Sharing resources
Membership to the Learning Practitioners'
Association and the additional profile option enables a trainer to showcase themselves on the TrainerBase web
site. The potential significant advantages to having the enhanced profile have been mentioned and
tapping into these benefits are part of what is covered in these articles.
In the previous articles I outlined:
In this article I will outline the major benefits to members of:
And in future articles will provide tips on:
- Who has been looking at your profile (how popular are you)
- Networking (making contacts in a virtual world)
- Applying for opportunities (how not to get yourself eliminated
before you start)
What is a resource
Before going into the practicalities and benefit, let me first
outline what a resource is and more importantly what isn't a resource.
A resource is a file that has an intrinsic value to the individual
downloading it. The resource provides them with information about a
topic, based on their expectation derived from the title and description
of the resource. A resource could be:
- a course outline
- an icebreaker
- a module from a programme
- an article about a topic
- a newsletter
- a set of slides
- a collection of quotations
- to name but a few.
A file is not a resource when it is a sales brochure or flier;
selling a product or service. A file is not a resource when the only
content is a re-direction to the contributors web site. That is not to
say that a member cannot post sales brochures or fliers or re-direct a
visitor to their web site: they most certainly can. The point is that
that sort of activity takes place in other areas of the site and member
profile.
And a resource is a file that can be downloaded by any registered
user of the site; you do not need to be a paid up member to download.
The idea behind this is that purchasers of training who do not need to
pay to gain access to your profile can download resources from your
profile in order to evaluate your fit for their purposes.
Benefits of sharing resources
In the early 'noughties' I undertook a piece of research for the
British Journal of Occupations Learning called 'Human trust in a virtual
world'. One of the significant findings, or is it a confirmation of common
sense, was that in order for someone to build trust, that person must
provide 'information' in any way shape or form. This has been the
foundation of the resource sharing facility on the site; a member can
upload a resource in order to provide 'pertinent' information about
themselves and/or their capabilities.
The benefit to the user downloading the resource is that they have
sight of a member contribution. The benefit to the member is that
sharing resources provides a business development opportunity. The
original intention as mentioned above was for members to showcase their
abilities to potential purchasers. An additional benefit has emerged;
the sharing of resources between colleagues.
All members of the Learning Practitioners' Association can upload and
share resources. Members uploading resources get points for their
contribution to the site. Now more on the practicalities.
Uploading a resource
In order to upload a resource you must be a member of the Learning
Practitioners' Association. Log in to
Edit Profile.
In
section 3, Your uploads, click on the link 'Manage
your Sample Resources' . In this page will be a list of any
resources that you have already uploaded. The page contains some tips
and pointers on uploading files; please read them. Below the list of
resources will be the '>> Add a Resource'
link. Click on this link.
The form fields for uploading a resource are:
- Resource Name: The name of the resource should be less
that 100 characters and be as descriptive as possible.
- Resource Category: The resource category is the group of
resources that best identifies with which other resources your
resource should go. If you believe their is a category that better
classifies your resource you should let us know and we will consider
adding a new category.
- Resource Scope: The scope of a resource helps manage the
level of expectation of a person downloading a resource. If the
resource is a Primer then they will expect a brief document will
little explanatory information. An outline may be a course activity
with supporting information. A comprehensive could be a newsletter,
dissertation or full training programme.
- File Type: (Detected Automatically) You should ensure the
file is less than 3Mb
- File Size: (Detected Automatically) Only document files
can be uploaded (pdf, xls, doc, ppt), programme and compressed files
(exe, zip) are not permitted.
- Resource Description: The resource description is your
opportunity to promote your contribution. Remember, the description
of the resource is used in the site's Search facility and your
resource descriptor may be indexed by other search engines. To
upload a resource and give a description "A flier on management" is
to woefully sell yourself and your resource short of what you could
expect. Consider all the key words that your flier on management
contains. Use these in the description. Be expansive; it is in your
best interest and will significantly benefit you by having your
resource seen more often.
