—it creates confident, successful customers who truly understand your product's value.

In this comprehensive guide, we'll show you exactly how to build a VILT program that drives real business results. You'll discover practical strategies for designing, delivering, and measuring training that doesn't just teach, but empowers and engages your customers.

Understanding Virtual Instructor-Led Training

Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) is a real-time, interactive training method where a skilled instructor leads sessions in a virtual environment. Unlike traditional e-learning, VILT emphasizes human connection and engagement, combining live demonstrations, hands-on practice, and interactive discussions.

It's training that combines the best of both worlds: the convenience of virtual delivery with the power of human connection.

As Dan Braithwaite perfectly explains it in the Customer Educated Podcast by Trainn:

“VILT isn’t just about delivering information; it’s about creating a human experience. It lets you connect with participants, address their unique challenges, and guide them through hands-on learning tailored to their needs.”

- Dan Braithwaite,
Senior director of product training

Key Benefits of Virtual Instructor-Led Training

In today's fast-paced digital world, effective customer education requires more than just information delivery—it demands engagement, personalization, and immediate value. Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) has emerged as a powerful solution among customer education teams by combining human connection and digital convenience. Here are some of VILT’s features which create lasting impact:

Real-time Engagement

VILT transforms passive viewers into active participants through dynamic, two-way interaction. It creates live conversations between instructors and participants rather than recorded content.

Key challenge:
Modern customers’ attention span demands quick engagement, making it crucial to capture and maintain participant interest throughout the session through varied activities, interactive elements, and meaningful discussions.

Practical Learning
VILT bridges the gap between theory and application through:

  • Live product demonstrations
  • Real-world scenario practice
  • Hands-on problem-solving sessions
  • Immediate application opportunities

This approach ensures customers don't just learn about features - they master them in real time.

Human-centric Approach
The human element is what sets VILT apart from other E-learning methods.
This approach creates:

  • Real-time guidance and support
  • Dynamic question resolution
  • Adaptable training styles

Global Accessibility

VILT breaks down geographical barriers to deliver consistent education across borders. This accessibility ensures that organizations can provide standardized, high-quality training to teams worldwide without sacrificing the personal touch that makes learning effective.

Virtual Instructor-Led Training’s Strategic Role in Customer Education

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to whether Virtual Instructor-Led Training (VILT) should be part of your customer education approach. It often depends on a few key factors: the complexity of your product, training/educational team size, and your training goals.

For example, in one of our podcast episodes, Monica Sindhwani shared how her organization decided to introduce VILT after noticing a significant number of customers requesting more in-depth training sessions—and showing a willingness to pay for them. This discovery led them to expand their offerings with VILT, enabling a richer learning experience and unlocking a new revenue stream.

Measurable Outcome of VILT

  • Support Ticket Reductions

One of the most compelling benefits of a well-designed VILT program is its direct impact on support ticket volume. When customers receive proper training, they become more self-sufficient and confident in using your product, leading to fewer support requests.

This is how VILT drives down support tickets:

  1. Anticipating and highlighting typical stumbling points and their solutions during the session.
  2. Provides a safe environment for hands-on learning where customers can get immediate help if they encounter difficulties.
  3. Builds customer confidence by confirming correct usage through guided practice.
  • Accelerate Product Adoption

A well-executed VILT program helps customers to extract the maximum value from your solutions. It bridges the gap between product capabilities and customer success through targeted instructions and hands-on practice.

How it drives product adoption:

  1. Demonstrating product capabilities that solve specific business challenges.
  2. Interactive feature explorations enable the discovery of product features relevant to customer needs.
  • Enhance Customer Engagement

VILT transforms traditional training into an engaging, community-driven experience that keeps customers connected to your product and each other.

How it enhances customer engagement:

  1. Interactive learning through live Q&A sessions and polls keeps customers active throughout the session.
  2. Discussion of relevant industry trends and best practices.

Key Requirements for a Successful Virtual Instructor-Led Training Session

Skilled Instructor

The instructor is the cornerstone of successful VILT. The instructor’s expertise and delivery style significantly impact the session’s success.

Essential skills of a skilled instructor include:

  • Deep product and subject knowledge
  • Strong communication skills
  • Active listening ability
  • Ability to manage time and technology effectively
  • Strong virtual presence

Continuous improvement:
Instructors can grow through team-based skill-sharing and feedback sessions, which create space to share successes, discuss challenges, and learn from each other's experiences. This allows instructors to exchange tips and strategies. ( eg: handling disengaged participants or experimenting with new tools )

Tools

Effective VILT program depends heavily on having the right technological foundation for seamless delivery.

Tools for VILT include:

  1. Video conferencing tools

These platforms form the backbone of your VILT session, enabling real-time interaction.

