Public Seminars/Formats & Delivery

EGLI public seminars deliver value along two vectors: participants receive the most innovative LinkedIn executive education available anywhere, and they connect with other highly motivated and talents alumni in their "class." All seminars, regardless of format, feature Social Networking Registration to boost network effects of learning and networking.

After the summary and expanded descriptions, please find the section on additional delivery and format considerations.

Summary of EGLI's Seminar Formats

Boardroom more	Collaborative more	Classroom more	Webinar more
Individual learning in workgroups	Interactive learning in small groups	Information delivery, integrated learning	Information delivery, no geo/time constraints
Key: custom, interactive learning, networking	Key: rapid, interactive learning, networking	Key: rapid, integrated learning	Key: segmented, modularized learning
Alum status: 1 session	Alum status: 1 session	Alum status: 1 session	Alum status: 3 sessions
Hands-on: laptop option	Hands-on: laptop option	Hands-on: exercises	Hands-on: exercises
Goals: specific	Goals: general/specific	Goal: general/specific	Goal: general
4-8 people	15-25 people	40-100 people	15+ people
Custom	Half- or full-day	Half-day	1 hour
Custom*	$200 - $500*	$200 - $300*	$75 - $100*
*Features Social Networking Registration; cost varies by group size; read more here

Expanded Description of EGLI Seminar Formats

The Executive's Guide to LinkedIn (EGLI) offers public and private group learning experiences for executives in public and private commercial and government enterprises. Our seminars enable people to understand and tap the overlooked value of LinkedIn and other Web 2.0 tools by applying management consulting methods used by world-class consultancies. In fact, our alumni regularly become experts among their work colleagues, association members and communities. Launched in Q1 2008, EGLI already has dozens of alumni, and many extend their learning by collaborating in the private EGLI online community after seminars.

Webinars—summary

We are very excited to introduce webinars in 2009 because they will enable us to offer the EGLI to people who are constrained in terms of time or location:

Webinars will be offered regularly, and some of the material will correspond to in-person seminars'
The sessions are shorter and more specialized than Classroom, Collaborative or Boardroom seminars. We have modularized the material, but they can do so while at their desks
EGLI will also use webinars to extend alums' learning by reinforcing and extending in-person material
Webinar participants become "alumni" when they have completed three modules
Each participant receives webinar materials with exercises that they complete during of after the webinar
Some webinars will have prerequisites, but not all will
Watch the EGLI Blog and Twitterfeed for breaking information

Classroom Seminars—summary

We debuted Classroom Seminars in Q1 2008 at the University of Chicago's Gleacher Center. Classroom seminars have these features and benefits:

Large format appropriate for attendees who are looking to "come up to speed" on LinkedIn in one morning or afternoon
Increasingly delivered at conferences as pre-conference workshops
EGLI seminar materials go into the details of writing/managing profiles, building your LinkedIn network, writing invitations, responding to invitations, making introductions, and writing recommendations and answers
Invitation to join EGLI's Alumni Group on LinkedIn—collaborate with EGLI alumni to build your LinkedIn network with purpose
Invitation to join EGLI Online Community—continue your learning by interacting with alumni in our private community. Benefit from our collaborative and helping culture to ask your ongoing questions about LinkedIn

Collaborative Seminars—summary

Collaborative Seminars launched in Q3 2008. They feature limited class size and more interaction than Classroom Seminars. The goal is to learn collaboratively and to forge relationships that help participants to transform the seminar experience into continuous learning after the seminar. We usually offer Collaborative Seminars in a morning and afternoon format. The morning's Key Concepts Session introduces the key material for mastering LinkedIn. During the optional afternoon Application Session, participants open their laptops and apply the concepts. The Key Concepts Session is a prerequisite for Application, but all EGLI alumni are eligible. Additional features and benefits are:

