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10 Steps to Creating a Course that POPS!

Turning your Knowledge into a Learning Experience that Works!

What do I mean by a successful course? The measure of a successful course should primarily be based on the results that your participants are getting from participating and

implementing the knowledge you are teaching in the course.

If your clients are experiencing results you are training them towards, then you’ll be making ongoing revenue, you’ll consistently experience a higher rate of intake for each launch, you’ll have more referrals and fans each round and you’ll receive positive feedback

from the participants.

Step 1 - Overview Giving your clients a clear idea of what your topic looks like as an overview and in

completion is really vital to how to we learn. We need to know what we are aiming for and yet so often this is not revealed until the end of a course, and sometimes its never

revealed at all.

1. Make sure you create an overview at the beginning of your course. 2. Throughout the delivery of the course make sure you consistently refer back to this

overview. (This is vital to the success of your clients so they can start thinking how every strategy and action they are implementing is connected to the bigger picture.)

3. At the end of the course its important you bring all the elements of the course back in line with this overview.

What does an overview look like?

It could be sharing a story, a template, a strategic plan, a video, visual diagram, action plan, photographs, workbook etc depending on the type of course you are creating.

Step 2 - The Big Why This step has two areas that you need to get clear on so you can incorporate both into

your course.

YOUR Goals

1.  Why are YOU creating this course? 2.  What do YOU hope to get out of it? 3.  What specifically do YOU want to achieve?

Your PARTICIPANTS Goals

4. What results do your PARTICIPANTS expect from doing this course? 5. What will your PARTICIPANTS be able to do after the course? 6.  How will your PARTICIPANTS thinking change after completing the course? 7.  How do you want your PARTICIPANTS to feel doing your course?

Step 3 - Point of View This step is another really common mistake that most online courses are making (not the successful ones however). The creator often asks themselves ‘how do I boil down all the information and knowledge that I know into something that I could teach or train others

in’?

Change the point of view from YOU to YOUR CLIENT.

You are not teaching or training your client in EVERYTHING that you know. That is not the point of most courses – you need to work out what information and knowledge is going

to have the biggest impact on the results they are after.

Knowing your target market and where they are at right now. Knowing their challenges and what the best solutions are for them, will help you work out the best way to approach

giving the right kind and the right amount of knowledge.

Step 4 - Over Delivering One of the most common phrases my clients say is ‘I want to over deliver and provide

really amazing value’. I love that so many people (and so many of my awesome clients) have such good intentions of wanting to go above and beyond what is expected and blow

their clients away with fantastic value…

However, what generally happens is we provide more and more information, knowledge and content to the point of overwhelm, and we all know overwhelm has a best friend

called NO ACTION. It’s such a shame that such good intentions often leads to a lack of action, that costs your clients real results.

Simplify your knowledge and how you deliver it to your participants.

Step 5 - Styles of leaning vs Life Style We often hear about different learning styles such as a visual, kinesthetic, auditory,

linguistic etc, however I think that there is some misunderstanding around this concept. Our brains are far more complex than such a simple model and putting people into one

type of learning style box is only half the story.

The reality is that our brains are all different and we learn and remember information in a variety of ways – it’s a mixed bag of learning styles that help us to understand information and concepts. Most people learn through multiple learning styles and catering to that is a

more realistic way to creating results.

The other reality that comes into play here is our environment and our life style. I enjoy learning visually however I am quite time poor and listening to podcasts these days may not be my first choice but it fits in with my busy, on the go lifestyle. Don’t underestimate

how important Life Style is when it comes to how we choose to learn and digest information.

Step 6 - Implementation This is the biggie when it comes to learning online and in a group environment. We all want our participants to implement what we teach or train them, as that is how they are going to get the results they are looking for in taking our course. How do you make sure

that all your participants are implementing the knowledge that you are sharing? The answer is you can’t and the reality of group learning especially online is you will have

participants who don’t complete or even try to do the work.

But how do we at least set up an environment for action and implementation?

1.  Set clear actions with timeframes. 2.  Break down the larger projects or tasks into more manageable tasks. 3.  Include accountability within the action phase (accountability partner,

accountability to the group etc). 4.  Set up the actions for success rather than failure. 5.  Provide different approaches for different skill levels on your course. 6.  Cultivate a community where your participants feel supported and encouraged to

learning from each other and to be held accountable to the group. 7.  Offer incentives or bonuses along the way to keep momentum going.

Step 7 - The Real Way to Add Value These three areas are not commonly used terms for online courses, but coming from a TV Commercial background where we have pre production/production/post production, I like to apply the process to all the projects I work on. This is how it works. How can you create

or provide more VALUE at each stage of your course?

Pre Course During Course Post Course

How and what do you want your participants to think, to feel and to do at each of these three stages?

Creating an exceptional client experience which is the best way to add value, starts way before the course commences and ends well after the last session.

Step 8 - Brain Based Tips  I love to bring into focus the neuroscience or brain based techniques that we know

enhance and engage our learning experience, make learning more memorable as well as the likely hood of your participants implementing your knowledge and results being seen.

o Break down your content into smaller chunks and visually make it more interesting with block colours, boxes, tables etc. o Stories and anecdotes really engage the brain and can explain complex ideas easily. o Create insights – ask powerful questions and ask them often. o Although we like certainty don’t make your course all the same – it becomes o  boring and tedious – mix it up how you deliver your content. o Make sure the next steps are clear and not ambiguous for your participants. o How do you want to make people think, feel and do at each stage. o Highlight key words that are important, use more engaging words or phrases o  to call your topics and use a simple image to connect to a topic.

Step 9 - Content vs Context This is the age of CONTENT – we are drowning in more and more information and it

doesn’t create results it creates overwhelm! Overwhelm creates anxiety which creates inaction. Putting your content into context of your participants business and situation is

what successful courses do well. Everyone will use your knowledge and learning slightly differently as not only do we think differently but we have different needs within our lives

and business.

1.  The main way to bring context to content is to ask high level, big picture thinking questions around the learning or lessons of that piece of information and how it could be applied or implemented in their life or their business.

2.  Ask reflective questions that allow the participants to think about what they could do differently or how it might look for them.

3.  Thinking from a different perspective can be a great way to create insights as to how it might look within your particular business. We can think more creatively about actions and solutions.

Step 10 - The Sound of Success LISTEN to what your participants are saying.

Be adaptable and flexible during the course to change or adapt what isn’t working.

• Are they finding it overwhelming? • Are they finding it hard to grasp the concepts? • Do they need additional time to complete the tasks? • Do they keep asking the same questions over and over again?

Keep listening, responding and refining your content, the actions you set and see what is getting results for your clients.

Hi. I’m Jo. As you can tell I’m really passionate about creating great learning and client experiences.

The reality is that so many people are putting so much time and energy into creating courses only for them to be a disappointment. I’m here to get your ideas made into a real success.

If you want to know more about me, or would like me to help create your successful course – and yes I will do some of the work for you! - please get in touch at www.popwithjo.com | hello@popwithjo.com | www.facebook.com/popwithjo