It provides:

  • Create a face-to-face connection in a virtual environment
  • Provide multiple communication channels (video, chat)
  • Supports various teaching elements through features like screen sharing and interactive whiteboards

Examples: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet

2. Hands-on training platform

These platforms are designed to provide real-time, practical training experiences, particularly for software and technical tools.

It helps:

  • Hands-on product walkthroughs for real-time practice
  • A collaborative learning environment where instructors can guide participants step by step
  • Immediate feedback and troubleshooting to enhance learning

Examples: Hurdle, Strigo

3. Learning Management System

An LMS helps schedule, deliver, and track your VILT programs effectively.
It helps:

  • Track participant progress and completion
  • Manage registrations and schedules
  • Generate reports and analytics

Examples: Trainn, TalentLMS

4. Engagement and Interaction tools

These tools help break the monotony of one-way presentations and create active learning experiences. it includes a whiteboard, feedback tools, and gamified tools.

It helps:

  • Keep participants engaged and focused
  • Enable real-time feedback and assessment
  • Create memorable learning experiences

Examples: Mentimeter, Miro, Kahoot

How to Design the Best Virtual Instructor-Led Training Program?

Let's walk through how to design an effective VILT program that drives real results.

Step 1: Select High-Impact Topics

Choosing the right topic is fundamental to the success of your VILT program. This initial step requires more than just picking a subject. It's about choosing content that meets your customers’ immediate needs.

How to select high-impact topics:

Analyze Support Tickets

Start by examining your support tickets to identify patterns.

Ways to analyze tickets easily

  1. Mine your support tickets for recurring themes
  2. Categorize your support tickets to map topic priorities
  3. Identify the training gaps that haven't yet been covered

Focus on Immediate Value

After understanding the most common issues that customers face, focus on your customers learning priorities. Customers attend VILT sessions with the expectation of solving problems or gaining skills they can immediately use.

For example: In project management software training, tasks like setting up team workflows and configuring basic dashboards are immediate priorities for those customers who have newly signed up. Tasks like advanced automation rules, and custom API integrations, can be saved for later training.  

As Dan Braithwaite emphasizes, align your training using the 'jobs to be done' framework – what tasks will your customers need to perform right after the session ends and not after weeks or months?

Set your Session Duration

The ideal length for a VILT session has evolved significantly from the traditional long-day workshops. Modern VILT demands a more focused approach that respects your customers' time and attention spans. Design your session duration to maximize learning while keeping participants energized and engaged, not overwhelmed.

Pro tip: Stick to 3-4 core topics per session to maintain high engagement and prevent information overload.

Step 2: Structure your Session Flow

Once your targeted topics are selected, it's crucial to create a structure that maximizes learning effectiveness while keeping participants engaged in the virtual environment.

Consider answering these critical questions to structure your VILT sessions:

  • How will you sequence and deliver your educational content?
  • How much time should be allocated to each segment?
  • How will you engage your customers and grab their attention throughout sessions?

Delivering Educational Content

To make the session clear and effective, break down your topics using the framework: “Tell me, Show me, Let me try, Let me explore, Review, and Test me.” - Dan Braithwaite. This method not only improves understanding but also empowers customers to use your product confidently, which can help reduce support tickets.

Let's break it down:

Tell me :
Introduce the topic by establishing the foundation:

  • Explain what the topic encompasses
  • Highlight why it matters to participants
  • Demonstrate its practical value
  • Showcase a real-time customer use case

Show me:
Create clear, purposeful demonstrations:

  • Walk through step-by-step processes
  • Identify common pitfalls and their solutions
  • Share practical tips and tricks

Let me try:
Facilitate hands-on learning:

  • Allow customers to try tasks themselves
  • Monitor their activity to identify and address their issues

Let me explore:
Encourage customers to experiment with the task in a way that aligns with their unique use cases. This hands-on exploration fosters deeper understanding.

Review:
Create opportunities for participants to reflect on their experiences

  • Address challenges encountered during exploration
  • Facilitate group discussions where customers can share feedback and learn from each other.

Test me:
Verify your customers' understanding and build their confidence using your solutions:

  • Conduct knowledge checks or quizzes
  • Validate appropriate product usage
  • Identify areas needing additional support

Learner Engagement Strategies

Your challenge as an instructor is to transform what could be a passive webinar into an interactive learning experience that keeps customers leaning forward in their virtual seats.

The following are to be considered for active participation:

  1. Set the tone at the beginning of the session
  2. Maintain the momentum
  3. End the session with impacts

Some quick attention grabbers

  • Incorporate some ice-breaking sessions for active participation
  • Provide space for community learning to discuss relevant industry trends
  • Incorporate gamified elements like polls, quizzes, or leaderboards to make the session interactive
  • End the session with your product or task's impact ( benefits if implemented ) rather not just recalling the agenda or simple thank you slide
  • It's crucial to get feedback from your customers at the end of every session

Bonus tip: Turn on your camera during sessions to create a human connection. Your visible presence transforms a digital session into a personal learning experience.