Small format for attendees who are looking to maximize the value of LinkedIn by learning and applying advanced technique
Based on early registrations, we proactively invite people from our networks whose goals, interests and expertise will add to the group
Continuous learning focus—during Application Sessions, participants join and interact with other alums in the EGLI online community, our space for ongoing interaction and learning
EGLI seminar materials go into the details of writing/managing profiles, building your LinkedIn network, writing invitations, responding to invitations, making introductions, and writing recommendations and answers; however, we apply many of these techniques during Application Sessions
Invitation to join EGLI's Alumni Group on LinkedIn—collaborate with EGLI alumni to build your LinkedIn network with purpose
Invitation to join EGLI Online Community—continue your learning by interacting with alumni in our private community. Benefit from our collaborative and helping culture to ask your ongoing questions about LinkedIn

Boardroom Seminars—summary

We are very excited to introduce Boardroom Seminars in Q4 2008 because they enable us to bridge our individualized management consulting services with public seminars:

We prepare executives carefully by helping them to formulate appropriate LinkedIn goals
Based on participants' goals, we we proactively invite people whose goals, interests and expertise will add to the group
In most cases, we cover core material early in the session and drill down into specific examples and exercises afterward
Our premier public offering, Boardroom Seminars are highly customized in terms of approach and examples
EGLI seminar materials go into the details of writing/managing profiles, building your LinkedIn network, writing invitations, responding to invitations, making introductions, and writing recommendations and answers; however, we apply many of these techniques during Application Sessions
Invitation to join EGLI's Alumni Group on LinkedIn—collaborate with EGLI alumni to build your LinkedIn network with purpose
Invitation to join EGLI Online Community—continue your learning by interacting with alumni in our private community. Benefit from our collaborative and helping culture to ask your ongoing questions about LinkedIn

Additional Seminar Delivery Style and Format Considerations

Choosing the Right Seminar Delivery Style

Remember, "Classroom" and "Collaborative" are delivery styles that vary the learning context, not the core content of the session:

Classroom Seminars provide a similar amount of information as Collaborative Seminars, but they are necessarily less interactive
Neither one is universally "better," but the learning style can impact how much you learn, depending on your personal style and goals at the time
People may retain somewhat more information with Collaborative or Boardroom Seminars due to the interaction and application of what we learn.
I also hope interactivity will increase your trust level with others and translate to more continuous learning online post-seminar
Alums of all will learn how to use LinkedIn at a level that will surprise friends and colleagues
EGLI seminars also vary by content (for example, based on the level of experience with LinkedIn) as well as delivery; please see these examples
Therefore, you could have Intermediate/Collaborative, Entry-level/Classroom, etc.

On the Road

The smaller format of Collaborative and Boardroom Seminars offers interesting possibilities. People all over the world have inquired about bringing EGLI to their area. Collaborative and Boardroom Seminars make this much more possible:

Anyone can host one, and the registration process should help organizers to tap highly networked people who can motivate their friends and make it happen
It's far easier to get 25 people together (than 75) and focus the Content (level) appropriately; smaller formats are also more flexible in terms of location
Webinars remove the geographical element entirely

Public or Private?

The EGLI conducts private sessions for corporations, agencies and professional groups. These are more specialized and targeted to the group's interest and goals. I recommend sending a group to a public seminar to evaluate its applicability to the organization. You may also want to consider:

Private sessions can be targeted to your business.. and/or a function within your business (recruiting and retention, client service, business development, R&D, etc.)
We can create a private continuous learning community for your employees and business partners
I often recommend measuring the effectiveness of your LinkedIn activity by its impact on the results of a business process; in company groups, this is usually easier than public because you have many people in the same organizational role, increasing sample size

The Executive's Guide to LinkedIn is the premier management consulting offer for enterprise-focused leaders who want to aggressively apply digital social networks to their professional lives

Contact us: Speaking engagements • Innovation for business development, client service & recruiting • Alumni outreach • R&D and PR programs :Contact us