Mastering LMS Implementation: Final Steps for a Successful Launch (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Congrats. If you're at this stage of implementation, you've chosen the best LMS for your team. At the end of the day, you need to know how to get this up and running ASAP, so you can start realizing the value and showing off the worth of a learning program. In this video, we'll go over all of that. So take a deep breath. With the right LMS, it'll be a breeze. Hi, I'm Arielle, and welcome back. This is our last installment of Learning Management Systems 101, so if you haven't watched the previous videos, check them out in the description. Now, how to get started. First, get a kickoff meeting on the calendar with your team. Just you? Have no fear. You're not alone. Most learning teams start off with a single person and grow from there. So, block off a few hours to get organized. Either way, use this time to get a good understanding of what you're about to do. You'll want to cover the content needs, the design, and any tech needs like APIs and integrations. Second, you'll want to gather your people. Even if you're going at this as a one-man band and not an official team, the types of other team members you'll need are the same. You'll want to connect with subject matter experts, designers, and technical experts. Don't have an executive sponsor? Go find one. Find an exec who's passionate about learning. Keep them in the know and ask for their input. This way, as your program grows, you already have an internal fan club and a straight path to a spot at the leadership table. Next, set goals. In addition to learning metrics, i.e. course completion rates and quiz results, find business metrics you want to measure so you can show the impact learning has on the company, such as time to value, aka TTV, or churn. Alright, we're getting there. Now you want to create content. You can check out our other resources on content creation in the description, but the general consensus is to start small and build from there. Pick one pain point, metric, or problem you want to solve first. Create that content before you move on to the next topic. Not to sound too cliche, but Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither were world-class academies like HubSpot or Compass. This next one's easy. Launch. Get eyes on your academy. If you can, do a soft launch and make iterations before releasing it to your whole audience. And finally, optimize. After your learners have been using the technology for a bit, take a step back and assess how everything is going. From the technical side, did everything go smoothly? Is anyone having trouble accessing the content? Is data flowing correctly? Are integration syncs connecting? At the same time, look at your learners to understand how your course is performing. Sure, you had a vision of the final product, but is that how it actually turned out? Check in on the learner-level metrics you chose to follow in your goals discussion. Once a nice-to-have for mature learning teams, learning programs and LMSs are quickly turning into a necessity. While an LMS isn't just set it and forget it, with the right planning and strategy in place, you'll get things up and running fast. If you missed any of the previous LMS 101 videos, we made it easy. You'll find the links in the description. Thanks for watching.