Time-box your Segments

Effective time management is crucial for virtual training success. Rather than letting segments run loose, carefully plan each block of time to maintain momentum and ensure comprehensive coverage.

Ways to allocate:

  • Allocate time for each topic based on its complexity ( eg:  Complex topics need longer demonstration time)
  • Build in buffer time for discussion, troubleshooting, and unexpected repetition in between the segments

For example:
Introduction and ice-breakers (10-15 minutes)
Core content delivery (30-45 minute segments)
Interactive activities and discussions (15-20 minutes each)
Regular breaks (5-10 minutes every hour)
Wrap-up and action planning (15-20 minutes)

Pro tip: Place breaks just before exploration phases, typically around the one-hour mark. This timing maintains momentum when returning to hands-on activities.

Point to remember: Schedule your content for less than the full session time. This flexibility allows for rich discussions, troubleshooting, and those valuable "aha!" moments that shouldn't be rushed.

Step 3: Run a Mock Session

Before launching your VILT program, conducting mock sessions is crucial for identifying potential issues and refining your delivery.  

Key objectives:

  • To test your content flow and timing
  • To Identify technical challenges early
  • To collect feedback from internal participants on clarity and engagement

Step 4: Measure and Iterate

Measuring the impact of your VILT program is crucial for demonstrating value and driving continuous improvement.

As Dan Braithwaite suggested, ‘The Kirkpatrick model is a structured approach to measure training effectiveness at every level."

This model emphasizes measuring learning outcomes across four levels:

  1. Reaction
    Measuring customer satisfaction and engagement right after the session.
  • Post-session surveys
  • Direct participant feedback
  • Instructor observations

From surveys, you can question:

  • Did the training meet your expectations?
  • Were the materials engaging and easy to understand?
  • What would you improve for future sessions?

2. Learning
Assess customers’ actual learning from the session through assessment.

  • Incorporate scenario-based questions to check how well customers can apply what they’ve learned (Simulate real-work tasks)
  • Assess from quizzes or activities that evaluate retention of key concepts

3. Behavioral
Measures the impact on participant behavior post-training.

  • Analyze support ticket trends to see if there’s a reduction in queries related to trained topics
  • Track customer product usage metrics and feature adoption rates
  • Conduct a 90-day follow-up survey after the session

4. Result
Quantify tangible business outcomes.

  • Evaluate to check for - reduced support tickets, increased NPS, product satisfaction rates, or retention rates

Pro tip: While scores provide quick metrics, the real gold lies in written feedback. Pay close attention to customers' comments and suggestions—they often reveal specific ways to enhance your VILT program.

How Trainn Powers Your VILT Success

Trainn, an all-in-one customer education platform, helps organizations maximize their VILT impact through seamless implementation and content management.

Here is how Trainn elevates your VILT program:

Transform VILT Recordings into Microlearning Videos

Upload your VILT or webinar recordings into Trainn, and let our AI do the heavy lifting:

  • Convert Audio: Instantly generate voiceovers in 25+ international languages.
  • Split Videos: Automatically create short, focused clips.

With Trainn, you can quickly:

  • Enhance Your Courses: Turn VILT sessions into bite-sized training videos.
  • Offer Self-Serve Content: Easily embed these clips into your help center.

Events Page in Academy

Set up a VILT landing page in your customer training academy using Trainn's LMS.

  • Schedule VILT Sessions: Easily plan, organize, and share upcoming training events in Trainn.
  • Gather Registration Data: Track who registers and attends so you can measure engagement and follow up effectively.

TL;DR

  1. VILT combines the convenience of virtual learning with human connection through real-time interaction, live demonstrations, and immediate problem-solving.
  2. Choose topics that align with your customers' immediate needs - focus on tasks they'll tackle right after training, not theoretical knowledge for future use - ‘Jobs to be done’ framework.
  3. A successful VILT program directly impacts business metrics by reducing support tickets, accelerating product adoption, and enhancing customer engagement through hands-on practice and personalized guidance.
  4. The most effective VILT sessions follow a structured framework: "Tell me, Show me, Let me try, Let me explore, Review, and Test me" - ensuring customers not only learn but can immediately apply what they've learned.
  5. For optimal engagement, keep VILT sessions focused on 3-4 core topics, break content into digestible segments with planned breaks, and weave in interactive elements like discussions and hands-on exercises.
  6. Measure VILT effectiveness using the Kirkpatrick model's four levels: immediate participant reaction, learning assessment, behavioral change, and business results.

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