SkillCasting

A couple of weeks ago I had a new client contact me about using Articulate’s Quizmaker in their WordPress blog. I thought it was a real creative way to add interactivity to their blog and in their case, their membership site. I mean what a great way to add value to their members AND to be different from everyone else!

I then saw Mel Alcaro include an Engage interaction in his post about QR codes and decided I needed to do a post to inspire some innovative thinking for my clients. Here’s a short introduction to Quizmaker.

Quizmaker is a form based tool designed to create Flash based quizzes and surveys. It’s used quite a bit in the e-learning space and I’ve created lots of Articulate Presenter courses with these types of quizzes. Most people simply pick the type of question they want and fill in the form fields. However, using the form based element really limits your creativity. I advised my client to use Blank Slides and Slide View to really differentiate their Quizmaker quizzes. This reduces participant “quiz fatigue” and makes them more engaging too.

Here’s a simple, 5-question Quizmaker quiz to plant some ideas for you. [Make sure you visit the site because the Flash object may not appear in RSS readers and definitely won't appear on iOS devices like the iPhone or iPad.]

If you already have Quizmaker, these are easy to create. To add a blank slide that allows you to add graphics, movies, or text, click on the Add Blank Slide button. This will insert a blank slide into your quiz project. You can change the fonts, the background images, and even add multimedia content like audio & video. Feel free to drag the slide up or down to position it in the right location in your quiz.

I encourage you to experiment with inserting a blank slides between some of your questions so you can additional insight or even to prepare the user for the test question. For example, show a video and then ask a series of questions about that video. And don’t be afraid to “branch to” blank slides as question feedback.

Another tip is to use Slide View instead of always using Form View for your questions. This allows you to move the text around on the slide and to include graphics in a more creative manner.

I found these two tips have really made my quizzes more effective and more engaging. What about you? How can you see yourself using quizzes in your blog, your website, or in your own digital products? Let me know what you think in the comments.

I met with a client the other day and we were talking about how he could use Twitter in his small business. I think there is a lot of confusion around Twitter – particularly for small business owners. I shared with him how he could get started but more importantly, I shared ways he could apply Twitter.

I wanted to create a tutorial that I could share with everyone with these ideas.

In this interactive tutorial, you’ll hear me explain some of the ideas I shared with him. Click on the different segments of the circle to learn more about each tip. And if you’re reading this from a feed reader like Google Reader, you may need to click on the site to actually see the interactive tutorial.

Do you have additional ideas? Leave them in the comments section at the bottom.

After being in the training industry for 20 years, I work with a lot of trainers. One of my new clients is just starting out. I helped her move her existing website over to a WordPress.com blog. Her next set of questions revolved around how we could drive traffic to it.

I shared with her 5 simple social media techniques she could use to help drive traffic to it. I thought I’d share them with you to in this little tutorial. [If you can't see the Flash tutorial in your RSS reader, please visit the site.]

I’ll create a lot more tutorials like this because the questions she’s asking me, I believe, represent a much larger audience of experts. If you find this useful, or have a question of your own, don’t hesitate to leave it in the comments.

For years, perhaps even decades, the only option to really consider when trying to productize your knowledge has been a book. It’s still the defacto requirement if you want to launch a speaking career but it’s not the only option out there.

This interactive diagram explains some additional solutions you can use to turn what you know into a product.