- Resource Location: Where on your computer is your
resource? Do ensure that your resource does not contain any
'illegal' characters (your computer is far better at handling long
file names with punctuation than most file upload programmes). Keep
away from spaces, period stops, commas, exclamation marks,
apostrophes, and all other non 'alphanumeric' characters. The Browse
button will help you find the 'path' for your resource. Remember you
should ensure the name of the file does not have any illegal
characters in it before browsing for its location.
- Display in Profile: You may or may not want your resource
displayed in your profile. This is especially for those members who
have uploaded a lot of resources for file sharing amongst members
and only want the best and most impressive resources in their
profile for purchasers to see.
Selling resources
If you wish to offer any of your resources for sale you must first
register your intent with the site. Just above the form fields is
the following sentence: "Note: If you would like to sell this item in
the Resources Shop, please select whether you are a VAT registered
business or not by clicking here.".
When you click on the 'here' for
the first time you will be taken to a form to submit your VAT status.
Once you have done this the resource upload form will add the following
fields:
- Sell Item: Tick this box if you wish to sell your
resource.
- Unit Price: £ This is the value of the resource you wish
to receive as a result of the sale. The Association will add 50% to
the price you wish to receive.
See who has been downloading your resources
I mentioned above the business opportunity benefits of contribution
resource. This is one of the key enablers that was implemented in the
early days of the site; contributors of resources get the names and
email addresses of users that have downloaded the resource.
In Edit Profile click on the 'See who has
been viewing your Sample Resources' link in section 2. The
resource views list is monthly and details any download that has been
made during that month. You will see:
- Date
- Name
- Work function and
- The resource downloaded
If the individual that downloaded your resource is a member of the
Learning Practitioners' Association their name will be a link to their
profile. To harvest the details of the 'downloaders' right click on the
'>> Download a CSV containing viewers' details'
link and click 'Open in a new Tab' for Firefox or 'Save target as' in
IE. The filename is already pre-set; decide on the destination (Save in)
and click Save. The resulting spreadsheet will contain a list with the
following headings:
- Title
- Firstname
- Surname
- Email
- Work function
- Resource name
Do use this information for approaching the downloaders. Ask them what
they thought of the resource and whether you can be of any further
assistance. If their work function is 'purchaser' ask them if they are
looking for anything in particular. If they are, then you may be able to
offer them some additional resources direct. This is part of your
prospecting. You should do it regularly and follow up any downloader who
does not respond. Do it sensibly; every month or so until they tell you
to go away. Please manage your expectations with this activity; of 10
users that download a resource that you contact you should expect to
hear back from 1 at the first attempt.
Driving traffic
One of the features of the internet is the ability to link from one
location to another. Doing this drives traffic. You should drive traffic
both to your own web site but it also pays to drive traffic to your
profile on the TrainerBase web site. How does it pay? When you see an
opportunity, perhaps on a blog, forum or digest, to tell people that you
have a resource on your TrainerBase profile, put a link to your profile
in your response. We reward contributors who mention the Association and
the TrainerBase in other digests, blogs, forums, groups, tweets,
networks, etc. Do copy us in to your mention and we will add a minimum
of 50 points for each mention. Granted some networks block these
mentions as self promotion. One way round this is to mention a number of
locations that an enquirer may find a resource of benefit.
Branding
And one final point. We approve all resources that go up and review a
significant number of them for suitability. Please do not miss the
opportunity to BRAND you resources. Some users of the site will download
dozens if not more resources. They many not review these immediately.
When they do, you need them to know that the resource they are looking
it is your resource. Consider: a purchaser reviews a document, finds it
perfect for what they need, and there is no indication of who the author
is. A wasted opportunity. Brand all your resources.
If you are concerned about loosing your stock in trade to other
trainers; only upload pdf files. And if you are really strict you could
block the copy facility and the print option for the file.
I hope this article convinces you that uploading resources is a valuable
addition to your marketing activities via the TrainerBase web site. I
know of a good number of members who use this as a central part of their
business model and have won thousands of pounds worth of work as a
result. This is generosity of spirit paying dividends.
If there is anything else you would like to know about what the
Association is doing to benefit its members please feel free to contact us.
